South African Garden

The South African Garden is one of our newest gardens and has only been developed over the last ten years. Although you’ll find South African Flora all over our preserve, we have just recently started our exclusive South African Garden only including plants from the Western Cape.

The West Cape of South Africa is one of five Mediterranean Climates found across the globe.  The primary vegetation type of the Western Cape is fynbos, a term derived from Dutch and Afrikaans words meaning “fine bush,” which typically grows on fairly nutrient-depleted mostly sandstone-derived acidic soils and is dominated by sclerophyllous, that is, evergreen, hard-leaved, flowering shrubs, many of which are proteas, ericas (heaths) , cape reeds (Restios) , and geophytes (bulbed plants). This is part of the Cape Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot. 

Most of our South African Garden is along Pom-Pom Pathway, shown in dark green on our map. Here you’ll find agapanthus, leucadendrons, leucaspermums, melianthus, proteas and other succulents native to South Africa’s Western Cape. Because of geological slippage, you’ll only find a flowering bulb called “African Flag” planted along South African Savannah pathway that requires no irrigation.