Art in the Garden 2

Gardens are per definition ARTificial; even if the gardener strives to let the garden look as natural as possible. We at The Green Cathedral of South Africa are very much aware of this and it is also one of the reasons we go beyond the general perception of a garden. Part of it is Art in the Garden. And it is easy to buy statues and other mass produced ornaments at the garden center. We rather challenge talented people to make something unique and preferable with material from the land or recycable material. An example of the last is the wooden cactus of 4 metres high made by local woodworker Marthinus Plaatjies from restpieces wood.

Recently land art artist Jody Joyner from Tucson, AZ, USA created is giant nest out of hibiscus twigs and a few years ago our own staff created the earthwork Mama Africa (we expect Mama Africa fully covered with succulent groundcovers within 1 year from now.

Here some pictures:

It’s easy to copy things you see on the way. For us it’s a challenge not to be the sheep that follow but the one with followers.

Wanna see some flowers?

Have a look here. Experiencing their flagrances is a different story. For that you will have to travel to this place by the British newspaper The Independent described as “Best Garden in Western Cape” (9 January 2010)

This month in the garden

Every now and than we shoot in the garden; not with a shotgun but with a digital camera. Here 5 pics; one shows a part of the garden (totalling 11,000sqm and over 2500 different succulent plants outdoor); one showing an elephants foot (Dioscera elephantipes); one with a fruiting Pilosocereus lanuginosus; the fourth is a Adenium arabicum with flowers AND seedpods and the last is an overview of our retail nursery. It’s not all succulent here in The Green Cathedral of South Africa but that’s for you to find out; preferable on the spot where you can feel, touch, smell, hear and see.

“Best Garden in the Western Cape” (South Africa)

Next week we are with both feet on the ground again:

The Independent (UK): “Best Garden in the Western Cape” http://ow.ly/11jQP

Warm greetings from the Hot Spot in Klaas Voogds,

Herman & Yvonne

What a garden should be

 

Some people ask us, with their enquiries, why we don’t have a restaurant on our premises or a craft shop like the botanical gardens of Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, Harold Porter in Betty Bay and the Karoo Botanical Gardens in Worcester; just to mention the ones of the National Botanical Institute of South Africa within the Western Cape.

“Soekershof is in the first place what a garden, in our view,  should be; a place of calmness, relaxation and contemplation. It’s not designated for mass tourism but for people who can enjoy Life in a slow pace”, is every time more or less our answer.

Don’t expect the banter of restaurants, coffee corners, craft shops but an experience ‘Pure from the Heart’.

For us it sounds crazy to get a subsidy of 3.2million Rand (approx. 500,000.00 USD) to make a parking at the entrance with a restaurant next to it as happened at one of the mentioned gardens. If that’s the way of making a revenue out of a garden ……….

And we are proud of doing it our way; in peaceful harmony.