Jenny Berrisford

28/11/1940 – 10/8/2018

Jenny B is one of those rare people who left a double legacy in her community: invisible and visible, in our special memories but also in so many landscapes around the villages of the Kogelberg.

Those special memories – Jenny telling a story with verve then our unstoppable laughter, her tales of early days in Pringle, Jenny smiling, gracious, defending the right, fun on BotSoc expeditions – Gifberg, Groenfontein.

Hardworking always, Jenny qualified as a horticulturist at the then Cape Technicon while mother of four busy children and running an export protea farm in Banhoek. In her final landscaping exam she was second in the country. Once the children were grown up, Jenny had a spell in Durban creating a nursery for indigenous plants and landscaping. Luckily for us, she returned to the magic kingdom of her childhood, Pringle Bay, opened her landscaping business and a B and B.

Long ago, Kogelberg Branch chose Jenny B as one of our ‘People of Note’ published in Veld and Flora. She had already been a staunch and active member of the branch for years giving talks, writing very comprehensive articles on fynbos gardening for our newsletter, being a long-term committee member and Vice Chairman. Once we started awarding the Society’s ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ Jenny was an early recipient ‘for her inestimable service and guidance in matters horticultural’. Just weeks before her passing, Jenny was due to give a fynbos pruning demonstration at the inaugural gathering of the Branch’s Gardeners Group.

A lasting tribute to Jenny is to be found in our Branch’s Your Place in the Kogelberg by Tim Attwell who writes: ‘Special acknowledgement of their contribution to this book is due to: Jenny Berrisford for her expert guidance on gardening and garden design.’  First on the list!

Cousins of mine emailed from Canada, ‘We remember her as a cheerful, bright and enterprising lady.’ That is our Jenny to a T.

– Merrilee Berrisford