National trees of the year

Plant our national trees of the year and discover what makes them so delightful.
The local magic spring brings

Looking for unique and unusual? Grow these indigenous plants and trees for a dash of wonder!
For more on the local magic spring brings check out this article: https://www.lifeisagarden.co.za/the-local-magic-spring-brings/
Plantland Tree Festival


Avondale Open Gardens

Enjoy the tranquility of the Avondale Gardens. Features include a meadow of wild flowers, large rose garden, orchid glasshouse, natural swimming pool and much more. Bring a picnic blanket and enjoy our freshly baked scones with tea or coffee available at the tea room. (Regret no picnic baskets allowed)
Please Note Entrance for adults is R50.
Children under 12 enter for free.
Unique and unusual indigenous plants Industry Expert Q&A


September’s Topic: The local magic spring brings
Theme: Unique and unusual indigenous plants
Industry Expert: Jonathan Taylor
Garden Centre: Random Harvest Nursery
A hidden gem awaits you in the golden highveld of Muldersdrift, Johannesburg. Random Harvest Nursery specialises in indigenous plants and trees and they also have a lovely tea garden with seasonal homemade goods. Bring the kids and let them enjoy the creature treasure hunt or sandpit play area. Here’s what they had to say about the local magic spring brings this September!
1. We love that Random Harvest has such a large variety of indigenous plants to choose from! What are some of your top sellers?
Ornamental veld grass species are always a winner. We have such an array of indigenous grasses to choose from that can be used to create stunning meadow gardens - from small species of 20cm tall like Hartjiegras (Eragrostis capensis) to tall options like Boom grass (Miscanthus junceus), and everything in between!
Boom grass stands out with lovely soft pink plumes while Snowflake grass (Andropogon eucomis) has fluffy white seed heads. Sickle grass (Pogonarthria squarrosa) has seed plumes that are almost black when the sun catches them. Just in terms of colour and texture, these alone can create an eye-catching display. Clever placement of species, depending on their ultimate growing height and the interplanting of flowering species, creates a rich, seasonally changing garden.
Trees for small spaces are also one of our top sellers at the moment. As gardens are decreasing in size, people need to select trees carefully. The need for screening, privacy, shade, and a sense of green in an outdoor area can be achieved by planting the perfect tree. A few great options for a small space are: False olive (Buddleja saligna), Forest lavender (Heteropyxis canescens), Boxwood (Gonioma kamassi), Wild pride-of-India (Galpinia transvaalica), and the Glossy white ash tree (Bersama luscens).
Marktfees Botanics

Marktfees is hosting a BOTANICS market aimed at the home gardener, the avid plant collector, and everyone who shares a desire for botanical inspiration in all its dynamic facets. From botanical décor, houseplants, specimen plants, gins, teas and beer to name a few, join us for the first of its kind market for Port Elizabeth.
SANA’s 2022 Garden Centre winners! SA’s Best Garden Centres for 2022

South Africa’s Nursery Association (SANA) hosts an annual GCA Garden Centre competition to present to you, dear gardeners, the cream of the crop! Garden centres and home store garden departments are measured against a set of criteria aimed at assessing and improving product standards and professional service in the industry. Here are the best garden centres in SA! Did your favourite make it?
Stodels Nurseries Bellville – Garden Centre of the year
Address: Eversdale Rd, Bellville
From humble beginnings, Stodels Garden Centres have developed into a household name in gardening in the Western Cape. From the outset, Stodels Garden Centres focused on providing their customers with excellent service, top quality products and affordable prices. Fifty years later, the trio of service, quality and affordability has built a respected and much-loved brand.
Originating from a mail order catalogue and door to door sales, the Stodels brand has grown to its current complement of seven award-winning garden centres today, two of which are based in Gauteng. The company was started by Mr Robert Stodel, in August 1962, when he started selling flower bulbs door to door and from the Parade in Cape Town. A mail order bulb catalogue soon followed and within a few years, Stodels Flower Bulbs became the biggest flower bulb retailer in South Africa, posting nearly 600 000 bulb catalogues to Cape households and importing up to 20 million bulbs from Holland every year.
Find out more: https://www.lifeisagarden.co.za/stodels-bellville/




Garden Pavilion Eckards – Runner up
Address: 101 Boeing Rd East, Bedfordview, Germiston
Eckards is a well-established garden centre that received a new lease on life in 1993. Along the way it became a Garden Pavilion and has continued to move with the times, maintaining a traditional feel with modern influences. Eckards prides itself on a high level of service, quality plants and helping gardeners and growers alike.
Thriving Indoor Gardening

June: Indoor winter maintenance and scale control
Follow Life is a Garden’s indoor winter checklist for happy and healthy plants. As we enter the depths of winter, bringing the garden indoors adds a warming touch of greenery while much of the backyard goes into hibernation. If given the right growing conditions and care, your indoor plants will reward you with year-round living décor and joy. Watch out for scale!


Indoor maintenance checklist
- Fertiliser: Indoor foliage plants go into semi-dormancy during the winter, so it is not necessary to fertilise them. However, winter is the growing season of spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and hyacinths and plants such as cineraria, cyclamen, poinsettias, chrysanthemum, and begonia. Feed these plants every two weeks with a liquid fertiliser and water every two to three days.
- Light and air: Most houseplants require good, indirect light – not direct sunlight, particularly damaging is sunlight striking them through glass. The light should be balanced and if not, turn the plants once a week to prevent them from becoming lopsided. Do not place plants near south-facing windows (they will feel the chill rather badly in cold areas). A north-facing window screened by a net or voile curtain is a good position.
- Temperature: Many indoor plants originate in the tropics and therefore prefer to be kept in warmer temperatures. In cold areas and rooms heated by heaters and fireplaces, the plants will need extra humidity to keep them happy. Plants should therefore be misted with tepid water regularly to counteract the effects of reduced humidity.


- Water: Use tepid or lukewarm water. Your plants will be able to absorb the water easier and avoid sending them into a state of shock. Reduce the watering schedule of indoor foliage plants but never let them become bone dry. A dose of warm or lukewarm water every 10 days is quite sufficient for most indoor plants as they go into semi-dormancy during midwinter.
Father’s Day Pot Platter Table Pot Platter - DIY


Father’s Day DIY: Table Pot Platter
Dad’s day is coming up and that means DIY gift time for us gardeners! Give that special father figure in your life something from you and the kids that’s both practical and brag-worthy. This DIY requires no power tools, making it an easy activity for children of all ages to enjoy. Life is a Garden is bringing the outdoors to dad’s desk, here’s how:
A trio of awesomeness
Your table pot platter essentially consists of three smaller pots (square or round) arranged inside a larger circular container (pot saucers work well). Pot one will home your hardy focal point plant and pots two and three will be filled with dad’s favourite snacks (like biltong, nuts or candy). All three smaller pots need to fit well inside the larger platter container, so be sure to keep sizes in mind when out shopping.
Top snack tip: Find a sealable container that fits inside your snack pot so that treats can easily be sealed when dad’s not around. If dad is home-based, get the kids to top up the snack pot with more surprises and yummies throughout the day.
You will need
- Three smaller pots
- One large round saucer
- A hardy indoor plant (suggestions below)
- Pebbles, bark shards, or wood chips
- Dad’s favourite snacks and drink

Pot platter assembly
Evergreen indoor plants, containers and raised pot stands of all shapes and sizes are widely available at your GCA Garden Centre. This DIY is ideal for the office or workshop table in need of some decorative greenery and homeliness. Simply transplant dad’s new plant into the focal point pot, water well and allow to drain fully. Then, arrange all three of the smaller pots inside the larger round saucer. Fill any gaps inside the main container (around the smaller pots) with pebbles or wood chips for a further ruggedly trendy look, or leave as is for a neat finish
Try this: If you’ve got a funky dad, get the kids to paint the outer container for a colourful, heartfelt touch that will make dad ever so proud to show off his handmade gift.
Spicy Indoor Gardening Industry Expert
Topic: Indoor Plants
Theme: Trending indoor plants
Industry Expert: Robyn Sher
Garden Centre: Lifestyle - Happy Life Plants
We sat down with the passionately insightful Robyn from Happy Life Plants to get all the latest juice on trendy indoor gardening. Read all about her indoor hot list, plant parenting advice, botanical boss must-haves, collector plants, and much more!


1. What makes indoor gardening so special? Why should gardeners opt for indoor plants in addition to or instead of garden beds outside?
Indoor gardening is particularly special because of the benefits they share with people around them. Not only do they provide the obvious greenery, connection to nature, and a natural touch to an otherwise stark space, but indoor plants also take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Improved air quality creates a healthier environment for the grower and stimulates productivity, creativity, and happiness. Simply adding greenery evokes feelings of joy and accomplishment. Furthermore, nurturing a living thing and watching it grow and thrive is one of the most rewarding activities for humans. Indoor plants become like babies to plant parents and because they are in our space and in our direct care, we tend to them more closely than those outside in beds. The relationship formed with one’s indoor plants is truly special.
2. Is it true that indoor gardening is messy and difficult?
No, not at all! Indoor gardening is such a rewarding process and it is only as difficult as you make it. If you knock over your beloved delicious monster and the soil sprays all over your carpet, sure - it may be a messy ordeal. But general indoor plant parenting is easy to get the hang of with the right routine and simple care habits. Indoor gardening is beautifully decorative and so rewarding to anyone who endeavours to embark on the journey.
Walls Of Life Indoor Plants


Theme: Indoor Plants
Topic: Living walls
Industry Expert: Ronnie van Voorst
Garden Centre: Impala Nursery
Find out what our industry expert, Ronnie from Impala Nursery, has to say about growing a flourishing living wall for your home, office, or school. Whether you are interested in unique art, employee wellness, environmentalism, or space-saving – vertical gardening has benefits for everyone to enjoy.


1.Could you please describe what a living wall is and is not?
A vertical garden is a wonderfully creative way to showcase nature both in and outdoors. Living walls bring instant calm to the soul while uplifting one’s mood and cultivating overall psychological wellbeing. Also known as green walls, they contain real, living and breathing plants installed vertically against any structure that can support the plants (walls, fences or gates). Living walls are not dust collectors and are not filled with faux plants.
2.What’s all the fuss about vertical growing? What makes a green wall so special?
Going vertical saves on floor space, and when you need more plants in your life, why not go up? It also saves you from weeding and breaking your back while bending over in the garden. Green walls are special as they become living works of art. The different plants grouped together create a stunning vertical tapestry with a personality of its own.
3.What would you say are the most important factors that ensure a healthy living wall?
Make sure you have these inputs in place - water, light, nutrients (food), and air. Firstly, using appropriate plants for the position of the wall. Secondly, watering cycles should match the plants' own requirements - one wouldn’t water a succulent in the full sun the same way one would a fern indoors. Finally, a little bit of love in the form of maintenance, like removing dead leaves to make way for new growth or a sprinkle of fertiliser.
Plant Transpiration Experiment DIY


Did you know? Just like we release water vapour through our mouths as we breathe, so do plants through their stomata - tiny, pore-like structures on the surfaces of leaves. Plants use their roots to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, drawing it upwards into their stems and leaves. Some of this water is then returned to the atmosphere by the process known as transpiration.
Why do plants need to transpire?
The loss of water (or transpiration) plays a vital role in maintaining healthy plant growth, water balance, and overall longevity. More specifically, plants transpire for 3 main reasons:
- Nutrient uptake – the rate of transpiration actually determines your edibles’ yield. Turgor pressure keeps the plant cells full and turgid, owing to the transpiration stream of water from roots to shoots. In agriculture, transpiration is essential in producing healthy crops.
- Cooling – to manage heat and drought stress, transpiration rates are crucial as this process brings down the temperature of leaves, the largest plant organ. However, losing too much water can leave plants dehydrated.
- Photosynthesis – water flow efficiency is intricately connected with photosynthesis through the stomata. A lot of the water absorbed from the soil is used for photosynthesis, cell expansion, and growth. A single tree reaching 20 meters high can take up between 10 litres to 200 litres a day!
Clearly, transpiration is a big deal. Get the kids involved and let’s bring this invisible miracle to light.


Experiment time
You will need
- A ziplock bag
- String
- A leafy branch of a tree
Try this: Compare transpiration rates and see how the environment affects plants by conducting separate experiments on both sunny and cloudy days.
Step 1: Find a plant in the garden with a nice leafy branch where your bag will fit over.
Step 2: Cover the section of the branch with the ziplock bag and then seal it tightly with some string around the stem.
Best Garden Centres in SA Garden Centres of Excellence 2022


Are you looking for the cream of the crop? South Africa’s Nursery Association (SANA) hosts an annual GCA Garden Centre competition to celebrate the top garden centres and home store garden departments around the country. Find out if your favourite made the A-list below!
Home Stores:














Once again, congratulations to all Garden Centres of excellence and good luck to all! To find your local GCA Garden Centre, click here. Stay up to date with all your garden care and inspiration by joining the conversation on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lifeisagardensa.
Style your Bougie Get the best from your bougainvillea


The bougainvillaea is an all-time favourite in the garden and never disappoints in the bold colour, daring height, and textural intrigue they bring to spaces. Get the best from your bougie this month with Life is a Garden’s insights on pruning styles, container planting, fertilising, indoor growing, caring tips and more.
Planting tips for youngsters
Available in red, purple/mauve, white, yellow, orange, magenta and many shades of pink, bougainvillaeas are simply stunning but rather sensitive when young. As adolescence, bougies have easily damageable, brittle root systems. When planting, we recommend wetting the soil thoroughly before transplanting from the nursery bag or container. Do not loosen the soil away from the roots during this process to avoid transplant stock that really takes its toll on new arrivals.
Top tip: Bougainvillaeas love warm, sunny spots with well-drained, rich and loamy soil. They prefer infrequent but deep watering.




Styling and bougie training
Bougainvillaea plants are essentially creepers, but with nifty pruning, they can be trained to grow into several styles and shapes. Teach your bougies to grow into neat formal hedges using mesh or wooden trellises. In smaller gardens, they can be controlled by frequent pruning and even styled into ball shapes called superballs or standards. Depending on the size of the ball or the height required, bold bougie columns can also be created and are real show-stopping décor elements.
Top tip: Go for low-growing varieties and experiment with hedging styles and wall cover-ups. Remember to use string to tie down your bougies while still in training school.
Pruning yay’s and nay’s
Pruning should be carried out once your Bougainvillaea has finished flowering. This encourages new growth upon which the next flush of fabulous flowers will grow. A good general rule is that regular light pruning will keep them in good shape with near constant regrowth and banging blooms.
DIY Living chessboard DIY


Take your gardening skills to new heights with this creative DIY living chessboard! With plants as chess pieces and striking black and white colours, your garden is guaranteed to grab attention, invite engagement, and spark plenty of conversation. In addition, you’ll get to add a couple of really special beauties to your collection that you otherwise may not have considered.
Let’s talk tiles
Get your hands on some large black and white tiles, available at your GCA Garden Centre and local home depo stores. When choosing tile slabs, go for ones that are nice and big as they will need to stand out when your pot plants are placed on top of them. You may also want to consider tiles with a protective layer to prevent scratches, or go for concrete slabs and simply paint them yourself using good quality water and weather-resistant paint.
Top tip: While you’re out, grab an easy clean mop or broom to keep near your chess set to ensure it’s always play-ready and looking neat.
Try this: If you’re strapped on space, you could always create a mini version of this game with tiny pots and succulents. Play on a table or transform the courtyard.


Pots and pawns
Your traditional chess pieces will be pot plants, of course! Go for containers with good drainage made from lightweight materials that won’t be too heavy to move. A lovely selection of pots is available at your GCA Garden Centre with treated compost and potting soil to go with them. If you’re on a budget, you could always go for inexpensive plastic containers and paint them instead. Don’t forget your saucers to avoid messy spillages during watering.
Top tip: To keep track of which plant represents which chess piece, don’t move the pot saucers from their original placement when playing.
COMPOST FOR ACID LOVING PLANTS Feature Diamond Sponsor – Bark Unlimited

Did you know that some plants prefer acidic or “sour “soil and other love ‘’sweet” or alkaline soils? In this article we will be focusing on acid loving plants and explain the difference between acid and alkaline soils.
First let me explain what acidic or alkaline means and how it is measured.
The measure pH (power of hydrogen) is used on a scale from 0-14 to indicate how sweet or acidic soil is. Before we get to scientific, just remember that a pH7 is neutral, anything above is alkaline (pH8) and anything below is acidic (pH6). If the pH goes too high or too low certain elements in the soil becomes unavailable to our plants and will cause nutrient deficiencies. Although most plants grow very happily in soil with a pH7 – pH8 there are some exceptions that need acidic soil with a pH6 or even lower. These are plants like Azalea, Rhododendron, Camellia, Zantedeschia, Brunfelsia, Gardenia and Hydrangeas of which the latter’s colors can be manipulated by raising or lowering the pH of the soil. Blueberries and roses also appreciate acidic soil.




How can I lower the pH of my garden soil?
It is much more difficult to lower the pH of soil than it is to raise it. A few natural ways are to use your discarded coffee grounds, Oak leaves, or Pine needles. Layer these on top of the soil and do not dig them in as it will rob the soil of nitrogen once it starts decomposing. This must be applied to the soil on a regular basis as soil tends to revert back to pH7 or neutral. Should you not have these items readily available or save yourself the hassle of collecting it, you can always go to your local garden center and purchase a couple of bags of Acid Compost.
Give your lawn the summer vita-boost it needs Feature Diamond Sponsor – Wonder

Summer lawn care is all about the right mowing height and fertiliser. If you want to enjoy glorious green blades this season, the tips below might come in handy.
4 Tips for growing a luscious summer lawn:
- Set your mower to a high cutting height, as longer, thicker grass wears better in the summer heat. And wards off weeds too!
- Rake up grass clippings and dead leaves, and move them to your compost heap. This way the grass will be able to absorb as much sunlight as possible for photosynthesis.
- Water your lawn regularly, and fertilise with Wonder Organic Vita-Boost Vermicompost for a bi-carbon boost.
- Watch out for broadleaf weeds. If your lawn is being invaded, fertilize your lawn first, and then spray with herbicide two weeks later.



Get your garden into shape January Checklist


Get your garden into shape and looking snazzy for the new year. There’s a lot to look forward to and a huge selection of flowers and edibles to be planted now. A little maintenance goes a long way in neatening up your garden’s appearance, so be sure to check out our handy hacks.
Sow a salad
What better way to get your garden and health back on track then by sowing nutritious leafy greens for those summer salads. The following edibles can be sown now:
- Lettuce
- Rocket
- Spinach and Swiss Chard
- Beetroot (baby leaves are delish)
- Kale
Top tip: Leafy greens are very easy to grow and will reward gardeners best if you pick the leaves regularly and pinch out flower buds later in the season. Be on the lookout for cutworm, snail and slug damage to plants.




Plant a paradise
January is always a good time to plant up areas with colourful annual seedlings. The heat is on so brighten up beds by planting these sun-worshippers.
- Salvias flower throughout summer and autumn. Their upward-pointing sword-like blooms range from fire engine red to purple, deep blue and other powdery colour variations. They are waterwise and easy to grow in pots too.
- Snapdragons offer striking colours and multiple blooms that stand to attention and are simply charming. Dwarf varieties are great as pot or hanging basket fillers. Keep plants moist while young and they’ll reward you by continuing to flower into winter.
- Petunias don’t need special treatment or a lot of water either. Flowering increases as they grow, putting on a spectacular show of colour when mature. Petunias love the mild winter months too and will carry on growing in this time.




Indoor peace parade
- The peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallesii) can grow in low-light conditions, which effectively means that it can thrive almost anywhere in the home.
Making Paint from Flowers DIY


Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain? Can you paint with all the colours of the wind? The stage is set for your first DIY of the new year, and gardeners – it’s blooming! We’re sure both you and the kids are eager to get back to school, so let’s make sure we send them off with some positive flower power. Here is Life is a Garden’s top activity to end off the holidays.
Pocahontas’s secrets
Did you know? The lotus flower was first used to represent the sun in Ancient Egyptian art and has since become a popular symbol of peace in yogic/health practices. During the Medieval and Renaissance period, painters and sculptures used flowers as an important motif to convey a certain meaning to audiences. The oldest archaeological evidence of paint making was found in the Blombos Cave in South Africa and was dated at 100,000 years old! Paint made from plant oils was also an essential part of Native American storytelling, on cave walls and on the body. Our girl Pocahontas is well known for illustrating the deep connection these ancient tribes had with Mother Nature.
Collecting your colours
The first ingredient you need is some flowers, of course! Gather a colourful collection from the garden or pop down to your GCA Garden Centre to choose from the huge selection of summer bloomers. Try to get a variety of different flowers as some are more pigment-rich than others, resulting in a brighter or more pastel colour. Try these colour-popping picks: Daisies, Fuchsia, Hibiscus , Roses and Salvias.

Terrific gift tip: We know that January can be a tough month, on the budget and also for all those with birthday’s this month. Purchase plain white craft paper, fold it as a card, and get the kids to use their amazing flower paint to decorate it with.
Growing and caring for clivias Garden Mastery


Clivias are one of South Africa’s indigenous super stunners and have become quite the collector’s dream. Luckily, you don’t have to be a horticulturist to grow these distinguished plants, just some garden mastery know-how from Life is a Garden. Learn how to correctly harvest clivia seeds, how to grow them, and how to provide long term care for your elite lovelies.
The clivia craze
What’s so special about these plants anyway? For starters, they produce simply exquisite trumpet-like, fragrant flowers with dramatic blooms in sunset shades, both as solid colours and as delightful bi-colour varieties. Owing to their lengthy germinating time (one year from seed to pot) they’ve rightfully earned their place in the professional landscapers garden. Up for the challenge? These beauts can be grown as hero houseplants in a well-lit area, in shaded beds, or in pots on the patio with no direct sunlight. They thrive in rich potting mix with good drainage. Clivias are most active from autumn to spring, but they’ll retain their dainty evergreen foliage all year round.
Top tip: Garden centres are stocked with a truly splendid variety of potted clivias to choose from. Ask the friendly nursery attendants for guidance on what soil mixes to use in beds and pots. They’ll also be able to give you recommendations on fertilisers to give your prized clivias that extra boost.


Growing clivias from seed
There are two ways to get your green fingers on some clivia seeds:
- Pop down to your GCA Garden Centre and purchase a seed packet.
- Wait for established clivias to produce berries, which contain seeds.
When clivia flowers are pollinated they produce large red berries. Pick your berries as they begin colouring then pop them onto the operating table and follow these steps:
- Use your thumbs to break open the berries and then remove the insides.