Page 24 - Fourways Gardens September 2020

Gardening

NEW FASHION IN PLANTS

B Y JAMES CLARKE, PIC TURES B Y MARY BRO ADLEY

that is reminiscent of a giant dark-green
cactus: the naboom (Euphorbia ingens).

Dire warnings are ying about regarding

the restick’s milky latex. The latex is
indeed poisonous but I have found no
record of anybody dying and although a
pet or two might have bitten into a branch

with distressing e ects I have come across
no record of fatalities among animals.
The latex is an extreme irritant; get some
in your eyes and, unless you immediately
wash your eyes with water, you might
need medical help. But then the sap of
many popular garden plants is just as
toxic. Lilies for instance, and hydrangeas,
poinsettia, oleander, daffodils, foxgloves,
elephant ear and philodendron all fall
into that category.
Linsay at The Farm Nursery in Fourways

Aloe arborescens – a popular succulent
ur usual rainless four months Euphorbia tirucalli, can quickly grow to
of winter have, I am told, been seven metres, though most people prefer
the coldest in 10 years but to keep them at shoulder height. They are
Othis chilly period has surely very easily controlled.
heralded the dawn of a new garden
fashion – succulents. I have a striking 2m high patch of
firesticks where, four months ago, there
Flower beds in the garden estates of was absolutely nothing to excite the
Gauteng were more colourful this winter eye. How did I plant it? I cut off a 20mm
than I have ever seen them - filled with a stick from a friend’s plant, stuck it in the
wondrous variety of plants that some of ground and leapt backwards. I’m kidding
us did not know existed. about having to leap backwards, but their
rate of growth is phenomenal.
Plants that don’t need watering - well, at
least, not more than once a fortnight. I was surprised to learn they were
indigenous to South Africa and
Beds are aflame with what I call ‘firesticks’ embarrassed that I’d never noticed them
though some prefer to call them ‘sticks in the wild. They belong to the same genus
of fire’ or ‘red pencil plants’. These plants, as the common, sometimes massive tree

Fourways Gardens • 22 • September 2020