My spring garden

Spring is here in South Africa. And I'm one of the lucky people whose garden hardly missed a beat during the cold, dry winter months. The reason for this (IMHO) is that I garden primarily with drought-resistant, hardy and indigenous plants and shrubs. I also have a wonderful gardener in John Tsie.  Since I returned to SA 18 months ago, he and I have revamped and reestablished the lawns, beds and shrubs surrounding the house. I taught John to make a compost heap way back in 2006 and although he'd neglected it somewhat while I was in Africa, he and I have recreated beautifully moist, black compost. This has done wonders for the ground when it is dug into the beddings and spread onto the lawn. 

One of the first perennials to flower as the weather warms up is the Banksia Rose. This isn't native to South Africa but boy, is it hardy and is it beautiful. Wherever you drive through town, this climber rose is flowering over fences and gate posts - in profusion. 

My Banksia Rose cascades over the gate posts every September through mid-October - as seen from the street

A close-up of the dainty roses 

Glorious against the sky

Bulbines - which are indigenous and my all time favorite perennial,  flower abundantly along the sidewalk outside my garden

The sidewalk from our motor driveway - John and I always plant swathes of the same flowers - to great effect

The garden along the driveway leading up to the motor gate

The view from my office window

A view of the front garden 

Looking back down the driveway to the patio and garages

A walled area off the patio - with bird feeders and holes that Eddie digs to lie in! 

Another view of the garden along the driveway

The back garden (which is the front garden from the patio, LOL) with the Melianthus cosmosus tree in the foreground

The view from the back garden along the side of the house - to my bedroom window where our three cats sit on my kist and enjoy the sunshine

Another one of my favorite indigenous perennials is the Gazania Rigens. This is a half-hardy ground cover which creates a carpet of beautiful soft green leaves with yellow flowers. It's native to Southern Africa but has been naturalized in other countries: the Central coast and Sydney regions of NSW and South East Queensland and the peninsula of Eyre 

Gazania Rigens

This is my world today - I hope you enjoyed it. You can read about other worlds on Our World Tuesday here as well. 

On a note from comments on my Saturday blog: I was asked what "moo-poo" was. It's cow manure/ a cow pat and Skabenga absolutely loves to pick a piece up on his walk to munch on as we return home! 

HAPPY TUESDAY TO YOU ALL