Perhaps one of the more challenging issues we face as gardeners is not so much the plants we use or the layout of our gardens, or even how our gardens are maintained, but rather how our gardens relate to the people around us. We live in a connected world, and this is never truer than in our urban environments where whatever we do in our gardens or in surrounding open spaces might in some way impact others. Two recent projects of ours highlighted these challenges.
The first was a traffic circle in Fairlands, Johannesburg. The circle is not very large, only 8m in diameter, but - being a traffic circle - it is very much a public space, and is viewed by many people on their daily commute. The landscaping options for such a space are numerous, from paving the area over to the use of artwork, to using dump rock, to creating gardens with different themes and layouts. I had driven around this particular circle many times before, but when I was asked to consider landscaping options for it I found myself viewing it in a different light. The most notable point about the space was just how much hardscaping surrounded it. It is at a junction of three tarred roads, each of which is 7 meters wide, and all three are surrounded by paving for pedestrian traffic, at least near the junction itself. Adjacent complexes are also paved for access by residents, and the traffic circle itself is surrounded by a pedestrian walkway. If one draws a 23m x 23m box around the area - equating to around 500sqm - then the amount of available green space to work with is 10% - i.e. the 50sqm of that circle. This was the predominant view if one stood on the side of the road looking at the space, and it was apparent (to me at least) that it would be best to green the space with plants rather than using any more hardscaping.
On the face of it this would seem like a simple task - come up with a couple concepts for the planting, select one and implement it. But since this was a road junction, there were a number of factors to consider. The first was visibility - how would the planting impact visibility for motorists approaching the circle? Ideally, whatever was planted would need to be short, or at least, any structural elements kept narrow. The second was aesthetics - it ideally should have some visual appeal (although more on this later). The third was maintenance – how easy would it be to maintain the planting? And the fourth was hardiness of the plants - would the plants survive with minimal watering and the harshness of a sunny space in the middle of a busy road, and the exposure to wind and frost in winter? But there was a fifth element to consider, one that was important for us as wildlife-friendly gardeners - could we create a garden that would attract wildlife, and in a small way support, or even showcase, South Africa’s biodiversity?
The easiest planting method for the circle would have been to mass-plant one particular species, a succulent such as Lobster flower (Coleus neochilus) for example, or a grass such as Ngongoni three-awn (Aristida junciformis). Such species would be hardy, and the space would be low-maintenance - whatever is not that particular species could be considered a weed and removed. These species would also be relatively low growing, thus ensuring visibility. And aesthetically it might look good - monocultures tend to look neat and tidy to human eyes, as well as beautiful when in full flower. But what about biodiversity? The coleus would flower in summer, providing bees and other pollinators with nectar, but what about the rest of the year? And if we used only a single grass species, well that might create habitat for insects and nesting material for birds, but there would be no support for nectar-feeders (both insects and birds).
A double-banded carpenter bee (Xylocopa afra) visiting Coleus neochilus
But there is also another reason - other than supporting wildlife - for considering biodiversity when planting up a garden or public space: the potential health benefits for people interacting with that space. Recent studies have shown that interacting with nature, particularly landscapes that are biodiverse, is beneficial for our well-being. But we surely don't need science to tell us this? After the Covid-19 lockdown most green spaces were inundated with visitors - walkers, hikers, runners, mountain bikers - far more than we had seen before. And it hasn't let up. It would appear that each of us is finding something to enjoy - whether it is exercise, fresh air, the escape from the concrete jungle or technology, or simply to appreciate or interact with nature - the insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and plants - the biodiversity of our natural spaces.
These were the considerations that we took into account for the traffic circle in Fairlands, and in the end we went through fifteen design changes prior to implementation – in each case trying to find a better way to create a garden that supported these requirements: visibility, aesthetics, ease of maintenance, hardiness, and biodiversity. The result is a design that contains a combination of succulents (including a variegated form of Coleus neochilus), grasses and bulbs, grouped together for ease of maintenance and aesthetics, and selected to provide interest and flowers for longer periods of the year. In essence, it was not so much a landscaping project as it was a project to find common ground - common ground between humans and nature, but also between ourselves, the stakeholders, those who are going to maintain the garden, and the public.
A pair of spotted thick-knees took up residence in the traffic circle immediately after planting
Which leads us to our second project, a small complex garden in Pretoria, where once again, multiple stakeholders were involved - including the owners of the property, the trustees of the complex, the managing agents, the garden maintenance team of the complex, and other residents - more specifically, the neighbours.
For many residential properties, home owners have relative freedom in what they can do with their gardens. But in sectional title complexes, the gardens are essentially public spaces, otherwise known as common property, and are subject to the rules of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (STSMA). For our clients in Pretoria, their private garden was classified as an “Exclusive Use Area (EUA)”, which still forms part of the common property, and is subject to the rules of the STSMA. And what does the STSMA say about Exclusive Use gardens? Well, amongst other things, such gardens must be kept in a “neat and tidy” condition.
I'm sure most of us can recognise what neat and tidy is when we look at a garden, and yet this is often the antithesis of our natural spaces. Our clients in Pretoria are nature lovers - amateur ecologists in their own words – and specifically lovers of plants and insects. Over a period of a few years they had transformed their garden from rose beds and lawn into a predominantly wooded/forested space, with an incredible variety of plants.
Not only that, they were recycling their kitchen waste by burying it in the garden, and were growing fruits and vegetables. Locally indigenous plants such as Tree fuchsia (Halleria lucida) and Lion's ear (Leonotis nepetifolia) were planted amongst fruit trees (peach, lemon and apple), perennial herbs (rosemary and chillies) and seasonal vegetables. Essentially, they had created a green 'lung' in the heart of a residential complex, one which provided them with seasonal food.
Many people would argue that these home owners were supporting the environment, by recycling their food waste, planting a diversity of predominantly indigenous plant species, and incorporating edible plants. And yet, their garden did not fit the traditional perception of neat and tidy. And that was the problem. Pressure was being put on them by their neighbours to clean it up.
Which is when they called us.
For most projects we help clients transition their gardens from bare soil or traditional spaces - lawns and hedges - into wildlife-friendly spaces where the focus is on biodiversity using predominantly indigenous plants. But for some projects, such as this one, we do the opposite – we make it ‘human-friendly’, transitioning it from a space that may be biodiverse but that others are deeming 'messy', into one that still supports biodiversity but in an aesthetically pleasing way. In other words, we try and find common ground for humans and nature.
So what did we do?
Well the first step was to make the garden more accessible. Whilst the garden was well understood by the home owners themselves, it lacked access - or more specifically – formalised pathways, which meant that to an outsider, it appeared inaccessible, off-limits and uninviting. Think about our nature reserves - for the most part we traverse them via footpaths, animal paths, or roads.
Paths guide us through these habitats, and we are usually reluctant to step off them into the surrounding bush, grassland or forest, either because it is physically easier to traverse a path than it is the bush, or because there are rules regarding staying on the path or, very often, because we are unsure of what might be lurking in the bush beyond. Pathways guide us and provide easy access through our natural habitats, and it’s the same with our gardens. In gardens with mown lawns, the lawns often act as the pathways, but for 'wild' gardens without lawn, we ideally need to create some kind of visible pathway if we want a wider audience to access and appreciate them. Our first step therefore was to create a pathway that meandered through the garden, between the trees and linking various parts of the home. The surface of the pathway could have been gravel or bark chips, or it could even have been left bare as in nature. In consultation with the client we selected bark mulch, a cost effective and beautiful organic surface to walk on. The second design feature involved adding a small seating area. Essentially there was no place to sit and enjoy the garden, unless you were willing to sit on groundcovers amongst the foliage - not a bad thing, but not everyone’s idea of a pleasant seating area! Using the same bark mulch we created a small circular seating area, which the home owners could furnish with a bench, or table and chairs, allowing anyone who visits the garden to relax and enjoy the space – an important element to one’s enjoyment of a garden. And the third design change was to thin the garden out, by pruning some of the trees and shrubs, removing some trees that had self-seeded and might eventually overrun the garden, and by grouping and planting hardy indigenous groundcovers to cover bare soil and attract even more wildlife – Thicket coleus (Coleus (=Plectranthus) madagascariensis) for example, which is one of the host plants of the Garden inspector (Precis archesia) butterfly. Grouping plants (whilst still keeping the diversity and aesthetics) makes maintenance of the space easier.
The result is a garden that retains its diversity, but provides access and pleasure for anyone who visits it.
To end off, here are some more examples of natural gardens and natural spaces with pathways – I’m sure you’ll agree, they all look like places that are worth a visit..
