Aloe pluridens French Aloe

Family    Xanthorrhoeaceae
Subfamily    Asphodeloideae

The specie name pluridens is derived from two words pluri = many and dens = teeth which refers to the many teeth on the leaf margins.

A group of Aloe pluridens growing against the boaundary fence at my natural aloe and grassland garden at Mount Moreland

Distribution and habitat of Aloe pluridens

It occurs naturally from the Eastern Cape to just north of Durban in KwaZulu  Natal where it is normally found growing on cliffs and in the shade of coastal bush. It is particularly common in the Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and the Albany areas where the rosettes may be seen above the surrounding bush.

Description

Aloe pluridens is a very attractive aloe which is usually single-stemmed or may be branched it bears numerous small plantlets on the lower stems. Aloe pluridens is a tall aloe, occasionally reaching up to 5-6 m high. The leaves are bright yellowish to bright green. The leaf margin is armed with numerous teeth. The leaf sap is clear with a strong, rhubarb-like smell.

The inflorescence is attractive, branched with up to 4 racemes protruding above the leaves. The flowers are usually orange or pinkish-red, but a yellow form is also known. Up to three inflorescences may be borne from each rosette. The flowers that are produced from May to July attract sunbirds and bees which in my garden at Mount Moreland often attract Fork tailed Drongos which feed on the bees. This winter the beautiful Scarlet Chested Sunbird which normally occurs much further north has been attracted to the numerous aloes, Kniphofias and Erythrinas trees  that I have flowering in my garden.

Growing Aloe pluridens

Aloe pluridens is extremely easy to grow preferring partial shade for the hottest time of day.  Aloe pluridens will grow in poor soils with little attention but will do much better if it is planted in a large hole that has first been enriched with well-rotted compost and fertilised at least once a year at the beginning of the growing season with a balanced granular fertiliser. 

Irrigation

Although Aloe pluridens is drought tolerant, it thrives and flowers better if adequate irrigation is provided in the summer months.

Propagating Aloe pluridens

Aloe pluridens is extremely easy to propagate which is best done by simply removing the numerous plantlets on the stem and planting them.

The numerous suckers growing on the main stem of Aloe pluridens can clearly be seen

The removal of the side plantlets that are produced in large numbers stimulates the plant to produce more giving a continuous supply of propagating material which makes is possible to quickly produce ever larger numbers of this spectacular aloe. Aloe pluridens can also be grown from seed which they do not produce in large numbers. When vegetatively propagated always propagate from a number of mother plants so that your entire collection does not consist of the clones of one single plant to allow for cross pollination and the production of seed which will hopefully spread to and grow in your neighbours garden.

Landscape value

Aloe pluridens has a high landscape value both as a feature plant where it can be planted as a single plant or as an extensive mass plantings to create a focal point or to define a boundary. Massed plantings provided a brilliant splash of colour during the dry winter months. This aloe is a must for every coastal garden irrespective of whether it is planted entirely to local  indigenous plants or exotic foreign plants

Ecological value

Aloe pluridens is a good source of nectar for birds and bees during the dry winter months

Pests and diseases

Aloe Snout Weevils

Aloe Snout Weevils belonging to the family Curculionidae, the Lesser Aloe Weevil Rhadinomerus illicitus being a particularily destructive specie

The Aloe Snout Weevil is grey, dark brown to black in colour. They are between 15mm-25mm in length. The adult Aloe Snout Weevil feeds on the sap it obtains by puncturing the aloe leaves causing circular lesions 3mm in diameter which leave unsightly marks on the aloe leaves.  The Aloe Snout Weevil lays its eggs at the base of the aloe leaves, the larvae bore into the stem just below the crown of the plant which often causes the entire plant to die.

For comprehensive information on Snout weevil Damage Done to Aloes go to Kumbula Nursery Blog at

http://kumbulanursery.co.za/blog/snout-beetle-damage-done-to-aloes

White Scale insects

The white scale insects become visible as neat white rows on the leaves, especially on the lower surfaces. If untreated, the entire plant will eventually be covered by the insects and may die.

Medicinal uses of Aloe Pluridens

The sulphur-containing compound Pluridone found in the roots of Aloe pluridens has been proven in trials to effectively control coccidia in poultry.

Michael Hickman

Landscape Design and Rehabilitation Specialist

www.ecoman.co.za

michael@ecoman.co.za

06.06.15

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Jasminum multipartitum

Common names: 

English:         Starry wild jasmine

Zulu:             Imfohlafohlane

German:       Jasmin

Close up of the flower of Jasminum multipartitum

Jasminum multipartitum belongs to the plant family Oleaceae which has a number of members that are economically significant such as the olive (Olea europaea) which is important for its production of fruit as well as for the olive oil extracted from them. The ash  tree (Fraxinus) produces hard tough timber.

Forsythias, lilacs, jasmines and privets, are valued as ornamental plants in gardens and for landscaping.

Species of jasmine are the source of an essential oil. Their flowers are often added to tea.

Distribution

Jasminum multipartitum has a relatively small distribution being found only in South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

In South Africa Jasminum multipartitum is found in the Eastern Cape, the drier parts of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in the bushveld areas of Limpopo, northern Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

Natural Habitat

Jasminum multipartitum is found growing naturally on rocky slopes, in woodland and in bushy scrub in a variety of soils both in full sun as well as in semi-shade.

  

Description

Jasminum multipartitum is a scrambling, evergreen shrub with bright green, shiny leaves which produces masses of large white waxy, scented, star-shaped flowers after the first spring rain. The flowers have a delicate perfume during the day that becomes markedly stronger in the evening and at night. The flower buds are pink or tinted red.

The fruit consists of shiny bluish black twin berries. There is usually one quite large seed in each berry, the dark, plum-coloured flesh is very juicy.

Jasminum multipartitum

Ecological significance

The flowers of Jasminum multipartitum attract insects in particular Hawk moths which pollinate them.

The berries are eaten by birds and by people. Jasminum multipartitum are heavily browsed by game, indigenous goats and indigenous sheep.

The larvae of the Cambridge Vagrant Butterfly, the Variable Prince Moth, Oleander Hawk Moth, Death's Head Hawk Moth, and King Monkey Moth feed on Jasminum species.

  

Cultural uses

Jasminum multipartitum is used traditionally as a love charm.

Other uses

Jasminum multipartitum could be used to make a herbal tea, fragrance baths and pot-pourri. The foreign species of Jasmine are important for their horticultural value as lovely well-known ornamentals and popular garden plants so there is every reason to grow Jasminum multipartitum in South African gardens. Sprigs of this jasmine are delightful in flower arrangements as the buds open after they are picked and their scent pervades the house.

Growing Jasminum multipartitum

Jasminum multipartitum is a shrub or weak scrambler that will grow in a variety of soils even in very dry locations but will do best if it is supplied with plenty of well-rooted organic material and a little fertiliser.

If encouraged Jasminum multipartitum will climb up to 3 m, although not very strongly, and is best used as a shrub of up to 1.5 m high. Jasminum multipartitum is medium to fast growing.

Jasminum multipartitum flowers best when growing in the full sun in particular in years following a long dry winter so do not over water it.

Jasminum multipartitum is able to withstand some frost but in colder areas it will need a protected corner, generally it does best in regions that have milder winters. Once established, it is fairly drought tolerant.

Jasminum multipartitum takes well to pruning, either to shape it as desired, or to curb excessive growth. This is best done after flowering to encourage thick, compact growth.

 
Propagation

Jasminum multipartitum is easy to propagate by layering which is an easy and successful option, from seed and from semi-hardwood cuttings made in spring and summer when plants are actively growing. Cuttings do best placed under mist with bottom heat.

 Jasminum multipartitum growing on a hot dry bank in shale at Mount Moreland

Landscaping

Jasminum multipartitum is a delightful shrub, or weak climber which can be trained onto a trellis or fence, or even shaped into a hedge or screen, this species of jasmine is also an extremely successful container plant, which is attractive even without flowers. No frost free South African landscape or garden should be without this gem of a plant.

Although there are 10 indigenous Jasmine species in South Africa, many of which rival or exceed the exotic species for showiness and ease of cultivation, like most of our South African plants species they are seldom appreciated or grown here.

Michael Hickman

Landscape Design and Rehabilitation Specialist

www.ecoman.co.za

michael@ecoman.co.za

25.19.14

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Yellow Ground Orchid Eulophia speciosa

Yellow Ground Orchid 

Eulophia speciosa 

IsiZulu: Umabelejongosi Ompofu; Umlunge Omhlophe

Eulophia speciosa growing and flowering very well under harsh conditions on my roof at Mount Moreland

Description

Eulophia speciosa is aptly named ‘speciosa’ – Latin for ‘beautiful, handsome and showy’.

Eulophia speciosa is a terrestrial perennial plant producing 3 - 6 leaves 15 - 65cm long on a central flowering stem up to 150cm tall. The stem grows out of an underground string of pseudo bulbs which are 4 - 6 long and up to 4cm wide

Distribution

Eulophia speciosa is a species of terrestrial orchid has a wide distribution range being from Western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, most countries of the central and eastern parts of Africa, from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Botswana and north eastern Namibia to Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa where it occurs from the Limpopo, Mpumalanga, southwards to KwaZulu-Natal through the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape as far as the George-Knysna area.

Habitat

The plants normally grow in savannah grassland, bush land and wooded grassland, and have also been recorded from marshy coastal grassland and montane grassland. They are found in grassland from near sea level often exposed to salt spray to 1 700 m in southern Africa, and up to 2 000 m in East Africa. In South Africa the plants usually grow in colonies of up to 50 plants generally in sandy soils but are also found growing in clay soils. This wide-ranging species is obviously rather adaptable, and can therefore thrive under different conditions in cultivation although it is not likely to survive very severe frost.

Ecology

The flowers of this species are deceptive and offer no nectar or other reward to the pollinating insect. Pollinators are large carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.)

I have seen these Giant Carpenter Bees Xylocopa flavorufa pollinating my plants at Mount Moreland

Cultural uses

Root infusions of Eulophia speciosa are prepared as emetics for both humans and animals. In traditional medicine, emetics are widely used to facilitate the removal of what is thought to be the cause of the ailment.

Eulophia speciosa plants are also used as a protective charm against storms.

It is reported that Eulophia speciosa bulbs are a favoured food of local people within the plants native range, and are extensively harvested from the wild for local use.

Often eaten raw, sometimes with a little salt, as soon as it is harvested, the bulb is also mashed up and mixed with other raw food plants such as Talinum spp., Dipcadi glaucum and Kedrostis foetidissima. The pounded roots are also added to soups and sauces

Growing Eulophia speciosa

I have grown Eulophia speciosa for about the last 50 years and have found them easy to grow keep an eye on them but be aware that too much care can kill them.

Eulophia speciosa is often a pioneer plant generally on poor sandy soils near the coast in its natural habitat which matures to flowering size in between two and three years depending on conditions.

Over the last few years I have trialled these plants as green roof plants with great success under conditions where they only receive natural rainfall mostly in the summer months. I trials they have proved to be most suitable for growing on extensive green roofs that receive little maintenance and supplemental watering.

Eulophia speciosa are best grown in pots of large growing containers where they are safe from attack by mole rats or planted out in garden beds where they will need to be carefully monitored for attack by mole rats. If mole rats find them then they will probably need to be lifted and put into containers because once found the mole rats will not leave until they have eaten the last bulb. Eulophia speciosa needs to grow in full sun for much of the day to flower well and to remain healthy.

In the growing period, the substrate should be fairly moist, but a constantly wet soil must be avoided. Plants are best transplanted and divided in the dormant season, and should be potted. Eulophia speciosa are to some degree dependent on their mycorrhiza fungus species but it is certainly not necessary to inoculate the potting medium with mycorrhiza fungus because the roots of the plants will already have their populations living within them.

Suitable drainage must be provided to prevent water logging in times of prolonged heavy rain to avoid rotting of the roots. Regular watering should not be needed, only during periods of drought will they need additional watering. An annual topdressing with well rotted leaf mould or bark compost mixed with a little slow release fertiliser and a little lime is essential for healthy sustained growth of the plants. Occasional feeding with a liquid fertilizer during the growing season will do no harm but do not overdo it or the plants will become weak and will be far more susceptible to bacterial rot and fungus attack. 

Although Eulophia speciosa has great hybridizing potential I strongly discourage doing so because of the possible contamination of wild specimens.

The simplest way to propagate Eulophia speciosa is by division of dormant back bulbs which are removed leaving three healthy pseudo bulbs for continued growth.

To produce large numbers of plants in a short period of time propagation will need to be done by means of planting seed. Practically every flower will produce viable seed pods if hand pollinated regardless if they are self or cross pollinated, but do not overdo or the plants will become weakened by the effort of producing too larger amount of seed, 5 seed pods per plant should be fine.

The seed can then be grown in vitro in a suitable growing structure with ease if suitable equipment is at hand, otherwise you can simply do what I have done for years and that is to simply plant the seed in prepared seed beds which I have done over the years with a good degree of success. I also find many seedlings that just pop up in the garden from time to time from seed that my plants produce.

Young healthy plants flower about 2-4 years after sowing.

Some of many Eulophia speciosa plants undergoing suitability trails as green roof plants on one of my roofs at Mount Moreland

Pests and diseases

A number of pests feed on Eulophia speciosa such as leaf miners and the yellow orchid beetle Lema pectoralis which do a large amount of damage to the plants if not dealt with promptly.

Yellow orchid beetle Lema pectoralis

Bacterial rot due to over watering, watering during the dormant season, crowding and insufficient air circulation can be a problem. If planted out in large numbers in garden beds, the plants most probably will eventually be eaten by mole rats that feed on the pseudo bulbs. If the Mole rats find them then they will have to be lifted to be placed in containers or they will eat every last one.

Landscape uses

Eulophia speciosa is a very showy and desirable plant to include in any landscape design or garden.

Eulophia speciosa makes a good container plant for the patio and brings colour and life to the green roof be it big or small.

General Information

Eulophia speciosa is the floral emblem of the South African Orchid Council http://www.saoc.co.za/

Michael Hickman

Landscape Design Specialist

www.ecoman.co.za

michael@ecoman.co.za

18.04.14

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Hibiscus surattensis

Bush Sorrel

Isigezo , Ucathucathu , Uvemvane (z)

French: Liane oseille

Hibiscus surattensis is generally widespread throughout the Old World tropics being and in South Africa where it occurs in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga.

Description

Hibiscus surattensis is an annual herbaceous, trailing or scrambling plant of moist waste places, covered with soft hairs and scattered prickles.

Landscape value

This most delightful plant due to the profusion of bright yellow flowers that it produces in profusion in autumn has great potential to be grown in less formal indigenous landscapes that are designed with high plant diversity to attract the maximum of wildlife. I makes a nice bright addition to any landscape or garden where it has been used.

Uses

The plant is rich in mucilage. It is often cultivated for the mucilaginous leaves which are eaten in soup or as a vegetable

Plant yields a fiber of good quality.

Traditional Medicinal uses: 

In Senegal the plant is used as an emollient. Zulus use a lotion of the leaf and stem for the treatment of penile irritation of any sort, including venereal sores and urethritis. It is sometimes applied as an ointment for the same purposes. An infusion is also used as an injection into the urethra and vagina for gonorrhoea and other inflammations.

Ecology

Hibiscus surattensis occurs in grassland and at forest edges in lowland and at medium altitudes up to 1700 m, in regions with an average annual rainfall of 1000–1600 mm. It also occurs in marshes, abandoned fields and plantations, on waste ground near habitation, and in coastal habitats such as sand dunes. It is found on a wide variety of soil types.

Ecological significance

Visited by bees and small flies browsed by game

Michael Hickman

Landscape Design Specialist

www.ecoman.co.za

michael@ecoman.co.za

15.04.14

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A garden without wildlife is hardly a garden at all

Ever changing ever new

Our average affluent north Durban suburban garden owner has the most  uninteresting sterile garden possible planted to a very limited number of sterile unchanging plants such as Philodendron selloum cv. Xanadu, bright coloured crotons Codiaeum variegatum, dust collecting Dianella tasmanica variegata, Ophiopogon japonica, Ophiopogon jaburan variegata a never changing boring landscape. Masses of boring single straight stemmed palms, yellow leaved Duranta erecta Sheena's Gold ™ which have been trimmed into hedges, balls and who knows what, to me a plant that is this colour is  critically ill and needs to be removed. All to be finished of with horrible gaudy purple border bedding plants such as purple setcreasea Tradescantia pallida and Rheoe Tradescantia spathacea

Croton Codiaeum variegatum

The Croton Codiaeum variegatum above is very clearly a magnificent plant that has its uses but it never changes how it looks which in time becomes overpowering and boring and in particular it is sterile, it attracts no wildlife at all it could very easily be replaced in the garden with an identical copy made of plastic and few if any people would be any the wiser. These magnificently colourful plants most certainly do not bring life into the garden.

Change and variety are the spices of life and that applies in particular when planning a garden either exotic or indigenous if one would like to create tranquillity in the garden and to provide the greatest of benefit for the user and observer.

In a Proudly South African living garden planted to our local South African plants there are never two days that are the same, it is ever changing, ever interesting, the  bright yellow bloom of a Hibiscus calyphyllus or Hibiscus surattensis here this morning gone this afternoon a flush of blooms the following day.

 

Hibiscus surattensis  bright and beautiful ever changing never the same.

Dietes grandiflora and Dietes iridioides which come to their full glory for a single day in the spring and early summer months after a drop in atmospheric pressure, then wait for the next drop in pressure to repeat the spectacle. A blaze of blue from the Agapanthus Agapanthus praecox spp.orientalis for a few weeks during midsummer, a blaze of orange from the aloes during the winter to be followed by a blaze of red from the coral tree Erythrina lysistemon announcing the early spring that attract birds and insect 

A brightly coloured butterfly here and brightly coloured bird over there plucking a bright berry from a Psychotria capensis bush. A brightly coloured carpenter bee sucking nectar from the flower of a Justicia betonica, dragonflies doing their amazing aerial displays, interesting and brightly insects every where.

A brightly coloured carpenter bee Xylocopa caffra sucking nectar from the flower of a Justicia betonica

A bright coloured bird flying overhead to alight and pluck a bright red berry from a Psychotria capensis in full fruit in the winter. An interesting and colourful bug sitting on a flower, interesting colourful insects everywhere you look in the garden. A Striped Skink Trachylepsis striata sunning its self on a stone and one up on the roof garden waiting for a fat fly to pass by, a blue headed tree agama Acanthocercus atricollis sunning itself on the trunk of a tree

A spectacled Weaver Ploceus ocularis building its nest on a Strelitzia tree Strelitzia nicolai outside my kitchen door.

These things are seldom seen and experienced in your regular traditional Durban garden with its mostly sterile tropical and subtropical plants that appear to never change from season to season, day to day, week to week, year to year, never changing always the same. Many of these gardens may just as well be made of brightly coloured plastic and concrete for all the life that they bring into the garden. Well manicured bright un-natural colours, coarse textures.

  

A well designed garden planted exclusively to our local indigenous plants will be green and tranquil full of interest, full of beauty, with green that comes in every texture, form and shade is ever changing ever new. Every day there is a new surprise, as flower buds burst open to expose a splash of brilliant colour, sometimes lasting only a few hours and sometimes weeks on end then back to the tranquillity of green to soothe the soul.

A very easy plant to propagate and to grow is this magnificent pendulous Gladiolus cruentus a rare critically endangered local gem seldom if ever seen in cultivation in South Africa

A brightly coloured sun bird gently alights on a leonotis intermedia to sip nectar before flitting off to another brightly coloured plant or to hawk a passing insect in mid air.

During the day bright orange paradise flycatchers with their long tail feathers dart out under the canopies of the trees to catch a passing fly and as the sun dips its head below the horizon tiny little bats appear doing tight aerobatics under the same trees to hawk the insects that they feed on.

I look out the window and see a bright coloured Locust Zonocerus elegans which feeds on the milk weed plant Gomphocarpus physocarpus which is also the host plant to the African Monarch Butterfly.

A bright coloured Locust Zonocerus elegans resting on the flower of a grass aloe, Aloe cooperii

A bronze back manikin alights on a grass stem to pluck a seed head of Panicum maximum to build his nest,  later I see him return to collect the fluffy flower heads of natal redtop grass Melinis repens to line it with.

A bright red African Fire Finch arrives on the ground just outside my kitchen door to look for seed and insects.

African Fire Finch Lagonosticta rubricata

The sound of the Crested Barbet that has his home in a nest box I placed in a tree directly opposite my kitchen window only a few metres away, the sound of  Painted Reed Frogs in a small pond of arums in the evening a garden which is a haven for wildlife in all its forms both day and night with interest without end, is this not what a garden should be.

Painted Reed Frog Hyperolius marmoratus

To maximise the life in a garden it must be planned with as large a variety of interesting local plants to create habitat, which provides shelter, breeding and feeding opportunities for all manner of creatures both great and small. Thereafter we need to do little more to encourage life into our gardens, if the conditions are right wildlife will come and stay of its own. The bigger the variety of plants and habitat types the greater the numbers of creatures that will be attracted. The garden must have water, it must have lawn to serve as green pathways and to separate the different elements of the garden. Do not forget a bench here a table and chairs there so that one can sit and relax and enjoy the garden and its wildlife.

African Monarch butterfly Danaus chrysippus on the flower of it´s host plant the Milk Weed Gomphocarpus physocarpus

There is no reason why a garden that is maximised for wildlife should not be planned and planted to the highest standards of landscape design incorporating only our local plants and a slightly different order to what has traditionally been accepted here in South Africa and much of the world.

When it comes to maintenance the garden must still be well manicured just as the sterile traditional garden in particular at the entrance and near to the house but it will need to be a slightly different order, the beds will still need to be edged, the lawn mowed and the weeds removed, no one wants to be greeted by a mess. However the maintenance must not show a misguided sense of order it must not be carried out with sensitivity and not to the detriment of the life in the garden.

All the photos that I used in this article have been taken in my own garden at Mount Moreland north of Durban.

Michael Hickman

Landscape Design Specialist

www.ecoman.co.za

michael@ecoman.co.za

05.04.14

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Umzimbeet a small tree for every Garden

Umzimbeet 

Millettia grandis

Umsimbithi; Umsimbithwa (Zulu)

Millettia grandis belongs to the pea and legume family Fabaceae

 Photo taken at Mount Moreland 11 September 2013

Distribution and Habitat

Millettia grandis occurs along the coast from eastern South Africa from north of East London in the Eastern Cape Province into KwaZulu-Natal as far as southern Mozambique. Millettia grandis is particularly abundant in the Pondoland area. Millettia grandis has been planted occasionally outside this region, for instance in Mauritius.

Ecology

Millettia grandis occurs in coastal forest and open lowland forest up to an altitude of 600 m. It can be found as a pioneer tree along forest margins. Millettia grandis tolerates light frost. Millettia grandis often occurs on sandy soils, but also on shale, where trees are often gnarled. Millettia grandis grows best in deep rich sandy soils where ample water is available. Where it occurs Millettia grandis is locally common.

Landscape value

Millettia grandis is a small to medium sized tree the suits every garden whether exotic or indigenous, whether landscaped or natural

Millettia grandis has a compact crown which is particularly suitable for planting in limited spaces like small urban gardens it makes an attractive decorative shade tree with glossy dark green leaves, grey bark, copper red coloured young leaves and flower buds, purple flowers and velvety golden seedpods.

The attractive flowers which occur in from early spring to summer are pea-shaped, mauve to purple and held in an upright inflorescence on the ends of the branches. The seed pods split open 6-8 months later when dry with a load bang to release the flat, oblong seeds.

Millettia grandis comes from a sub-tropical habitat and if grown in drier areas it will need ample water for it to do its best.

Despite its tremendous landscape value Millettia grandis is only occasionally planted as an ornamental shade and street tree this very beautiful and valuable local tree with sculptural and seasonal interest for the garden is clearly undervalued and planted far too infrequently.

Ecological importance

At least four species of butterfly larvae feed on the leaves. Larvae of the butterfly Orange –barred Playboy Deudorix diocles are commonly found in the pods. The larvae of Pondo Charaxes, Charaxes pondoensis feed on the leaves. Termites sometimes utilize the flaked bark on the stems.

Giant Carpenter Bee Xylocopa flavorufa

Bees and bumble bees collect nectar and pollen when the tree is in flower

Commercial uses

The heartwood is dark brown and distinctly demarcated from the yellowish sapwood. The grain is straight, fine textured and very heavy and hard. The wood has an oily surface, it is very durable and resistant to insect attack.

The wood is locally important for building poles, durable furniture, walking sticks, knobkerries and Ugqoko traditional meat platters

Ugqoko traditional meat platter below

Millettia grandis has several features which gives it tremendous agro-forestry potential for rural community development. It does not compete vigorously with other crops and being a Legume, it enhances soil fertility through its nitrogen fixing ability.

Propagation and Growing

Fresh seed is used for propagation, soaking in hot water for one night improves germination. Young trees transplant well grow fairly fast: 80–100 cm/year under favourable conditions.

Millettia grandis seedlings rows best in humus rich well drained sandy soils.

.

Plant in a large hole and mix in a good amount of compost, well rotted manure, and a balanced fertiliser. Mulch well and water regularly, especially during the first year or two for optimum growth.

  

The Millettia grandis trees in my area are covered with nearly ripe seed at the time of writing this article so take the opportunity to obtain seed and grow your own this season.

Michael Hickman

27 March 2014

Indigenous Landscape Design Specialist http://www.ecoman.co.za

Indigenous Landscape Design 

Designing "Proudly South African" Bio-Diverse Indigenous Landscapes and Gardens

Cyrthanthus sanguineus

getting to know the ropes

This whole blogging thing is rather new to me in fact you can measure the time in minutes so please have a little patience with me while I learn the ropes

Gazania krebsiana the mother plant was collected a Monteseel inland of Durban