All-the-feels landscaping Industry Expert
March Topic: Tenacious texture
Theme: All-the-feels landscaping
Industry Expert: Jimie Malan
Garden Centre supplier: Malanseuns https://www.malanseuns.co.za/
Their stellar reputation and quality plants over the past 110 years in the industry, have put Malanseuns on top of the list as one of South Africa's best Garden Centre suppliers. Life is a Garden met with Jimie Malan to get the best advice on how to bring in bold texture into your garden this March. Come find out how to add movement, contrast, and sound to your backyard and reap all the feels before winter arrives!
1. We loved reading the origin story on your website and how Danie Malan founded your family business all the way back in 1913! Can you tell us a bit about your personal gardening journey and how you have come to fit into the Malanseuns Pleasure Plants story?
Since I can remember, I enjoyed being in the garden. You can basically say I was brought up by plants. Some of my fondest memories are walking with my late grandma through her garden. She taught me all about plants and shared so many lovely stories about her favourite flowers. The love for plants runs through the Malan family’s veins and I too realised that my absolute passion is plants! You can almost say we have green blood and not red.
It is truly a big honour for me, as the leader, to work with this amazing Malanseuns team. Every day is a new adventure with plants. To me, it is very fulfilling to see new growth and also to follow the process of a plant growing into something beautiful!
I always say that you can be an artist with plants, simply by using their many different colours, shapes and textures.
2. The Malanseuns brand is certainly a renowned one.
Tenacious Texture Botanical Boss
Texture in gardening is not only about the physical appearance of plants, although this is an essential element. It’s easy to create texture with bold spikey plants paired next to delicate and flowy flowers, for example. Let’s take this a step further! Life is a Garden invites you to come and explore the tenacity of specific mood-generating plants and accessories that extend a theme, create movement, and cultivate depth around the garden.
“Think of texture as the relationship between the physical appearance, colour, and growing habit of certain plants that together, create layers of atmosphere and dramatic diversity in the landscape”
– Life is a Garden
The Shire: Frolicky and friendly
Plant picks
1. For full sun, plant trays of dianthus ‘Dash’ and ‘Bouquet purple’, along with petunia ‘African sunset’, and alyssum. These will add dainty charm in shades of purple, pink, plum, white, and orange-peach throughout the cooler months. Mini pots at the tea table, anyone?
2. Canterbury bells (Campanula medium) like semi-shade to full sun. Their fairytale-like dangling bell blooms will dance cheerfully in the breeze, adding movement and a whimsical feel. They reach around 60 cm in height and are frost-hardy.
3. The white stinkwood (Celtis africana) is loved for its sculptural shape. This stunning indigenous tree also attracts birds, creating a sweet soundscape to your Shire. Plant this tree for the perfect picnic spot and enjoy its flowers in spring. In winter, you can look forward to its illuminating bark that turns white like the wizard’s beard!
Accompanying accessories: log seaters, driftwood and moss, river stones, water features, birdbaths and bird feeders, chimes in trees, bark mulch, mosaic pots, fairy lights over arches, floating tea candles in the pool, hammocks, and raised, wooden edible beds.
Top tip: Avoid planting the same seedlings into the same beds every year as this can deplete the soil of nutrients that lead to fungal diseases.