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Potato prices continue to soar! |
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Picture courtesy Andrew Berry
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Due to climatic conditions, South Africa has been hit by a potato shortage for the second time in three years, affecting the supply and quality of fresh as well as frozen products. Heavy rains early in 2010 adversely affected the crops, and in June and July, black frost hit farmers barely a month before the potatoes were to be harvested. Limpopo Province is the largest producer of table potatoes in SA, and over the past two months at least 25000 tons of produce had been lost.
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Kirstenbosch-South African Chelsea Flower Show Exhibit - celebrates Biodiversity as the VARIETY OF LIFE! |
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South Africa had a very important task ahead of them this year: to maintain it’s innovative & unusual interpretations of our spectacular plant heritage. It was with excitement that designers David Davidson & Ray Hudson - designing the exhibit for the 17th time, took up the challenge to explore the theme of biological diversity, in celebration of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. They produced an unusual & thought provoking exhibit for the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI’s) 2010 Kirstenbosch – SA Chelsea entry entitled ‘Bio[logical] diversity is the variety of life’.
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Spring Festival at Garden World |
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Garden World Spring Festival 2010:
“Nature’s Champions"
‘Nature’s Champions’ is the theme of this year’s Spring Festival at
Garden World in partnership with Absa Business Bank from Friday 30 July
to Sunday 5 September.
www.gardenworld.co.za
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Lovage has a wonderfully rich, meaty, celery flavor, and was the key ingredient in the famous Maggie sauce. |
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Picture courtesy Brenda McGarvey
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Lovage - Levisticum officinale
Lovage is native to the Mediterranean
region and south western Asia. It is a tall growing perennial plant
has attractive leaves and produces striking umbrella-shaped yellow
flowers on long stems, in mid-summer. The ancient Greeks and Romans
cooked extensively with lovage and it was also cultivated by monks in
their cloister gardens for its medicinal properties. It was listed as
‘an herb to control pain’; referring to its traditional use in
relieving rheumatic pain. Today it is used mainly as a culinary herb
for its wonderfully rich, meaty, celery flavor and was the key
ingredient in the famous Maggie sauce. Lovage looks striking if mixed
with other flowering annuals and perennials and can be planted towards
the back of the border, for a striking effect.
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Citrus trees are susceptible to black spot during wet and humid spells, especially in spring. |
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Black spot on roses
Picture courtesy Sam Fraser-Smith
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Black spot is the common name given to a group of fungi which produce
dark spots on the leaves of a number of different plants; especially
roses and fruit trees that belong to the rose family, like apples,
plums, pears and quinces.
On roses it shows as distinct black spots with surrounding yellow
tissue. The spots usually appear on the bottom of the bush and spread
upwards. Infected leaves will fall prematurely and extensive defoliation
can eventually kill a young plant. Infestations will occur on roses
during warm, wet weather and if humidity is high, often peaking in
autumn. If the leaves are wet for 6 hours or more, the spores will
germinate. The fungus overwinters on fallen leaves, on the bud scales
and in scabby lesions on the stems.
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