Beauty beyond the barricades

26 October 2016 - 14:01 By Staff reporter

I don't know where to look first. Then I see a man clambering about on the fynbos-covered slopes of his very own Table Mountain, like a gardening Gulliver in Lilliput. I love miniatures and gardening so I feel like a kid in a candy store when I see the Cape Town Flower Show display gardens for the first time.In the distance the long neck of a green giraffe nibbles at the top leaves of a wire baobab tree and I wander over to chat to the Gulliver-guy.Anthony Teuchert's Table Mountain encompasses the mountain, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak, right down to a small beaded cable car and cable station perched on top of the mountain.Teuchert, from Atlanticscapes, and I chat (gardeners love to chat about their gardens. We're a bit like cat and dog people. Chat to them about their fur-friend and you're bonded for life.)While he's rearranging the slopes he tells me he's planting fynbos at an estate in Somerset West and how well it's doing. Gardeners are a happy bunch and I can see that Teuchert is in his happy place.Gardening has been scientifically proven to be good for your health. Was scientific research necessary to "prove" this? Anyone with a garden, even a tiny one, will tell you how calming and rewarding green spaces are.Problem is, these days we're water-short or water-scarce and gardens are last on the list when it comes to water usage. So it makes sense to look at shrinking the size of thirsty lawns, planting vegetable beds and sticking to water-wise plants.But back to the display gardens, resplendent in the elegant forecourt of the Castle of Good Hope, celebrating its 350th anniversary this year.I'm drawn towards a small greenhouse, where the origami-inspired garden has a sleek timber gazebo in the middle of a sea of waving grasses and coral-pink blooms.Then it's time to get cosy in the "Living Room" by Megan Mackenzie of Garden Design.Mackenzie and her partner, Posy Buckland, are deciding where to position two nesting tables designed by John Vogel, who also designed the stylish chair in their stand.I have to join in, of course, and soon we've agreed on where things should go and are surveying their Living Room."We were thinking that even if all you have is a tiny suburban flat or townhouse you could still have a living room."We've managed to include a fruit tree, veggies, herbs, water for birds, a fire-pit, seating and a meandering spekboom hedge generating oxygen for you."You can say the tapestry of colours of the chair is duplicated in the colours of the succulents and water-wise indigenous plants that we've used," says Mackenzie.After she tells me that I notice the orange, yellow, purple and white of the stylish chair is cleverly mimicked in the plantings of the small space.Mackenzie, Buckland and I chat about gardens and creating living rooms. Water, birdsong, butterflies, somewhere to sit and an open fire surrounded by a spekboom hedge sound good to me.I'm reluctant to leave my new best friends but have to remind myself that I'm here to work.Then I'm distracted by the butterflies all around me, drawn by the waft of fragrant fynbos.Soon a tiny white eye has me veering off course again because I have to film the little bird visiting this enchanting space.There's so much to look at and there are also workshops, demonstrations, live music, food and an art exhibition.The show opens to the public tomorrow. I recommend making a day of it.The Cape Town Flower Show, Thursday to Sunday, 10am-9pm from Thursday to Saturday, until 5pm on Sunday...

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