Weeds - In Their Defense

I've been reading a great book by Richard Mabey called Weeds.

 

Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants

Its a subject that I spend a lot of time thinking about, and if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I have strong thoughts about the proliferation of alien invasive plants.
We have a serious problem here in South Africa, with exotic, alien plants that have adapted to our conditions and are thriving and often out-competing our indigenous plants.

The feelings of peace and joy that most people derive from looking out over a seemingly natural forest valley, for me, can be a truly depressing feeling. At first glance, it may look like a serene, beautiful forest, but under the surface, there is a serious battle going on for space, food, and water...with lives being lost on a daily basis.

Montanoa - A pretty alien that frequents forest edges

That all sounds overly dramatic, and maybe it is...just a touch, but the reality is that even with our internationally renowned programmes like Working For Water, the reality is that these aliens are taking over.

If you consider that nearly 10% of the surface of our country is covered by alien plants, and every season, each one of these plants are producing hundreds of thousands of seeds, you begin to realise the magnitude of the problem facing our country and our natural vegetation. And all this is aside from their obvious threat to our own existence with the potential looming water shortages brought on in large part by these decidedly thirsty denizens.

Having said all of that, its been a refreshing read going through his book and looking at these 'evil' plants through different eyes. Even his attempts to provide a definition of what a weed is, sheds a different light on these tormentors and the symbiotic roles we have in each others stories.

I found the irony to some of his stories both tragicomic and terrifying. The story of the way in which Cogon grass has infiltrated the Southern States of the USA after its indiscriminate use of Agent Orange in the jungles of Vietnam is particularly stinging.

If you have a moment, you should definitely get hold of a copy - its well worth the read.

I've also begun a series on instagram - #invasiveplantsa - in which I've begun highlighting some of the more dangerous yet beautiful aliens. My hope is that by making them more visible, we would all be able to recognise them and do something serious about them.

You can also check out a previous post about the top 6 aliens and what to do about them.

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Wild Grass Identification Course

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm passionate about indigenous grasses, and I usually look for any opportunity to use them in the gardens I landscape.

If you have a similar fascination for this beautiful, incredibly diverse group of plants, or you want to know more about one of the most threatened plant-types on the planet, or maybe you just love the way they look as they sway in the wind, then you should definitely sign up for a course on identifying wild grasses in Southern Africa.

Wild-grass expert Fritz van Oudtshoorn - the author of the Guide to Grasses of Southern Africa (an easy to use, essential field-guide to identifying grasses) runs courses throughout the country. I was talking to him this morning about the possibility of running a grass identification course here in Durban, and he was quite keen provided there were enough people to attend the course.

If you are interested in grasses, and would like to know more about how to identify them, please email me ASAP to let me know whether you would be keen. The price of the course would be R650 per person and would probably include lunch. The course would probably be around the end of January or beginning of February 2011.

Limestone Fynbos

I was recently contacted by the Duiwenhoks Conservancy to spread the word about a book that they have put together about South Africa's quite unusual Limestone Fynbos.


Limestone Fynbos is an intriguing flora that occurs on South Africa's southern coast, wherever there are limestone hills or cliffs. Most of the plants occur in a broad sweep from Gansbaai to the Gouritz River, including pockets at Cape Point and Macassar. This flora can be divided into three natural units, Agulhas Limestone, De Hope Limestone and Canca Limestone.

Limestone Fynbos of the Vermaaklikheid Area

Limestone Fynbos is floristically very different from other vegetation. The reason for this is that these plants thrive on a soil type that would be toxic to most fynbos plants, which are normally found on acidic or neutral soils.  They grow on limestone soils, which are so alkaline that if you squeeze lemon juice on them they will fizz. It is this alkalinity in the soil that is toxic to most fynbos plants. In a remarkable adaptation to a hostile soil environment, Limestone Fynbos has evolved as a unique flora that shares only a few species in common with sandstone fynbos and sand fynbos. As one would expect from a flora that is confined to such specific soils, many plants are endemic, meaning that they grow only on such soils or even at only one locality.

At first glance, this little-known flora appears as dry woody scrub. On closer inspection a fascinating array of intriguing and sometimes tiny flowers emerge. Over the past ten years, the author Louisa Oberholzer began collecting, describing and photographing the plants in the Vermaaklikheid area of the Western Cape ( Near Stillbaai). The Duiwenhoks Conservancy provided financial support for the identification of the species and finally for the publication of the book, Limestone Fynbos of the Vermaaklikheid Area. It presents a photographic record and description of 124 species. Of particular interest are the intriguing Fabaceae, or pea-like flowers and the pungent buchus, which belong to the Rutacea or citrus family.

The book is priced at R130.00 available from the Duiwenhoks Conservancy, (info@duiwenhoksconservancy.co.za) and also from the author, (louisa.stanford@gmail.com)


This book is an important vehicle to inform the public and particularly landowners about the value of Limestone Fynbos and the importance of controlling alien vegetation, which is a major threat to all the fynbos plant communities. As people see its value, this little known vegetation type will hopefully be better protected.

Food For Thought

I'm reading a book by Barbara Kingsolver at the moment called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It begins with an honest look at the divorce in the United States between humans and nature (especially their food), and the resulting social, economic and environmental catastrophe that we humans are hurtling towards.

 A tinker reed frog I found the day after planting this Aloe

Here in South Africa, we have the fortunate ability to be able to see into the future. We are like the furthest island from an earthquakes epicentre - we are able to receive the early warning, long before the tsunami hits. We could be likened to the late adopters in trend forecasting - there is often a lag of as little as a few months to as many as a few years in our adopting of certain fashions or trends.

So you'd think we would see the consequences of another nation's life in the fast-food lane, and make the changes necessary to steer clear of the mess to follow? The sad reality is that we are so distracted by the present problems that we have little capacity or will to take advantage of this advantage and plan for the future. The result is that the warning signals go un-heeded.

There has long been an inevitable shift in allegiance from rural farm life and a dependance and understanding of nature to urban living with its attendant ills. But urbanisation, doesn't have to spell out the death of communion with nature.
 It does require a certain amount of commitment on our part though. We need to take steps every day to notice nature, and welcome, and encourage it:

In South Africa, we have a term - Local is Lekker - which means buying locally made/grown/produced, is always better. Choose food that is locally grown as opposed to buying food which needs exponential amounts of energy just to get it to your door.

Encourage nature back into your garden by planting indigenous, or better yet, endemic plants. This gives animals a natural place to eat or rest - you'd be amazed at how quickly you will see all kinds of birds and wildlife returning to your garden.

Resist the urge to throw chemicals at your problems. Pesticides and herbicides are no solution - they just delay the inevitable. In extreme cases you may have no alternative, but most times all thats needed is a little patience. Nature's own balances, will kick in soon enough.

We need to take advantage of our prophetic viewpoint in SA, and begin learning from the mistakes made by other countries.

I do believe that every little action makes a difference - if we wait for governments or politicians to pass laws or push policies to protect and improve the environment, we'll be waiting till there are no longer cows to come home. We need to resolve to take a step now, no matter how small.

Stone Designs For The Home - John T Morris

I found this book on Saturday that I couldn't put down until I had absorbed every detail in every photograph. It shows seven commissions that Stonemason John Morris has worked on during his career.

His work takes your breath away. I literally had goosebumps as I paged through the book and looked at the way he managed to fit every rock and every stone together so perfectly. From garden walls and steps, to stone cladded interiors. What makes his work even better is that it is all done by hammer and chisel.

I also appreciated his honesty as he explains how he came to be a stonemason. He says that people often assume that he has always aimed to be where he is today, when in actuality he happened on stonemasonry almost by chance.

He describes it as his calling, and it's easy to agree with him! If you enjoy stonework, then this is definitely a book worth buying.

Are things Black & White, or Shades Of Green?

As I said in a previous post I was admiring how green the grass on the artificial side is. But according to a book that I picked up today - Shades of green by Paul Waddington, in his chapter on grass, he says about artificial grass:

...it will need replacing after as little as fifteen years; it's made from fossil-fuel-derived products and it performs none of the CO2 absorption, water purification, pollution absorption or wildlife habitat services that a real lawn will provide. Won't smell nice, either. So artificial grass's status as a big sheet of dead stuff in the middle of your garden condemns it to the least green spot.

His assessment of the 'greenness' of grass was that a Wildflower meadow would be regarded as Deep Green, while a home grown, infrequently mown, unwatered lawn would be Dark Green.
If you're striving for a perfect lawn, you would be considered pale green.

The book had an interesting perspective - looking at the topic of how green various things are; from cars to bananas to the internet.
It was written in a light humorous way, but I wasn't sure how factual all his assessments were. I also thought having a chapter explaining which drugs were and were not green friendly was a little irresponsible.

There were a couple of surprises though. Apparently, green-blogging is an oxymoron? The use of the internet left a quite large carbon footprint, especially compared to TV or newspapers.

It did leave me thinking that awareness and balance, are most important. I may never be a 'dark greeny', but then maybe that's not so bad?

Trees of Eastern South Africa

I have just heard that Elsa Pooley's Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and the Transkei, is being revised and updated. It should be on the shelves by early 2009.

The new book will most probably be called Trees of Eastern South Africa, and is by Richard Boon and Elsa Pooley.
It is probably the most comprehensive and informative reference of its kind. It will include 1100 descriptions and full colour photographs of indigenous and invasive alien tree species (previously 780) as well as:

• notes on how to separate similar species
• colour maps which now cover an enlarged eastern region
• margin leaf drawings
• gardening notes and traditional uses
• fully updated family and genus descriptions
• derivations of all scientific names
• common names in most local languages
  

At the moment they are looking for sponsorship in order to make the price as reasonable as possible. If you would like to help sponsor the book, go to their website - www.floratrustkzn.com

Worth A Read Or Two

I buy a fair amount of gardening books, and I read a whole lot more. But my frustration is that they are often not easily translated to a South African context. I see tons of books that are almost useless to South Africans because they have information that is very specific to a northern hemisphere temperate climate. I feel sorry for the people who unwittingly buy these gardening books and will never be able to use them apart from coffee table books or as drool material.

Fortunately some good quality books are starting to come from places with a similar climate to ours - mainly Australia. Added to this is the fact that South African gardening books are also improving. They're starting to look less like the gardening books that I inherited from my grandmother that contained information that is now either irrelevant or outdated.

An excellent book that I found recently is - The Self-Sustaining Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Matrix Planting
Simply put, the idea behind matrix planting is a completely natural one. It is based on choosing the right plant for the right space. This minimises the amount of pruning, fertilising, weeding and all round extra work that is necessary to enable plants just to survive let alone thrive. It is a principle that is extremely important for people with minimal time and energy, as well as in places with minimal water and other resources.

I noticed a quote on the back of the book that was something to the effect of - 'The thing that separates this book from the host of gardening books out there is that it actually has something to say'.

This post will be the first of many in which I'd like to bring attention to books that I feel have something to say, especially in a South African context.

Psychotopia

While waiting for a table at Adam's Book Store's Coffee Shop I usually look for new landscaping books that will have something new or interesting in. Its not very often that I find a book that I can justify buying, but this last week I found a book that will definitely be on my list for Santa this year. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I knew I would love it when I saw it.

Avant Gardeners by Tim Richardson is a look at 50 designers/practices from around the world, and a look at the underlying principles behind their innovative approaches to garden design.

One of the chapters especially caught my eye. In it he coins the phrase Psychotopia. This is the understanding of place not only in terms of location, but also in terms of meaning. How we interact with gardens, their history, their use, ecology etc. all affect how we experience them.

Very basically put, how we look at an empty beach is different to how we would experience a beach with footsteps in the sand. The landscape has been changed by the viewer, and takes on a different feel (and effect on us) as a result.

Gardening can be/should be/is so much more than just placing pretty flowers in garden beds. Amanda Patton says "gardens, ..... must move you on a deeper level than just being visually pleasing..."

A lot has been spoken about the ability of the more traditional arts, movies, architecture etc. to effect change in the people or society that experience them. Gardens have the ability to change people in ways we haven't even begun to realise. They can be explored, moved through, discovered. They create a constantly changing scenery, opening up new vistas or creating new intimacies in a far more real way than traditional art has ever been able to.

It really is time that gardening begins to be understood as an art-form rather than just a past-time.