Growing wildlife reserves on your verge

Janet Gates, the senior horticulturist at the Durban Botanic Gardens, will share her insightful and informative take on how to spruce up your verges and gardens with a variety of indigenous plants.

The Durban Botanic Gardens has begun an exciting project, the indigenous Butterfly Habitat Garden. This section of the gardens attracts not only butterflies but birds and other pollinators. With the help of Dr Americo Bonkewitzz, the designer of the garden, it is now buzzing with life.

D’MOSS unearthed:

Approximately 30 years ago, the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D’MOSS) was instituted. D’MOSS is a series of interconnected green open spaces of biodiversity and ecosystem service importance. These open spaces include nature reserves, other public and private open spaces and may even incorporate verges. D’MOSS supports biodiversity and plays a vital role in ensuring the provision of services such as clean air and water to people of Durban. It also provides corridors for wildlife to find food, shelter and nesting sites.

Keep it local:

By maintaining indigenous verges, you can also help sustain biodiversity and mitigate against climate change. In addition, indigenous verges are less costly to maintain because these local plants are better adapted to Durban’s local climate conditions.

To try this out, I have planted my own small verge with indigenous plants that will attract birds and insects. I started planting about three years ago and today the plants are starting to take shape and I have already seen a large increase in butterfly species, birds and other pollinators. A select number of species are planted within my small townhouse garden as well.

As indigenous plants are also water-wise, it is the most sensible route to go given the looming drought crisis, the cost of maintenance and the lack of time to spend tending one’s garden.

Some easy to obtain, common plants to get going with include: September Bush (Polygala myrtifolia), Cape Honeysuckle Orange (Tecomaria capensis), Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata), Natal Ivy (Senecio macroglossus), Canary Creeper (S. tamoides), Dune Climbing Senecio (S. brachypodus), Mauve Ribbon Bush (Hypoestes aristata), Wild Pentas (Pentas micrantha ), Long-spiked Spur-flower (Plectranthus spicatus), Creeping Foxglove (Asystasia gangetica) and small trees: Horsewood/Perdepis (Clausena anisata) and Cross Berry (Grewia occidentalis).

Dr Americo Bonkewitzz will host regular courses at the Durban Botanic Gardens indigenous Butterfly Habitat Garden each month where plants will be on sale, training will be given and there will be a viewing of butterflies. Contact 063 421 9000 or e-mail info@butterflying.co.za.

The KZN Botanical Society Coastal Branch is a wonderful organisation to join and connect with like-minded people. Contact Sandra Dell on 031 201 5111 on Monday and Thursday via e-mail at botsoc-kzn@mweb.co.za. Visit the group’s website at www.botsoc-kzn.org.za.

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