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. Notices & Events Notices & Events 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.