Book title: Waterwise Gardening in South Africa and Namibia
Author: Ernst van Jaarsveld
Publisher: Random House Struik
Cape Town, South Africa 2010
ISBN 9781770072176
Hardcover, 22x29 cm, 368 pages, throughout colour photographs
Plants that are indigenous to an area do not need additional watering; they are automatically adapted to the prevailing climate and weather conditions and are able to thrive under all but the most exceptional of circumstances. Gardening in harmony with nature means no longer having to provide the soil conditions and amount of water that non-indigenous species require.
The first part of the book focuses on general horticultural practises, such as creating the right type of garden for your climate and the best time to plant or prune. Part two details various garden types, based on South Africa's vegetation regions: Fynbos, Strandveld-fynbos and Succulent Karoo for the winter rainfall areas; Highveld, Bushveld, Thicket and Karoo for the summer rainfall regions.
The forests and coastal belt of the Indian Ocean seaboard are covered, as are the Namib and adjacent desert areas, and indigenous indoor plants. For each region, representative lists of plant species are presented in categories such as trees, shrubs, perennials, architectural plants, succulents etc, with notes on plant form, height and growth rate, flower colour, months in flower and whether they prefer sun or shade.