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I have a fairly large shady garden on the highveld. I want to change it from an intensive water guzzling garden, to one that is more eco friendly. A forumer kindly gave the name of a nursey in my area specialising in indiginous plants. Does anyone on the forum have any more sugestions regarding good highveld friendly plants? I am particularly looking for shrub type plants. I have 2 young energetic Labradors, so they have to be very hardy.

Try Aloes, Plumbago auriculata and the Kiepersol, Cussonia paniculata. Also a great plant is the Cape Honey suckle, Tecomaria capensis

Thanks, I thought of Aloes, also because of their medicinal value, but was not sure about their ability to survive the occasional frost.

Aloes are generally fine with frost. With heavy frost, you may need to protect the flower heads in the winter months, but the plant as a whole will be fine.
Also try the Strelitzia reginae, Crane Flower, also a magic indigenous plant that will survive on the Highveld ina sheltered spot.
Coral tree - Erythrina lysistemon is another good one

I have a large alloe bed , and i live on the east rand , the leaves tend to get burnt by the frost on there tips , but you can cut this off in spring , and it soon forms new leaves .
There are 4 worthwile indigenous nurserys in gauteng , if you
want , i can give you there names .
My whole garden is indigenous , the amount of birds , and unusual types i get is awesome , deidericks cuckoo feeding on caterpillars on my kiggelaria(wild peach) tree , sunbirds in the aloes and leonotis .Red billed wood hopoes , piet my vrou cuckoo (red chested cuckoo) , the list goes on .

I have even seen black eagles from my house (ok so suikerbosrand nature reserve is about 15km from me as the crow flies , so its cheating a bit i suppose )

Shady shrubs u can try are num nums - carrisa macrocarpa , but they need to go under a tree for frost , and grow hellish slowly , but the fruit are very nice .
Leonotis (wild dagga , and no it is not a drug) very hardy , and beautifull flowers in autumn,
Ill go thru my stuff and post some more names of plants that are hardy in the morning , i also have 2 dogs that tear around the garden destroying my work lol .

Thanks, especially the bit about the dogs.
I do have a number of large trees, some indiginious. I have a very large Monkey Acacia which is beautiful, but nothing grows underneath. I am trying to identify the other trees.
In front I also have a number of large old Jakarandas, again nothing grows underneath.

Birds love Wild dagga!
And don't worry about "bald" patches under trees, you will find that they are a very important part of your gardens ecosystem, try not to rake the leaves away though, then watch closely....

And I aslo have a wrecking crew(dogs), I plant, they destroy, I say: ok, that's not a good plant for this garden

O.K. here goes .

A good website listing a good deal of "garden friendly" indigenous plants is - http://mweb.co.za/indigenousplants.htm

3 Indigenous nurserys in gauteng are as follows -
http://www.growwild.co.za/
http://www.rhn.co.za/
http://www.simplyindigenous.co.za/pages/home.htm
Also try witkoppen wildflower nursery - no website .

Also dont forget to visit skukuza nursery next time in the park , there is a nice bird hide just before it , and you can
have a very nice picninc at the nursery (no skottles) ,
do this on your last day so you can buy a few plants to take home .


Here are some medium sized shrubs that grow well in semi shade under trees, with morning sun if possible.

Dracaena aletriformis
Large leaved dragon tree
Lovely foliage form plant ,do not plant in afternoon or full sun , the leaves WILL burn and dry out.

Mackaya bella
Mackaya bella , forest bell bush
Great looking shade shrub , full of white bell shaped flowers in spring , must go under a evergreen tree to protect from frost.
This 1 is a must have .

Plectranthus ecklonii
Large spur-flower
Smaller shrub , purple flower spikes .


Here are some shrubs that will grow well with mixed times of shade .(most will tolerate more shade , but growth
will be slow)

Anisodontea scabrosa
Pink Mallow
This 1 is a must have , plant it anywhere , but not full sun all day.Full of pink flowers most of the year , bees and bumble bees love it , 1 of my wifes favourite shrubs .

Carissa Macrocarpa
amatangulu, num num , natal plum
Plant anywhere , even if you live at the coast on the beach ,
Makes a great security hedge.Fruits are loved by birds and humans alike , slow grower when young .

Hibiscus pedunculatus
pink hibiscus
Neesds to be planted under a tree for frost protection , needs a fair amount of sun .

Plumbago auriculata
plumbago
More of a creeper than a shrub , look out for the white version also .

Tecomaria capensis
cape honeysuckle
If you buy 1 go for the yellow flower colour , the others get untidy , and need constant pruning to keep neat , for some reason the yellow variety keeps neat .


Shrubs for full sun . frost hardy .

Diospyros lycioides
bloubos , blue bush
Largish shrub , super hardy highveld shrub , best planted for its fruits and if you have a hot/dry/frosty spot that you battle to get things growing in . female plants get full of fruit that will
bring louries/barbets/bullbulls etc etc in there droves late in summer .

Leonotis leonurus
Wild dagga
Not related to the canabis plant at all !
Beautifull whorles of white or orange flowers in autumn when little else is flowering , loved by nectar feeding birds such as sun birds , and is a good food source for them at this time of year before the aloes flower .
Severe frost may burn it black , but simply prune it to about 40~50 cm high in late september, and it will be 2m high by November (even if frost doesnt catch it , prune it down to ensure good flowering and keep it neat)


There are a lot more , but i have got all of these in my garden , and have choosen them above other ones to mention because of various aspects that make them "favourites" .

The biggest hassle you will have is planting under the jacarandas , because they give of some sort of secretion in there sap or leaves that drop , which makes the soil inhospitable for most other plants growing under them .

Hope this lists helps you and other people in choosing some
great water wise indigenous plants .( I water once a week in summer , if there is less than 10mm of rain)[/url]

Thank you.
I think I saw a Snbird a few days ago. I don't know if they are a factor in our region.

Sunbirds love Wild Dagga plants.
One thing to remember about turning a garden into indigenous is you need to plant the indigenous tree/plants before you remove everything else you don't wont. I have seen people remove all exotics and them plant indigenous, your new garden take a few years to mature and by then all the birds have moved off to other more appealing places.

Good point , and some plants and trees need a bit of protection from other shrubs and trees while still small against frost and so on , especially those that are not indigenous to the highveld , but other parts of S.A.

To revive an old topic, here's a (long) list of trees and shrubs growing in my garden to the west of JHB:

Note: * = indigenous to my area (Rocky highveld grassland)

Wild peach - Kiggelaria africana*
Common karee - Rhus lancea*
Mountain karee - Rhus leptodicyta*
Nana berry - Rhus dentata*
Common wild currant - Rhus pyroides*
White karee - Rhus pendulina
Red currant - Rhus chirendenisis
Forest bell - Mackaya bella
Cheesewood - Pittosporum viridiflorum*
Cape honeysucke - Tecomaria capenisis
Wild pear - Dombeya rotudifolia*
River bushwillow - Combretum erythrophyllum*
White stinkwood - Celtis africana*
Parsley tree - Heteromorpha arborescens*
September bush - Polygala myrtifolia
Purple broom - Polygala virgata
Acacia scweinfurthii
Paperbark thorn - Acacia sieberiana
Sweet thorn - Acacia karroo*
Common hook thorn - Acacia caffra*
Dogwood - Rhamnus pruidoides*
Bladder nut - Diospyros whyteana
Wild olive - Olea europea subsp. africana
Common Coral tree - Erythrina lysistemon
Bluebush - Diospyros lyciodes*
Puzzle bush - Ehretia rigida*
Blue kuni bush - Rhus glauca
African wattle - Peltophorum africanum*
Oldwood/ouhout - Leucosidea sericea
Plumbago - Plumbago auriculata
Camphor bush - Tarchonanthus camphoratus*
Bitou/Tick-berry bush - Chrysanthemoides monilifera
Silver mountain oak - Brachylaena rotundata*
Sagewood - Buddleja salviifolia*
Weeping sage - Buddleja salviifolia
Wild Apricot - Dovyalis zeyheri*
Blue Guarri - Euclea crispa[/] subsp. [i]crispa *
Cross berry - Grewia occidentalis var. occidentalis *
Tree Fuchsia - Halleria lucida *
Wild Elder - Nuxia congesta*
Jacket Plum - Pappea capensis*
Cape Gardenia - Rothmannia capensis *
Knobwood Zanthoxylum capense *
Buffalo Thorn Ziziphus mucronata*
Tree wistera Bolusanthus speciosus
Cabbage tree - Cussonia panuculata *
Mickey mouse bush - Ochna serrulata
Large Num-num - Carissa macrocarpa
Honeybells - Freylinia lanceolata
Blue Freylinia - Freylinia tropica
River star - Gomphostigma virgatum*
Curry Bush - Hypericum revolutum
Wild laburnum - Calpurnea aurea
Kruidjie-roer-my-nie - Melianthus comusus
Karoo sage Buddleja glomerata

Yes I do have a large garden

There are more - I'll add them as I remember...

Some were bought, some were grown by myself - I grow indigenous plants as a hobby

Here is alist of trees ocurring naturally in the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort also in the west rand that I used as inspiration. One important thing to remember is that most of the trees found in the Highveld grow in areas protected from fire and frost such as kloofs. These trees will have to be protected in winter until they are about 1.5 - 2 m high. Others such as the common karee and common hook thorn are quite frost resistant.

Senyetse
Great memory you have
The few plants in my garden still have a name tag attached or
sticked in the ground nearby

I know my trees - thanks to 2 years of field work where I had to identify trees myself. More added to the list and I'll be posting photos as they flower.

Currently flowering in my garden:

Wild laburnum:


Karoo sage:


Curry bush:


Ouhout:


Kruidjie-roer-my-nie:


Kill in wild apricot (lizard placed on thorn probably by fiscal shrike):


Milkweed (host plant for African Monarch butterfly):


Purple broom:


Salvia dolomitica - related to the sages