Page 17 - Landscape130

FEATURE

BIODIVERSE GARDENS:

RATIONALE, PURPOSE AND TRENDS

Text and photos by Dr Jonathan Foley, Senior Lecturer, Horticulture Department, Durban University of Technology (DUT)

Biodiversity, like the word sustainability, is the new trending term in ecology and

landscape circles. It encompasses all animal and plant life forms on the planet.
How it links up with landscape gardening is not clearly understood, but this article
draws some of the threads together, looking at the rationale, purpose and trends
of biodiverse gardens in South Africa.

Biodiverse planting at
Enigma Estate, KZN. House
here are two main aspects to this Dama: Design and build by
topic: the first is setting the scene and Hingham Nursery
Tunderstanding the bigger picture.
Nothing operates in isolation and one
has to understand the broader forces that of their spatial transformation, while flat and valued at less than R300 000, the majority of
are busy shaping our landscape industry. townhouse living is often marketed as more which are government-subsidised homes.
These include socio economic trends as secure than living in free-standing homes.
well as the ecological imperative to create So, the size of garden available to the Residential gardens, the sovereign
biodiverse gardens. The second is learning individual is getting smaller, thus reducing domain of the client
the mechanics and unpacking the process the demand for trees and accelerating Landscapers need to be aware that gardens
and detail that goes into designing, shrub, perennial and annual sales. and place-making represent not just an
installing and managing a biodiverse Lightstone data recently noted that economic investment but also an emotional
garden. This article focuses primarily on estates make up just 7% of South Africa’s investment by the homeowner. According to
the first aspect. more than seven million registered psychologists, gardens evoke strong feelings
residential properties, but account for 17% of ownership and sense of place, and are the
Going through changes of the total market value. They estimate perfect setting for generating meaningful
The suburban garden and its related cousin, that there are currently around 440 000 connections with nature that will increase
the gated estate, are entities that provide properties in more than 5 000 estates across emotional involvement and uphold long-
both the landscaper and retail nurseryman South Africa. ‘Semigration’ to the Western term pro-environmental behavior.
with a pool of potential clients yet the and Eastern Cape is driving this trend. Designers should be encouraged to
market, like everything in South Africa, is fast Valued at R5.96 trillion as of June 2021, create more biodiverse gardens, i.e gardens
changing. South Africa’s 6.7 million residential with a higher indigenous content to
A FNB report showed that nearly 60% of properties make up 71% of the total value of encourage wildlife.
all new residential properties constructed the residential property market. More than The client has not been removed from
in South Africa in the first quarter of 2019 half of residential properties nationwide his or her position as king or queen in
were flats and townhouses. Several cities (53%) were valued at R600 000 or less, the relationship, and both customer and
have roll-out densification strategies as part while 32% of all residential properties were contractor are still mutually dependent on

Landscape SA • Issue 130 2023 15