Are the plants on this shelf really native to South Africa?

Yes. Each one is recorded as indigenous to South Africa in the SANBI PlantZAfrica database, and each entry names the part of the country the plant grows wild in. The shelf is kept to the plants whose entries have been checked against a source.

Why does this shelf have so few plants?

Only plants whose entries have been checked against sources appear here. Other South African plants are in the journal, but they wait for the same check before they join the shelf, so the shelf grows as the entries are reviewed.

Do South African plants follow the same seasons as the rest of the journal?

No. South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, so its seasons run the other way round from the northern hemisphere, and the winter falls from June to August. The planting and pruning windows on each entry are given for the hemisphere the plant grows in.

A shelf of the journal

South African plants

3 entries in the journal

South Africa is one of the richest plant countries in the world, and a good share of the plants sold as houseplants and garden shrubs in Europe and North America came from its open grassland, its thicket and its dry rocky slopes. This shelf holds the ones in the journal that are recorded as native to the country, checked against the SANBI PlantZAfrica database, which the South African National Biodiversity Institute maintains.

Each plant here grows wild in a different part of the country. The bird of paradise grows along the eastern seaboard, from the Humansdorp area in the Eastern Cape north into KwaZulu-Natal, where it grows in coastal thicket and forest margins. The jade plant grows in the valley thicket of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, from the Willowmore area towards East London and north into KwaZulu-Natal, usually on rocky slopes. The blue plumbago grows from the southern and Eastern Cape into KwaZulu-Natal, in scrub and thicket. Knowing where a plant comes from tells you a good deal about how it wants to be grown, and each entry says what that means at home.

The three share a dry-season habit. The jade plant stores water in its leaves and wants a long dry rest between soaks. The bird of paradise is a thick-rooted perennial that rewards a sunny spot and a deep pot or border, and it flowers best once it is settled. The blue plumbago is a scrambling shrub that copes with dry spells once it is established and flowers through much of the year in a warm, sunny place. None of them wants to stand in wet compost or a waterlogged bed.

The seasons run the other way round. South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, so its winter falls from June to August and its summer from December to February. A window given for the northern hemisphere cannot simply be moved by six months, because frost, rainfall and flowering follow the local climate. Where an entry gives a planting or pruning window, it is for the hemisphere the plant grows in, and the almanac on this site works out the months for your own location.

The South African houseplants guide covers the wider group of six plants that are grown indoors, and the entries here are the ones that also suit a garden. If your garden is in a frost-free part of the country, a bird of paradise or a blue plumbago can stay outside all year. Elsewhere, bring the jade plant and any tender young plant indoors before the first cold night, and check the entry for the frost note.

Over time, the shelf will grow as more native plants are checked. For now it is a short list, and the honest way to read it is that each plant on it has been checked, and nothing has been added to make the shelf look longer.

The entries

Cape leadwort

Plumbago auriculata

full sunaverage thirsteasy

Add to my plants

Jade plant

Crassula ovata

full sunsparingeasy

Add to my plants

Bird of paradise

Strelitzia reginae

full sunaverage thirstmoderate

Add to my plants

Questions from the margin

Are the plants on this shelf really native to South Africa?: Yes. Each one is recorded as indigenous to South Africa in the SANBI PlantZAfrica database, and each entry names the part of the country the plant grows wild in. The shelf is kept to the plants whose entries have been checked against a source.
Why does this shelf have so few plants?: Only plants whose entries have been checked against sources appear here. Other South African plants are in the journal, but they wait for the same check before they join the shelf, so the shelf grows as the entries are reviewed.
Do South African plants follow the same seasons as the rest of the journal?: No. South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, so its seasons run the other way round from the northern hemisphere, and the winter falls from June to August. The planting and pruning windows on each entry are given for the hemisphere the plant grows in.