THREE GARDENS IN SPRING

Tim Attwell

You’ve got to love life in Rooi Els, Pringle Bay and Betty’s Bay. I mean, where else would a Monday morning at 9:00 am see twenty plus people pile into a convoy of cars to go, not to work, but to three amazing gardens in Betty’s Bay?

First was Helen George’s garden, hidden above Clarence Drive. Developed over decades on mountainside land owned by a family trust, the garden has two very different areas. The first, beautifully terraced, is a formal layout of indigenous trees, shrubs and flower beds showcasing the best of Sandstone Fynbos, Southern Afrotemperate Forest and even Overberg Dune Strandveld. Sandstone Fynbos protea species include the iconic King Protea, Protea cynaroides and Suikerbossie, Protea repens. Surprisingly they share the garden with Cape boekenhout, Rapanea melanophloeos, Yellowwoods, Podocarpus species, and Rooiels (Cunonia capensis) of the Southern Afrotemperate Forests. Every turn in the meandering lawns reveals another surprise, including various Searsia (what used to be called Rhus) species normally associated with Overberg Dune Strandveld. The pool revealed a delightful use of water – crystal clear and filtered entirely naturally by water-loving plants.

The other area is not formal, but demonstrates how minimal alteration of the lie of the land and the limited organisation of naturally occuring plants joyfully display a similar variety, the only concession to human convenience being simple pathways and spots to stop and unwind.

Second was Lindsay Birch’s garden, hidden just below Clarence Drive. The garden’s ample lawn surrounds a blackwater swimming pool that has ‘townies’ squealing with happy anxiety before savouring the delights of swimming in unchlorinated water straight off the mountain on its way to the sea. But that is only the beginning.

Combining careful conservation of naturally occurring flora with plantings of an astonishing collection of protea species, Lindsay Birch’s garden becomes more fascinating with every turn in the pathways that lead between mysterious boulders to the rocky sea shore. Lachnea densiflora that you would be hard pressed to find in a commercial nursery and bright red parasitic Hyobanche sanguinea show how Sandstone Fynbos in the upper reaches of the garden gently gives way to Sand Fynbos lower down, eventually putting you among Dune Strandveld Milkwoods (Sideroxylon inerme).

The third garden belongs to Robbie and Vicky Thomas. Vicky is a renowned botanical artist while Robbie is a legend in the propagation and conservation of some of the Cape flora’s most famous, vulnerable and critically endangered species. Who would have expected to see several specimens of the almost mythical mountain-dwelling march rose, Orothamnus zeyheri, in full flower, alongside the similarly legendary Mimetes stokoei, the story of which is thrillingly told in Peter Slingsby and Amida John’s wonderful book, T. P. Stokoe, the man, the myths, the flowers? As if that isn’t enough, the vulnerable Albertinia heath, Erica baueri, flowers a couple of metres away.

It all happens, of course, in Robbie Thomas’s nursery where rows of grafted plants hold promise of many more wonders to come, alongside the lettuce which Vicky gleefully harvests.

Robbie and Vicky Thomas have resisted to the temptation to manicure their garden, preferring to let nature do the hard yards. The result is rich with botanical variety and even includes a patch of young afrotemperate forest which takes you quite by surprise – as does the herb garden!

Many, many thanks to Helen George, Lindsay Birch and Robbie and Vickie Thomas for the warmth, hospitality and enthusiasm with which they shared their very special places with us.