Gardens, Gardens, and more Gardens!

It is time for the annual open gardens in the area around Elgin. We had planned to go last weekend but the weather didn't cooperate. This weekend (Nov. 11/12) the rain has stopped and the ground has dried. The sun is trying to show its face through the clouds. The Elgin/Grabouw area is along the N2 southeast of Cape Town over Sir Lowry's Pass. This is an area packed with vineyards, orchards, gardens, nurseries, and roses everywhere. This year 21 gardens were open to the public for visits over the first two weekends in November. If there was an admission fee charged, at least part went to a designated charity.

With map in hand we drove what has become a familiar route, east from Cape Town on the N2. This takes you past Khayelitsha, one of the largest townships in Cape Town (there are over 700,000 residents) and from what we see it is hard to imagine that conditions could be much worse. There are areas where the shacks are being removed to make way for decent, more substantial housing. The immensity of this undertaking is so great, though, that it will be many years before the job is done. But it must be completed!

We get to Elgin and begin our search for the gardens we want to visit. Some we know won't be wheelchair friendly and others are not of great interest. We eventually find Keurbos Nursery Garden on Restanwold Farm. This garden is built around an indigenous plant core to which have been added what are described as 'interesting and unusual plants'. It is a nice mix of plants, many we know but a few that we have to ask about. The LRW is able to handle much of the garden but not all, and so Marcia has to sit and enjoy the sunshine while Edward explores some of the more challenging terrain. We enjoyed it nonetheless and Marcia added a few plants to her list of those of interest.

Here is a view of one of the many orchards we passed on our drive. Not sure if these are plums or apricots, but note how all the trees are espaliered. Row after row after row of such trees. And in other orchards the trees are pruned such that there is no central stem, just a bowl of large branches. Obviously labor intensive operations, but able to be done by an unskilled labor force that is large and not well paid.


We roam the countryside a bit more and then head back to the N2. There we find Peregrine Farm Stall where we have lunch and stock up on a few goodies for later. And we visit the highway branch of Keurbos Nursery where we find the newly-introduced Agapanthus variety, 'Double Diamond', a dwarf double white. We had talked about this with someone recently and we thought it might be Jenny. No matter, we bought one for her. Turns out it WAS Jenny and she was delighted to get it.

Next stop was Heaven Scent Garden on Barkai Farm. Had to really get out in the country for this one. This was a working cutflower garden with nursery. We tried LRW here but with no success. Time to get out the manual chair and give Edward a workout. We made our way with some effort and added a few more plants of interest to Marcia's list. The one at the top of her list here was the hybrid tea rose cultivar 'South Africa'. It was a wonderful golden apricot color with lots of substance. She deemed it stunning! Unfortunately, she has had no luck finding a source for it. But I suspect she will continue trying.

That was our Saturday. We headed home with the mountain in front of us and the sun in our eyes. I was a bit weary from all the pulling and pushing but both gardens were fun to visit and the area we drove through was truly beautiful. Certainly glad the weather allowed us to do this.
And here is one of the many Polygalas we have seen, both in the wild and in gardens. Some of these rate as stunning in MY book!


Having read about it in Country Life and then getting a strong recommendation from Jenny, we decided to visit the gardens at the Stellenberg estate on Sunday. This is actually located just down the road from us in the Kenilworth area. Yes, the same general area as the Race Course. But what a different world this was. This was an estate in every sense of the word. Stately buildings and grounds that were meticulously kept. Here is a picture of the main house. It just had an air of elegance about it! And there were at least 11 different garden areas, some formal and some more informal. Each was themed so as to provide a different mood. The picture below is of part of the Formal Garden. Very impressive!!
It was also the case as with the gardens yesterday that the admission fee was donated to a charity. In this case the charity was The Caring Network Trust in Khayelitsha. This group is involved in providing health care services in under-resourced communities. Last year's open days at Stellenberg raised 31,000 rand. A great way for the haves to give something to the have-nots.

Marcia found another plant of special interest. This was Thunbergia 'African Sunset'. Not sure if we will have any more success finding this one. The associated Stellenberg Nursery didn't have any currently available but the propagator assured Marcia that she had seedlings started which would be available later in the season.

And isn't the ladybird beetle cute!

Much to the amusement of a number of folks I had great fun trying to photograph the animals we saw. Here are two beauties!



Oh yeah, I forgot to say that this garden was even less wheelchair friendly than the ones we visited yesterday. That was even printed on one of the sheets used to advertise the event. Nonetheless we figured we could manage, in the manual chair of course!!!! We did get to most places but it was up and down steps, with many folks helping along the way, and through the grass and up and down the hills. My poor little body was ready for a rest when we were done. But it was worth it. These gardens were just incredible. And it is hard to imagine that this is one family's residence. Truly a different world from that in which most of us live.

On Sunday evening Marcia went with Jenny to the Evening Prayer at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Newlands, Jenny's church. She will have more to say about that in a later entry. But let me add that the result of this visit was that I had to go to St. Andrew's early Monday morning to take pictures of the church and the flowers. Marcia will explain more about that as well.

For now that about covers our garden weekend. Three very different gardens, each with something to offer. But I need to go back to work to let my muscles recover!

Edward (with notes from Marcia!)