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This is a copy of a post I sent to sprig.co.za last year, but am including it in my blog as well, as there are still nurseries out there selling non-indigenous lantana and providing incorrect information about it. I have so far not seen the indigenous Lantana rugosa on sale at any nursery I have visited.

There is always some confusion as to which lantanas are invasive aliens and which may be safely grown in South Africa. I did some research and hope the following will help to clarify the matter.

Indigenous lantana

A garden is grown not with money, but with tending, nurturing, time and patience.

Gardeners love sharing advice, and much of it is good and sound, but beware.  Some snippets of erroneous advice are so confidently delivered and so universally believed that they have the ring of solid authenticity, and so have entered into the world of the Garden Myth. Many of these myths have further been fueled by, amongst others, advertising, garden literature, gardening programs and videos, nurserymen, landscapers and hardware stores.

I found this little pea flower growing in dry, stony soil at Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, in semi-karoid scrub. Very scandent, it was growing within and over another sub-shrub. The pods are particularly attractive, turning pinkish as they mature. I have only seen pods like this on Lessertia (Sutherlandia) frutescens, so it may be related.

Of the more than 360 species that make up the family Proteaceae in South Africa, all but 30 are found only in the winter rainfall region of South Africa, known as The Cape Floral Kingdom.

This is a scandent perennial sub-shrub, growing in full sun and canopy shade. The tiny white flowers are quite distinctive with five fused petals, the centre, longer petal creating a landing place for insects, and the stamens are quite long and curl over from the top. The leaves are palmate with three lobes. Seeds have four chambers and look similar to those of  Grewia.

For the past several years I have been trying to identify a host of  little wild flowers growing in the wild garden.  I have had limited success in this endeavour, identifying only about half the 100+ plants for which I have photographic material. Either my search skills have hit a ceiling or the information I am seeking is stored in media to which I do not have access, quite apart from which the same plant can often take several different guises, just to trip up the unwary amateur.

This little plant grows along the edge of my property in very dry  canopy shade. I am charmed by its pretty, celery-like leaves but have not been able to find any information about it. The flowers are very small, yellow green and well hidden in the foliage. I think they may make a useful ground cover. I have dug up a few and am trying them out in two environments in the garden:  in the shade under some plectranthus, and in full sun. Both areas get occasional watering.

We had some generous rain last spring and the agapanthus in my garden, and everywhere else in the area, have shown their appreciation. All the reference materials I have researched suggest that agapanthus need plenty of water in summer, and indeed, they do perform better if water is available. But don't be put off growing this lovely old favourite if you are a little short of water. The following pictures of aggies in my garden show them growing in different mini-climates, and demonstrate that they can be truly water wise and versatile.

Summer is settling in, we've had good rain, plants are recovering, birds are singing, butterflies are flitting – did I say 'butterflies'?

Butterflies and moths, as innocent as they appear, have a definite sting in the tail. To have them we have to live with their myriad offspring which chomp, chew and generally deface our carefully raised beds of whatever it is we are growing. One of the most voracious of these is the caterpillar of the hawk moth, which is  particularly partial to arum lily leaves, and a couple of them can strip a plant of all its leaves in a matter of days.

Over the last few years my interest in the 'little veld flowers' that we seldom see as we speed along the highways, has been aroused.  They vary from shrublets to succulents, bulbs, annuals, perennials and creepers. I have collected seeds and pictures of over a hundred of these little gems (most of them from my wild garden), and am experimenting with many of them to asses their usefulness in the gardens of tomorrow. For most of these plants there is very little information available, other than my own observations, and I have not yet been able to identify others.