Home South Africa – September 2019

Compiled by Gillian Eva

Photographs: Francois Oberholster

OtherthantwoTreesoftheYear,didyouknow

thereis alsoa FloweroftheYear

and a Vegetable of the Year?

Gardening

notebook

Bright idea!

If you’re keen to plant a

blossom tree in your

garden, now is a good time

to visit your local nursery to

see them in bloom and

choose your favourite.

Eye-catching blossom trees

include Japanese flowering

cherry, flowering peach,

purple leaf plum and

crab-apple.

advice Send garden info and queries to [email protected].

Flower of the Year

2019 is the Year of the Nasturtium,

nominated by Fleuroselect, the

international ornamental plant industry

organisation. This old-fashioned flower

remains a firm favourite with modern

gardeners as it continues to please our

eyes and our palates from early summer

to late autumn.

Nasturtiums were not only to be found

in the humble cottage gardens of old.

Royal monarch Louis IV also enjoyed their

flamboyance at Versailles, while in his

garden at Giverny, Impressionist painter

Monet delighted in the way they spilled

over paths and wound their way among

the flower borders.

There are bush and trailing

nasturtiums with single or double flowers

in cream, lemon, gold, through orange

and flame to red and mahogany, spurred

or spurless with green, blue-green or

variegated leaves.

Grow nasturtiums in hanging

baskets, window boxes and pots,

over fences or garlanding a statue.

Nasturtiums are useful in the

caloriesandhighin beta-carotene.Theycanbeeaten

raw with dips and salads, juiced, shredded, boiled

and roasted in soups, stews and stir-fries, muffins

and cakes.

The ancestor to the modern-day carrot was purple

and is believed to have originated in Afghanistan.

Over time, cultivation by Greeks and Romans resulted

in roots that were plumper and tastier, and in purple,

red and black varieties. It wasn’t until the 17th century

that the orange carrots we know today were bred by

Dutch growers as a tribute to William of Orange.

The cultivated carrot can be long and narrow or

short and round, and is one of the most important root

vegetables grown in temperate regions. In South

Africa, the Rugani farm in Gauteng is the leading

carrot farm, producing 40% of carrots in the country.

Heirloom carrots are fun to grow and Living Seeds

(livingseeds.co.za) sells yellow, white, purple and a

rainbow-coloured blend of carrots.

Vegetable of the Year