Red Rock Tribal

Tags

aloe, Art, Cape Town, Eco-tourism, garden, Red Rock Tribal, Red-hill, South African endemic plant, succulents

Look out for the cheeky meerkat

Red Rock

Stunning Aloe

 

Red Rock Tribal is nestled in the Red-hill Valley. It is a Springboard for rural artists around South Africa.

 

Topsy Turvy Echeveria

Tags

dry gardening, Echeveria, echeverias, garden, gardening, stone features, succulents

The modern South African garden trend, due to Global warming is towards Xeriscaped gardens. Designed with bold lines, textures and interesting stone features and succulents. The ever changing colorful and dramatic foliage of Echeveria, make for a low maintenance space.

Echeverias are the easy to grow, hard to kill plants. They are a rewarding addition to your garden, without the constant work of pruning, spraying, watering, dead heading or staking

Do you have ugly weep-holes ? #greentips

Tags

desert roses, garden, gardening, green tips, sempervivum, succulents, weep holes

Photo credit : Gary Peterson

A few years ago I planted these Echeveria Desert Roses into these unsightly weep holes in the garden wall for a client. I cut florist’s oasis to plug the hole. I then inserted cuttings into the oasis.

This photograph was recently sent to me by the client. The following comments were made :

Client :

“here are the desert roses you planted in the weep-holes in my wall a few years ago. I never water them or do anything and they look great. A wonderful solution to fill those ugly gaps.”

Friend of client :

“it is an excellent and charming solution. Even though they may not over-winter in our Long Island climate, there are other, similar plants that can be used the same way. Sempervivum comes to mind.”

Client :

” Biddy first of all wedged some big blocks of oasis into the holes and then stuck the plants into that. We weren’t sure if they’d “take” because I couldn’t imagine that they’d get sufficient nutrients from the oasis, but they’ve obviously been very happy.”

Me :

“The nutrients come pouring through your weep holes. The oasis is just a medium to hold them in place and keep them out the damp… the oasis is probably more than gone now.”

Friend of client :

“This is a wonderful solution/idea. Thanks “