Estate Living Magazine Invest SA - Issue 41 May 2019 | Page 44

C O M M U N I T Y
L I V I N G
SIX TREES
FOR SMALL
GARDENS
Life’s getting harder, everything’s getting more expensive, the world’s getting madder,
and it’s all happening faster by the hour. How on earth is anyone supposed to stay sane?
PLANT A TREE.
Besides making you look cool, a well-placed, well-chosen tree will
add value to your property (especially since your garden will probably
deliver that vital first impression when it comes to selling the place),
will increase the appeal of your neighbourhood, and will help the
world battle climate change. Yes, really, it will.
And trees are good for everyone around you, too. As Sara Ebenreck,
author of Shading Our Cities: A Resource Guide For Urban And
Community Forests, points out: ‘Trees outstrip most people in the
extent and depth of their work for the public good.’
But, like everything in life, you get trees and you get trees. Some
become huge, some are boisterous, some become weedy, and
some are just plain bullies. And you have limited space in your garden.
So how do you choose the right tree for the job?
Most people, landscapers and nurseries are recommending that we
plant mostly indigenous gardens, but ‘indigenous’ implies ‘of South
Africa’, and South Africa is a vast country with many different soils and
vastly differing climates – and over 900 species of tree. The temperate highveld
So, first look at where you live, and then at the plants that thrive in
your area, because ‘occurs locally’ beats ‘indigenous’ every time. A
tree that occurs naturally in Mpumalanga could be inappropriate –
invasive, even – in a place like Cape Town. And vice versa. • The lavender tree (Heteropyxis natalensis, SA Tree No. 455) is
called ‘iNkunzi’ in Zulu and ‘laventelboom’ in Afrikaans. Growing
to between five and seven metres, it’s a neat, small, showy, slow-
growing tree that might well have been designed for the modern
townhouse garden. The pale, almost whitish bark of its fluted
and sometimes crooked trunk contrasts beautifully with its dark,
drooping leaves that smell strongly of lavender when crushed. You
can use them in potpourri or herbal teas. Although each individual
flower is tiny – around 3mm across – they’re borne in clusters
So here’s our (current) selection of just a few of our (current) favourites
for three of the country’s major climate zones.
But there are many more.
Hot summers, occasional droughts, frost in places in winter, and – oh!
– those awesome afternoon thundershowers in the summertime! The
highveld’s a great place to be if you’re a tree.