It’s at this time of year when the trees are full of blossom and the sun is warming up the earth that we turn our thoughts to the summer ahead in our gardens. I don’t know about you but I love this time of year when I can re-engage with the natural world and get my hands all dirty weeding and planting up my seedlings. And judging by the queues at the garden centre I am not the only one….
South Africa is a place famous for its beautiful scenery and it is also home to some very fine gardens. If you are a fan of gardens then it makes for a fantastic holiday destination. Just remember that belonging to the Southern Hemisphere their spring is our autumn and vice versa! In fact there is even a stretch of coastline called the Garden Route famous for its stunning lush green scenery along the way. The Garden Route stretches all the way from Cape Town in the west to Port Elizabeth in the east and it takes in pretty towns and villages along the way including Hermanus, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. The maritime climate means that it is a green and verdant land filled with gardens, farmland, meadows and forests all full of beautiful flowers and trees.
Another great place to soak up some garden time and perhaps have a picnic is on one of the wine estates not far from Cape Town. Boschendal near Franschhoek is one such estate which offers beautifully landscaped grounds and a top of the range picnic served in a wicker hamper. These are very popular for engagements and special occasions as they have such a lovely backdrop. The rest of the Winelands are also very much worth exploring and not just for the food and wine! There are also lots of pretty towns and villages with Dutch colonial cottages and delightful gardens to explore too.
You cannot visit South Africa without seeing the fynbos which makes up part of the Cape Floral Kingdom. This is a unique type of heathland which can be found on the western cape of South Africa. It is famous for being home to a vast range of bio-diversity and endemic species of plants. There are in fact over 9,000 plant species in the fynbos of which 6,200 can only be found there. Table Mountain itself supports 2,200 species of plants which is more than the whole of the UK! This kind of bio-diversity is usually only found in rainforests and the fact that the South African fynbos is a dry, Mediterranean climate makes it unique and very special indeed. The fynbos covers about 6% of the area of southern Africa but it is actually home to half the species on the entire subcontinent and a fifth of all the plant species in Africa.
One place you mustn’t miss is the world famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. These stunning gardens sit at the foot of Table Mountain and they are filled with many rare and unusual plants as well as beautiful vistas at every turn. There are 1,300 acres of gardens to explore with different themed areas and glasshouses. It is home to the fynbos and over 22,000 indigenous plants making it a great place to see many varieties of the South African national plant, the Protea, in all its various colours. Kirstenbosch is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. You can even go back in time some 3.2 billion years ago in the Gondwanaland Garden which displays types of plants that evolved way back when there was only one continent on Earth, Pangaea. Kirstenbosch truly is one of my favourite places in the whole of South Africa!
Posted by Ruth
