Guerilla gardening, vertical gardening, biome specific – these are all terms I never dreamt of hearing, let alone understanding, just a few years ago. Yet we all now find ourselves in an era in which garden design and landscape architecture are right up there with architecture and product design in terms of respectable professions, and getting stuck into your own garden is definitely one of the more acceptable weekend hobbies.
Thankfully, contemporary garden design is a lot more interesting than the heavily manicured gardens of old. It’s about creating spaces that work in their context and often finding indigenous plants that need minimal water and maintenance. In short, gardens as they are meant to be.
I had my first taste of the way things are going a few years ago when Strilli Oppenheimer showed me around the gardens of Brenthurst, the famous randlord residence built by her in-laws in northern Johannesburg.
Strilli and her gardening team had ripped out all the rose gardens and herbaceous borders put there by the previous generations and initiated the process of returning the acres of suburban parkland into a Highveld grassland. Insects strummed and birds rejoiced – it felt a lot like a hot walk through the lowlands of the Magaliesburg and I think that’s exactly what Strilli wanted.
To me, that’s where the world of perfect gardens ended. Although this issue of VISI is largely dedicated to all things lush and green, don’t expect a single rose garden or topiary. We’ve simply set out to find some inspiration in all things botanical as they relate to the homes they surround. We’re even of the opinion that vertical gardens are overly contrived.
From Kate Otten’s mysterious forest house with eight-metre gum poles holding up the roof, to décor editor Tracy Lynch’s lark with a macaw and some outdoor furniture, we had a lot of fun looking out the window!
Till next time,
Jacquie Myburgh Chemaly
Editor
