The garden looks amazing! There are so many wonderful plants growing there, and some of them look really familiar. Some of them look exactly like the ones growing here... Are all of these plants indigenous? So many of these grow wild here with us as well; I know a lot of South African plants grow in Australia and vice versa.
These two plants look exactly like some of the plants growing in my garden also growing in the wild supposedly native in South Africa. I am not sure about their names...
And this below looks exactly like our native Jade Plant... But I can be mistaken. Or I might have been mistaken that these plants are indigenous!
In any case, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful plants!
Yes, a lot of South African plants are here... No surprise, we used to be connected! Proteas and leucadendrons often end up in our gardens and pass for natives... And no one is the wiser!
Oh my, that makes so much sense! It is so interesting really, the whole debate on indigenous and alien species. On this side of the pond, we have so many Australian trees growing, so there are many programs to get them out of the fynbos (protea) fields. These Australian trees make for the best firewood though.
I think what is 'native" is quite fluid over time. We get too caught up with it I think. Sure, if it's totally damaging the existing species, something must be done. But I'm not entirely sure why it's necessary to have pristine native environments at all costs. Look that's not entirely true... I'd get upset with our wildernesses tainted by invading species, but in urban or semi rural environments I think a dandelion or an olive or a protea can be just as valid as a gum tree.
So true yes! I agree 100%. We have forest areas where they previously grew trees for logging and paper and whatever other reasons they used the trees for. But now they are competing with native plants, and this is sad and unnecessary. Wild spaces are getting so small and secluded, that the few we still have should not be invaded by alien species. But in urban areas, the ground and soil are probably not native as well. Funny thing, the indigenous plants (like proteas) struggle in my garden because it is not the right type of soil; so people brought in different soil to plant their gardens.