A botanical garden is a special type of place. It’s a garden but it exists for scientific purposes and not for beauty. Yet I think that most people visiting a botanical garden expect to see a beautiful place, a landscaped garden where plants are displayed with artistry. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden achieves both of these…
South Africa’s national flower is the protea. Most of us are familiar with the king protea — it’s available in florist’s shops around the world. But finding it in the wild is a totally different experience. Wild king protea growing in the fynbos, east of Cape Town. The area around Cape Town, South Africa, is…
For a week I’ve been out of the loop — no internet, no email, no phone. (It’s been frustratingly wonderful.) Instead of posting blogs, I’ve been touring game parks in southern Africa, seeing amazing animals and even more amazing trees and shrubs. Here’s a sample of some of the vegetation — a tasty buffet, as…
I was hoping that on this, my second ‘follow a tree’ post, the Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’ would have shed its winter coat. After all, the first week of April is over. But that hasn’t happened. Along with all the individuals I met up with, wandering around Montreal last week, (and wrote about here) his…
In a cold climate, even the trees wear coats. A few days ago, on the 15th day of spring, this elderly woman was putting a brave face on it. Is it just me, or do others see a resemblance to Gertrude Jekyll? These little guys, though, looked so dejected I wanted to give them a…
A few years ago, a huge tree blew down. The tree was at the edge of the lower garden, by what we call the dragon gate — a construction of vertical and horizontal pieces of painted wood that matches architectural elements on our house. The tree and the dragon gate marked the start of a…
I woke this morning to a beautiful winter’s day. The sky was blue, the sun was glinting on the newly fallen snow. Gorgeous. A glorious winter day, on the third day of spring. Except that it is meant to be spring. The vernal equinox has come and gone. Officially we are now three days into…
Ars longa, vita brevis… When Hippocrates wrote these lines, he was not referring to fine art but to the ‘art’ of medicine. In effect, he was saying that it takes a long time to acquire knowledge and to perfect skills — and we have only a short time to do that. (I’d add that the…
Lucy Corrander, an English garden blogger at Loose and Leafy, has invited bloggers from around the world to join her in ‘following’ a tree. Her invitation really caught my attention. It sounded like a great idea … a good monthly discipline and a way to focus on the changes that occur in a tree over…
Is it something in the air? Recently I’ve been reading discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of using sculpture in a garden. Does it add or detract? Some have argued in favour; others are vehemently opposed. The strongest statement of opposition I’ve read came from a New Zealand gardener, newspaper columnist and blogger named Abbie Jury.…