Green around your ankles

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Dozen for Diana 2

What have you learnt to cherish because it thrives in your garden? I’m building a virtual version of our future garden in False Bay. That garden is green already, but I would prefer to have more indigenous/native to South Africa plants. Dozen for Diana began on my original blog with our garden at Porterville in the Swartland.

Bulbine frutescens

Bulbine frutescens

My first choice for the new garden was structure to cover gaps where we see our neighbour’s windows or washing. Dune crow-berry Searsia/Rhus crenata is a dense shrub giving the little birds somewhere to shelter from our Chocolat. The False Bay Dozen will collect at Dozen for Diana on this new blog.

Bulbine in pots

Where I can open up some fresh gardening space in the new garden, I will promptly yearn for lush green groundcover. Something tough and waterwise. Fast and easy to grow. With flowers. Bulbine frutescens ticks all those boxes. And one more.

Bulbine with Nandina at front door

My mother grew the English cottage garden plants she knew. Lots of herbs, but as flowers for posies. She was a fan of Margaret Roberts – doyenne of herbs in South Africa, author of herb books, breeder of her own range of herbs. Traditional culinary and medicinal herbs, but Margaret also explored South African useful plants.

Bulbine leaves

Bulbine grows a rosette of long slender leaves. A succulent green version of a hedgehog or porcupine. Those rosettes very quickly grow into a clan which can be split into pieces. Already with new roots reaching for the earth!

Bulbine flowers

An obliging and appealing groundcover overlaid by a haze of dancing tangerine and yellow flowers intricately detailed. It gives better value while still growing as the spike of flowers continues to open. In the vase the spike sulks and sheds its flowers. The tangerine came from my mother, and I added the full yellow to my garden.

Yellow Bulbine

The bonus is that the leaves can be picked, split, and the gel used (like Aloe vera) on rashes or sun damage, insect bites, cold sores and cracked skin.

Bulbine summer dormant when it isn't watered 

Bulbine is in the asphodel family - with 15 genera and 800 species, including aloes and Kniphofia. It grows wild in the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape. Despite the Latin name, there are NO bulbs. The flowers attract bees. The Rastas use strained tea for coughs, colds and arthritis. Well drained soil. Full sun. Dead-head for more flowers – info from PlantZAfrica.

Bulbine growing happily in gravel

I am deliberately making my choices for this third Dozen from plants which grow in my Porterville garden and which will flourish on False Bay in turn. 

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Donna is in central NY State near Oneida Lake. This year her Dozen will be Simply the Best Herbs. Her first choice is lavender. For Donna – ‘Lavender can be tricky to grow as it requires full sun’. In Porterville any volunteers in the gravel path will be harvested for our new garden.

2013 Dozen for Diana with dune crow-berry and bulbinella

If you were to harvest Must Go With Mes from your current garden, what would you choose? For February, or you could use archived pictures. I'm happy to link to an older post if you have one that fits. 

Pictures and text by Diana Studer
(on Google Plus)
AKA Diana of Elephant's Eye (on False Bay)
- wildlife gardening in Porterville,
near Cape Town in South Africa

(If you mouse over teal blue text,
it turns seaweed red.
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