Design Idea

I was asked recently to come up with a basic sketch for a back garden in the Drakensburg that sloped away quite steeply. The concept was to use mainly Aloes and other indigenous plants that would add to their already beautiful scenery.

I felt that the garden didnt make good enough use of the views, so I suggested that we have an area of flagstone pavers just outside the back sliding doors, where you could have a table and chairs and sit and have meals while enjoying the view.

As you can see in the very misty photos, the ground just disappears away, and leaves very little interest in this part of the garden. To remedy this, the plan would be to bring in some extra soil to create a couple of small berms to plant on, and these would create a bit of a replication of the distant hills and mountains. We would also bring up some of the large rocks from the bottom of the bank to plant around, and to make great features themselves.

The planting itself would be indigenous, and ideally endemic to the area. I created a couple of palettes of the plants that I would like to use, to give my clients an idea of what the garden would look like.