EDITOR – I couldn’t help chuckling when I read the notice of the talk on “Foolhardy Plants” in the Berea Mail of 9 August.
What, I thought to myself, would be considered a foolhardy plant? Perhaps a Mexican Sunflower which dared to establish itself in the Durban Botanic Gardens, or a Lantana (Tickberry) cheekily making a pretty display in Mitchell Park?
These plants are classified as “Invasive Aliens” and as such, would indeed be foolhardy to grow in our well-maintained public parks. Their presence would be “recklessly or foolishly bold” – the dictionary definition of foolhardy. The subject of the talk was presumably “fool proof” and “hardy” plants, and these adjectives were amusingly merged.
Rose S
Berea
* We chuckled too when we got the media release! – Editor.
