February 2021

Newsletter

NNeewwss

LLeevveell 33 LLoocckkddoowwnn aatt tthhee GGRRBBGG

If you haven’t had the chance to visit the Garden In addition to the above measures, visitors are also since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the required to adhere to the following COVID-19 latest Adjusted Level 3 Lockdown Regulations protocols: earlier this week, you may be wondering exactly how access to the GRBG has been affected by the When entering via the Protea Gate, all visitors will new regulations. have to:  Sign an attendance register; The regulations came into effect on Monday, 1  Sanitise their hands using the hand sanitizer February 2021 and will remain in place until the provided; and Government announces otherwise. As the GRBG is  Have their temperature taken. able to control access to our premises, we are permitted to remain open to the public under the All persons must wear a face mask when entering current Level 3 Lockdown. the Garden and must keep their face mask on at all times when inside the Garden premises. All visitors, however, must adhere to the following two access measures: The only exception to the above rule is when  Visitors may enter the Garden via the Protea visitors are exercising inside the Garden premises. Entrance Gate only. While exercising, visitors may take their masks off,  Visitors may not enter the Garden outside of but they must maintain a social distance of 1.5 the official opening times. The current daily metres from any other person in the Garden. Non- opening times are 09:00 to 18:00. exercising visitors are also required to practice social distancing. The GRBG Management asks that all visitors please adhere to these access control measures. A failure Should you need any further clarification on the to do so would mean that the Garden would no above regulations, please feel free to contact the longer be access-controlled, and we would GRBG Reception on 044 874 1558 or email therefore be at risk of having to close the Garden [email protected]. We look forward to to the public. welcoming you back to the Garden, safely.

Festive Season Events a Great Success

Visitors Enjoy Nightlife At the Garden & Carols by Candlelight

Nightlife At the Garden

Nightlife At the Garden is a popular recurring event at the GRBG, during

which attendees can enjoy informative and entertaining presentations

from various local animal experts, before embarking on a guided night tour of the Garden. This past festive season, two Nightlife events were held – on Friday, 18 December and Monday, 28 December. Below, GRBG Manager Corné Brink describes the visitor experience at the events:

After a fact-packed live exhibition of snakes by Justin

Godwin from Garden Route Snakes, Lauren Foss and

her Birds of Prey, and Ferdie de Lange with his

amphibians, the sun sets and the Garden starts to come

alive!

Frogs start to call, one by one, from the wetland,

around the dam, and even the pelargonium bed. The

Painted Reed Frog, Arum Lily Frog, Cape Rain Frog,

Striped Stream Frog, Knysna Leaf Folding Frog and

Raucous Toad can all be identified by the trained ear by

listening to their specific calls.

The calling increases, with more frogs joining the choir

until the chorus of voices is so loud, one can barely walk

on the pathways. On our first night tour, during peak

breeding season, frogs were everywhere, jumping

across pathways and into visitors’ hands!

By the end of December the peak season had finished, but the reduced number of calling painted reed frogs

actually made it easier to track the calls of our other

frog species.

Other interesting sightings included bats, chameleon, dragonflies and nocturnal beetles and moths! A

resident Spotted Eagle Owl also kept an eye on things.

We watched as a brown field spider set up her web for the evening. As dusk settles field spiders come out of their burrows and build their webs to catch food, but come dawn, they pack it all up again and return to

their burrows.

We hope to host another Nightlife At the Garden event soon, and invite you to come and explore the grounds you know so well after dark and experience an entirely different world! More photos on next page...

Carols by Candlelight 2020

Despite threatening rain, we had a truly inspiring and delightful experience attending the Carols by Candlelight event on 22 December 2020. The George Methodist Church Worship Team entertained us with a beautiful Christmas story, and led the carol singing later in the evening.

Seated 1.5m apart to adhere to social distancing, the audience of almost 300 was scattered across the grass. As the sun started to set, candles were lit adding to the already wonderful atmosphere created by the George Methodist Church Worship Team.

The Garden Route Botanical Garden would like to thank our guests and visitors for their generous donations. The evening is one of the Garden’s biggest fundraising events of the year, and despite the financial burdens COVID-19 has brought on everyone, we received R3 735 in donations! Thank you, everyone!

Last Month in a Nutshell

A brief look at some of the developments at the GRBG in January…

Two new interns (pictured right) have joined the GRBG Team. Lizelle Frank has been appointed as our new Nature Conservation Intern and Karla Grobler is the Garden’s new Horticulture Intern. These two ladies have already hit the ground running and we hope they will find their time at the GRBG enjoyable and Marcel Klein is the Garden’s new Nursery The Medicinal Spiral enriching. Supervisor. Marcel has already begun making has undergone some improvements to the Nursery, which has had a improvements to its visible impact, and is also sharing his expertise walkway: A new Fred Munro, the GRBG’s with the other Nursery staff. The GRBG is walkway entrance bed outgoing intern, has almost excited to have Marcel on our team and we (pictured above) has completed his term at the look forward to seeing what else he will been planted and the Garden. One of the last achieve at the Nursery. spiralling footpath has projects Fred is working on been cleared of grass. is the identification of all These changes have Additional shade plants (Streptocarpus and the plant species in the made the ‘pedestrian Chlorophytum) have been planted around the Garden, which will be of experience’ in the Gazebo area, while the Wachendorfia around immense help for future Spiral even more Van Kervel Dam and Wetland have been cut planning. The GRBG thanks enjoyable. back. Fred for all the good work he has done over the past The tea garden (The year and wish him well in The quantity and quality of plants propagated Marshmallow Garden his future endeavours. in Garden’s Propagation Yard has increased, Café) has started its creating exciting possibilities for expansion. own curio shop. The GRBG Nursery, meanwhile, has also In ‘demarcation news’: Our undergone a ‘makeover’. Customers have internal parking lots have noted and praised how all plants and trees on A rain gauge has been been marked with painted sale are now neatly displayed, regularly cut, installed in the GRBG white bricks and the trimmed and weeded (resulting in healthier Nursery, and daily external parking lots have and stronger plants), and clearly labelled and readings are being been demarcated with priced. An unnecessary shade structure in the taken. Data captured painted lines. Social Nursery has also been removed, and a ground so far indicates rainfall distancing markers for sheet and gravel have instead been laid down of 78.5mm from 29 visitors have also been in that area. The Garden plans to plant a December 2020 to 29 painted at the Protea Gate. wildflower display bed in this area. January 2021.

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Great News! It’s time for another Yellow Dot Plant Sale at the Garden Route Botanical Garden Nursery!

A wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees – marked with a yellow dot – will be on sale at discounted prices.

Date: Friday, 19 February & Saturday, 20 February 2021. Time: 09:00 to 14:30 on both days.

Venue: The GRBG Nursery.

GRBG Nursery staff and volunteers will also be on hand to offer advice and help you make the right plant selections for your garden.

See you there!

World War I and II Casualties Memorial: Every Saturday is Braai Day at Public Participation Meeting The Marshmallow Garden Café!

That’s right. Every Saturday you can

enjoy a delicious plate of braai meats

and salads at The Marshmallow Garden Café, which operates from the

GRBG’s Tea Garden facility.

Members of the public are invited to a public meeting Time: 11:00 to 14:30 every Saturday. at the MOTH Shell Hole, located at 6 Rijk Tulbach Cost: R100 per person. Street in Loeriepark, on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at

18:00. The meeting is to seek the community's views The Café also has a big lawn and to help formulate a recommendation to Heritage and jungle gym for the little Western Cape regarding the possible relocation of ones to play on. So why not the three name plaques from the Garden Route bring the whole family along Botanical Garden to the cenotaph of the MOTHs. for some quality time and Please click here to read more about the Memorial’s quality food! history and the motivation behind the possible relocation of the plaques. T’s and C’s apply.

Volunteer in the Medicinal Spiral!

Passionate about our Indigenous Medicinal Plants? Volunteer in the Medicinal Spiral and learn with us!

When: Every Wednesday morning from 9:00 - 12:30 Where: At the Medicinal Spiral in the Garden Route Botanical Garden

The Spiral currently has a collection of 55-60 medicinal plants that are endemic to the Southern Cape. Our goal is to expand this collection to 100 species by the end of 2021, which is only possible with help from our volunteer team.

Volunteer tasks include:  Creating new beds  Planting in new species  Moving plants around that might not be thriving  De-weeding of beds  Pruning  Mulching the beds  Propagating  Seed harvesting

Our herbalist, Roxanne Joubert, also brings with her medicinal plant books and knowledge and we talk about the medicinal properties and uses of the plants that we are working with on the day.

By volunteering you will get to know the plants, how to recognise them in the field, how to grow them, how to harvest them, how to use them, and so on. The best way to get to know medicinal plants is to work with them hands-on.

Please contact Roxanne on 081 361 6762 for more information and to start volunteering.

Dog -walkers: Help the GRBG Reduce Plastic Waste

The GRBG has launched a recycling program under the direction of the Garden Route Environmental Education Centre (EEC). One of the program’s chief goals is the reduction of waste-meant-for-landfill produced or discarded in the Garden, as it is a major contributor to climate change. Our motto is: Leave only your footprints and take only pictures!

To that end, the GRBG’s long-term target is to reduce our landfill waste by 80% and to one day boast of being a Plastic-Free Zone! This will, for example, involve the future introduction of recycling stations at central points in the Garden where visitors can discard their recyclable waste into the relevant recycle bins.

In the meantime, however, there is already an easy way in which GRBG visitors who walk their dogs in the Garden can help reduce the plastic waste generated by the Garden. We hope to one day remove our dog poop bins as the use of these bins leads to large amounts of unnecessary, contaminated plastic that cannot be recycled and eventually end up in black refuse bags. So, instead of discarding your dog’s poop into a plastic bag, the GRBG asks all dog-walkers to toss their dog’s poop deep into the beds where they will be out of other visitors’ way, out of sight, and out of ‘smell’.

We will try out this initiative as a pilot venture, and we welcome any feedback from dog owners when they visit the Garden.

The GRBG endorses the three R’s (REDUCE, RE-USE AND RECYCLE), and we thank all visitors and Members in advance for their support and cooperation with this new green initiative.

Special Book Offer! Donations Welcome

The Ultimate Companion for Birding The Garden Route Botanical Garden is in Southern Africa by Peter Ginn and Geoff McIlleron a non- governmental

organisation (NGO)

and relies heavily

on donations from

the public to fund

our activities. (Sadly, although we know a thing or

two about trees, we haven’t quite figured out how

to make money grow on them.)

If any person, organisation or business would like to Peter Ginn, a member of the GRBG Board of Trustees and a support the GRBG monetarily, this can be done best-selling author, photographer and bird expert, has once again generously donated copies of the book he co-authored online at www.botanicalgarden.org.za/make-a- with Geoff McIlleron to the Garden as a way of raising much donation or by making a deposit directly into our needed additional funds. account using the banking details provided further below. You can also phone our offices at 044 874 The Ultimate Companion for Birding in Southern Africa is a 1558 or email [email protected]. two-volume boxed set that normally retails at R995. GRBG

Members and members of the public can, however, acquire All donations properly receipted by the Garden in their very own boxed set simply by making a donation to the terms of Section 18A are tax deductible. Any Garden of R800 or more! Each copy will also be personally donation – big or small – will be greatly signed by the text editors, Peter and Irene Ginn! appreciated. As explained on the book’s official website, the two volumes contain “over 1400 spectacular photographs of birds covering GRBG Banking Details: all 960 species recorded. Both volumes are packed with Name: Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust (Current Account) fascinating descriptions from 18 top bird authorities who reveal their personal observations and knowledge in an easy to Bank: Standard Bank, George read style .” Account No: 281 859 183 Branch code: 050 214 Included in this offer is free access to book’s complementary app – an excellent resource when out birdwatching in nature. Thank you for your continued support. The app is compatible with IOS and Android devices, and incorporates the book’s information, maps, photographs and a

vast collection of recorded bird calls courtesy of bird expert Behind The Scenes Doug Newman. • Attributions: This newsletter was designed using resources from If you’re still not sold, feel free to visit the book’s website where www.freepik.com, including images by brgfx, studiogstock and macrovector. you can catch a glimpse of some of the stunning action photographs of birds featured in the book and read some of the • Content Contributors: Elizabeth Boshoff, Corné Brink, Desireé du Preez, Nicole Jonklass, Roxanne Joubert, Anne Kellner, Peter Ginn, positive comments both bird experts and readers have made Colin Ralston and Gabby van Huyssteen. about the book.  Background image: ©Colin Ralston (CC BY-NC 4.0).

 Banner image: ©Colin Ralston (CC BY-NC 4.0). To get your hands on The Ultimate Companion for Birding in  Braai plate image on page 5: © @lucille2029

Southern Africa boxed set, make an EFT payment of R800 or  Protected Trees images from top to bottom: © Shaun Swanepoel more using the bank details on the right-hand side of this page, (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); © David Hoare (CC BY-NC 4.0) ; © Troos van der andBirds the andreference a Buck!This “Bird Book ” month’s. Photo-Synthesis Merwe (CC BY-NC 4.0);

section features a  Nursery Tree of the Month source: http://pza.sanbi.org/psychotria-capensis Only a limited number of box sets are available, so please  Nursery Tree of the Month images from top to bottom: Image 1 contact the Garden Reception at [email protected] and Image 3 © Franz Xaver; Image 2 © Karen Pagel. All (CC BY-NC- SA 4.0). or 044 874 1558 to secure your copy before making the EFT payment.  Design and Layout: Nicole Jonklass SShhooww aanndd TTeellll

The Show and Tell section is where members of the GRBG family share their personal accounts of the Garden. Each month, a volunteer, intern or staff member tells us more about an area in the Garden that recently caught their eye or kept them busy.

Mr & Mrs Brown

by Colin Ralston

Mr & Mrs Brown – more formally known as Southern Brown-hooded Kingfishers (Halcyon albiventris) – were seen together regularly last spring in the area below the dam wall where they sunned themselves in the early morning. They became very tolerant of humans staring and pointing camera lenses at them.

This species had been recorded at the Garden before, but never a “Resident Pair”, which these seemed to be. Would they breed here?

On the third of December, I saw one bird on the eastern bank of the main Van Kervel Dam with a cricket, which it appeared to feed to its mate. Only the female incubates the eggs, the male occasionally feeding the female. Were they breeding? Where was the nest?

I noticed more and more prey-carrying trips towards some dead branches hanging over the water and made attempt to photograph what these prey items were. At this stage, the birds would not enter the nest burrow if anybody was around, which meant walking away to allow them to feed the young. So I developed a routine of waiting well away from the nest, rushing towards it when I noticed an incoming bird, trying to get a photo or two, then walking away again, waiting for the next flight in. This proved to be not very satisfactory and very exhausting.

But then a bird flew into the nest burrow while I was there – major progress! continued… All photos in this section courtesy of Colin Ralston.

I then started sitting on the nearby concrete path, … I then started sitting on the nearby concrete path, On 26 December, suddenly all visits to the nest hiding from the birds behind some vegetation, stopped, the chicks presumably fledged. One young getting some weird looks from passers-by, and some bird was sighted in the Tea Garden on 15 January, so who simply retreated when they saw a man sitting at least one chick survived. on the path. The next step was a camping stool and a flask of coffee, exercising patience and getting a tan What did they feed their chicks on? I identified 17 until a bird appeared and a frantic rush ensued to get species from a list of 138 catches – mainly crickets but the angles right between the many small twigs on the a surprising number (30) of Short-legged Seps (a lizard) which seemed to be their preferred prey if the tree. weather was suitable. Seps are not often seen at the By this stage, the birds were tolerant of my presence Garden, so this number was a huge surprise. but would not go to the nest if anybody else was Other large kills included seven Striped Mice, seven around, the male being far more cautious than the chameleons, one snake, some bugs, locusts a few female and prone to eating the prey himself if crabs and spiders. The catch of the season, however, delivery was delayed for too long by people being was a very large caterpillar of the Death’s-head around. Hawk Moth.

The birds had also fallen into a fairly standard Despite being called Kingfishers, not one fish routine: a low and fast flight in over the water, a appeared on the list, despite there being plenty of brief stop on the dead tree to check the nest area, a fish in the dam. Apparently some of these birds can few quick and brutal bashes of the prey if it was still and do catch fish, but not this pair. moving too much, a dart into the nest, out again quickly and an optional quick breather on the tree, a Colin Ralston is a photographer, GRBG Member, few wipes of the beak, a shake and off hunting again. frequent GRBG visitor and all-round GRBG fundi.

Colin Ralston PPhhoottoo--SSyynntthheessiiss

In this month’s Photo-Synthesis section we showcase some of the flora in the Garden that has wowed visitors over the past festive season.

Left: A King Protea (Protea cynaroides) with the Outeniqua Mountains in the background.

Centre Left: Elegia filacea demonstrates why its common name is ‘Little Golden Curls’.

Bottom Left: The Aloe display bed on a hot summer’s day.

Bottom Right: Euphorbia mam-

millaris (Corncob Cactus) – one Next Page, Bottom of the more ‘quirky’ succulents Left: Monopsis uni- found in the Garden. dentata (Wild Violet) in bloom. Next Page, Top Left: A female Next Page, Bottom crab spider (Thomisus sp.) rests Right: Green buds of on a ‘Bitterblombossie’ (Selago Bulbine latifolia (Broad- corymbosa). leaved Bulbine or ‘Rooiwortel’) get ready Next Page, Top Right: Scabiosa to reveal yellow columbaria (Wild Scabius) seen from above. flowers.

NNuurrsseerryy TTrreeee ooff tthhee MMoonntthh

TTrreeeess ooff tthhee MMoonntthh:: PPrrootteecctteedd TTrreeeess –– PPaarrtt 22

Did You Know?

The National Forests Act of 1998 includes a list of protected tree species. This means that under South African law “no person may cut, disturb, damage, destroy or remove any protected tree; or collect, remove, transport, export, purchase, sell, donate or in any other manner acquire or dispose of any protected tree” already growing in the wild.

The only instances where people may perform these acts is if they have been granted a licence to do so by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or they do so in terms of the exemption from the provisions of the National Forests Act published by the Minister in the Government Gazette. Anyone found guilty of breaking this law can be sentenced to a fine and/or time in prison.

There are currently 47 protected tree species in South Africa. In Part 2 of our Protected Trees feature we continue highlighting those protected trees that are indigenous to South Africa and of which you can currently find an example growing in the GRBG.

Conservation Status Growing SA Tree Botanical Common Name(s) According to in the Number Name the Red List of South African GRBG? Plants

 Stinkwood, Black Stink- wood, Cape Stinkwood, Ocotea African Acorn, African Oak, Endangered Yes 118 bullata Black Laurel, Bean Trefoil;  Swartstinkhout (Afr.);  Umhlungulu, Umnimbithi , Umnukani (isiXhosa)

 Cheesewood, White Cape

Beach; Pittosporum  Bosboekenhout, Kaarsuur, Least Yes 139 viridiflorum Kersuurboom; Concern  Umgqwengqwe (isiXhosa).

 Red Stinkwood, African Almond, Bitter Almond;  Rooistinkhout, Bitter- Prunus amandel (Afr.); Yes africana Vulnerable 147  Umkhakhase, Inyazangoma (isiXhosa).

NNuurrsseerryy TTrreeee ooff tthhee MMoonntthh

Species: Psychotria capensis

Common names: Black bird-berry, bastard lemonwood, lemon bush; Swart- voël-bessie, baster-lemoenhout, lemoenbos (Afrikaans); umGono-gono (isiXhosa)

Family: Rubiaceae

Description: The evergreen Psychotria capensis is a shrub or small tree that reaches heights of between three to eight metres. Its slender stem is covered by pale brown bark and sprouts horizontal branches. A key feature of Psychotria capensis is its glossy foliage. The shiny leaves are smooth and leathery to the touch, light to dark green in colour above, but paler underneath. The opposite leaves are fairly large (up to 150 x 60mm) and are often drooping. The leaf shape varies from elliptic to obovate. From spring to midsummer (August-January) Psychotria capensis bears golden-yellow flowers in flattish, terminal, branched heads. In late summer to winter (January-July) shiny, pea-sized yellow fruits appear in large, flat clusters. These fruits ripen to red or black, hence the tree’s common name ‘black bird-berry’.

Natural Habitat: In South Africa, Psychotria capensis can be found growing in the country’s eastern-most provinces, from Knysna through to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Its distribution also extends into southern Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In keeping with the varied ecosystems and altitudes of these provinces, Psychotria capensis’ natural habitat ranges from sea level to 1500m above sea level and includes evergreen forests, forest margins, shrub and dune bush, river edges and rocky outcrops in high-rainfall grasslands.

Conservation Status: Psychotria capensis is not a threatened species.

Growing It In Psychotria capensis is easy to grow and will grow in practically all Your Garden: conditions. Frost is the only real hindrance to its growth. The tree will flourish in warm, moist conditions, but if planted in protected positions it will also survive in colder climates. Adding a thick layer of mulch will enable Psychotria capensis to grow in any soil type. Additional watering is only

needed during summer and in dry conditions. The tree will grow equally well in the sunny or shady areas of a garden. This makes it a good candidate for areas that receive summer-shade, but winter-sun. If growing it as a pot plant is preferred, pots should be placed outside, for example on patios or balconies. No matter the location, however, the berries of Psychotria capensis are sure to attract fruit-eating birds such as Cape White-

eyes, Cape Bulbuls, Speckled Mousebirds, and Black-bellied and Red-winged Starlings who all feast on its clusters of yellow, red and black fruits. Availability at GRBG Nursery: Young Psychotria capensis plants are available for sale at the Nursery at R90-00 each.