Woman to Woman at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Janet

Every spring, the Toronto Botanical Garden rolls out the carpet (literally) for a bevy of beautiful women and a growing gaggle of gorgeous gentlemen for their annual fundraiser Woman to Woman Lunch in the Garden. It’s a chance for us all to dress up in our flowery finery…..

… while supporting the initiatives of the most beautiful little 4-acre garden in North America, surrounded by spectacular blossoms…..

… as we sip white wine and pink champagne….

….and sample the most amazing tiny plates of savoury delights from the TBG’s approved Toronto catering vendors. (You can designate any of these great caterers for a wedding, party or other event at the TBG!) And there are delish little desserts served in the most creative ways….

…. such as these gorgeous spoonfuls mounted on a funhouse mirror from Eatertainment Catering. And may I just say that their petite Bananas Foster is like a mini-trip to savour the original at the famous Brennan’s in New Orleans! And I’ve been to Brennan’s!

But let’s not stop there. What about these darling floral cupcakes and rainbow-hued French macarons from Daniel et Daniel Catering?

Or these beautiful little shot-glass mousses from A La Carte Kitchen Inc.?

I sampled these sweet treats from A La Carte. Yum. Hungry yet?

But for most of us, Woman to Woman is all about the hats, which are judged very seriously with awards to the winners. (I was a judge one year – such fun!) Hats like this bird-friendly design….

….and this elegant homage to monarch butterflies…..

…and this luscious English country garden!

Toronto Star gardening columnist Sonia Day was there wearing a vegetable garden with allium seedheads (her specialty out in the country).

It came complete with seed packages!

And urban planner and former TBG Fundraising Chair Lindsay Dale-Harris was rightfully proud of her custom design! Love the pussy willow touch.

And as I wrote in my last blog, I came decked out in perfumed lily-of-the-valley.

It was a great opportunity for old friends to catch up in a gorgeous setting on a couldn’t-be-more-perfect last day of May.

Later, the woman in the middle, above, demonstrated her hat’s built-in lighting. How cool is that?

Meanwhile, in one of the two tents set up in the garden, friends at sponsored tables enjoyed chatting and dining together…..

….while listening to TBG Executive Director Harry Jongerden talk about the plans for the garden’s big expansion. And the city is now moving forward with consultant plants on this exciting prospect! Go Harry!

Canada Blooms doyenne Kathy Dembroski was there looking cool as vanilla ice cream on a hot May day. She and her husband were the generous lead donors of the beautiful LEED-certified George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture that is the flagship building of the ‘new’ (2005) Toronto Botanical Garden.

Oh! Would you like to see that gorgeous building? Here’s a leafy view from the side…..

…and one from the back showing the green roof and the lovely Westview Terrace. (And look at those little kids climbing the Spiral Garden!)

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Back to our Woman to Woman lunch. Society photographer Aline Sandler was there snapping her shutter and dressed to the nines with a whimsical fascinator and trademark fingernails bearing little flowers!

And behind Aline was fabulous floral designer Nicholas Smith of Opening Night Flowers. His luscious designs could be seen at the courtyard of lead luncheon sponsor Tiffany & Co.

Incidentally, the highest silent auction bid of the day was for “breakfast at Tiffany’s” for a lucky bidder and her friends — even Holly Golightly would have opened her chequebook for that one! And here, have a “little blue box” – they’re delicious!

Another of Nicholas’s elegant creations for Tiffany.

It was fun to see women enjoying each other’s company all over the gardens, like these lovely bluebirds…

…and this stylish pair…

There were comfy tables set up for dining on the Westview Terrace.

And leather sofas to relax on under the marquee in the perennial garden.

It was fun to meet Carol Rhodenizer, below, the mother of the TBG’s hardworking communications director Jenny Rhodenizer!

I absolutely loved this little vintage cloche…

…and this was pure classical elegance with the perfect, upswept coiffure.

I was very impressed that this guest matched her lipstick to her fascinator orchids!

And though the hat creations were mostly the stuff of fantasy, I couldn’t help thinking this one might have been inspired by love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena).

All in all, a wonderful afternoon with happy, fun people supporting a fabulous little garden .that should be just the intimate heart of a much bigger botanical garden for our fair city, the 4th largest in North America. As in 1) Mexico City (8.85 million), 2) New York (8.55 million), 3) Los Angeles (3.97 million), 4) Toronto (2.82 million), 5) Chicago (2.72 million). Something that might look a little like the sketch below. What an exciting time for us, as plans move forward.

Here are a few of my June images of the garden from past years. Peonies, lilac, meadow sage, catmint & amsonias in the Piet Oudolf-designed entry border.

More peonies with alliums, Phlomis tuberosa ‘Amazone’ & the white form of Geranium phaeum along the driveway.

Billowy Bowman’s root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) in front of the Garden Hall courtyard.

Paul Zammit’s fabulous windowboxes and pots at the base of the Spiral Garden. (And if you like this, have a peek at the blog I wrote on Paul’s container wizardry!)

And one of Paul’s brilliant urns in the Perennial Garden.

The Westview Terrace looking stunning, with Indigofera kirilowii in full bloom.

And the Beryl Ivey Knot Garden with its formal parterres, as seen from the top of the Spiral Garden. Beyond is the hot, sunny Terraced Garden and the Perennial Garden, upper right.

And that’s just a very small taste. Onward and upward, our lovely TBG!

Remember Forget-Me-Nots!

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Janet

Okay, corny headline. But I do want to use this blog – the second of my “blue for April” blogs – to ‘remember’ how much I adore the effect of forget-me-nots in the spring garden. Sometimes, on a lovely May morning, as I’m looking at the robins bathing in the lily pond in my back garden, I’ll squint a little and imagine what it would look like without that lacy froth of light blue under the ‘Red Jade’ crabapple tree. Dirt, that’s what it would look like, and the emerging green of perennials, of course. But not nearly as enchanting as the soft blue cloud that floats around the lily pond.

Forget-me-not – Myosotis sylvatica. The botanical name comes from the classic Greek word for the genus, muosōtis, from mus- ‘mouse’ +ous, ōt- ‘ear’. And the specific epithet sylvatica means “of the forest” or woodland. So, mouse-eared plant of the woodland. As for the common name, it comes from the German: Vergiss-mein-nicht (appropriate, because it’s a European plant) I can’t think of another plant that gives so much and asks so little. Reasonable soil with a little moisture, that’s it. And when I say “soil”, I’m measuring in square inches, because that’s the way forget-me-nots plant themselves. Biennial, they only need a tiny patch of ground to germinate those prolific seeds in late spring, content to grow their roots and develop a small rosette of leaves in the first summer.

Then next spring, up they pop and away they go, flowering for weeks on end, their sky-blue blossoms a tonic with all the yellow spring lavishes around – like basket-of-gold (Aurinia saxatilis), seen here.

But speaking of yellow, forget-me-nots exhibit an interesting evolutionary trait developed in order to attract pollinators. But first, some basic botany: they are protogynous, meaning the flowers initially have a female phase, then a male phase. The nectaries are located below the ovary, which is at the base of the corolla. Around the opening to the corolla is a fleshy yellow ring which is a nectar guide. Once the bee has spotted that yellow ring and zeroed in on the nectaries and/or pollen (if in the male stage), the plant has ensured its succession. (Oh, how they ensure their succession, with copious seeds.) Even cooler, once the flower has been pollinated, the yellow ring fades to a creamy brown – a signal to the bees that there is no longer any nectar. It should be noted that honey bees will not come to your garden for just a few forget-me-nots; they need loads of them to make it worth the while of the ‘scout’ honey bee whose role in the colony is to find sizable populations of nectar- and pollen-rich plants and then do the ‘waggle dance’ to instruct the forager bees on how to locate them. (For more blue plants for bees, have a look at this blog.)

Forget-me-nots offer up another sweet vignette in my pond garden: insinuating themselves innocently into my Japanese hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’).

For many years, my front garden in May was a candy floss confection of the small-flowered pink rhododendrons ‘Olga Mezitt’ and ‘Aglo’ with loads of pink tulips and blue grape hyacinths. But it was the forget-me-nots that were the frilly icing on the cake.

And much as I loathe their wanton (wandering?) ways, the lily-of-the-valley, below, do look rather fetching in the embrace of forget-me-nots. Still, sweet-scented though it is, little Convallaria majalis has proven to be a tenacious invader of much of my garden, and, unlike forget-me-nots, cannot be uprooted easily.

When I visit Toronto’s spectacular Spadina House gardens in May, I am captivated by the billowing cloud of blue beneath the brilliant spring flowers in the borders surrounding the four-square potager. It brings all those colours together into a cohesive, beautiful picture.

Here they are with beautiful white bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Alba’), formerly Dicentra)….

…and a closer look at that lovely duo.

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Here are some more sweet Spadina House forget-me-not pairings. This is very early, with Arabis caucasica ‘Rosea’.

Then come the tulips, like pretty yellow Tulipa batalini ‘Bright Gem’….

…and these wonderful ‘Daydream’ tulips. That’s lungwort (Pulmonaria saccharata) at the right, rear.

One of the early hardy spurges, creeping Euphorbia myrsinites, looks quite fetching with a sprinkling of forget-me-nots.

And forget-me-nots flower for such a long time, they’re ready and waiting when the late-flowering poet’s narcissus, N. poeticus ‘Recurvus’ starts flowering at Spadina House.

I often travel to my old home province of British Columbia in spring, and when I stop in at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, it’s abundantly clear that nobody does forget-me-nots like them. Look at this lovely carpet under lily-flowered tulips.

Although I’m happy with the garden variety forget-me-not that’s been with me for years, there’s a seed strain with more vibrant blue colour called ‘Victoria Blue’. I suspect that’s what’s growing here at Butchart with orange wallflowers.

Forget-me-nots come in light pink and pure white, often occurring naturally in naturalized seeds. But you can also buy seed of those colours to have an effect like this with tulips, at Butchart Gardens.

Finally, a little duo from Victoria’s Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (I’ve blogged about HCP and their lovely Garry Oak woodland before). Isn’t this sweet? Bright-pink chives (Allium schoeneprasum), likely ‘Forescate’, with forget-me-nots. Easy-peasy for the herb garden.

Happy spring!

A Prairie Garden in Niagara

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Janet

On my annual theatre visit with old friends to the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I always sneak away for a few hours to visit the Niagara Parks Botanical Garden/School of Horticulture — a 20-minute drive away near Niagara Falls. This year, following a visit with 65+ garden bloggers in early June, I decided I needed to get back to see how the brand-new Legacy Prairie Garden was developing, now that summer is truly here. And I was not disappointed: it is utterly beautiful, arrayed like a flowering tapestry in front of the glass-walled Butterfly Conservatory!

My garden writing friends Anne Marie Van Nest and Theresa Forte have written articles about the formal opening of the Legacy Prairie in September 2014, noting that the 2011 groundbreaking marked the 75^th anniversary of the 1936 founding of both the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture (it was called The Training School for Apprentice Gardeners then) and the Ontario Parks Association. Indeed, the signs at the entrance to the prairie list an impressive roster of donors, chief among them the alumni of the school whose members have long staffed botanical gardens, nurseries and design firms throughout Ontario.

The garden combines Tallgrass Prairie and Sand Prairie species with plants hailing from limestone alvars, but it looked like an ebullient, floriferous, idealized prairie the day I visited in mid-July. Though there are prairie grasses like the switch grass (Panicum virgatum) shown with the blazing star (Liatris spicata) below, they hadn’t yet made a big impact (given our coolish, rainy early summer weather).

I walked through the garden on the semi-permeable, porous asphalt pathways that allow rainwater to sift underneath the surface….

…. and collect in the little pond (where bullfrogs were croaking).

Shimmering mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum), below, was strangely bereft of bees (the first time I’ve ever seen that bee magnet beeless), but it’s been that kind of summer so far in the northeast.

But bumble bees were nectaring on the glorious wild beebalm (Monarda fistulosa) at its peak bloom in the prairie.

Rugged hoary vervain (Verbena stricta) was flowering along with blackeyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

There were a few patches of bright orange butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) – one of my very favourite perennials. Hopefully, it will spread throughout the prairie, as it’s a very desirable milkweed for monarch butterflies and all kinds of pollinators..

A black swallowtail was resting just out of my reach on spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata) – but I photographed her through the grasses.
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What a pretty and unusual little beebalm this is.

One lonely monarch butterfly was busy nectaring and ovipositing on swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).

As she flew around the area, she attracted the attention of young visitors who eagerly snapped her portrait as she posed for them nearby.

Tall compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) faced north and south – a little army of stately sentinels….

….and gray-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) was being its graceful, willowy self.

In a raised garden adjacent to the butterfly conservatory, pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) bent sideways in the wind.

Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) was showing off its architectural form….

….and the first in a long seasonal parade of goldenrods – early goldenrod (Solidago juncea) – looked quite fetching with wild beebalm.

Quite a few people wandered the paths of the prairie, though I overheard one youngster whining to her mother as she turned on her heel and headed back out, “I like regular gardens, not ones like this!” (I must say, as a child this place would have been utterly heavenly to me, and continues to be today.) In time, I predict this prairie will attract huge numbers of visitors and they will want to know, as several visitors asked me, the names of the beautiful plants in this rich community. I suggested to the garden’s superintendent that a small teaching bed with plant labels at the entrance would be most helpful, since people are always anxious to know what it is they’re seeing. (At Chicago Botanical Garden, apart from the vast prairie, there’s a theme garden devoted to designing with native prairie plants.) Even some kind of interpretive signage with paintings of the plants would fulfill a teaching role, because there’s nothing worse than visitors wanting to be educated, but not finding the information. Hopefully, a donation from the Canadian Wildlife Federation earmarked for signage will help visitors learn about these fabulous plants. And I will enjoy returning again and again. .

Paul Zammit: Toronto Planter Powerhouse!

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Janet

“Contain your enthusiasm!” That was a sure-fire title much-loved and overused by the page editors at the big Toronto newspaper I worked for in the 1990s. Whether I was writing about pots of culinary herbs or billowing hanging baskets (yes, we hung wire baskets back in the day, sometimes laboriously lined with damp sphagnum moss), readers were encouraged to pot up all their joy and fervour along with their plants. But listening to Paul Zammit expound on the virtues and vices of container design in front of a group of 65 rapt garden bloggers at the Toronto Botanical Garden this month, I realized that this human bundle of energy and creativity really does add a big dash of enthusiasm to each container he designs. (Not to mention quite a few decades worth of intimate knowledge of how plants behave in confinement!)

But unlike his high-octane performance in front of the bloggers (a horticultural hybrid of pace-the-aisles missionary and polished inspirational speaker)….

…most of the time, no one is around to watch Paul craft his beautiful pots and planters, like this pretty confection from Spring 2011 with its pussy willows, hellebores, euphorbia and ivy…

…or this one, from Spring 2012, using winter heath (Erica carnea) with hellebores, daffodils & little wisps of Chamaecyparis….

…or this cheerful Spring 2015 edition with its purple heuchera, orange violas, euphorbia and pink tulips.

No, Paul’s creations simply appear one day in the garden: a perfect vignette in a big old urn like this, with variegated yucca, echeveria, blue senecio and sedum (2013)…..

….or sleekly-modern, dramatic, black planters (my all-time champions from 2011) filled with ‘Red Star’ cordyline (a Paul favourite), bronze sweet potato vine, fancy-leaf ‘Indian Dunes’ pelargoniums and tropical copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) on top….

…or a row of iron window boxes (2012) stuffed with herbs (sage and parsley), orange calibrachoa, conical golden cypress shrubs, Japanese hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) and bronze carex, which then do their beautiful thing for months on end.

My camera and I have been watching Paul’s containers for the better part of 10 years, and I’ve collected quite a few favourites. As noted above, he loves cordylines! And mixing orange with green, like these textural designs from 2009….

…but will occasionally opt for romantic, old-fashioned colours like pink and purple (2012) – and always with a plant list label.

Who else could work such magic with wine, chartreuse and orange: crotons, lantana, ‘Crimson Curls’ heuchera, yellow bidens, ‘Burgundy’ oxalis and orange Sparks Will Fly Begonia boliviensis, (2014)

He’s fond of statuesque, tropical plants for summer-long colour, but ,,,,,

…it takes a practised eye to know how fabulous peach abutilon and brown-and-peach copperleaf (Acalphya wilkesiana) will look together…

He loves using the dramatic foliage of canna lilies, as in the two towering designs below from 2013 and 2009. Foliage always trumps flowers for Paul, as with the euphorbia and arborvitae, left, and the cut-leaf golden elder, right. If you look closely, you might see a few of Paul’s favourite fillers, parsley and asparagus fern.
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Not everyone would consider using false spirea (Sorbaria sorbiifolia ‘Sem’) to anchor a design, this time with ‘Firecracker’ fuchsias and orange bromeliads and ivy.

Did I mention that Paul loves succulents? And he knows just which species to use together to create texture and fullness, from variegated Furcraea foetida to rosy-edged paddle plant (Kalanchoe thyrsiflora), in these designs from 2012.

I loved these shallow bowls filled with shimmery silvery-gray succulents (2012).

Visitors to the Toronto Botanical Garden’s front entance are always treated to a multi-container array.The one below, from 2014, featured silvery salvias, pink dipladenias, red celosia, trailing chenille plant (Acalypha pendula), ferns and swishing papyrus – perfect with the water wall as backdrop.

He understands how important height is in a prominent container display, using lime-green arborvitae to anchor these pots (2014) and also serve as a deterrent to any young Spiral Garden climbers wishing to take a shortcut back down the slope.

Somehow, his ornamental kale manages to look more sensuously dramatic than anything I plant for autumn, like these from 2009 and 2011.

Each December, Paul dresses up the TBG for the holiday season using abundant berried branches and colourful conifers, like the pots below from 2011.

I especially loved this planter standing sentry in front of the tawny winter grasses in Piet Oudolf-designed entry border.

But apart from creating his container designs, being the spokesperson for the TBG on radio gardening shows and the lecture circuit and overseeing the TBG’s annual plant sale……

Paul is also on hand for events like the annual honey harvest from the garden’s beehives. Here is scraping the frames clean with TBG staffer (and beekeeper) Liz Hood.

And when he has the chance, he’ll take time to do one-on-one education with the garden’s younger visitors, like this little girl learning about horsetails (Equisetum hyemale).

Finally, a little personal note. When my daughter was married at the TBG in 2012 – a busy day with loads of traffic and hundreds of people in and out of the building — one of the bridesmaid’s bouquets somehow went missing in the chaos. Understandably a little frantic with less than an hour before the ceremony, I told Paul about our problem. He had a quick look at the other bouquets, said “Give me half an hour”, and off he went into the gardens. Little did I know when he presented the bouquet (“I’ve done some hand-tying in my time”, he said with a chuckle), that he’d also raced in his car to a nearby florist and picked up appropriate fillers to go with the (slightly redder) dahlia he’d plucked from the test garden. The bride was none the wiser as the girls posed for photos, the day was saved and Paul shrugged off my effusive thanks in his typically modest way.

So from me, and all the people who enjoy your lovely designs throughout the year, thanks, Paull Zammit! And never stop containing your enthusiasm!

A Visit to Kirstenbosch

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Janet

Our fabulous South Africa garden tour is drawing to an end, but heading to our destination on Day 12, I feel that familiar sense of anticipation I experience walking through the entrance of London’s RHS Kew Gardens or New York Botanical Garden. For like those august centres of botanical excellence, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town has long been a mecca for passionate horticulturists from every corner of the globe. Situated on the lower eastern slope of Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch’s designed gardens cover 36 hectares (89 acres), which are a small part of the entire 528 hectare (1305 acre) Kirstenbosch estate including large mountainside tracts of the protected Cape Floral Kingdom vegetation known as fynbos, as well as natural forests. The map below shows the central gardens and the adjacent mountain estate.

Coming through the entrance, we are treated to a “What’s in Bloom” display: such a wonderful idea, and one that many public gardens have adopted to help educate visitors. Looking at the contents of the little vases, I cannot wait to get outside.

We have a half-day scheduled here, but I’ve already decided to stay through the afternoon and take a taxi back to our hotel. So I begin my walk behind our lovely tour guide as he tells our group about one of the garden’s signature plants: the golden-yellow bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae) developed here at Kirstenbosch over 20 years of selection and cross-pollination, and named ‘Mandela’s Gold’ for South Africa’s revered hero.

Founded in 1913, Kirstenbosch is rightly considered one of the top botanical gardens in the world, and their mission has been to celebrate and conserve South African native plants. We walk through garden areas devoted to plants grown for traditional use (edible or medicinal) including the brilliant star flower (Hypoxis hemerocallidea), described thus: “An ancient Basuto headache remedy: Place a few drops of blood from your head in a star flower corm and bury it.”

Ochna serrulata is also called Mickey Mouse bush, because of the similarity of the fruit to that cartoon character (its flowers are yellow). Zulu people call it umbomvane, and use a decoction as medicine.

South Africa is home to many pelargonium species, including some that play a role in the breeding history of our own bedding geraniums. Here are 5 Kirstenbosch plants from the Geraniaceae family: 1) Pelargonium tongaense or the Tonga pelargonium prefers shade, growing under trees in the forests of Tongaland in KwaZulu-Natal province. 2) Geranium incanum is called carpet geranium and has been used by African and European people to make a tea, called bergtee in Afrikaans. It is also a great bee plant. 3) Pelargonium betulinum or the birch-leaf pelargonium; 4) Pelargonium salmoneum grows in coastal settings on the Eastern Cape; it is fragrant. 5) Pelargonium ionidiiflorum grows among rocks in the Eastern Cape bushveld.

We pass by gardens devoted to plants that are endangered in the wild.

Having been to Gordon’s Bay on our way to see the whales at Hermanus, it’s interesting to see the endangered Gordon’s Bay pincushion (Leucospermum bolusii).

….and get a closeup view of this garden acraea butterfly (Acraea horta) nectaring on it.

According to the interpretive sign, the six remaining wild populations of the rush-leaf crane flower (Strelitzia juncea) are at risk from invasive aliens and illegal collecting.

Here’s a recently-discovered member of the Crassulaceae called the cliff cotyledon (C. pendens) which occurs only on the sheer cliff faces of the Mbashe River.

Here are the unusual flower spikes of lobster flower (Plectranthus neochilus ‘Peppermint Cream’).

Kirstenbosch has an impressive Cycad collection. Alas, it’s a very sunny day – as a photographer, I would love to be able to stay a week or so just to come back and photograph this gorgeous place in better light!

As we walk up through the gardens (you’re always climbing the slope at Kirstenbosch), a spotted eagle owl (Bubo africanus) dozes on a branch above us.

Naturally, there are many agapanthus species, all of which are native to S. Africa. This one is A. caulescens ssp. angustifolius.

I love the unusual inflorescences of common pagoda (Mimetes cucculatus), which is called “rooisstompie” in Afrikaans. Like many plants that grow in the fynbos, common pagoda is adapted to wildfire and will reprout from the ashes.

Grassy members of the Restionaceae family have become very popular in the parts of North America where they’re hardy. In South Africa, they’ve long been used as roof thatching. This one is called Albertinia thatching reed (Thamnocortus insignis).

Restio multiflorus is not used for thatching, but some restio species have been used to make brooms. This species is popular in landscaping.

The bamboo-like culms (stems) of horsetail restio (Elegia capensis) are distinctive for the tufts of wiry branches that form along with papery, brown sheaths at the segments of the internodes. Flower spikelets form on top of the plants, with male and female flowers on separate plants, which are wind-pollinated.

When I reach the sign below at the top of the “gardened” slope at Kirstenbosch, I am ready to circle back down into some of the collections of Proteaceae. I would dearly love to keep climbing into the fynbos, but I must head down to meet the others in our group at the garden’s Silvertree Restaurant for lunch. (However, unlike them, I plan to stay in the garden all afternoon to make sure I don’t miss anything).

Speaking of the restaurant, one of the direction routes on the sign above is the Silvertree Trail, and it is a thrill to see all sizes of silvertrees (Leucadendron argenteum) – a plant some people consider to be the most beautiful tree of all. Leucadendron comes from the Greek word for “white”, leuka, and the word for “tree”, dendron. Thus, the silvertree’s iconic colour and name (witteboom in Afrikaans) is what gave the genus its Latin name in the 1690s. In the late 1970s there were 6,850 silvertrees counted in Kirstenbosch’s expanses, but 25 years later only 1,000 were found, leading conservationists to speculate that habitat loss through gum tree forestation and urban sprawl could result in their being endangered in the wild by 2025. Fortunately, much of the silvertree population is in protected areas here, which will help save it.

Here are two more Kirstenbosch leucadendrons: lineleaf conebush, L. linifolium, at left and thymeleaf protea, L. thymifolium, right. According to Plantzafrica, the thymeleaf protea is critically endangered and could be extinct by 2025.

Perhaps the most iconic of all the Proteaceae family is the magnificent king protea, Protea cynaroides, which is the national flower of South Africa. Look at this spectacular, complex flower (there are 81 garden varieties of king protea), understandably popular in the flower market of Cape Town and with floral designers throughout the world.

Much rarer is the red Transvaal Mountain protea, aka Transvaal sugarbush, (P. rubropilosa) which hails from Mpumalanga province, specifically the Blyde Canyon area which we visited a week earlier. Its name comes from the red hairs on the underside of the floral bracts….

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which are much clearer in my next photo, which also shows the protea beetle (Trichostetha fascicularis). Though fynbos proteas are pollinated by Cape sunbirds and sugarbirds and have no scent, this non-fynbos protea has evolved a perfume to attract the protea beetle for pollination.

The high reaches at Kirstenbosch are spangled with brilliant pincushions (Leucospermum sp.) in all colours. This is ribbon pincushion (Leucospermum tottum) with Cape snow (Syncarpha vestita).

How thrilling to stand up here amidst this wonderful native flora, with Cape Town stretched out in the distance below.

I feel fortunate to be visiting South Africa when so many pincushions are in bloom. Here are a dozen I found at Kirstenbosch; their names are listed below the photo.

1. Leucospermum cuneiforme – Wart-stemmed or Wedge pincushion

2. L. tottum – Ribbon pincushion

3. L. muirii – Albertinia pincushion

4. L. formosum – Silver-leaf wheel pincushion

5. L. bolusii – Gordon’s Bay pincushion

6. L. cordifolium – Red pincushion protea

7. L. reflexum var. luteum – Yellow rocket pincushion

8. L. erubescens – Orange flame pincushion

9. L. reflexum – Rocket pincushion

10. L. vestitum – Silky-haired pincushion

11. L. oleifolium – Tufted pincushion

12. L. conocarpodendron – Green tree pincushion

Pink Watsonia borbonica is stunningly arrayed on the hillside.

As is Melianthus major, or honeybush, which has become a popular garden plant in California and the Pacific Northwest.

I arrive at the Silvertree Restaurant to find a little birthday party being held for one of our tour members. What fun: face paint and traditional music and drums – with delicious cupcakes!

After my fellow tour members leave, I head out again into an increasingly hot afternoon. The broad-leaved coral tree (Erythrina latissima) looks fresh as morning….

And the birds are drinking warm nectar from the Cape fuchsia (Phygelius capensis), left, and honeybush, right.

The red root (Wachendorfia thyrsiflora) I saw first in the wetland at Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens a few days ago is attracting its share of pollinators as well.

As a bee photographer, I’m very excited to find a plump Cape carpenter bee (Xylocopa caffra) nectaring on Leucospermum oleifolium.

I wander the grounds for a few hours, then make my way through the flowery borders where typical Cape flora is informally arrayed, like this pretty combination of purple Felicia amelloides and yellow Cineraria saxifraga.

There’s just enough time before I have to depart to visit Kirstenbosch’s wonderful little Conservatory.

Inside are rare plants like this Hoodia parviflora, now used as a (scientifically-proven!) diet supplement.

And this lovely Petalidium coccineum.

Finally, it’s time to call the taxi and head back to my Cape Town hotel. But I’ll take away beautiful memories (and tons of photos) of this gorgeous garden – moments like this lovely vignette, of the beautiful blue Cape hyacinth (Merwilla plumbea) with ‘Mandela’s Gold’ bird-of-paradise…..

….and the magical sight of the afternoon sun shimmering through the pale bracts of the king protea.

Farewell Kirstenbosch. I hope to return one day.

Janet Davis Explores Colour

In the garden & the world

Category Archives: Public Gardens

Woman to Woman at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Remember Forget-Me-Nots!

A Prairie Garden in Niagara

Paul Zammit: Toronto Planter Powerhouse!

A Visit to Kirstenbosch

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