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A silver birthday celebration: KZN Coastal’s 25th plant fair

BOT SOC’s annual plant fair offers the best of KwaZulu-Natal’s indigenous flora under one roof – and it all started with one man’s vision. DI HIGGINSON recaps this year’s plant fair, celebrating a quarter century of the event.

PHOTOS BY DI HIGGINSON & JAMES HALLÉ

The indigenous plant fair in Durban, an initiative of the BOT SOC KZN Coastal Branch, has become a highlight on the local gardening calendar – in no small part thanks to the nursery specialists who took a brave horticultural leap to start the tradition back in 1998.

This year’s event marked a special milestone: 25 years of the indigenous plant fair (not counting 2018, 2020 and 2021). Today, the fair continues its original mission: to promote the propagation distribution of more indigenous plants by sourcing the best specimens across the province.

One man’s vision

In commemorating 25 years, the branch salutes the late Wally Menne. He saw that local indigenous plants were essential to the wellbeing of the environment and pursued his mission in the 90s.

As the demand grew for a larger range of indigenous plants from nurseries, the public became acquainted with these new species through volunteer plant advisors, nursery specialists, informative talks and the available handbooks and catalogues.

“Contrary to what people will think, making money is definitely not the chief purpose. The most important outcome of the plant sale is something that very few people are aware of: creating awareness of the importance of our indigenous plants at every possible level.” – Wally Menne, 2003

Wally was delighted to see the plant fair grow over the years. At its height, the event saw 30 000 plants of more than 600 species grace the sales areas.

As the years passed and Wally’s health declined, younger energetic managers were trained under his supervision to continue his dream. When he sadly passed away in 2017, Wally had served the plant fair for 20 years.

A legacy continued

Today, the annual spring plant fair continues on a smaller scale but still with the enthusiasm Wally used to rally the volunteers. It remains a precious opportunity to reach interested gardeners, educate them on how to grow native plants, and share additional knowledge of plant hosts such as bees, butterflies and birds.

This year’s indigenous plant fair was held in the visitors’ complex at the Durban botanic gardens on 6 and 7 September. The Saturday’s intermittent showers failed to dampen the spirits of the staunchest of gardeners, while Sunday’s sunshine saw more gardening enthusiasts and the curious general public attending – along with some well-behaved dogs on leashes.

Entry was free, as were the sponsored copies of Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden books by Charles and Julia Botha and previous copies of the plant fair handbooks – to the delight of the public!

Jane Troughton introduced the prominent speakers who were invited to give free public talks twice daily – all of which were well attended.

The branch extends its appreciation to all who participated in the plant fair – from volunteers to vendors and gardeners. Thank you to the Durban botanic gardens trust for the use of the visitors’ complex and its amenities. The educational weekend was an apt celebration of a quarter century’s work to advance indigenous plant gardens across the region.