Pretoria Botanical Garden

The garden covers about seventy-six hectares divided by a quartzite ridge running east to west, and that ridge is the organising fact: the warm north-facing slope grows subtropical and bushveld species, the cooler south-facing side supports temperate and montane plants, and the two halves of the garden are planted accordingly. Roughly half the area is left as natural veld with a walking trail over the ridge. Collections are grouped by region of South Africa, so you can walk from Cape fynbos to Lowveld bushveld in a few hundred metres, and there is a substantial cycad and succulent holding plus a medicinal plant section. It is the headquarters garden of the national biodiversity institute, so there is a herbarium and research presence behind the display. Summer concerts fill the lawns, and birds are good along the wetland section.

History

The garden opened in June 1946 on land that had been part of the University of Pretoria's experimental farm, given up because poison leaf grew there. It covers 76 hectares and is now the headquarters of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Wikipedia, Pretoria National Botanical Garden).

Highlights

• The two-climate ridge - north and south slopes growing different floras a few metres apart.
• The regional beds - fynbos, bushveld and grassland collections grouped by origin.
• The natural half - about fifty percent left as veld with a ridge trail.
• The research base - the national biodiversity institute's headquarters garden.

When to go

September to April. Two to three hours. Summer concert days are crowded.

Practical notes

Winter leaves much of the garden dry and brown - that is highveld seasonality. The ridge trail is rocky. It is inside the city, so traffic noise carries. Concert Sundays fill the parking and the lawns.

Nearby

Pretoria's jacaranda streets are west; the Union Buildings are in the city.

Key facts