Khumbula Indigenous Plant Nursery and open garden is situated in Bathurst on the crest of a hill with a spectacular, uninterrupted view of the coast.
Khumbula Indigenous Plant Nursery and open garden is situated in Bathurst on the crest of a hill with a spectacular, uninterrupted view of the coast.
The nursery opened in April 2007, stocking only 40 varieties of indigenous plants. They now stock more than 200 varieties and are steadily acquiring more.
Khumbula Indigenous Nursery co-owners, Lorrain Solomon and Norman Maritz have named their nursery Khumbula, which in Xhosa translates as "remember". They wish to remind people of their close and often forgotten connection to nature.
“Neither of us had any formal nursery experience when we started,” says Solomon. “We began planting by instinct,” Lorraine interjects, “and quickly learnt to be as non-invasive and as organic as possible." They collect leaves, plant matter and dried cow dung for mulch and compost and use the invasive black wattle shrub to build all the structures at the nursery.
The plants for sale section of the nursery is spread out across the upper end of the property with various indigenous, waterwise ground covers, shrubs, trees, bulbs and succulents, which are kept either in bags or stored and sold directly from the ground.
In essence, indigenous plants are slow growing. Plants are not forced into quick growth, nor are they over-protected from the elements. This makes for plants that are innately strong and hardy. With changing climate conditions, it is becoming increasingly important to start integrating waterwise indigenous plants that thrive under harsher conditions.
