Hide and Seek: In Pursuit of the Elusive Orchid Holothrix micrantha

n the far northwestern corner of our beloved country lies the world’s most diverse mountain desert landscape – home to an astonishing assortment of plant and animal life. For most of us, the idea of a desert landscape would bring up images of desolate sand dunes, extreme heat, the absence of water and indeed a place that is inhospitable to life. But That is not what you will find in the Richtersveld. Despite the harshness of its climate, it teams with life and biological diversity – making this unique region one of South Africa’s priority conservation areas. Over the past several decades, the steady decline in biodiversity due to the impacts of mining, habitat loss, land use change, climate change and plant poaching has once again focused the lens on the fragility of the arid and semi-arid ecosystems, particularly in the Ai/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park located on both sides of the Orange River (original name !Garib meaning River or Great River, also known as Groot Rivier or Gariep). In response to these mounting conservation pressures, on the South African side of the river the Richtersveld National Park, with its unique joint management arrangement between the community and South African National Parks (SANParks), has been quietly partnering with the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI) Karoo Desert and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. During the week of the 19th of August 2024, a historical celebration took place to highlight the importance of this partnership and to acknowledge the key role of the Richtersveld communities. The event took place at the Sendelingsdrift rest camp and was co-hosted by SANParks, SANBI and the Richtersveld Community Management Committee (RCMC). The main objective of the event was to pause, reflect and celebrate the amazing achievements of collaborative work that has taken place particularly over the past four years between these two sister organisations.

“The ecosystem here has dune, forest, wetlands and mountains all in delicate balance,” says Berenice.

“The question I get asked most often is how to make a small garden beautiful,”

In our final webinar for 2023, we take a look at South Africa’s indigenous crops: at how to choose them, grow them, and also how to eat them!

‘When I finally made my first fynbos garden, it inspired a whole new direction in my art,’ says Cape Town’s ANDREW PUTTER

Stops and starts meant it took nearly a decade to achieve but visitors to the Lowveld National Botanical Gardens can now enjoy a new photo opportunity beside leafy flower arches inspired by a visit to Singapore and brought to life by a dedicated duo from the Lowveld branch of the Botanical Society.

While the Garden Route branch is an impressive 31 years old, BotSoc itself is this year celebrating 110 years

No matter whether you have a windowsill, balcony or garden, there’s so much you can do at home to better appreciate plants and wildlife.

You can help restore watercourses by propagating palmiet with this step-by-step guide.

The flower feast has taken my breath away during my first spring in charge at Hantam botanical garden

If you want to add some colour to your coastal garden, or if you’re keen to make your garden a veritable hub for our wonderful critters, then winter is the time to start preparing your green space.

Autumn is the ideal time for Cape fynbos gardeners to get busy. From your beautiful spring-flowering geophytes, such as the gorgeous Gladioli, to spring-flowering annuals.

The Lowveld Chestnut is a fascinating species restricted in nature to the terrain surrounding the granite inselbergs in and between Nelspruit and Barberton with some populations

In Pietermaritzburg, a young curator’s energy is helping transform one of SA’s oldest national botanical gardens

African Ginseng, also known as uMondi or Mondia whitei.

Find and eat wild vegetables for the flavour of our heritage, urges Cape Town wild-food champion Loubie Rusch

There are around 28 000 butterfly species globally and 800 found in South Africa. Of these, 420 butterflies

Water chestnuts are an incredibly productive crop, particularly given the minimal input needed for growth.

In the first of our new series on curators, get to know Nomama Mei, who has the exciting challenge of developing the new Kwelera National

As the weather cools and autumn arrives, we start to look ahead towards the cold winter months – and keeping warm indoors rather than being outdoors in the garden.

Plants can and do bring people from different walks of life together. At the Franschhoek Indigenous Medicinal Plants Demonstration Garden, gardeners and plant lovers came together recently

The grassland biome is the second largest in the country, covering around one third of South Africa’s land surface.

A Q&A with expert horticulturalist and gardener Keith Kirsten about gardening sustainably in South Africa