“The pleasure of owning a fine plant is not complete until it has been given to friends.” – Pete Smithers
Cape Town - Most gardeners have a generous streak and gladly share bits and pieces from their gardens with others. Not for them the dubious delight of being the only one to own a particular plant in isolation.
I have been a member of a small garden club for almost four decades and it is one of my joys to see plants donated by fellow members happily flourishing in my garden. Some of these are reminders of cherished friends who have gone before. I have also been glad to pass on offspring to others. Of particular satisfaction is the chance of replacing from one’s own stock a specimen that a donor has lost to disease or death. In fact, sharing one’s plants becomes a kind of insurance.
Recently I was given two small plants of winter savory (Satureja montana). This is a herb with a strong, peppery flavour which is used when cooking beans, of which I am very fond. It is also good with peas, lentils, and the squash and marrow family. It can be used sparingly in soups and stews as well.
Summer savory is an annual, whereas winter savory, which is considered to be the better herb, is a perennial. The latter is a small, woody shrub which, sadly, is not often grown. Nor is it readily available, so I was fortunate to be given it. It needs a sunny position and is ideal for rockeries or growing in pots, as it trails attractively and bears sprigs of small white flowers in late summer and autumn.
I have long yearned for a stag horn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum), so was delighted when a few months ago a friend gave me one from her late father’s collection.
This is a showy, epiphytic fern hailing from Australia and Polynesia. It is usually attached to the trunks of trees or logs, but can also be grown in pots. Feed it with a mild solution of Seagro in spring and midsummer and mist with water weekly in winter and twice a week in summer. It is propagated by removing small plants that develop beneath the basal fronds.
Amazingly, ferns are listed in one of my herb books, but they seem to have only magical or arcane properties. For instance, they were considered to be able to make one invisible and also, when burnt, to induce rain.
In my guerrilla garden I have a satisfying plant that was given me some years ago. It is hardy and flowers almost the whole year round. Its only drawback is that it has not yet been positively identified. It grows to more than a metre high, and has bright yellow/orange daisy-like flowers that resemble and smell of marigolds. Indeed, its donor assured me that it was an indigenous marigold.
However, I have never seen it growing in the wild in this country and, as a nurseryman told me he thought it originated in California, I have temporarily named my anonymous guest a Californian marigold.
If you find the dark days of winter a bit dismal, treat yourself to pots of pansies and violas. These willing little annuals with bright, cheery faces in a multitude of hues, flower for months on end and are a natural tonic for lifting the spirits. - Cape Argus