tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60545414066161030062008-07-19T22:06:30.247+02:00Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-16474323060084765092008-07-19T16:42:00.007+02:002008-07-19T22:06:30.339+02:00

As I said in a previous post I was admiring how green the grass on the artificial side is. But according to a book that I picked up today - Shades of green by Paul Waddington, in his chapter on grass, he says about artificial grass: ...it will need replacing after as little as fifteen years; it's made from fossil-fuel-derived products and it performs none of the CO2 absorption, water

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-2936615745980477132008-07-16T06:14:00.005+02:002008-07-16T18:03:32.216+02:00

I've been working across the road from a reserve called Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve. Its a little breath of fresh air (literally) in the middle of the Berea (a suburb of Durban). Its part of a bigger picture of parks, open spaces, recreational areas and green corridors. These all link together to create an environment that helps to preserve the city's ecological diversity, by creating corridors

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-29530295111471866582008-07-10T08:44:00.003+02:002008-07-10T18:28:29.784+02:00

After years of mockery, belittling and ridicule of the fake plant brigade, I'm going over to the dark side. Ok, I'm not going over all the way. I'm just going over to admire the artificial grass. I've always been adamant that there is no proper place for fake in gardening - gardens are one of the few places that are real in the high-tech, modern lives we lead. (There is little place for gnomes in

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-26812259535547084022008-07-02T13:34:00.011+02:002008-07-07T15:52:31.172+02:00

While clearing some branches and cutting down an alien invasive Syringa tree, I noticed this amazing plant growing on the branches of the Syringa. It's common name is 'Lighting Matches', for obvious visual reasons. Tapinanthus lighting matches Its a type of mistletoe, and is hemi-parasitic. This means that it uses the sap of the host plant that it is attached to, as well as creating its own

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-60372994590934977002008-06-27T07:04:00.002+02:002008-07-07T15:46:38.899+02:00

Following a thread, I found a post on a blog in japan about a japanese tradition called Hanami. This is the custom dating back to the 8th century whereby people gather underneath cherry trees that are in full bloom to contemplate the flowers. Some of the essence of this custom has probably been lost over the centuries, but wouldn't a lot of the problems that we have in South Africa be lessened

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-85901985222886183602008-06-25T13:26:00.005+02:002008-07-07T15:47:00.938+02:00

I have just heard that Elsa Pooley's Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and the Transkei, is being revised and updated. It should be on the shelves by early 2009. The new book will most probably be called Trees of Eastern South Africa, and is by Richard Boon and Elsa Pooley. It is probably the most comprehensive and informative reference of its kind. It will include 1100 descriptions and

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-75871380986472500692008-06-24T06:59:00.002+02:002008-07-07T15:51:26.508+02:00

After reading a post on improving your blog sidebar I realised that I had too many links on my sidebar. I use the links on my site quite a bit to stay current with what is happening in the gardening world and beyond, so I didn't want to get rid of them. But the long list of links was starting to look messy. So to remedy this problem, I decided to put the links that I find interesting or

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-76079694636730655952008-06-21T07:04:00.031+02:002008-06-21T18:52:33.513+02:00

I've really enjoyed doing this show - the challenges are what appeals to me most. Trying to make a garden in a too small space, having 3 mainly rainy days to create something that looks like its been there for a while, and of course - a very tight budget. This show has also confirmed some of my landscape leanings. I've realised that I love contrast. If I was to get philosophical

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-29398384789493179322008-06-20T10:10:00.003+02:002008-06-20T10:17:29.633+02:00

It looks like its going to be a beautiful day today - the sun is shining, there is no wind. Perfect for the first day of the show. We just managed to finish up yesterday evening before it got dark. I'm quite happy with the final result, and will post some more pics later on today.

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-49704434041907219932008-06-19T09:54:00.002+02:002008-06-19T11:20:19.610+02:00

I wasn't kidding about the rain - here's a picture taken in Port Shepstone of some of the flooding. Someone's going to have a major cleaning bill to get their car sorted out! The nursery is beginning to bustle (after 2 days of relative quiet) - people are starting to setup their stands, the marquee is up and everyone is rushing around trying to get it all ready. Despite the rain, we are on

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-63940731431258501562008-06-18T12:58:00.004+02:002008-06-18T13:35:38.798+02:00

At this point its more like the Green With Envy Garden Shower. The rain was so heavy last night, that it washed away bridges and roads on the South Coast! As predicted, it started raining quite heavily this morning, cleared up (giving us time to start our plastering) and then bucketed down about 10 minutes before I could rig up our shelter. I'm now soaked, but the shelter is up and Viktor can

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-17240391297872443782008-06-17T10:28:00.001+02:002008-06-17T16:30:07.257+02:00

We've got 3 days to build the stand for the garden show, and what do you know - its going to rain for 2 of them! That's something I didn't bargain on, considering that we haven't had any rain in weeks. Things will get a little tricky tomorrow when it comes to the plastering of the wall. I've finalised the design (I think?) but the finer details will get worked out as we go. Our stand is under

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-67378292509370043002008-06-16T10:28:00.007+02:002008-06-16T15:58:43.179+02:00

Today is a public holiday in South Africa - Youth Day. It commemorates the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976, when school children were protesting against being taught in Afrikaans. The police opened fire on them and several children were killed and injured. This is the photo by Sam Nzima of the dying 12 year old Hector Pieterson, which became an iconic image of that day: On a less serious

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-65451591448115118632008-06-13T15:11:00.014+02:002008-07-10T20:39:24.572+02:00

I buy a fair amount of gardening books, and I read a whole lot more. But my frustration is that they are often not easily translated to a South African context. I see tons of books that are almost useless to South Africans because they have information that is very specific to a northern hemisphere temperate climate. I feel sorry for the people who unwittingly buy these gardening books and will

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-36943814686581587152008-06-12T08:37:00.005+02:002008-06-12T09:49:22.394+02:00

Sean from Bamboo Geek has a great website on all things green (including bamboo). But he has just started a website called TrashWatch, which is attempting to make companies which generate large amounts of trash take responsibility for their trash that gets spread around the countryside. This is an American based site, and obviously aiming at American companies, but we in South Africa could take

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-83539857488099776872008-06-11T15:33:00.006+02:002008-06-13T18:28:04.974+02:00

I've been invited to take a stand at Green With Envy's Garden Show. Its taking place on the 20-22 June at Green With Envy Nursery - 281 Vause Road, Berea, Durban. If you're in the area you should definitely stop by - it should be interesting. Its quite short notice, so I'll have to do some quick thinking...

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-59863679215512379172008-06-09T16:14:00.008+02:002008-06-09T22:19:25.100+02:00

I once took a test to see whether I used the right or left side of my brain, as an added extra the test told me that I am more visual than auditory. I'm not sure how scientific it was, but it did make a certain amount of sense. When I pick up a gardening book, most times I very casually skim read the text, preferring to absorb the pictures instead. This has always seemed the right way to

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-36323679913162528682008-06-08T15:05:00.004+02:002008-06-08T16:02:44.647+02:00

Yesterday was one of those perfect winter days - warm enough that you could sit in the sun and feel toasty but not hot. We went for a walk in Kloof Gorge, to take some photos of the red hot pokers that were sitting proudly above the dry winter grass. On the way back I started to notice a scattering of these Helichrysums in the veld. The flowers were already dry and silvery, but seemed to

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-24501785041541786362008-06-06T13:00:00.002+02:002008-06-06T13:05:16.673+02:00

Leonotus leonurus Wild Dagga Driving past Springside Nature Reserve, I spotted this Leonotus growing at the entrance. Its not as common as the Orange Wild Dagga but its just as beautiful.

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-6782709101294080822008-05-21T16:50:00.008+02:002008-05-21T18:39:40.493+02:00

Don't be fooled, a small garden can be just as much work as a big garden. There have been several reasons, but this project has taken nearly 6 months to complete. Thats a long time for a space that is only 3m x 3m! This was part 3 of a bigger garden project that we had completed about a year ago. My clients had a small courtyard built onto their bedroom, to give them their own private garden.

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-5871007558039548742008-05-20T18:16:00.001+02:002008-05-20T18:16:01.452+02:00

I was collecting some grass today. I had to take a picture of these little rolls all lined up and ready for me. They almost looked happy to see me? I also learnt today, that if you need to get rid of nut grass in your lawn, you can use a great herbicide called Servian. It can be used on most lawns, as it only affects Cyperus spp. - provided you get the correct dosage. That should save a lot

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-32659379812848098322008-05-18T17:58:00.007+02:002008-06-16T17:40:51.378+02:00

While waiting for a table at Adam's Book Store's Coffee Shop I usually look for new landscaping books that will have something new or interesting in. Its not very often that I find a book that I can justify buying, but this last week I found a book that will definitely be on my list for Santa this year. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I knew I would love it when I saw it.

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-78576127304153473872008-05-15T20:30:00.001+02:002008-05-15T20:31:01.776+02:00

It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, I visit a garden and have a design in mind for it from the moment I see it. This was one of those times. I had been asked years ago by the previous owners, to give a quote to clean up this garden that surrounded a beautiful art deco home. They never took my radical advice on cleaning up the overgrown nightmare that had become their garden.

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-83492172230321533472008-05-03T14:35:00.007+02:002008-06-06T13:06:55.904+02:00

Leonotus leonurus Wild Dagga This is really an outstanding plant. It is one of the most noticeable plants during a dry winter, bringing much needed pockets of colour to the rocky grasslands in which it is naturally found. The flowers are usually bright, fountains of orange, but can be found in apricot and even white. Sunbirds love the nectar found in these flowers. I've found it flowering

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054541406616103006.post-73037454633746371752008-05-01T07:39:00.008+02:002008-05-02T10:08:55.336+02:00

I found this quote the other day...The difference between a flower and a weed is a judgement - Anonymous Having a beautiful lawn can be an all consuming focus of gardeners and homeowners. You'd be right in thinking that a well manicured lawn can be an asset in the garden, but part of the reason why lawns are such hard work, is that we are trying to maintain a completely false state in our gardens

Ross Nevettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291604258371562064noreply@blogger.com