Walbergia salutaris

The plant shown on the left is Walbergia salutaris. Although it grows in South Africa and through to east Africa - when it is known as the Peper bark tree - this plant as shown here is probably the only existing Zimbabwe plant - all the rest have been taken for 'muti' or medicine by the local people.

i outline below the interesting facts about the plant which grows in our garden:

C BOTANICAL NAME: Warburgia Salutaris
C ENGLISH NAME: Warburgia
C FAMILY: Canellaceae
C COMMON NAME: Pepper-Bark Tree, fever tree
! SHONA NAME: muranga
C COATES PALGRAVE NUMBER 720
DESCRIPTION
A slender tree or round bush normally 5 to 10 meters in height with rough rich brown bark and glossy dark green, elliptic leaves which are paler green and dull on the under surface.
Flowers are white to greenish up to 7mm in diameter on their own or in a tight few flowered head.
The fruit is a berry up to 4cm in diameter - black when mature and leathery - usually appear in October/November.
The heartwood is pale green, oily and aromatic when first cut - drying darker when exposed to the air and loosing its aromatic properties.
It is not a enduring wood and therefore is not cut for any purpose other than medicine.
Its natural habitat is the Chipinge area of Zimbabwe, and to countries north of Zambia and Malawi. It also occurs in the very north east of South Africa and in Zululand. In Zimbabwe there are now no examples of this tree growing in its natural locality - one example is found in the Ruwa area and another - taken as a cutting from this tree - in Harare. The National Botanical Gardens in Harare have imported a few seedlings in hope of growing these to maturity.
MEDICINAL USES IN ZIMBABWE
This plant has been used medicinally from early times.
PARTS OF THE PLANT AND USAGES
The red peppery, bitter inner bark is used for:

A treatment for colds.
Dried and ground to snuff it is used to clear the sinuses.
It is chewed or smoke from the burning bark inhaled for chest complaints.
Boiled in water with the roots it is considered effective against malaria.
Abdominal pains.( Bark - decoction or powder taken in porridge)
Increase in blood. (A fungus that grows on the bark is swallowed in rare cases.)
Relief of headaches - use rare. (Powder applied to cuts or nyora made on temples.)
As a universal remedy (Panacea). (Decoction taken by mouth.)
A cure for mouth sores. (Powdered and mixed with water.)
Treatment for venereal disease. (Bark decoction of bark taken in porridge.)
To cause an abortion (Decoction taken by mouth - rarely used.)

It is also given magical properties and is used in:
Divination. (The bark is boiled together with hakata and the bark chewed and spat upon the hakata.)
The bark used as incense.

The leaves are used to flavour curries and can be easily identified by their burning peppery taste. Although this usage is East African it is interesting to note that the tree can easily be identified by this particular quality.
THE GROWING OF WARBURGIA SALUTARIS
Little attempt has been made to grow this tree under controlled conditions and as it now faces extinction it could be too later.
Cutting have been taken from the specimen in Harare and some small plants have been grown by Mr. John Cotteril in Bindura from these cuttings. A nursery in the area has also taken a selection of cuttings and we understand that these have also survived.
Further work will be done this year to propagate from cuttings and it is hoped to be able to return specimens to the wild within a few years.
COPYRIGHT O. LIND 12 October 1995 (no update except that there are no other plants growing at this date - 2009)

Succulents in Zimbabwe

Succulent gardens grace Zimbabwe - from the North to the South. Almost all varieties of succulents flourish well the picture here is a perfect example.

One has to be careful about watering - too much water can destroy some species completely - but once on has the hang of it the garden is a joy to look at and easy to maintain.

One of our Great Gardeners in Zimbabwe

On 29 march this year Voytek Popiel was savagely bludgeoned to death in his home in Sentosa, Harare, Zimbabwe. His beautiful garden was a show place for succulents. He had been ill for some time and it was particularly tragic that he knew when this photograph was taken, the day before his murder, that he did not have very long to live anyway.

He planned, with his wife, his memorial service - which was to be, and tragically did take place, on 31 May 2009. It was a meeting of the Aloe and Cactus Society - with his friends present.

His wife Dorothy had slaved to make sure not a plant was out of place - that all the plants were labeled and not a weed showed.

After tea and a simple ceremony where friends spoke of him and his devotion to plants and his work we walked round the garden where he had spent his last day - sad that it was overshadowed by the house in which he was killed.

It was the right way to celebrate the life of a wonderful and gentle man.

Not much work done

My poor husband has had to revert to doing the gardening as our dysfunctional family who should be doing it are not putting in the work required.

They get free accommodation, free water and power plus they are using furniture we have in excess to our needs but they do not want to put even an hour a day into the garden! Our agreement was that they run the garden and get our facilities free plus as many vegetables etc that they need.

If they have work - landscaping etc - they are up and out by 7 in the morning - if they have nothing to do except help us out they don't get up before 10 - it is very frustrating as weeds are now sprouting up everywhere and what was starting to look like a well run garden is reverting to a wilderness!

I hope we can get some work done as I have spent a lot of time and money on obtaining plants which now sit in sleeves waiting for planting.

Oh the joys of living in Africa!

Tomatoes and African Cucumbers

We have harvested our first good tomatoes and some African cucumbers - spiky to look at and sweet to eat. So salad is on the menu again as our lettuce is also big enough to pick. Good red and variegated lettuce that tastes like butter.

Starting the new herb garden

Herbs have always been my passion and some years ago I had 173 varieties.

The Vumba Botanical gardens took plants from me for their herb garden.

With draught and lack of time and staff the herb garden was no more but now i am starting it up again!

Here a bed is being cleared - we had day lilies and roses in the bed - now we have herbs - lavender among the roses and a selection of culinary herbs as seen in the

second photograph below.

The dining room and outside dining area look over the bed and so I have placed mainly culinary herbs here - it is also near to the kitchen for ease of picking what I need for my meals. This is just the start - 30 more seedlings have been obtained and are now ready to be planted. What a joy to have a really good selection of herbs again!

I managed to get hold of four Wilde Als plants to replace my old plant that was being eaten by white ants. One will go in this bed - close by the kitchen for easy of cutting and making herbal tea - the other three will go in a wild garden which will be where the original herb garden was situated.

Wild Basil

In the midst of re-making my herbs gardens I realise that
i can do nothing but leave my wild basil where it is for now.
The clump of bushes - originally planted from seed found on the Zambezi flood plane at RIFA has taken hold in a bed with indigenous trees and acts as a good cover for the bore hole. It always seems to be green and can be used as either a culinary herb or a medicinal herb.
Used in casseroles and stews it is slightly stronger than most forms of culinary basil. it has fury leaves and the seeds are brown and dry very quickly. They fall and reseed the bed naturally and need no care except for a little water during the dry season.

The branches can be thrown under tables to make a natural fly and mosquito repellent at a luncheon or supper outdoors party.

The seeds can be taken in the hands - rubbed to release their aroma and are a welcome relief to someone suffering hay fever when out on a bush walk.

This variety is Zulu Basil.