The round-leaved teak is the second rare tree that was appointed by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs.

The round-leaved teak is another gorgeous indigenous tree.  It can grow up to 10 meters in height and is deciduous, which means it looses it leaves during winter.  During spring and summer, the tree carries small, vivid yellow flowers, which are shaped like peas.  These perfumed blooms attract wasps and bees and the leaves are used by birds for constructing nests. 

These trees often grow together – forming arbour colonies – and occur in all the warmer climates of South Africa.  They naturally grow on rocky hills and in open bushveld.  The wood is used as firewood in some areas of the Limpopo province and it is used in bee farming, because the flowers are so rich in pollen and nectar.

The round-leaved teak provides lovely shade.  Combined with its beautiful appearance and its attractive qualities to birds and insects, the round-leaved teak is an ideal garden tree.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

The tree fuchsia (halleria lucida) has been appointed as one of the two rare trees of the year for 2009, by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs.

This beautiful tree, with its lush, wide-spreading canopy has shiny, bright green leaves and is an indigenous evergreen tree.  Birds love to gather in this tree, so it will be ideal to plant in your garden, if you want to attract birds.  Insects also enjoy feasting on the flowers, which are very rich in nectar. 

It has elegantly drooping branches and normally has more than one stem.  Bright orange, red or yellow tube-shaped flowers – which grow on the stems and in clusters of leaves – bloom in summer and from early spring this decorative tree carries round black berries, which are clustered together.  The bark of the tree fuschia is a dull grey to brown in colour and has vertical grooves.

These trees occur naturally in coastal areas, near water and on stony mountains or hills.  The tree fuchsia can grow between 12 and 20 meters high in ideal conditions, and up to 5 meters in less favourable conditions, such as in exposed areas.  They require a lot of water.

Historically, the wood was used for tools, spear shafts and for the construction of wagon poles, as the wood is strong and hard.  Traditional medicinal uses included treatment of ear aches, by infusing the dried leaves in water. 

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

The monkey thorn (acacia galpinii) has been appointed as one of the trees of the year for 2009, by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs.

This fast growing tree – with its lush, light green foliage – can grow up to 36 meters in height and has a wide, spreading crown.  It is a deciduous tree, which means that it loses its leaves during winter.  During spring, this lovely tree carries light yellow flowers and maroon-coloured seed pods during late summer and autumn.  The monkey thorn is ideal for large gardens and can be planted in your lawn – or along the edges of your lawn – as it provides mottled shade, which will allow enough sunlight through to the grass blades.

This indigenous tree is quite hardy and can survive in hot and dry weather conditions, as well as, frost to some degree.  Saplings should be properly protected from frost, however.  It also attracts insects, such as bees and wasps, and will also provide shelter for birds in your garden.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

We are all constantly waging war against weeds in our gardens…in our garden beds, in our paving, in our lawn…

This war increases in intensity during spring and summer.

Weeds are in direct competition with your plants for water, sunlight and soil nutrients. 

As with most things in life, prevention is better than cure.  In order to discourage the growth of weeds in your flower beds or between you paving, stepping stones and gravel strips, you should lay down sheets of weed guard (biddum cloth) before planting and before laying out your pavers or gravel.  This helpful product is available at most garden centres.

When you lay down weed guard in your garden beds, you can cut out holes for where you would like to plant your seedlings or other plants.  Then you can cover the area with mulch or decorative stone.

Preparing your soil properly before planting will also reduce the risk of weed infestations.  Till the soil properly and pick out all weeds, root systems and seeds that you can see.  Mix in a healthy blend of fertilizer and compost; making sure that it is a reputable product and will not introduce more weeds to your soil. 

To get rid of weeds, you will need to loosen the soil and pull the weeds out roots and all.  Ideally you should do so before the weeds have had the chance to produce seeds.  This process can be somewhat time-consuming and arduous, but if you look at it in a positive light, it will be great to be working outdoors with your hands.  You can even work on you suntan – provided you are wearing a hat and sunscreen. 

Finally, applying layers of mulch is also a good anti-weeding measure.  As we have informed you before, mulching has many benefits for your garden, such as retaining water and protecting the roots of your plants.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Spring is the season of regeneration.  You can get the best out of your garden by doing the following during this invigorating time of year.

First of all you should prune all the plants in your garden that have suffered frost damage.  This will promote new growth.

Remove dead leaves and branches from your plants and trees to stimulate growth.

You should divide your perennial plants in order to multiply them and fill your garden beds with more lush growth.

Apply mulch to your plant beds and feed your plants and lawn with fertilizer and compost.

Have your irrigation system checked out and maintained.

You can start to water your lawn and garden more regularly again – two or three times per week.

You can also plant bulbs, which flower in summer, such as arum lilies (zantedeschia species), sword lilies (gladiolus species), and dahlias.  Sow flower seeds and plant seedlings to add vibrant splashes of colour to your garden.

Once your spring flowering plants have finished blooming, you can prune them back to ensure strong growth during the next spring period.

Finally, you should check all of your plants for diseases and treat them accordingly.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Spring time is a good time to prepare your lawn for summer. Mowing, watering and feeding are all important aspects to lawn care during spring. Your lawn has probably started turning green again, after being dormant during winter.

You can mow your lawn at a height of between 2cm and 2½cm. You should mow your lawn once a week to stimulate blade growth. After the first mow of the season, you should feed your lawn. Lawn dressing or organic compost is ideal lawn food. Cover your entire lawn with either lawn dressing or organic compost, and make sure to water the lawn properly afterwards, to ensure that the compost goes down all the way to the roots and soil.

Lastly, you should water your lawn two to three times a week. Do not water it more often than that, as the lawn is likely to rot or attract weeds and diseases. Irrigation is the best option for watering your lawn, and the rest of your garden. Irrigation saves water and time.

Kingfisher Landscaping has been installing state of the art irrigation systems for many satisfied customers over the years. An irrigation system takes away the need to water your garden the old fashioned way with a hosepipe and sprinkler, which is time consuming and wastes water. It is a much more convenient and effective approach to ensure your garden stays alive and healthy.

You can choose between a manual or computerized system. The former being less expensive, with the latter being automatic and, therefore more convenient. Our irrigation specialists can install a watering system which would perfectly suit the spread of your garden, as well as, the varying water requirements of all the plants in your garden. Kingfisher Landscaping will take into account the amount of watering stations you would need on your irrigation system. Each station will cover a specific area in your overall garden layout. Should you prefer a computerized system, our irrigation experts can set the times of your watering according to the length of the watering period, as well as, the intervals between watering, depending on the water requirements of the plants in any specific area. This feature gives you peace of mind that your garden will be watered often enough, while you are away on holiday.

With a manual system, you will need to operate the system by hand. It is still, however, much more effective than watering your garden with a hosepipe and sprinkler, which needs to be moved continuously. Furthermore, you can choose between rotary and pop-up sprinklers. Pop-up sprinklers are the better choice, as they are concealed in your lawn or plant beds, and only “pop up”, when the watering period commences. Both types of sprinklers can be set to cover only a specific area, preventing water being wasted by having a sprinkler spray against a wall or onto a paved area. This element adds to the water saving benefit of an irrigation system.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature. We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service. We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Spring is in the air!  How wonderful to have longer and warmer days; sunshine on your skin and the sweet incense of blooms in the air!  Spring is a season of re-birth…regeneration…

Spring is about budding trees and flowers popping up everywhere.  When one thinks of spring plants come to mind first!

Why don’t you regenerate your garden?  A change is as good as a holiday, and seeing as December is still almost 3 months away, a change might do you good. 

A beautifully designed and laid-out garden enhances the over-all appearance of your property and adds value to it!

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Rock Roses (echeveria elegans), also known as Mexican Roses are perfect feature plants to decorate our unique Cubedec pots, manufactured by our in-house décor company, Badec Bros Deco. 

These plump, grey succulents are usually planted as ground covers, but contrast beautifully with the mild steel pots.  They are perennial and flourish both outdoors and indoors.  The leaves are grey to green in colour and overlap one another.  Mexican Roses have pink, yellow and red flowers during spring and autumn.

Pot – or container – gardening is a very low-maintenance way of creating a garden and is also ideal for small areas.  Another advantage to pot gardening is that you can bring the outdoors indoors.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Autumn – March to early June – is the ideal time to plant bulb plants in your garden.  Flowering times of bulbs vary from winter through to spring, depending on the type of bulbs you plant.  Therefore, with careful planning you can have colour in your garden during winter up to spring.

Bulbs include daffodils, irises, tulips, tulbaghias, ixias, hyacinths and freesias.  You can buy your bulbs from a nursery and plant them yourself, taking care to read the instructions carefully.

There are a few points to remember when planting bulbs.  Firstly, you need to lay out your proposed beds or pots in an area out of direct sunlight.  Then you need to prepare the soil by loosening it and working in old compost.  New compost will burn the bulbs, so take care not to use it.  After you have prepared the soil, you can plant your bulbs.  Make sure that the layer of soil covering the bulbs is as thick as the bulb is high.  You can compress the soil slightly, but do not compact it too much.  The soil around the bulbs needs to allow enough air and water through.  It is also a good idea to feed your bulbs with bulb food every three weeks, to ensure optimal flowering.

After planting your bulbs, you can mulch the beds and make sure to water your bulbs regularly.  Your bulbs should have a life span of up to four years. 

Should the bulbs start crowding one another, you will have to extract the bulbs gently, divide them and then replant them a little further away from one another.  At this time, you can also get rid of any unhealthy bulbs and replace them with new ones.  It is important to go through this process only after your bulbs have finished flowering and have gone into hibernation, as they are at their strongest at this time.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Young plants and frost-sensitive plants need to be protected from extreme cold. 

You can cover these plants with frost guard or Hessian, which you can buy at a garden centre, hardware store or nursery.  These materials allow air and water through, so it is safe to keep your plants covered until spring. 

Saplings can be protected from frost by wrapping straw bundles around the stems.

You can also protect your plants from frost, by not watering in the late afternoon, as the wet ground will make the frost even more severe.  It is best to water your garden in the mornings, to allow the excess water to dry during the day. 

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.