The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

Ok, I'm not holding out for my Nobel Prize, but I have got this roof gardening thing down to a simple, easy to use formula. Here it is, but remember, you saw it here first:

roof garden + high winds = hard, scary work

Throw in the fact that even though the artificial grass we were laying weighs nearly one and a half tons, and was being lifted by the wind as if it was a pancake being flipped on a teflon pan, and the fact that there is no real service elevator to get the couple of tons of materials up onto the roof of the 10 storey building...well lets just say my calf muscles would now give Usain Bolt a run for his money.

Why I'm Wild About Indigenous Grasses

I read a comment the other day that stated quite matter of factly that using wild grasses in your garden is no longer fashionable...what? When did wild grasses ever reach any kind of recognition that puts them in the fashionable bracket? I haven't checked recently, but I don't think they want to be fashionable anyway. If anything, I don't think we've even begun to explore the beauty and the practicalities of using bunch type grasses.

photo by kevindooley

Here's a few reasons why I think you should find a corner of your garden to plant some indigenous grasses:

1. Grasslands need to be protected...Most people are surprised to know that grasslands are the most threatened biome in South Africa, but even more surprising is the fact that the biodiversity of our grasslands is second only to the species richness of our world famous fynbos.


2. Birds and butterflies and other creatures love grasses...Now I'm not suggesting that by planting wild grasses in your garden, it comes anywhere near to making up for the destruction to this sensitive vegetation type. But by planting grasses, you will definitely attract birds and insects that would normally skip over your garden in search of more hospitable habitats.


3. Wild Grasses look amazing...From an aesthetic point of view, there is not much that beats the sound and look of tall grasses being blown in the wind, or the early morning dew that sparkles on cobwebs and leaf blades.


4. Veld Grasses are easy to maintain...There is also not much to maintaining a good sized area of wild grasses. If you consider that once established, you need only cut it back once a year to let the new green growth take over from the old bronzed foliage.


5. Bunch Grasses are a great way of retaining soil...The roots of most grasses go down fairly deep, and therefore help anchor the soil. So that even in times of heavy rainfall, you can relax knowing that your precious topsoil is not going to be washed out to sea.


6. Native Grasses conserve water...you need very little water to keep indigenous grass looking good - in fact, you shouldn't really have to water them at all once they are established.
   

photo by nullboy

Wherever you are, and whatever you call Veld Grass (Steppes in Russia, Pusztas in Hungary, Pampas in South America, or Prairies in North America), there are a wide selection of plants to choose from that will add an incredible amount of beauty to your garden. I will provide a selection of great indigenous grasses that you can use in your garden in a post soon.

If you still need convincing look at the some of the masters of using wild grass in the garden - Dan Pearson and Oehme & Van Sweden.

Now that I think about it, don't just find a corner to plant some grasses, why not plant your entire garden just using grasses.

Topical Tropical

I've heard it said that you can tell a lot about a person by the business they run. A visit to Tropical Nursery in Sherwood (a suburb of Durban), is quite an informative experience, and reveals a lot about the amiable owner - Frank Edwards.

Tropical is always well stocked with the usual plants, pots and nursery-ware. But it's the fact that you can find some quite unique and interesting plants that sheds some light on who Frank is.
The main clue though, as to his eccentricities - are the poems, sayings and garden/life wisdom that are scattered around the nursery. Look out for the city of Gondolin built around a water feature in the middle of the nursery.

To top it all off (literally), Frank's home is a tree house at the top of a beautiful Acacia growing in the heart of his nursery. He is something of a bohemian character to say the least.

But Frank is also leading the way in sustainable living. In attempting to lessen his environmental impact, he has installed a solar geyser for hot water, a worm farm to deal with some of his kitchen waste, and the latest project is an electricity generating wind turbine.

Paula Osborn from Inkanyiso Sustainable Systems - the company that installed the wind turbine says that the plan is to create sufficient energy to run Frank's home and office, and possibly even feed back into the grid.

At this point in time, there is little in the way of financial encouragement from the government, or municipality to make it worth the investment in the equipment necessary. The only pay-off being the self satisfaction in doing what you can for the environment around you.

Going off-grid (creating all your own electricity using 'green' energy) has become quite vogue in environmental circles, but feeding back into the grid is one step better - Germany is one of the countries that has been leading the way for quite some time. An article on Wikipedia states that: "In 2005, 10 per cent of electricity in Germany came from renewable sources and 70 per cent of this was supported with feed-in tariffs."

Apart from trying to educate the public, Paula is working on a few other projects - A Community Gardening program, to make growing beds of vegetables easier for the average person, and experimenting with several different vermiculture methods. She also sells worms for any budding vermiculturists out there?

If you are in the area, and have time these holidays - take a trip to Tropical Nursery, and spend some time looking around - you'll come away a little wiser!

Limb-eating insects

Ok, thats a pretty scary sounding title for this post. But actually it is quite scary what these insects seem to be able to do. This branch fell down on top of 2 cars that were parked innocently on the side of the road.

On closer inspection, you can see the core of this branch had been entirely eaten away, and there were insects busy trying to burrow away deeper into the tree.

There were 2 of these insects on the ground next to the severed limb. They were anemic-looking and slightly translucent, and both were about 2 inches long. It looked like 2 pairs of wings were busy forming close to the head. Any ideas as to what this creature is?

Falling branches and trees seems to be on the increase in Durban lately. The windy conditions don't help, but at the core (literally) of this problem seems to be insects that eat their way into the trunks and branches of trees. Most often its white ants, but it seems other insects seem to be capable of just as much damage.

The problem is that this is all happening below the surface of apparently healthy trees. Looking at the tree itself there were no obvious signs of the damage being done on the inside. This is something that will start happening more often now that a lot of our street trees have matured and are showing signs of old age and weakening, and are therefore more susceptible to insects and disease.

Indigenous Beauties - Bird attracting garden

My team and I are busy with the tidying of the garden of a beautiful old Durban home. It has a well established indigenous garden, with some exceptional plants.

Halleria lucida - Tree Fuschia

The Tree Fuschia is a great plant for attracting birds. Sunbirds in particular love the nectar that they get from the tubular flowers that sprout profusely from the Halleria's stem. Fruit loving birds also love the green berries that appear in Spring.
Its an excellent plant when you're looking for fast growth, and it grows to a height of anything from about 3m to about 15m. It will grow in full sun or semi-shade, but will look better in a slightly sheltered spot.
It has been used medicinally for skin and ear problems.

Carissa bispinosa

The Carissa, or amatungulu is a very useful plant. It has attractive white flowers, which appear in Summer, followed by bright red fruit, which are high in vitamin C. The fruit are used to make a delicious jam.
It grows in Sun or Semi-shade, and does quite well on windswept dunes. It is often grown as an impenetrable hedge, as it is covered in painfully sharp forked spines.
It is relatively fast-growing once established, but takes a while to get going. It will reach about 3m in height if left, but looks better when cut back into a dense shrub.

Schotia brachypetala

The Schotia is also known as the Weeping Boer-boon (Farmers Bean) . It has been given this name because of the huge amounts of nectar that drip from the beautiful bright-red flowers, and because its pods are shaped like beans. Because of the dripping nectar, its best not to plant it too close to paved areas, or near parked cars. Nectar-loving birds are frequent visitors to this tree. Its relatively fast growing, and reaches about 15-20m high and wide.

Some of the other well-established bird-attracting plants were Aloes, Cussonia, Indigofera, Polygala, and a Toad Tree. One plant I couldn't identify, which had an amazing sweet scent was this little shrub (1.5-2m high):

Any ideas as to what it is?

Behind The Scenes - Rooftop Garden

Its always a good feeling being called in to continue with a garden that you've planted years before. Its good to know that your garden has been appreciated.

I was called recently, by a client that I did work for about 5 or 6 years back - they've done some renovating and re-done the paving around the pool and house. In keeping with the fresh start to their home, they wanted to re-look at the garden.

A lot of the garden had been damaged by the builders (as usual), some plants had gotten a bit out of hand, but in general the garden wasn't looking to bad. Although it must be said, that it is hard for the garden to look bad, when your views from it are so good!


This garden was a little tricky, in that being a roof garden, it had a very shallow space for roots. Also, because it was so exposed, wind would exacerbate the problems associated with shallow roots. Another design consideration, was that my clients wanted to display their sculptures that they had collected on their travels.

The solution, was to plant grasses and flax-type plants (e.g. Dietes, Dianella, Liriope), that would create different textures and colours. These would not only be wind-resistant, but would look at their best as they moved in the wind. They would also, not need a deep space for roots. In between we planted small perennials (e.g. Agapanthus, Kniphofia) that would flower and add touches of colour.
We created paved axis, along which the sculptures would become the focal points, with the city skyline as the backdrop.


While I was taking these photos, a pair of Egyptian Geese flew past, and decided that the pool was a great resting point.

Now to begin, the planning for the new-look for this roof-top garden...