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FEATURE

conservation and human health and
wellbeing.
Individually gardens are small, but
collectively they comprise substantial
portions of both rural and urban areas,
providing green corridors for the movement
of wildlife through the urban matrix. In this
same research, Davoren compared domestic
residential gardens with open space natural
areas in the North West and Gauteng regions.
He recorded a total of 1424 species in all
five natural areas and 1524 species in 256
domestic gardens. The majority of species
recorded in the domestic gardens were
exotic garden plants, while the natural areas
contained mostly indigenous species in all
five settlements.
The research showed that the species
composition and richness in domestic
Emberton Estate, Hillcrest, KZN. Landscape maintenance by McWades Landscapes gardens was influenced by the management
activities and socio-economic status (SES) of
the householders. Domestic gardens have
the potential to provide numerous ecosystem
services, but this greatly depends on the
management decisions, SES and personal
preferences of the householder.
Helena Hanson expands on this thought.
She conducted a detailed garden survey in
2021 of urban properties in Lund, Sweden
and developed the garden ‘human-
nature’ framework with its six intersecting
components. These include 1) garden
biodiversity, 2) perceived garden cultural
ecosystem services (CES), 3) garden design
and management, 4) private green space, 5)
public green space and 6) urban planning.
The graphic below demonstrates the private
green space of the residential garden being
scaled up to public green space under the
control of town planners.

Wetland development and conservation at Kindlewood Estate, Umhlanga, KZN. Maintenance by Leitch
Landscapes

each other to nurture goodwill and achieve areas are usually indigenous and certain
the agreed common goals of the contract. successful eco estates combine wildlife
such as bush buck and zebra, together
Estates and corporate gardens: a with golf courses and residential dwellings
move toward sustainability or the studded into functioning nature reserves.
domain of autocratic lawmakers? All new dwellings must have landscape
The drive to inhabit smaller luxury designs approved by the management
buildings in a gated estate is an increasing committee, with plants drawn from a The garden ‘human – nature’ framework
trend and challenge to landscapers. In prescribed list to best suit the unique Source: Hanson et al (2021).
order to maintain uniformity, Home Owner environment. Punitive laws and fines go
Associations (HOAs) form management with the territory for non-compliance, but KZN has an excellent example of a public
bodies to provide guiding policies and some see these systems as limiting, taking open space system called D’ Moss (Durban
rules with which residents must comply. away the power of individual choice and Metropolitan Open Space System). This
On larger eco estates, an environmental preference. covers some 95 000 ha and comprises one
manager will be appointed to oversee the third of the entire Ethwkwini Municipal
contractor’s work. The potential of biodiverse gardens: Area (EMA). This green layer documents and
In many cases, the landscaping use of the garden as an ecological maps all the natural and protected areas
guidelines prescribe a planting mix of at unit, the living green lungs of city, and wildlife corridors throughout the city. All
least 80% indigenous plants and 20 % town and country new development that falls within this space
exotic, some of which are permitted to be E. Davoren writes that as urbanisation requires planning permission from the city’s
annuals, herbs and in some cases, small increases globally, domestic gardens are Biodiversity Management Department. The
fruit trees. Eco estates generally have a low becoming increasingly important in terms of biodiverse garden of the individual resident
to zero tolerance for exotics. Their common ecosystem service provisioning, biodiversity then becomes part of the greater ecological

16 Landscape SA • Issue 130 2023