Kumbula Blog

Grow Proteas from seed? I quailed at the thought. Nevertheless I sallied forth and collected seeds from the Proteas in my garden. This was a mistake - I knew little about what would be viable seed and my results were somewhat disappointing. Not to be put off, I bought seed and tried again. Success? A little. Learning? Read on...

Africa is growing desert like never before in recorded history, and there seems little hope that this trend will be stemmed anytime in the near future. Traditional gardening with leafy water gluttons is a thing of the past  with succulents winning increased popularity around the world.

Coming from a 50 year old garden where weeds had been all but eradicated, it was something of a shock to take over a garden where 'weeding' meant that you waited until you had an invasion then lightly applied a hoe to chip off the weeds at the base, leaving roots and seeds to lie in wait for the next rainfall, before sprouting and re-sprouting with ever-growing fervour. The adage 'One year's seeding, seven year's weeding' soon came to haunt me as year after year I toiled with no end in sight...

There is always some confusion as to which Lantanas are invasive aliens and which may be safely grown in South Africa. Despite some disquieting reports of nurseries claiming that the Lantana they are selling is indigenous to South Africa, I have yet to see any indigenous Lantanas on sale at any nursery I have visited or researched. I do hope the following will help to clarify the matter.

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.