Vojka’s garden is her haven and therapy
Meet Vojka Kuskunov, the lady with the green fingers and vast knowledge of flowers, plants and gardens in general.
VANDERBIJLPARK – Walking into Vojka Kuskunov’s garden feels like entering a different world. There are plants, from flowers to herbs and vegetables, everywhere.
Vojka is an endless source of wisdom and gardening knowledge. She grew up in Serbia.
“We lived on plots in the mountains. Gardening was a way of life. Everybody grew their fruits, veggies, and flowers. I inherited a love for gardening from my grandmother and father, and I love it.”
She and her husband left war-stricken Serbia in the early 1970’s. First to Vienna and then they came to South Africa.
“9 June 1975. My husband was a millwright and here he got employed and we stayed.”
They bought her house in 1979. “I decided then that the garden must be self-sufficient. Gardening is an expensive hobby.”
She started growing plants from seedlings and pieces of plants she found everywhere.
Over the years she has sold many seedlings to nurseries, and flowers to people. “I give plants and flowers away too. They make beautiful presents, but I don’t like the plants leaving,” she laughs.
Vojka loves her garden so much that she can’t stand leaving it for more than a couple of hours at a time.
“Gardening was my therapy when my husband passed away in 2018. I’m happy when I can work in the garden. Although I sometimes tend to do too much of the hard work,” she confesses with a twinkle in her eyes.
Her day starts early attending her chickens in a part of the yard aptly named Chickenlandia. “I have a special breed, the Speckled Sussex chickens, and mix-breeds.”
There are flowers everywhere you look from the front gate to the back yard. “It looked better a couple of weeks ago, but then it hailed. My roses were completely shattered.”
Vojka is a positive person by nature because she immediately follows the sad news up with, “hail is good for your garden, it provides much-needed nitrogen.
Even when not working in the garden, she watches YouTube videos about gardens or writes tips and articles for other gardeners.
“I belong to Vanderbijlpark’s Erica Garden Club. We meet once a month and then I love to give gardening talks.
She knows all the plants in her garden by name and has many a scarce variety. Of course, the garden is a birds’ paradise, although her Jack Russel, Trixie hates the Hadedas.
“Trixie is a hunter by nature. That’s why she may not enter Chickenlandia, but she likes spending as much time working in the garden as I do.
