House

Set on the slopes in the deep south peninsula, this garden provided many exciting elements that we just loved working on. It really was the creation of a collection of mini ecological niches.

The brief to greencube was “don’t attract baboons, create a mountain stream, a grotto and a grey water filtration bed, cover the garage roof with a garden, keep it indigenous and we need a food garden!” During the reconstruction of the original home we built an entirely new access stairway to the front entrance with flowing organic curves. The stairway, retaining walls, patio and main supporting columns were dressed in table mountain sandstone salvaged from the site.

An old swimming pool was converted into a grey water recycling wetland which returned water to a source behind the house in the form of a cool natural grotto. A living wall covered in lush ferns, soleria and mosses contribute to the cool and calm atmosphere in this grotto space offset by a large natural sandstone boulder. Water flows from the grotto through a “mountain stream” carved out of our beautiful stone work. And then cascades down a series of small waterfalls returning to the main pond.

A great selection of suitably indigenous plant material was planted throughout.

Not long after commissioning the garden, dragonfly larvae were detected in the streams and river frogs were finding hidey holes in our living wall! Succulents, aloes, proteas, pincushions, ericas and pelargoniums amongst others were placed among the natural rocky outcrops.

The garage roof was converted into a roof garden planted to a meadow theme with grasses, yarrow, geranium incanum and a host of others. A beautiful baboon proof vegetable garden was designed by greencube and attached to the garage wall which in turn has one of our living walls planted with edible greens and strawberries.