Page 109 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2020 South Africa

cally elected president. Another tree, a prized agapanthus filled beds, along with spikes of red
Wood’s cycad grown in the garden since 1916, is hot pokers, orange fireball lilies and naked lady
now extinct in the wild. Caged and monitored by amaryllis.
cameras, this palm-like tree is part of the garden’s If you have time - tours last up to three hours,
impressive collection of rare and endangered wander through the Botanical Society Conserva-
South African cycads, “living fossils” little changed tory, a glasshouse with weird and wonderful speci-
since the time of the dinosaurs. mens - living “stones” to towering baobab trees -
Kirstenbosch’s famed floral fireworks explode in from the country’s semi-arid and arid areas. And
spring (August-mid-October) when African daisies enjoy art displayed around the grounds, including
carpet hills, cape bulbs (watsonia, spraxis, babiana the Sculpture Garden’s African stone sculptures
and more) bloom, and native shrubs or fynbos - and metal dinosaurs scattered among the cycads.
proteas, pincushions and conebushes - show off If you go: https://www.sanbi.org/gardens/
exotic flowers and foliage. In mid-summer, when kirstenbosch/
we visited, swaths of purple and white-flowered

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