Gardeners Handbook 2009

The theme for this year’s fair is “Planning your Garden”, which is reflected in the invaluable Handbook produced for the occasion.

The handbook gives a preview of all the plants available at the fair, and contains educational articles written by experienced gardeners. This year, in keeping with the theme, writers have been commissioned from a variety of climatic conditions in the greater Durban area to explain how they went about planning their gardens, dealing with particular climatic conditions, and the sensible plant choices they made.

The handbook provides a handy list of wholesale nurseries, landscaping and consulting services and a wealth of advertisers. It is now a collectable item because of the evergreen information it contains. What started out as a fairly basic resource has become a top quality, full-colour production that gardeners should find indispensable.

The handbook production team consults regular users for feedback from year to year. Most gardeners prefer articles that offer carefully focused plant lists as well as advice.

Many of the horticulturists, botanists, landscapers, nursery proprietors, conservationists and top gardeners who contribute articles can generally also be found at the Fair as ‘plant experts’ advising customers or displaying books and other resources. Customers can thus enjoy access to an inspiring synergistic network of local environmental knowledge in the flesh and in print.

To visit the website for the handbook go to

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If birds in your garden bring a smile to your face then adding a Wild Pomegranate to your landscape will pull Sunbirds from all around.

The shrub – which enjoys dappled shade and filtered sunlight – is a fairly neat looking 2-4 meter shrub/tree that will bear bunches of flowers though-out summer. Towards the end of summer the wild pomegranate develops small pear shaped fruits which will attract all the fruit eaters.

The wild pomegranate is an attractive ornamental shrub/tree
that is also used to attract nectar-feeding birds. The combination of its bright red
flowers with the glossy, dark green leaves, creates a beautiful display in the small garden,
both in shade and in full sun.

The wild pomegranate has a smooth, grey-brown bark that becomes rougher with age.
The tree bears new twigs that are always covered with hairs. The dark green, glossy,
opposite leaves are hairless above and paler below, with fine soft hairs along the vein.

Leaves are soft when young, becoming thickly leathery as they age.

In early spring to mid-summer, the tree bears bright red to orange flowers in dense
terminal clusters, and are followed by green, urn-shaped fruits that are also borne
in dense clusters. The fruits are crowned with distinctive horn-like calyx lobes.
The fruits turn brown as they ripen and then become woody, remaining on the tree for
many month

Wild Pomegranate Shrub - sunbird delight

More info at http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Events/Arborweek/trees/WildPomegranate.asp