Natural Bonsai

Whilst I admire the skills and creations of those who practice the Japanese art of growing a bonsai, a part of me feels disturbed by the procedure of purposefully stunting the growth and potential of what could be a magnificent tree with many uses.

Two years ago, my husband and I collected seeds from 6 different species of Acacia.  We went through the process of germinating and planting specimens, watching them develop and noting the different growth patterns.

From the onset, we noticed that one of our Acacia sieberiana (Paperbark) saplings was a little different.  He battled to burst forth from the hard casing protecting the seed and, in the process of shedding off the covering somehow got damaged.

We fed and nurtured all the plants with the same treatment.  Whilst all the others grew straight stems at phenomenal a rate, this little one grew very slowly with a twisted trunk.  Despite being weak and warped, he continued growing and developing himself.

Where similar plants grown for commercial purposes would have long ago been discarded, we kept this treasure and now have ourselves a natural bonsai without going through the practice of wiring his trunk to give it an artistically misshapen appearance.

The other plants are now towering young trees up to 3 metres tall and I hope they will grow into
magnificent specimens fulfilling many purposes like providing a home to wildlife, enhancing the air and providing shade.  Incidentally, my garden is far too small to grow a full size Acacia sieberiana , so, whilst I cannot benefit from sitting under the shade of my bonsai, I have the privilege of using him as the centre piece on my patio table.  I still have my view on the practice of creating bonsai, but I can now appreciate one of the advantages of owning one.  Most importantly, I played a part in creating him and did not give up on the joy of watching him reach for the sun.

Benefits of Mulch



Gazania without mulch 



When we moved into our property, the verge had five clumps of Gazania krebsiana (Gazania) growing at intervals along the wall.  Not wanting to invest too much on this area, I simply added some compost and mulch and instructed the gardener not to touch the area.  He was previously “turning the soil” with a garden fork to aerate it, but not adding any much needed organic material to it.  This was causing the soil to dry out much quickly, and disturbing the falling seeds from the gazanias, preventing them from germinating.





Gazania with mulch



The mulch used is a mixture of dried grass cuttings and dead leaves.  It’s been about 3 months since the gazanias received this new treatment and I now have new seedlings sprouting in the bed, so by January, the entire area should be carpeted in a mass of dark green leaves and beautiful flowers.  For more on Gazania krebsiana, a separate blog will follow soon.



  











Gazania  seedlings



In the meantime, here’s more on mulch...



Mulch is a layer of material – usually organic – which either forms naturally or is applied to the surface of the soil.  Establishing my new garden has involved applying a mulch to mimic a forest floor.  Mulch improves plant growth by:

• conserving moisture in the soil by reducing evaporation;
• providing additional nutrients from easily decomposed organic material;
• modifying soil temperatures (either keeping the soil cool and moist in hot periods or by allowing the soil to warm up more quickly in cooler periods);
• discouraging weed growth;
• preventing topsoil erosion.



Organic mulch can include:-


• Straw
• Leaves
• Grass cuttings
• Nut shells
• Fruit pips
• Rotted compost
• Peat

Mulch should be applied after the ground has been weeded, but before plant growth is well advanced.  The ground should be well soaked before mulching.  Mulch should be spread in a 5-8cm layer over and around the roots of plants.  A well mulched flowerbed should not require heavy watering unless there has been a long spell of dry weather.

Pebbles can be used as an inorganic mulch but I try to avoid this unless it specific to the garden design as it can be quite tedious to maintain.

Winter's tale



Wondering why I’ve been so quite?  It’s been winter and there was very little that I could do in the garden during the month of July.  This is generally a very quiet month for most South African gardeners where the bulk of the maintenance would be applying mulch and compost.  With my garden being so new, with mulch applied during the planting phase, there were no maintenance jobs required.  My only concerns were whether we would get frost and how my plants would handle the conditions.  So far, all my plants are surviving their first winter.  Only a few Chlorophytum comosum (Hen-and-Chickens) lost some leaves to frost but they have already recovered.  I just have a few more weeks to go through until I can say with certainty that the worst is over.



Felicia amelloides



However, I’m already seeing the first signs of spring:



·       Dimorphotheca jucunda (Trailing mauve daisy) have just begun flowering



·       Arctotis stoechadifolia (Trailing arctotis) has numerous buds

·       Felicia amelloides (Kingfisher Daisy) is flowering continuously.



Building Steps

There is nothing more satisfying than facing a successful building project.  I view building as a small miracle - watching a pile of bricks and mortar being transformed into a permanent structure.  However, building can also be quite daunting as it actually requires a fair amount of skill to create a stable structure from a pile of bricks.  So, realising my limited skills as a brick-layer, I chose to outsource my small building projects.

I designed steps for two sections of the garden.  Although I could see the logic of my well thought over dimensions, the builder questioned my decisions.  I stuck to my plans and, only after the job was completed did the builder admit that it actually looked “OK”. 

The main thing about building steps is to ensure that the dimensions are practical.  The tread (where your foot goes down) should be a minimum of 300mm so that the whole foot (of an average person) can rest on it.   The riser (height of the step) should be between 100mm and 175mm.

The first step is off our kitchen door.  The original step into the doorway was 26mm off sloping ground which can be uncomfortable for the elderly or disabled.  This was not really an issue for us until I ran a marathon and my stiff legs battled to lift high enough to enter the house.  I planned a small 450mm x 900mm wide step to make the entry into the house easier.



Kitchen - Before



Kitchen - After



Excuse the messy finish.  This is still work in progress.

The second step is off the patio into the “yellow room” of the garden.  There was a drop of 400mm which was also manageable on good days but totally off-bounds on marathon day.  To make a dramatic entrance into the garden, I designed a 600mm x1200mm wide step.

Patio - Before

Patio - After



Both steps were built with face bricks matching those used to build the house, with concrete pavers on the tread.

Praying Mantis

It’s always sad to lose a friend after a period of suffering.  As an onlooker, you are subjected to a feeling of helplessness.  I experienced this, albeit on a small scale, when I discovered that our beloved praying mantis was reaching the end of his life.

I found this giant praying mantis (he measured 16cm) in the garden on 5 April and subsequently saw him on a regular basis.  He disappeared for a while and then returned to our garden two weeks ago.

Last Friday I found him lying upside down next to the garage.  He was still alive but looked weak.  We moved him to the Indigofera jacunda (River Indigo) which always teems with insects, thinking that being closer to a food source, would give him the strength to bounce back to vitality.

Sadly, he was confirmed dead 2 days later.

I’ve recently learnt more about these fascinating creatures which, in memory of our garden guest, I’ll now share with you.

This insect got its common name because of its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle, suggesting a prayer position. The prayer mantis has a triangular head that can turn 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large eyes.  Being a master of camouflage, it blends into the plants on which it lives, lying in ambush or patiently stalking prey.  It feeds on a host of insects which includes moths, crickets, grasshoppers and flies, so is very useful to have in an ecological garden.

The female is notorious for her reputation as a fearsome mate as she will sometimes eat her mate just after (or even during) mating.  Yet, this behaviour does not seem to deter males from reproduction.  Their lifespan is between 10-12 months, so I hope our friend lived to this ripe old age.

Farewell...

Water Feature Installation

Last Wednesday was a national public holiday – Voting Day.  Yes, one whole day was set aside so that the country’s citizens could exercise their right to vote.  This was also an opportunity for the gardener in me to also make use of the day to exercise my right to garden!  Which is precisely what I did.  I made use of the additional labour –my dear husband – and scheduled the installation of our water feature.

I purchased a ready-made feature - a waterfall made up in a concrete mould – and a submersible pump.  I used to think that these fake rock water features bordered on kitsch, but when considering the weight of some of the rocks which we’ve unearthed, I now consider these features very practical because you don’t need excessive manpower to install it.  That’s not saying that the feature is feather weight.  Between the two of us we just managed to lift the two pieces.

I’ve used a lot of unearthed rocks from the garden to edge the flowerbeds so I asked the supplier to match my water feature to the rock colour.  This may sound a little pedantic but, in retrospect, it was definitely worth it so the feature now looks more natural.

We dug the hole, buried the base and completed the installation of the feature in a total of 5 hours (well 6 after correcting a slight error in positioning!).

I’ve planted a Freylinia tropica ‘White’ (White Honeybell Bush) at the back to provide some height and shade for the feature.  As the feature is in our orange section of the garden, I’ve chosen some orange flowering plants – Strelitzia reginae (Bird-of-Paradise), Gazania krebsiana, and Tecomaria capensis ‘Salmon’ (Cape Honeysuckle) which is broken with some finely textured Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’ (Asparagus Ferns) and Hermannia pinnata.  I interspersed some Dietes grandiflora (Wild Iris) and Crocosmia aurea (Falling Stars) as their strappy-leaves fan out to provide some softness.  I’ve also planted some Zantedeschia aethiopica (Arum Lily) to add a splash of white.

Here’s what it looks like:-

The plants still need to grow to fill up the space, but the birds are already visiting to investigate.  Just 30 minutes ago, we had an Olive Thrush perched and drinking from one of the pools.

Barleria obtusa Leaf Variation

My Barleria obtusa shrubs are doing some strange things. I bought three plants on the same day from one supplier and they looked identical. It’s now about 6 weeks since I planted them and I’ve noticed that one of the three plants looks different. The leaves are darker and bigger. Here’s a comparison with the leaves of the plants.

The odd one’s average leaf size is 8cm whilst the others are 3cm.  I initially thought that the nursery had mislabelled the sleeve, but it has the same flowers as the others. In fact, this odd one seems to have more flower buds than the other plants.  The only difference here could be the positioning of the plants. They are planted adjacent to each other with a 50cm gap between them. The odd one is ever so slightly in a more protected position and receives less direct sunshine.

This is something new to me as the books talk about Barleria obtusa being suitable for both semi-shade and full sun. It is going to be interesting to see how they grow. The shrub grows up to 75cm tall and mine are just 25cm at the moment.