10 Great Gifts for Gardeners Part 1

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I'd make a list for Santa - I hope she's reading...but if you're looking for gifts for the gardener in your life, or need some inspiration as to what to add to your list for Santa, I've got just the thing(s) for you...

1. Bird Feeder
I first saw these Bird Feeders at the I Heart Market in Durban. They come as a do-it-yourself kit, with everything you need to make your feeder right in the box. The feeder stands 18cm high by 16cm across, and can be hung from a tree or pegged on a broom handle. The kit includes a stack of little signs to bling your feeder once it's assembled.



2. Leafsnap App
Well this is not quite as helpful for us South Africans (being developed for American users), but I'm putting it on the list anyway. More in the hope that something gets developed for South African budding botanists. The name says it all - take a picture of the leaf of an unidentified tree, and using images and algorithms, the app will identify the tree for you. How amazing is that! Or maybe I'm doing myself out of a job?

 
3. Ornate Spades by Master Artist Cal Lane
These spades are not very practical, but I think Form used these to bury Function in a shallow grave. As is the case with so many beautiful things - I love the contrast she creates with her work.



4. Sasol eBirds of Southern Africa iPhone App
Yes, another app, but you'll love this if you're a big twitcher...no, nothing to do with coffee...If you enjoy the classic bird book, then you'll love this app. Its a perfect gift for avid birders or even just for casual spotting in your garden. With images, distribution maps and text descriptions for over 950 bird species found in the Southern African region, its a perfect tool to use with your iPhone, Blackberry or Android.


5. A Pile of Compost
A slightly eccentric gift to be sure, but no gardener would look a gift horse in the...er...manure maker. A load of manure or well-rotted, weed-free compost is like gold to a gardener. If you're in Durban, you can order truckloads from Allgrow or Gromor.


6. Deluxe Weather Station
Ok, this is a bit of a pricey gift, but look what it can do. If you're a climatophile and a gadgetophile (yes, I made both those words up) then this is perfect for you.

 
7. Scarecrow Sprinkler
This would have come in very handy in so many of the gardens that I've done. Its a motion sensor attached to a sprinkler head, which shoots a jet of water out every time something moves near it. Its perfect for gardens with pesky animals that love to dig in your newly planted flower beds. Just make sure that its off before doing your chores...


8. Hammock
With this gift, you're not going to get a lot of those gardening chores done, but it will be time well spent. No garden is complete without one of these.



Photo via Stairropes

 
9. Garden Hose Water Usage Meter
If you're worried about the amount of water disappearing through your hose nozzle, or want to measure how much water is being used on your very thirsty lawn, then clip this meter between your tap and hose. Definitely on my list for Santa...
 
10. Potting Bench
A potting bench is an indispensable piece of equipment for gardeners - if you've got the space, it's definitely something even the occasional gardener would make use of. Even if its just used to display your nursery-bought potted plants, to fool people into thinking you've been hard at work.

COP17 - Things Fall Apart

Its funny how we tend to leave the tidying of the house to the last minute before our visitors arrive - I tend to do a quick superficial clean-up about half an hour before hand. Durban municipality it seems is no different - I always look forward to the big events (COP17 being the most recent) that get hosted here in Durban from time to time because things get cleaned and planted up properly. Its really just window dressing, but I'm torn between embracing the effort that gets put in because at least things are being done, and feeling frustrated that things are being done in such a slap-dash, hurried way.

What's left after the last major Durban landscaping effort. Photo via Dying in Paradise

During the 2010 Soccer World Cup, thousands of palm trees were planted throughout Durban in an effort to spruce up the tourist areas, and lend a tropical aesthetic to Durban's sup-tropical climate. They looked beautiful for a couple of months before a large portion of them began dying off, leaving their cut-off stumps exposed above ground. The reason for the wholesale 'biting of the dust', was that the trees were obviously not correctly prepared before being dug out, they were often transported huge distances and then re-planted days later. All in a superficial effort to get things done at the last minute.

COP17 has now entered its second week here in Durban, and it seems a similar mindset pervades. At this stage, the talks appear to be nothing more than empty rhetoric - talks about talks, backtracking, greed and lack of commitment. The US, China and India together make up more than half of the world's carbon emissions - essentially the 3 biggest polluters of our world.
You have to wonder, what is the point of flying half way across the globe and making such a half hearted attempt at addressing the concerns of us ordinary citizens. Why did delegates from these and some of the other stiff-necked self-serving countries even bother showing up?

At the same time, I have noticed an increase in the general awareness on the issues of climate change and the environment. Its effect may well be further reaching than the fat cat politicians with their bloated expense accounts, with school children and the general public becoming for the most part, better educated. Hopefully some of the momentum that has been created by the hype around COP17 will be sustained in the long term.

Or maybe it'll be too late by then, and our children will be digging up the dead root balls of the fragile ecosystems that hold our beautiful planet together?

Deadly Dodder

It seems as if my subject matter is heading towards the dark side lately - Poisonous Cycads, and now Creepy Dodder. I promise, its purely circumstantial and no substantive change in direction…

After not having seen any Dodder (Cuscuta sp.) for about 10 years, I've spotted 2 infestations in the last week in gardens that I've visited. If you don't know of Dodder's reputation, then its about time someone passed on its diabolical legend - its really the plant equivalent of a super-villain.

Cuscuta (Dodder)

Dodder is one of the only plants that don't have chlorophyll, and therefore cannot make food from sunlight. You would think this would put it at a disadvantage, but actually, this is where the story takes a bizarre twist into the horror-genre of the plant kingdom.

Dodder is a parasitic plant which feeds on its host plant by entwining its leaves and stem, and then producing haustoria - suckers which grow into the host and then literally suck the life from its limbs. If this isn't scary enough, it also has the ability to grow from even the tiniest fragment towards its next unwitting victim. It doesn't even need to have the apparent crutch of a root system to hold it back.

It appears to have the ability to 'smell' its next victim and grow towards it - with plants surviving about 5-10 days without a host. It also spreads by seed - tiny little pea-sized seeds which germinate very easily.

All these aspects of its incredible design is also what makes it so tough to get rid of. Here are a few simple steps to rid yourself of Dodder:

1. Try to catch it early, the more there is of it, the harder it is to remove.
2. Catch it before it seeds itself - as the seeds can lie dormant for quite a while before sprouting.
3. It is best to place a piece of plastic as close as possible to where you are working to catch all the pieces of the plant that might fall onto the ground.
4. Cut back the host plant well below where the dodder attaches itself, because the plant can regrow from its Haustoria.
5. Ensure that you try to get rid of as much as possible without dropping any pieces.
6. Burn all the traces of the plant, and don't try to make compost from it!
7. Follow up - keep looking for traces of it (Go back to Step #1)

One Man's Cycad Is Another Man's Poison

Are Cycads poisonous?

I was recently asked this question, and realized that it's something not too many people know about. The plain answer is yes, Cycads are poisonous, but as with most things plant related, when you dig below the surface you'll find some interesting things.

Most parts of Cycads contain toxins that can, when eaten in large enough doses, cause sickness and even death. But the ironic thing is that the Afrikaans name for a Cycad is a broodboom (lit. Bread Tree). This comes from the fact that in South Africa and in many cultures around the world, the seeds of Cycads have been used to make flour.

In South Africa, legend has it that a group of Boer soldiers were hiding out in the hills - after a while they got hungry and decided to try cooking and eating the seeds - for the next few days they were laid out in pain, before recovering sufficiently to keep going.

In Australia, an aboriginal tribe would prepare the seeds by putting them in water to leach out the toxin, this would take about four days. The seeds were considered safe to eat once fish had started to nibble on it. At which point, the seeds were then ground down into flour and made into bread. (don't try this at home - and if you do, don't invite me)

But don't go out and uproot your Cycads in a hurry. If you consider how many gardens have Cycads growing in them, and yet cases of poisoning are extremely rare.

Just as a side note - Cycads are a rather large group of plants. In South Africa, the Encephalartos (usually spiny) and Stangeria (stemless) are indigenous, while the Cycas - commonly known as Sago Palm (softer leaves with relatively small spines at the base) is not. Indigenous Cycads are a protected plant in South Africa.

Medicinal Plants Training

Plants were once our primary source of medicines, only to be replaced by Western medicine (usually coming from plant extracts). South Africa has been particularly blessed with an abundant source of medicinal plants, and a wealth of knowledge which is an important part of our natural heritage.

Prof. Ben-Erik van Wyk, author of the book “Medicinal Plants of South Africa”, is hosting a 1 day course at the Pretoria Botanic Garden on the 12 November 2011. The cost is R550 per person, and I'm sure it will be very interesting for anyone with a fascination for medicinal plants.

Contact Jolene at info@alut.co.za or 014 717 3819 to book for the course.

Bringing a Concept to Reality

Ok...well...it's been a while since I've had time to blog. I've had several projects on the go which have been taking up a lot of my time.

But I'm happy to say that the one that has been giving me the most sleepless nights lately, and the endeavour I'm most proud of, is the arrival of my daughter Emily Ann...

Romead Business Park - an inspiring green approach

Romead Business Park is quite an exciting project that I've been working on over the last year.  A prominent developer was looking for a new home for their offices, and rather than finding a cookie-cutter building for their offices, they decided to create their own space, and hopefully attract others with their same ideals.

Common Areas Landscape Plan for Romead Business Park

Their approach to the entire project has been quite refreshing. They found a property that was nestled in the escarpment below Kloof which was ideal from so many perspectives - a beautiful piece of land right between the Umbilo river and a part of the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D'MOSS). Part of the trade-off of developing on a slightly degraded section of this site, was to give a large portion of the property to be used as Open Space.

Grassland above Romead - the landscaping should eventually return to this

Their ethos behind the development has been quite inspiring - they have been looking for any viable opportunities to approach the project from an environmental perspective, which in these tough economic times is quite a brave stance. But altogether necessary from a long-term point of view. It's been an ethos that has come at a cost - both emotional and financial!

The design code for the development has been quite comprehensive and pioneering, and - I believe - one of the best guides for development from an architectural and landscaping perspective in Durban.

Some of the ideas that have been looked at, and in some cases, written into the design codes are solutions like rainwater harvesting, wind-turbines, creating mulch and compost from the existing vegetation on site, the use of indigenous planting and an approach that places an emphasis on the balance between aesthetics and function.

As the Business Park begins to gain momentum, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.