Our chief gardening sub-editor finds a selection of inspirational Jo’burg verges with great ideas to try

It’s so inspirational when homeowners allow their gardening enthusiasm to spill out onto their pavements for all to enjoy.

A pretty mix

This gardener has planted a clever cocktail of mixed plants. Roses are the key performers and work together with foliage plants and a blend of pretty pink blooms with a bold touch added by a few cannas.

Low-maintenance succulents

The owner of this patch of pavement went the succulent route – a good idea for a low-maintenance option. They’ve chosen a variety of plants with the most intriguing shapes, including rose-like echeveria, Karroo-type prickly pear cactus and Euphorbia tirucali ‘Firesticks. With their subtle colours that almost glow, they all emerge from a base of gravel which the owners have cleverly echoed with their choice of a stone colour for their boundary wall.

Essentially indigenous

Mounding shapes of foliage in varying heights create a pleasing picture on this pavement. Plush grasses and indigenous plants like agapanthus, echeveria and gazania work well together to make a savvy water-wise choice that ties in well with the stone-clad entrance.

Check out this stunning indigenous Jo’burg garden.
 

Cottage style

This is a really small shady space with a freely planted cottage look. The bed has a delicate feminine feel with ‘Iceberg’ roses, foxgloves and soft mounds of erigeron that blend well with the muted colour of the boundary wall.

Leading the way

I really enjoy the way the pavers ‘wander’ casually along this sidewalk making it a journey through the very informal plantings – a straight path would have looked contrived. Skirting the existing trees it’s a painterly mix of grasses with breezy splashes of colour provided by among other things scabious, statice, petunias and vygies, balanced by taller plants like hebe along the boundary wall.