Great Design Plant: Cape Rush

gknee I grow a big pot of Cape Rush every summer in fact it survives through our west coast winters only to become a beautiful lush green again. Funny thing about this plant, I've found that little white albino spiders like this plant alot. These spiders are harmless, that is if you aren't a butterfly which they trap and eat.

Dig Your Garden Landscape Design One of my absolute favorite plants to design with... I like to use it as a focal point with other drought tolerant plants. Another gem from South Africa!

Andrew Keys Sooooooooooo envious of folks in milder zones who can grow Chondropetalum in the ground. Growing it in containers just doesn't cut it for me--I'd need a giant greenhouse to be able to grow it to the side I'd want. It's like kinetic sculpture!

Kaveh Maguire If you are gardening in a small space be careful you don't accidentally end up with Chondropetalum elephantinum. They sometimes get mixed up in the trade. As you can see in that last picture that plant is not 2-3 feet tall. It can easily reach over 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide. If you are gardening in a space where you must have a more compact plant the cultivar 'El Campo' is an excellent selection.

Restio Landscape Designs I am fortunate to live on a farm on the West Coast of South Africa where Chondropetalum tectorum occurs naturally (see the photo). It is definitely one of my favourite landscaping accent plants and I usually try to incorporate at least one, if not a grouping, in every one of my clients' gardens. It is true that they are excellent coastal plants, handling salty sea air really well. Even though they are drought resistant, they definitely perform better with adequate water. Some other restios (the collective name given to these reeds) are: Restio festuciformis, Thamnochortus insignis, Elegia capensis. Some do exceptionally well around waterfeatures and are extremely versatile.

Restio Landscape Designs I am fortunate to live on a farm on the West Coast of South Africa where Chondropetalum tectorum occurs naturally (see the photo). It is definitely one of my favourite landscaping accent plants and I usually try to incorporate at least one, if not a grouping, in every one of my clients' gardens. It is true that they are excellent coastal plants, handling salty sea air really well. Even though they are drought resistant, they definitely perform better with adequate water. Some other restios (the collective name given to these reeds) are: Restio festuciformis, Thamnochortus insignis, Elegia capensis. Some do exceptionally well around waterfeatures and are extremely versatile.

Dig Your Garden Landscape Design Hello Restio Landscape Designs... yes how fortunate you are to have Restios in your native South Africa. We in No. Calif. share the same Mediterranean climate and I just adore ALL plants from South Africa and use countless species in my designs. I was fortunate to visit South Africa many years ago, it was before I became a landscape designer. How I would love to visit again one day and observe the native plants and your beautiful land. I'd be in plant heaven! I also use a lot of Bulbine frutescens 'Hallmark' in a many of my designs.

Restio Landscape Designs Bulbine frutescens - both yellow and orange varieties... another one of my favourites. I was out on the farm yesterday with the family looking at the the spring wild flowers. I am continuously amazed at the variety and diversity of the local indigenous annuals, perennials and bulbs. It is great to hear of our South African plants reaching your area.