Rocking the World

A few months ago we updated the readers of this blog about the huge rockery we are creating at the entrance of our humble enterprise.

The American part of this rockery (closed in by sections with succulent plants from Australia and the African continent) has already progressed in such a manor that we could put rocks around the plants. In a later stage we will plant some smaller succulent plants between the rocks.

We don’t believe in instant gardens. A garden has to grow.

The existing (restored 1965) garden is looking great despite the early Winter here in South Africa:

A view in the restored 1965 succulent garden of Soekershof

At the entrance of our Klaas Voogds Maze, here at Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa, we created in 2003 a classical 5-circuit labyrinth of Echinocactus grussonii (Golden Barrel Cactus or Mother’s in law cushion) which we sowed in Febrary 2001. This picture was taken last week:

 And here is the Labyrinth Mother:

Just an example (we use it for our nursery customers) of a simple, easy to maintain succulent garden. We made it within 4 hours (3 staff) including the sculpture. Plants used are diverse Echiveria species and Aloe barbadensis (Aloe vera).

It’s ideal for people who want to have a different garden but don’t have the time for extensive maintenance.

At Soekershof, Private Mazes & Botanical Garden in South Africa, we are continuously busy creating new gardens. Some are simple to make (see picture); others can take a few years before they are ready. For the rockery at the entrace we count that we still need two more years to finish it. Partly because we are still growing plants which are still too young and partly because it’s very labour extensive to arrange rocks (different sizes and colours etc.) and gravel between it. The rockery (below an artist impression of how a part of it looks now) covers a surface of around 2000 sqm (almost 1 acre) and is divided in a caudiciform garden; Australian/Asian succulent garden; American succulent garden and an All Africa Succulent Garden. Yes; we are ‘Rocking the World’.

We are proud to have hosted Eulalie Baudet from Blois in France for a couple of months. She studies landscaping at ‘L’ecole nationale supérieure de la nature et du paysage’. This study (only for promising and very talented students from all over France) is a very extensive one and it takes at least five years to complete including practicals around the globe. Eulalie is a second year student (her father being one of the top landscapers in Bretagne) and she is extremely entrepreneurial and creative. In the past few months she designed and implemented some aesthetical improvements at the entrance and along the road and designed and created a classical French garden with, very unusual, succulent plants.  For now the design. It’s a fully symmetrical garden and in the future when the hedge shrubs around it are more mature it will be a real resting point where one can sit and wonder all day.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc112/soekershof/DesignclassicalFrenchsucculentgarde.jpg 

On our website you can find a brief history of cacti in South Africa. Last night we received a nice addition from the USA:

“The restablishment of the Soekershof garden after many years of
neglect is fantastic — the photos were fantastic.  Here is what I
have in my records for Marthinus Malherbe:

Nananthus (Aloinopsis) malherbei was named after him and he
discovered Haworthia comptoniana, now Haworthia emelyae var
comptoniana.”

In addition to this: The name SHEILAM is an abbreviation of the names of his children. During the first 15 years the nursery was named SHEILA and the M was added in 1951 when his (second) wife gave birth to their daughter Marsha.

Here at Soekershof, Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa, it’s a challenge to grow all kinds of succulent plants outside.

Even so called ‘difficult’ ones.

Of the Ariocarpus species it was said to us, four years ago when we acquired them, that it is impossible to grow them under the open sky in South Africa.

But we do. We created an elevated acre with poor sandy, rocky, soil with additional drainage 20 centimeter beneath the surface. And they are still growing; they are even flowering every now and than.

Some people ask us, with their enquiries, why we don’t have a restaurant on our premises or a craft shop like the botanical gardens of Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, Harold Porter in Betty Bay and the Karoo Botanical Gardens in Worcester; just to mention the ones of the National Botanical Institute of South Africa within the Western Cape.

“Soekershof is in the first place what a garden, in our view,  should be; a place of calmness, relaxation and contemplation. It’s not designated for mass tourism but for people who can enjoy Life in a slow pace”, is every time more or less our answer.

Don’t expect the banter of restaurants, coffee corners, craft shops but an experience ‘Pure from the Heart’.

For us it sounds crazy to get a subsidy of 3.2million Rand (approx. 500,000.00 USD) to make a parking at the entrance with a restaurant next to it as happened at one of the mentioned gardens. If that’s the way of making a revenue out of a garden ……….

And we are proud of doing it our way; in peaceful harmony.

Recently Soekershof Walkabout, Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa, welcomed two lovely guests from Maryland, USA; Edmund Snodgrass and his wife Lucie.

This couple is the author of the book ‘Green Roof Plants’ (ISBN 978-0-88192-787-0). It includes photographs and cultural information about more than 200 species and cultivars including data about heat tolerance, moisture needs, hardiness and so on.

This practical handbook is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the subject and covers it all; from roof construction and plant selection to soil medium and maintenance.

In combination with solar (photo-voltaïc) energy a roof garden with its insulating qualities can, especially with the South African power outages, contribute to significant less dependence of public electricity supply and less energy use for cooling (in Summer) and heating (in winter).

The book can be ordered in any ordinary bookshop or, online, via Amazon.

The blogsite of Urban Habitats is also a useful source for people who want to know more about roof gardens.

Another useful blog is that of Durban based landscaper Ross Nevette.