Celebrating Arbor Week 2022
Shangoni Management Services (Pty) Ltd decided to participate in Arbor Week 2022 by greening our rooftop stoep area. We wanted to show our stewardship by planting only indigenous plants. Since the area is in the sun for most of the day (even during winter), we decided that succulents were an ideal choice. They are water-wise and can withstand the harsh South-African sun. Shangonians worked together on this project by volunteering their time and even donating plants from their own gardens.
Here are some tips for maintaining an indigenous succulent garden.
Succulents thrive on:
- Full sun
- No irrigation
- Well drained soils
- Coarse river sand
- Do not compost
- No fertilisers
- Frost can be a limiting factor
A succulent garden is not suited for every province in South Africa, but they are ideal for landscapes in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, North-West, Bloemfontein and parts of Gauteng. A little bit of water in growing season will keep the succulents flourishing in their preferred parched terrain. Succulents are also ideal as a small desktop decoration.
Succulents that Shangoni planted in our rooftop garden include:
- Spekboom
- Skoonma se tong / Mother in law’s tongue
- Tree aloe and other aloe species
- Vygies
- Cotyledons, such as Pig’s ear and Bear’s paw
- Living stones (Lithops)
- Crassula species such as Red flames, Fairy crassula and Red pagoda
We hope that our rooftop project may inspire our clients and colleagues to brighten up their own spaces, and fight climate change and air pollution at the same time by planting indigenous trees such as the spekboom, which act like a carbon sponge and improve the air quality in their vicinity.
