Leisure Bay Conservancy Open Garden Weekend features four indigenous gardens
These stunning but very different green creations are sure to inspire visitors and to encourage the use of native plants.
FOUR wonderful and varied indigenous gardens will go on show during the Leisure Bay Conservancy open garden weekend, June 16 and 17, from 10am to 4pm daily.
All gardens are situated in Leisure Bay, in close proximity to each other so visitors will have a chance to see them without travelling too far. Tickets are R30 per person and give you access to all four gardens.
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Two of the show gardens, belonging to Stephanie and Piet Breedt and to Libby and Mick Goodall, were part of a previous open garden show, some 10 years ago. Local gardeners who attended that event will have a chance to see how these lovely green creations have matured.
The Breedts’ garden, at 1311 Fisherman’s Drive, was almost brand new then. It has now come of age. Trees planted back then have grown amazingly and are the backbone of an informal but striking layout that invites exploration.
Piet and Stephanie are knowledgeable amateur botanists and their garden is a showcase of local flora, including some interesting plants that are endemic to an area known as the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, which includes both the Umtamvuna and Oribi gorge Nature Reserves. Look out for these Pondoland specials when you visit the garden.
The Goodalls have owned their home, Plumbago, at 546 St Ives Avenue for about 30 years but the gorgeous mini-game reserve of a garden has roots that go back much further than that.
They are passionate conservationists as well as indigenous gardening gurus so when they bought the two adjoining properties that make up their garden they were delighted to find this land was almost pristine bush. Since then they have kept everything as natural as possible.
Pathways, focal point arrangements of form plants, bird baths and planters as well as patches of lawn give this delightfully wild garden some structure and that extra ingredient that makes it a very special garden.
It’s wild and wacky, but the quaint and wayward garden at Lot 1668, Seaton Avenue, which belongs to Mark Getliffe and Julian Bailey, is sure to attract plenty of attention when it goes on show.
African art, recycled treasures and amazing junkyard finds are used to create interest and there are all sorts of pathways, nooks and crannies to explore. Far from conventional, it is loads of fun and is a garden guaranteed to put a smile on your face when you visit it.
A complete contrast it the well-structured and beautifully designed garden at ‘Kalimera’, the home of Merle and Trevor Strachan at 1668 Seaton Avenue. It is a particularly useful addition to the show garden line-up as it demonstrates very clearly the versatility of indigenous plants that can even be used successfully in a fairly formal garden.
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It has sweeping lawns, generous garden beds and well-wooded sections under which shade gardens have been cultivated. Of particular interest to gardeners who visit this lovely garden will be Merle’s wonderful collection of shade-loving Plectranthus species.
For information about the open gardens and the availability of tickets, contact Libby at 082 5616993, Mark at 082 4282087, Stephanie at 083 3029382 or Merle at 083 4075219.
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