Have you ever wondered how to plant bulbs? We grow the beautiful Scilla natalensis (Blue Squill) bulbs here at Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery, and thought we would share with you how we grow them. They are such a lovely accent plant with their large grey green leaves, that even when not in flower they are very handsome indeed.
Every child needs a garden, no matter the size.
Getting kids outdoors to have fun doing activities in nature has many benefits.
Here are seven reasons that Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery believes gardening is good for children.
Indigenous gardens have a very big part to play in nature conservation. Urban sprawl has a negative effect on biodiversity (the number and variety of living things in a specific area).
The best way of making sure that urban wildlife survives is by creating habitat, something best achieved by planting indigenous gardens. In this video, Linda De Luca, owner of Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery explains about the importance of providing habitat for garden wildlife in an urban area.
There are so few places in and around Johannesburg where, as a pensioner, you can enjoy tea and cream scones in a beautiful and peaceful outdoor garden setting for just R50.00. Once a week our Pensioners' Special at Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery allows for just this.
Easy access to the tea garden and the retail nursery means that even senior citizens using walkers or in a wheelchair can reach the outside sitting areas, and enjoy the garden-like meandering paths around the nursery.
Our tea garden in Muldersdrift is set under spreading Acacias, and on a cold day, one can sit in front of a cosy fireplace and still enjoy being away from the city. We are less than 30 minutes from many retirement homes in Johannesburg, making a group outing very accessible. There is plenty of safe parking.
My love for South African Indigenous Plants goes much further than just the plants in the soil.
I get so excited when I see botanical artwork that not only captures the likeness of the plant, but the essence of it too. Gillian Condy’s beautiful botanical paintings do just that.
We are delighted that Gillian will be exhibiting some of her botanical watercolours and prints at Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery, from Saturday the 2nd of April until the end of the month. We are open from 8am to 5pm daily.
Creating a colourful, shady indigenous forest garden in your back yard may seem an impossible task.
Most people these days feel that their small outdoor spaces are unsuitable for creating a tree-rich shady haven.
At Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery, Jeffrey and Fritos have transformed a very hot, small courtyard space into a unique indigenous shady garden with astounding attention to detail in their garden design. Not only did they look at the key elements of a forest, but they created the garden with their nursery customers frequently asked questions about gardening in the shade, in mind.
The best way to invite butterflies to your balcony or patio garden is by creating habitat to encourage them to take up residence. Habitat is simply a place where a living creature can meet all of their needs for food, shelter, water and a place to breed. You can provide for all of these needs in an indigenous plant container garden on your balcony, so that you can enjoy beautiful butterflies even in a tiny outdoor space.
Our most recent display garden gives you plenty of ideas on how to attract butterflies to your own beautiful butterfly balcony garden by using indigenous plants. Here are some great tips from Linda De Luca and her team at Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery to create the best “invitations” for butterflies to your container garden.
You can still have a beautiful garden, reduce your water consumption and cut your water bill too.
In this video, Linda De Luca of Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery shares four great tips and information for you on how to achieve a waterwise garden in dry times.
Standing in the veld grasses, tucked away at the bottom of Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery, it is hard to believe that this was once a dense stand of alien invader trees, Black and Silver Wattle.
All around one the sounds of nature buzz and hum, and on close inspection the diversity of herbaceous Highveld indigenous plants is staggering.
Carol Knoll, former editor of Footprint magazine has captured this diversity beautifully in her article "Restoration of an Indigenous Grassland at Random Harvest Nursery"
A Book, Plant and Food Fair at Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery. Join us on Saturday the 17th of October 2015.
It's going to be a veritable feast for the mind, body and soul and we'd love you to spend the day with us - starts at 9:00am and ends at 4:00pm.
This day is a moment that is part of a larger story - October 2015 is our 25th Birthday month at the indigenous plant nursery.My life and that of Random Harvest are inextricably intertwined, and so in celebrating 25 years of this remarkable Farm and Nursery, I share three of my first loves with you - indigenous plants, books and good food.
Proceeds from the Day will be going to my nominated charity, South African Riding for the Disabled. What an amazing group of people and "equine therapists" (horses and ponies) that work together to bring healing, hope and joy to the lives of so many.
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