Natal Lily, with it’s lush, broad leaves loves growing in dappled shade. Flowers appear once these bulbs reach maturity after a few years and the leaves die down after flowering in drier areas.
Category Archives: FEATURED PLANTS
Crinum moorei. Featured plant at Towerkop Nursery.
Staghorn fern. (Platycerium bifurcatum)
Green door, what’s that secret you’re keepin’ ?
Bonsai of Portulaca afra (Spekboom).
Indigenous to South Africa this species has been found to extract the most carbon from the air for any tree it’s size. It is found on rocky slopes in arid conditions and flowers in extreme drought conditions.
It is a popular bonsai subject because of it’s caudiciform (tree trunk-like) appearance. Pictured is a variegated type.
I want it to lean over almost horizontally so I used crutch-shaped sticks to prop it up.
Kei apple, Dovyalis caffra. Featured tree at Towerkop Nursery.
Bonsai of the kei apple. An evergreen tree up to about 3-5 m in nature. Native to South africa. Bears yellow fruit which is edible if not somewhat tart. Grown as a hedge it forms an impenetrable barrier because of it’s fierce thorns.
Birds subsequently build nests in it’s protective thicket of thorns.
Delosperma echinatum. Feature plant at Towerkop Nursery.
Low growing shrubby succulent with conspicuously hairy leaves and small yellow flowers.
The name Delosperma is derived from the greek for visible seed, in allusion to the fact that the capsules have no covering membranes so the seeds are exposed when the capsules are open.
The plant is from the mesemb family and is native to Southern Africa.
Arum Lily, Zantedeschia. Feature plant at Towerkop Nursery.
Arum lillies are native to Southern Africa but are cultivated world wide for their long lasting blooms.
It is dormant or evergreen depending on habitat or location. It remains evergreen under cultivation, given plenty of water in a free-draining substrate.
They make good bedding plants, spaced 15cm apart.
The tubers were boiled and fed to pigs, hence the Afrikaans name ‘Varkoor’.
The common white variety Zantedeschia aethiopica is medicinal. The warmed leaves used a poultice to treat sores, boils, insect bites, gout and rheumatism.
Happy Spring equinox !
You know spring has sprung when the Lampranthus are flowering..
Posted in FEATURED PLANTS
Tagged flowers, Indigenous plants, Plants, Spring, Succulents
Daylilies flowering now at Towerkop Nursery.
Although not indigenous to Africa, I am fond of their flowers. they are only open for 1 day, but are quite the show when they appear.
My Strelitzia is flowering! Strelitzia reginae, featured plant at Towerkop Nursery.
Bird of paradise, Strelitzia is a close relative of the banana. The striking flowers of this species are evolved to attract bird pollinators.Birds also eat and disperse the seeds. The cut flowers are popular. This stemless perennial are native to South Africa and occurs in coastal areas in well drained soil along forest margins.
Seeds with their orange wooly arils.
Posted in FEATURED PLANTS
Tagged Africa, flowers, Horticulture, Indigenous plants, Plants
Senecio articulatus. Candle plant/ hotdog plant/ worsies. Featured plant at Towerkop Nursery.
Senecio or Kleinia articularis is a succulent with blue-gray jointed stems resembling a string of sausages hence it’s name hotdog plant or ‘worsies’.
It has ivy shaped leaves that are seen seasonally, otherwise the stems are bare.
They spread and ramble under larger shrubs in the spekboomveld and gwarrieveld of the western cape and eastern cape of South Africa.
Posted in FEATURED PLANTS
Tagged Africa, Horticulture, Indigenous plants, Plants, Succulents, water-wise
Towerkop Nursery 