Page 18 - LandscapeSAIssue118

FEATURE

CAPE TOWN LETS THE FLOWERS GROW

BY DR PETA BROM

The City of Cape Town stops mowing in spring and displays of flowers in parks
can easily rival the famous daisies of Namaqualand. The announcement that
wildflowers in some of the city’s parks won’t be mowed until the end of November
is a critically important move if the city is to preserve its famed biodiversity.

here are 19 different vegetation types,
most of which are not protected by
TTable Mountain National Park. This
means that critical biodiversity is dotted
in small patches across the city. Research
on how this biodiversity can be better
managed to improve human access, animal
movements and gene flow has shown the
importance of letting wildflowers grow
until the end of the seed-producing period,
rather than mowing them down as soon as
the flowering peak has ended.

For the third year running, the city has
decided not to mow selectively in spring, Wildflowers in Lincoln Park, Cape Town. Delaying the mowing season in the city’s parks is a boost for
and the municipality announced that biodiversity, according to the author. Photo by Rupert Koopman of the Botanical Society.
this year, mowing will be suspended in
selected parks until the end of November. mowing is not done routinely in July Long-standing traditional systems of
This is excellent news as spring mowing because the municipal budget comes to urban grazing exist in many peri-urban
must be stopped for two and a half months an end at this time and nothing happens and informal areas in South Africa. From a
if urban flowers are to finish producing while we wait for approval of new budgets, biodiversity perspective, agricultural grazing
seeds. After two years of monitoring the which usually happens at the beginning of is too intense and does not allow wild plants
spring reproductive season for more than August. The contractors also prefer not to to establish themselves, whereas casual and
20 species of indigenous bulbs and daisies mow during the winter storms. occasional grazing does.
that grow wild in the city’s parks and road
verges, I found that the city’s previous The City of Cape Town and the Overberg The Namaqualand daisies on the West Coast
two-month suspensions had not been Municipality have both acknowledged that people flock to see every spring are the
long enough to allow the plants to reach that the suspension of mowing means we result of disturbance in the renosterveld
maturity. will have to tolerate long grasses and grass and strandveld ecosystems. Fallow fields
seeds during late spring. As an example, by returned to the wild quickly become home
After the flowers have finished, the the end of October, the wild oat grass on to pioneering daisies. Fields that were
wildflower seeds take an additional month Alphen Common was taller than 165 cm, grazed rather than ploughed and planted
to reach maturity. When cut in September, and the Common is currently not one of with crops resprout flowers from bulbs lying
the flowers don’t bloom at all, and if they the places where mowing is suspended. I dormant in the soil.
are cut too soon in October, we lose the think it should be, and ideally, there should
following year’s seed bank, along with the be collaboration with nearby stables to All over Cape Town, the parks benefitting
food it provides for fledgelings and other graze horses there and prevent the oats from the mowing suspension are in flower
small animals. from becoming that tall! Ultimately, the and the city has asked residents to identify
city needs to supplement the mowing parks and open green spaces with a rich
However, the flush of flowers does present suspension by employing contractors to fynbos floral spring to be spared the chop
problems, which will need to be managed undertake weeding during spring. during the spring flowering season.
in the years to come. I am most worried
about the potential spread of invasive For years, conservationists have called for In the long term, a mix of solutions could
weeds, especially Echium spp, the peak specific areas to be spared the chop where be implemented but for now, strategically
flowering season of which is in the second there are plant species of conservation adjusting the mowing schedule is the most
half of November. There are two species significance. This has resulted in a accessible tool available for urban park
of Echium that are noxious and invasive in stalemate between city landscapers, road management, and these early steps should
our region and my observations of their safety maintenance managers and those be celebrated.
cycles suggest that they go straight to seed concerned with biodiversity objectives.
almost as soon as the flowers appear. This About the author
means that mowing spreads the seeds, so If mowing is suspended, additional Dr Peta Brom is a post doctoral research
waiting until the very end of November to management is generally recommended. fellow at the University of Pretoria. This
mow will help the Echium to spread. Either burning or grazing prevents article is based on her doctoral research
overgrowth and makes space for the which investigated pollinators and flower
I think we need to be mowing in July to growth of more sensitive species. In South phenology in the Cape. It has been
prevent the invasive grasses from becoming Africa, the use of eland in the Cape’s local reproduced here with permission from
too dense during spring. Unfortunately, nature reserves has been tested. GroundUp, www.groundup.org.za n

16 Landscape SA • Issue 118 2022