The three authors have outdone themselves. South African Indigenous Garden Plants easily competes with the likes of those of similar genre on the world stage of gardening.The fact that Elsa Pooley so confidently took the launch to England after launching 4 000 copies in South Africa shows how popular South African plants are in the gardening world particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.Two things strike you about the book: firstly, its large coffee table size – it’s all of 3 kgs, so there is a lot of information; and secondly the substantial number of exquisite photographs on every page that make the plants look so appealing. There are over 2 200 photographs, supplied mainly by Geoff Nichols, but also by many other familiar South African photographers. The authors are first and foremost experienced horticulturists and landscapers who have travelled the country collecting and capturing the best of all the garden plans of the most fashionable South African landscapers.When the authors launched the book, they said the publisher, Struik, needed quite a bit of encouragement to print the numbers that they were sure would sell. To keep the price affordable and within the of reach as many people as possible, funding was sought from the Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, which was established in 1992 as The Natal Flora Publications Trust to help fund and make affordable books that promote South African plants. It was renamed in 2008 to include the word ‘fauna’. It was important to set up this Trust because there are over 10 000 plants in three biodiversity hotspots (centres of biodiversity) in the summer rainfall region of South Africa. The hotspots are Pondoland, Maputaland and the Drakensberg Alpine regions. Many outstanding books that have focused on this bioregion have been funded in partby the Trust. At R850, this book is extremely good value for money.The aim of the book is not only to showcase South African plants to gardeners in South Africa and to the rest of the gardening world. It is also to promote an awareness of all the beautiful indigenous plants that have potential in the garden. Nurseries are not likely to sell plants that there is no demand for – but create a demand and the nurserymen will find a way to offer it out there. South African plants are popular around the world. Grassland forb seed have left our shores since the first settlers arrived as early as the 17th century. Removed from the local pests and diseases, gardeners and breeders have been able to grow them successfully, resulting in some outstanding hybrids. Kniphofias, gerberas, arum lilies, geraniums andpelargoniums feature in many gardens across Europe, Australia, Asia and North America. The succulent section is well covered too: aloes and vygies are already popular in drier climates. Many threatened species have been left out of the book, notably Hilton daisies, Conophytum and Lithops, which suffer under the demands of obsessive collectors. Similarly, only the commonly available cycads are mentioned. Although orchids are a legally protected species group, some of the easier-to-grow species are generally available for sale, hence a short chapter on their care.The text is divided into sections: first, a short introduction with useful tips on how to use the book, then there is an attractive section on different types of gardens, highlighting interesting flora, and giving extensive examples from South African gardens and landscapes. The next section, containing the plant catalogue, forms the bulk of the book. It features plant groups: bulbs, shrubs, climbers and even orchids, grasses and ferns. There is a section at the back with lists of plants for specific microclimates, helpful in planning a garden– for instance, one can look up lists of plants for shady areas or a list of scented plants, and so on.The modern swing to low energy consumption and less waste has steered landscaping to more eco-friendly designs and better use of available space. Featured roof gardens, wall gardens and succulent rock gardens are presented.There is an excellent chapter on tips for structuring and maintaining gardens to support wildlife. On the other hand, the authors were not shy to show off high-maintenance gardens with trimmed hedges, neatly edged lawns and short-lived perennials like the popular new-look Gazania and Osteospermum hybrids. This type of design is often preferred in large public spaces and corporate gardens.Every section is introduced with snippets of advice or information made simple, including what pests to expect. There are lots of exquisite photographs of all the species, many showing how best they can be featured in the garden design. The fore-edge of the book is colour-coded for ease of reference. If you are keen on grasses, turn to the lime green section at the back of the book. Of all the landscaping andhorticulture books I’ve come across, this one has the most exceptional section on local grasses. There are 17 pages dedicated to this chapter, a grand selection of grasses chosen for their appeal and potential in the garden plan. It deals with how to plant, grow and maintain grasses in the garden or in a grassland. Grasses are notoriously difficult to photograph, but here are 53 species beautifully presented, as well as six lawn grasses.Grasses have become fashionable in modern landscapes but no other local gardening books have made any significant contribution to the grass knowledge platform. Moreover, until recently, there has been limited variety of species available in nurseries, with barely more than Melinus repens and Aristida.Grasses are mostly pest and disease-resistant, and are also much more tolerant of adverse growing conditions than most plants, and so are worth promoting. The authors have embraced lawns too. We are advised to leave a Berea grass lawn uncut for a couple of weeks to allow bees to forage on the flowers. In spite of the hype on various social media sites by eco-gardeners about how bad lawns are for biodiversity, they do make the best public open spaces and they also need a lot less maintenance than beds of perennials full of weeds in the staff-starved institutions around the summer rainfall region.The list of plants included in the book is breathtaking, but there are a few dubious or disreputable inclusions. Notable ones include Cucumis metuliferus which tends to be one of those climbers one regrets introducing to the garden once it reaches full-scale fruit production. Senegalia ataxacantha isnotoriously thorny and, in our summer rainfall region, getting to the heart of a shrub to haul out the crop of bird distributed invasive aliens such as bugweed and Lantana is essential: a thorny shrub is not helpful for controlling invasive alien plants. On the other hand, there is a lovely array of dieramas to choose from, but there is a notable omission of Dierama floriferum, one of the most indestructible species occasionally available from nurseries in the KwaZulu-Natal region. Plant species in the sections are categorised according to family. This may help to correct the limited knowledge of floral groups within the general public domain: statements that have amused me the most are that aloes are classified as ‘cactus’ and that all beautiful flowers are ‘orchids’. Perhaps more upsetting is the moment it dawns on one that many people have ‘plant blindness’ – an outright inability to see the difference between one plant and another, which surely would affect one’s understanding of the complexity of conservation. This book is a modern bible for gardeners, and in the short time that I have had it, it has proved to be a rich source of ideas and inspiration. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone even mildly interested in gardening. With its wealth of superb photographs, this book elevates awareness of our indigenous flora into a space that reminds us to be proud of it, compelling one to ask, Why aren’t we promoting and using these plants much more? As such, I sincerely hope that we get to see a lot more variety of species, especially the grasses, in our local nurseries. As the authors say, ‘there is a grass for every situation’.
