My principal hobby is the gardening with indigenous plants. South Africa has a great variety of plants. There are altogether 24.000 species. Only the Amazonas region has a greater variety of indigenous or endemic plants to offer. I have studied the South African flora to some degree and come to the conclusion that, if every person in urban South Africa would plant indigenous plants in their garden and the fences would come down again, we would have the largest combined nature reserve of all nature reserves in South Africa. This would have a great potential for the protection of the species diversity of South Africa. I can prove this, since I have counted my garden birds and my last species count was 37 different species of birds in my garden alone. Of course, I have developed a feeding scheme, that suits most birds. The food combines protein, fruit and other sources of carbo hydrate. I discovered, that, when the food is dispensed in one place only, the birds become very used to the feeding scheme and devour almost everything that is offered to them. The biggest fear, that birds seem to have from dispensed food is, that a trap is set up for them, or, that the food source may be poisoned. Once, the feeding site is trusted, the birds eat almost everything that comes from the kitchen. This has the great advantage, that there is no food wastage and that the rats do not have such a big disposal of waste food, because the feeding sites differ. Whereas wasted food lands in the bin or in the toilet, where rats have easy access, the feeding places for the birds do not offer easy access for rats for 2 reasons. The first reason is, that the feeding site is more exposed, which is then avoided by rats, because of the open air space, the second reason is, that once, the birds are used to the feeding site, they will come immediately and devour the food, leaving nothing behind juast only after a few minutes later. One must, of course, avoid to feed too many seeds or bread crumbs, because this attracts pigeons, who are also not desired. To avoid wastage of bread, cut the bread up in slices and deep freeze it immediately. When you want bread, take the desired amount of slices from the freezer and defrost it. In this way, you will have no wasted bread, thus saving money and keeping the pigeons and the rats away. To my big surprise, I also discovered that the birds are eating cheese, even when it is mouldy. So, why not feed the birds with the cheese off-cuts, instead of the rats. The birds are also partial to all types of fat and love meat off-cuts, raw and cooked. A real hit amongst all birds, are marrow bones. By attracting many birds to your garden during winter you can be sure, that they keep many garden pests under ctontrol throughout the summer. By attracting birds to your garden and offer them indigenous or wild plants for forage and cover, you will only have advantages. In addition, your garden, when it has a natural appearance will give you solace and you will not have to spend so much money for a vacation in a nature reserve, because you will have it literally on your doorstep. So, instead of wasting your money by combatting those lovely creatures, why not attract them to your home to keep the invironment balanced and healthy.

In the following, I will download pictures of South African indigenous plants, that I grow in my garden and give some instructions on how to grow and propagate them. Whoever reads my blog and is interested, can confidently post me any questions the may have. I will gladly give them any advice they may need.