Grassland Gardening
Patches or swathes of longer indigenous grasses or grass-like species not only look beautiful in the garden, but are important for garden wildlife. They provide food, a place to rest, hide or move undetected, and provide nesting material for some birds and small mammals
Read the rest of entry »
Creating a landscaped garden with locally indigenous plants from the South African Highveld is a great way to garden sustainably. Random Harvest Indigenous Plant Nursery has designed and installed a small Highveld Garden, using plants that we stock.
This garden shows that one can create a beautiful outdoor space in an environmentally sustainable way. By using locally occurring plants, inputs such as pesticides, fertilizer, and excessive water are not necessary.
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"
After 25 years of restoring a section of disturbed grassland at Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery, I am so excited that Prof. Braam van Wyk will be leading a walk through this beloved part of my farm in October.
I have been fascinated and delighted by how the grassland ecology has increased in complexity since we have restored this piece of land.
Braam’s passion for bringing botany and ecology to the public in an understandable and interesting manner made him my first choice to lead this special walk.
Random Harvest Nursery has been in business for 25 years in October this year!
Our message stays constant – live sustainably and always include indigenous plants to make your garden wildlife friendly.
Some fun activities have been planned to celebrate our anniversary. All events and exhibitions tie in with our commitment to caring for the environment and delighting in its beauty. Here is a brief summary of what’s on in October at Random Harvest.
Indigenous veld grasses are increasingly incorporated in projects by home-owners, indigenous landscapers and landscape architects.
Soft swaying grasses contrast strikingly with the solid shapes of buildings.
Apart from the aesthetic advantages, gardening with grasses has strong environmental advantages as well as solving some problematic issues in urban city landscapes.
It is important to distinguish between a grass garden and a grassland garden. Grass gardens are planted up purely with grasses.
Grassland gardens, on the other hand, include indigenous veld grasses, wildflowers, bulbs, Aloes etc., and non-living elements (wood, stone and often, water).
They are full of life, with a multitude of creatures visiting and living in them. Selecting indigenous plants suitable for grasslands and meadows will result in good biodiversity (plant, animal and micro-organism).
Get the latest updates in your email box automatically.
Your nickname:
Email address:
Subscribe