Lavender is trending TEXT Alice Spenser-Higgs All the trends for 2018 point to lavender. Purple is the ‘new colour of health’, as well as the choice of Pantone’s trendsetters. Foodies flirting with ‘botanical’ flavours are experimenting with lavender lattes, and the world-wide focus on wellness underscores lavender’s pre-eminent position as one of the best natural […]
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Lachenalia
Cape Hyacinth In a country blessed with many horticultural treasures Lachenalia, the Cape Hyacinth, holds a place of its own. Lachenalias may be short in stature, their flowers growing on spikes about 25 cm high, but they more than make up for this with their vividly coloured blooms. This makes them ideal subjects for pots […]
Lantana montevidensis
Trailing lantana Lantana montevidensis Lantana montevidensis is a trailing, semi-woody evergreen that can either be used as a ground cover or to create small hedges. Unlike other Lantana species that become frantically overgrown and horribly unwelcome in any garden, Lantana montevidensis has a dainty nature and delicate stems that rarely become troublesome. It bears delicate […]
Lavandula angustifolia
English lavender No cottage garden can be complete without copious amounts of Lavender sprawling about the place. The aromatic grey foliage is the perfect complement to all the pretty flowers that abound in the cottage garden. The lavender flowers themselves add interest to the garden; the stately, wiry, stems are topped with fragrant flower spikes. […]
Ledebouria revoluta
South Indian squill South Africa is blessed with a wide and varied array of little bulbous plants, many of which are overlooked, from an ornamental perspective, due to their relatively small size. One of these little gems is the relatively common and widely distributed wavy-leaved ledebouria that is found growing in grasslands and woodlands. The attractive, […]
Leptospermum scoparium
‘Cherry Brandy’ (Miniature tea bush) The dark, plum-coloured leaves and dense foliage of the miniature tea bush make it a superb little shrub for sunny gardens. The richly-coloured foliage is shown to best advantage if contrasting pale yellow, gold and silver plants are grown next to it or around its base. In winter and spring […]
Leucadendron argenteum
Silver tree, Silver leaf tree Silver trees are wonderful garden ornamentals. Leucadendron argenteum, the shimmering silver tree, is one of South Africa’s iconic trees. It was first mentioned in a manuscript of the early 17th century when dense stands of it covered large areas of the Cape Peninsula. With urbanisation, forestry and agriculture, it is […]
Leucanthemum x superbum
Shasta daisy Shasta daisies are easy-to-grow; clump-forming perennials that never fail to impress. Sturdy flower stems bearing solitary, single or double white daisies appear from early summer through to the autumn and removing the spent flower stems serves to prolong the blooming season. They grow best in full sun and enjoy rich, loamy soils. They […]
Leucospermum
Pincushion, Pincushion Protea ‘Succession’ The members of the fynbos family simply hate it when you disturb their roots. But, if you know how to care for a lovely pincushion hybrid like Leucospermum ‘Succession’ it will reward you with lots of cut flowers for months on end. Plant them in pots with commercial fynbos potting soil, or […]
Limonium perezii
Sea lavender or Statice Limonium perezii This is another Canary Island plant that has adapted so magnificently to local conditions. Large broadly oval leaves are held close to the ground forming a dramatic background for the sturdy flower stems that reach up to 70 cm in height. The large flower heads are comprised of many […]