This small nursery can be found tucked away in the suburb of Faerie Glen, Pretoria. It specializes in succulent plants and claims to be one of the first nurseries in the country to make the rare Pachypodium namaquanum (the so-called Halfmens) more readily available. Other rare plants that they can supply include the Spiral Aloe from Lesotho, Aloe polyphylla, many Madagascan Pachypodium species, and Madagascan and Arabian Aloe species.

I visited the nursery a few weeks back on a Sunday afternoon after following them on Instagram. I wanted to buy a specific plant - Haemanthus humilis spp. hirsutus - but it was unfortunately unavailable. (note to self - call ahead to book plants you want to specifically buy)

I enjoyed visiting and exploring the garden which is filled with succulents and a wide range of indigenous plants, including species of Eucomis, Haemanthus, Hypoxis, Ledebouria, Scilla and Scadoxus. The gardens have great potential to be a beautiful destination where one can sit and enjoy the surrounding plants and birdlife.

I am sure that the best time to visit is in the winter months when most of the aloe species and are in flower, I’ll definitely come back to see them!

Address: 309 Cliffendale Drive, Faerie Glen

Some text taken from Website: https://www.gariepplants.com/

Instagram: @gariepplants

In March we travelled to the Cape for the Tour De Boland Cycle Race. This is a cycle race that spans over five days and includes cycling between various towns in the picturesque Boland region. The first day the route went from Paarl to Worcester and while we were in town we stopped in at the Karoo Botanical Garden. ( see http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/karoo-desert) It was not the ideal time to visit because the annuals nor aloes were in flower, but it was still lovely to see the plants that were there. There is also a nursery where you can buy some succlents. The Big Bugs Expo was on while we were there and these artworks were scattered all over the lush green lawn. (for more on the expo see http://www.sanbi.org/news/big-bugs-expo-tours-sanbi-gardens)

Church in Worcester where the race ended on the first day and started on the second day

Some Big Bugs in the distance

Beautiful Succulents

Lovely Mountains all around

Gariep Nursery, Pretoria

Karoo National Botanical Gardens