Why South African Landscapes

I am passionate about South African landscapes.  For most of the years of my career in the design landscaping / maintenance arena, I have always been a great follower for the creation and transformation into indigenous / endemic landscapes. 

We are the leaders in the world for South African biodiversity and the indigenous route is definitely the way to go especially when we face the climatic constraints and issues regarding costs in the development and management of a landscape together with the long-term value that is achieved.  Some points to consider in going this route.

1. Choice of plant material versus indigenous. Check whether there is always an indigenous replacement.  (Just as good.)
2. Climatic constraints – know your various climatic biomes so that your choice of plant material is an endemic choice i.e. a plant that grows within that biome.
3. Know the space that is being occupied in terms of the hot areas / hot shade / dead shade areas that need to be considered in the development of the landscape.
4. Always save the indigenous trees. Plant an indigenous tree next to an exotic, about 5 metres away from an exotic so that you can reduce the exotic as an indigenous tree comes up to fill that same space.
5. Less water requirements as South Africa is facing a water crisis in terms of the feeding of plants and the longevity of a garden should not be dependent on water coverage.
6. Know your plant material and research well. Start to learn the botanical names versus the common names and research the shape, form, colour, texture and flower of the plant choices that you are wanting to occupy the space.
7. A design sketch will always help in the choices and the placement of plants in the correct areas for combination purposes.
8. In creating large commercial / industrial landscapes, one is obliged to choose hardy, well sourced, easily propagated landscapes through splits and divides for filling large areas of gaps which needs to be carefully included in the coverage.
9. Soil is a vital component and the mulch that can be created from the leaf structure broken down in a natural compost addition is a big factor in the health of the plant material within the landscape.
10. Compost feeds soil and oxygenates the soil. Fertilizer which should be organic will feed the structure and leaf coverage of the plant.

These are just some of the points that we need to introduce in going the South African route.

We now have no option to ensure this routing. 

A lot of indigenous plants will be more than capable of replacing exotics to create a specific design within the landscape.

For further information contact Landscape Design Consultants International, telephone / whatsapp 082 570 5858 and / or email to .