Monday - what a day!

I had quite an impressive "to do" list for today and was able to mark off quite a few off; do the filing, buy some compost, paint a little slatted table white, sort out my walk-in dressing room, clean and pack all the kitchen utensils and cutlery, replant some sword ferns and taking pics for this post. What a day and a great start to this week, it feels like Wednesday already and it's only Monday!

March is when the first sign of autumn arrives in the garden. Leaves start falling and your garden starts readying itself in anticipation of the colder months. My Tree Fuchsia (Halleria lucida) has already lost almost all her leaves, a sure sign for me that we're going to have a cold winter.

A little extra help and encouragement such as a layer of mulch and fertiliser will not go amiss and is a perfect way to prepare your garden for the cold that will shortly follow. Just hope the frost is not going to be as severe as last winter...

Indigenous plants are always in fashion because they save water, grow well in our environment, are fast growing and colourful, especially the Aloes, which should be flowering shortly, providing bursts of colour during the cold months. These are just a few indigenous plants that you can get from your local garden centre:

Vygies (Lampranthus)
Various Aloes, in particular Aloe ferox and Aloe marlothii
Agapanthus
Agathosma ovata 'Kluitjieskraal
Babiana hirsuta  
Buddleja auriculata
Carpobrotus quadrifidus
Celtis africana
Chlorophytum comosum  
Dioscorea elephantipes 
Ekebergia capensis 
Elegia equisetacea
Encephalartos transvenosus 
Faucaria tigrina
Felicia amelloides
Gasteria armstrongii
Gazania krebsiana          
Hermannia
Juncus kraussii  
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora 
Kiggelaria africana
Melinis nerviglumis 
Mentha longifolia 
Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea 
Olea europaea subsp.africana
Olinia ventosa  
Pachypodium namaquanum 
Pelargonium inquinans
Podocarpus henkelii 
Portulacaria afra
Restio festuciformis
Rhus lancea = Searsia lancea 
Rhus pendulina = Searsia pendulina
Scabiosa africana
Sorghum bicolor 
Syzygium cordatum
Thamnochortus insignis
Tricholaena monachne
Urochloa mosambicensis
Viscum crassulae
Welwitschia mirabilis
Ximenia caffra
Zantedeschia aethiopica 

Hope your Monday was just as good as mine!              
  
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