As botanist and horticulturalist Leon Kluge writes in the foreword of Cape Peninsula Coastal Gardening: A Little Bit of Wild:

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'The Cape Peninsula is a place where land and ocean meet in a fragile, extraordinary balance. Our coastlines carry the stories of wind, salt, sand, fire, and time – and of plants that have learned, over millennia, how to belong here. Cape Peninsula Coastal Gardening arrives at a moment when that balance needs our care more than ever.

Gardening in sensitive coastal areas is not simply about aesthetics. It is an ecological responsibility. Indigenous plants are the backbone of these ecosystems: they stabilise dunes, buffer salt-laden winds, and thrive in nutrient-poor soils where exotics often struggle. More importantly, they sustain local wildlife. From pollinating insects and coastal birds to the intricate web of organisms beneath the soil surface, our local plants are the original providers – offering food, shelter, and breeding grounds that imported species simply cannot replace.'

 – Leon Kluge

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For Tara, that makes choosing what we plant in our gardens in Kommetjie and the greater Cape Peninsula a little more complicated – and a lot more interesting. Her approach is rooted in understanding that balance – and making thoughtful choices about what we grow within it.

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Gardeners as custodians

The Peninsula is small, but botanically it punches far above its weight. In roughly 470 km², it holds well over 2 500 indigenous flowering plant species, and more than 160 grow naturally nowhere else on the planet. It is also one of the most threatened plant communities in the world, with over 400 Peninsula species listed as Species of Conservation Concern.

Development, invasive alien plants, more frequent fires, drought and a changing climate all add to the pressure. For Tara, the answer cannot be left to nature reserves alone. Alongside protecting what remains wild, she believes it is time to “bring the fullness of nature back into urban settings”, which makes those of us with gardens custodians of the landscape, whether we think of ourselves that way or not.

'We are custodians of one of the world’s greatest plant kingdoms. May this book inspire you to cultivate, conserve and cherish our extraordinary indigenous heritage.'

– Tara Dalton

Working with nature – and 'a little bit of wild'

“Working with nature”, as Tara describes it, starts with recognising how much we depend on it. Healthy ecosystems give us pollination, clean water, fertile soil and protection from flooding, and they work as a web. Insects rely on particular plants, plants rely on insects and birds, and when one link weakens the effects ripple outwards. That is why conservation thinking is shifting from individual, eye-catching species to whole habitats, and why gardeners matter.

Tara points to Piet van Zyl, former head of the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning:

“Where we can make the biggest difference is in how we manage land beyond the boundaries of our protected areas.”

It doesn’t take a total overhaul. Tara suggests keeping small areas of our gardens “slightly wild”: plant locally indigenous species, mow less often and let a few things be “a bit messy”. Hedgerows can link a garden to the wild areas around it, giving birds and small mammals safe passage and bats a route to follow at night. It is, in her words, a gardener’s way of rewilding, having “a little bit of wild” at home.

A garden is a small piece of land. But there are a lot of gardens.

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Start with the place, not the plant

So which plants are actually suited to your particular patch of the Peninsula? It starts with understanding your garden’s habitat, soil and climate. Even gardens a short distance apart can have very different conditions, from coastal Strandveld to the different forms of Fynbos.

It also means facing the less comfortable parts of gardening here: invasive alien species, fire, seed banks, and plants that look perfectly at home in a suburban garden but have consequences beyond its boundaries. Tara doesn’t expect every garden to replicate untouched Fynbos. She asks that our choices support what already exists around us, especially where urban gardens sit beside some of the country’s most important remaining habitats.

For a gardener in Kommetjie, that means asking a few practical questions before reaching for the spade:

• What kind of soil do I have?

• How much sun does the garden receive?

• Where does the wind come from?

• What happens to water?

• What vegetation would naturally occur here?

• Which plants will cope with these conditions without constant intervention?

It is a shift from “What would I like to plant?” to “What makes sense here?”

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Creating a garden for this place

With the place understood, the practical decisions follow: layout, paths, levels, sun and shade, soil and irrigation. So does something bigger, which is how different types of vegetation work together. Dune vegetation, Strandveld and Sand Fynbos each have their own character, and part of the art is bringing some of those qualities, including a healthy diversity of species, into a domestic garden.

Wildness here is a design choice: making room for indigenous plants and insects, choosing locally appropriate species and leaving some areas less manicured, all without abandoning structure.

Choosing the plants

Once the groundwork is laid, the palette is generous: trees for screening, shade and shelter; climbers; shrubs of every size; perennials and groundcovers; geophytes; annuals; grasses, Cape reeds and restios; and plants for seasonal wetlands and clay soils. Red List information, which shows which species are under pressure, and a set of symbols used throughout the book make those choices easier.

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The selection of plants itemised in the book grew from a list first developed for Klein Slangkop Private Estate. Gael Gray of Good Hope Gardens Nursery brought a grower’s practical eye to it, while Lee Jones, botanist, horticulturist and garden consultant, contributed to its development and has now served as scientific editor of Tara’s book. The result is a remarkably hyperlocal palette, focused firmly on plants that belong to the Peninsula and its particular growing conditions.

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In conversation with Tara

We asked Tara to bring some of these ideas into our own gardens.

What led you into garden design and ultimately to writing this book?

I was an environmental lawyer but I spent every weekend gardening and was always passionate about plants, even in my 20s. I retrained as a garden designer so that I could expand my knowledge and eventually run my own business while bringing up my kids. I was driven to write this book because I have always believed in trying to plant water wise gardens and in using plants that are appropriate to place. When designing my garden in Klein Slangkop, it became clear to me that there were hundreds of plants that were already here that we could use in our gardens, if only we knew what they were. This led to me writing the book.

What are some of your favourite plants to use in a Kommetjie or South Peninsula garden, and why?

The plants I find most useful would depend on the soil type in your garden. Some of the plants I find most useful in a coastal garden include Tarchonanthus littoralis for a hedge, Sideroxylon inerme (Milkwoods) and Apodytes dimidiata (White Pear) for trees. My favourite plants for structure are Metalasia muricata (Strandveld Blombos) and Elegia tectorum (Cape Thatching Reed) if you have space. I also love the Podalyria sericea (Silver Capeweetpea) but make sure you get the right one and Salvia aurea (Brown Sage). The best groundcovers and smaller plants for a Strandveld garden are probably Cotyledon orbiculata (Pig’s Ears) and Chironia baccifera (Christmas Berry) along with Aizoon paniculatum (Pink Baconfig) and Carpobrotus acinaciformis (Sabre Sourfig).

Is there a plant you wish more people in the Peninsula would consider planting?

I think people should be more accepting of textures and structure, not always wanting colour. The muted colours of greys and grey greens are what is appropriate here. Grow things like Helichrysum teretifolium (Needle Everlasting) and Seriphium plumosum (Common Snakebush) and the many other useful Strandveld plants and appreciate the shapes and forms.

Conversely, are there any commonly planted species that you would encourage people to reconsider?

I do not encourage Spekboom as an easy to grow, water wise plant on the Cape Peninsula coast. This is from the Eastern Cape and is not appropriate on our coast. Another plant that I think is over planted, and inappropriate at coast as the sand is too alkaline, are Pincushions (Leucospermum). They are lovely to look at and may work well in a mountain setting, or in a pot if coastal. An exception is the low growing Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron subsp. hypophyllocarpodendron (Green-snakestem Pincushion).

If someone has an established garden that isn’t particularly indigenous or biodiversity-friendly, where would you suggest they start?

Decide what you want to achieve. Start with shelter from a hedge and trees.

If you could change one thing about the way people garden on the Cape Peninsula, what would it be?

I would stop people planting Statice which everyone thinks of as a waterwise plant but it is a Mediterranean plant that is truly hideous in the wrong setting. Take it out please!

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Why it matters

Knowing what to plant is only half the story, because what we ask for at the nursery matters too. Lee Jones points out that most Cape Town residents, including many nursery owners and workers, are unfamiliar with our local species. “Demand dictates supply,” she says, “so there is little pressure on nurseries to begin supplying local species, even less pressure to supply hyperlocal species.”

That is a cycle every gardener can help break, simply by asking. Lee sees it as “a beginning of an era, providing a real opportunity for all of us to learn more about the extraordinary plant heritage which surrounds us.” And the reward is real: these are plants that “really want to grow here, in these (mostly sandy) soils!”

Start where you are

You don’t need to redesign your garden tomorrow. Perhaps it starts with identifying what is already growing there, learning your soil, replacing one inappropriate plant with a locally suited one, or letting a small corner grow a little less formally.

That is the thread running through Tara’s thinking: gardens that feel connected to the place they occupy. If you’d like to take the idea further, her book is a comprehensive place to start.

“This is not just a ‘local is lekker’ book, it is a beginning of an era, providing a real opportunity for all of us to learn more about the extraordinary plant heritage which surrounds us.”

– Lee Jones

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Why is this book important?

“Because it is so much more than “just a book”!” says Lee Jones, scientific editor.

It is the first South African gardening book which does a really deep dive into gardening – with hyperlocal plant species – in one of the most biodiverse areas on our planet.

This book can assist everyone, from those who grow plants and those who order in plants for sale, to those who buy the plants for their home gardens.

This is not just a “local is lekker” book, it is a beginning of an era, providing a real opportunity for all of us to learn more about the extraordinary plant heritage which surrounds us.

 – Lee Jones, botanist, horticulturist and garden consultant.

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