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.

Vegetables here we go!

The vegetable garden is now in full operation with an abundant amount of plants to feed us and our gardeners. It took time but is worth it with everything coming up well and weeds having been banished.

We have started on the herb garden and I will be posting some before and after pictures - when I power comes back on. no Internet for over a week and now no power - again!