The Gardener is a monthly, national magazine dedicated to inspiring gardeners, providing practical advice and showing step-by-step garden projects. Our monthly features include garden design, in-depth plant features, growing vegetables and herbs, water gardening, garden wildlife and pets, specialist plant articles and much more. We have an extensive database on our website that is growing daily.
WELCOME
Dirt DIARIES
Awesome Aeonium • When gazing at some Aeonium cultivars, you can hardly believe they are real, living plants.
Garden GALLERIA • October joy
Fun and Fabulous • This extraordinary garden celebrates the beauty of eclecticism, proving that formal elegance, natural charm, and functionality can coexist in perfect harmony. As a haven for both body and soul, it inspires visitors to embrace their individuality and cultivate their own unique brand of beauty.
SIMPLY paving • Paving ideas to improve your garden
MANGAVE madness • A new succulent sensation is taking international gardens by storm and it’s about to be released in South Africa.
The New Stars of 2024 • Several new mangave hybrids will be hitting the South African market this October, and they’re sure to become instant favourites.
DAZZLING DAHLIAS
5 edimentals • The trendy word ‘edimental’ refers to plants that supply beauty and bounty.
Summer Splash Giveaway! • Win a Bluechem pool care hamper and enjoy a refreshing dip in your crystal-clear pool. Enter now!
HYBRIDISATION IN Clivia
10 Garden flowers to plant for summer • What would a summer garden be without flowers? Boring! Flowers bring a garden alive; they are why we spring out of bed in the morning for a walk around the garden. And what would butterflies, bees and other pollinators do without them?
EXOTIC spiller • Lotus ‘Gold Flash’ is a stunning trailing plant that is a tender perennial that is not forgotten once seen. Also known as parrot’s beak, it has fronds of silvery needle-fine foliage with clusters of golden-red beak-like flowers.
Clouds of pink and rockin salvias
ROSE OF THE MONTH
My best pest hacks
Cutting a fine edge • I am a perfectionist when it comes to neat lawn edges and will always look for the right tools to handle this job better. I found three options:
How to get bulbs to flower again • Spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils, muscari, and most of our indigenous bulbs are not one-season wonders that never bloom again.
Troubleshooting agapanthus • There is no argument about the toughness and versatility of indigenous agapanthus and the stunning new hybrids being developed constantly. But do they flower for you as they should? If not, these can possibly be the reasons:
Divide step-by-step Haworthiopsis attenuata ’Lime’
How to recycle a broken pot
WE’VE GOT good grass! • The cultivars of Carex oshimensis (sedge) are like Botox treatments for tired plant beds. Let them lift the look of your garden today!
Planting in the hot sun! • Growing lots of bright summer colour and keeping the plants alive and happy in very sun-baked spots can sound like a challenge, but it is not too difficult if you handle things in the right way…
Pest patrol
Inspiration from yesterday
Is the water pressure a bit low? • Drip irrigation provides a good solution and saves water in the long run. This system uses a series of pipes with holes and drippers spaced evenly apart.
Do the water works check-up • Although low water pressure can be caused by other factors beyond your control, such as a municipal source, you can give your watering equipment a goodafter-winter check-up to eliminate stuff you can control:
NEW shiny impatiens
DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Put flower...