Festive feast of flowers

• Published date: 18 December 2021
• Author: Chris Dalzell
• Publication title: Independent on Saturday

I have just returned from 10 days in Zanzibar to celebrate my wife Pamela’s birthday, which we last visited 20 years ago, and it is interesting to see the growth of hotels and resorts

Zanzibar is known as the spice island because of the large number of spices grown in the early days by settlers, its main form of revenue until a hurricane in the late 1800s destroyed that industry.

Today, Zanzibar’s main industry is tourism which, as we all know, has been affected by COVID over the past two years. Zanzibar today is like one big fruit garden as most of the trees on the island are mangoes, jack and breadfruits, neem trees, avos, litchis and its main crop, cassava.

Many plans to travel have been affected, so we will either stay at home or enjoy this beautiful country we live in. I will spend most of my holiday in my garden. Every morning, I wake, make a cup of coffee and walk around the garden to see what is in flower. Living in Kloof allows us to enjoy a variety of grasslands which are teeming with summer flowers.

Here are a few things to do to make the most of the long summer days.

Pruning: Rain and hot long summer days lead to lots of growth. Many shrubs would have finished flowering, so need to be pruned. It does not take long for a shrub to take over a section of garden. I prune many of my shrubs at least three to five times a year. Shrubs that flower in summer should be left and pruned once they have finished. It always drives me mad when I drive along the highway and see shrubs in flower being pruned by a contractor. Why not allow us to enjoy the flowers and prune only once they have finished flowering?

Pruning is important, especially if you have a small garden. It stimulates new growth; many shrubs become woody, leading to die-back, especially near the bottom. Look at a shrub that has not been pruned for many years and see how much dead growth there is. This leads to disease, insect infestation and eventual death of that plant. Cut it back to at least half its size and keep only five to seven healthy stems. Mulch around the base with leaf mould from your garden or compost from a nursery. Within a few weeks, the shrub will initiate new growth and within four to six weeks you will have a much healthier plant.

Lawns: You must cut your lawns at least once a week in summer. Make sure your mower is at its highest cutting height as you want to cut only the tips off the grass. Do not leave the grass for a few weeks then mow it short. This damages the grass...