Gardening can be a fulfilling hobby and a source of entertainment. Join John from Lots of Pots as he’ll be guiding us to do just that – enjoy our gardens.
“Offering a burst of colour and a popular choice for cut flowers, Amaryllis can be used in landscaping to create striking focal points in gardens and patios.” advises John from Lots of Pots.
Also referred to as green walls or vertical gardens, living walls can be installed indoors or outdoors to an existing wall or suitable structure. They’re also ideal for bedless green fingers or small spaces. Benefits of a living wall include improved air quality, decrease in ambient temperature, decrease in noise, environment protection, remove air pollutants, reduces stress etc.
“You’ll soon discover that potted orchids aren’t difficult to grow and will provide you with loads of flowers that last for weeks at a time.” says John from Lots of Pots.
“Cyclamen naturally bloom during the cooler months, primarily in autumn, winter, and early spring, providing color when few other plants are in bloom. When growing cyclamen outdoors, choose a location with partial shade and well-drained soil. For indoor cyclamen, ensure they are in a cool, bright room and avoid placing them in direct sunlight. For a spectacular spring remember to plant the following bulbs in April – ranunculus, anemones, tritonias, ixias, freesias, sparaxis and babianas.” remarks John from Lots of Pots.
Symbolizing friendship, happiness and well-being, Chrysanthemums offer bursts of colour. These low maintenance plants is a must have which also provides a much needed late season nectar source for butterflies.
In South Africa the ±155 species of aloe can be found in almost all vegetation types, from the arid to semi-arid regions of the Karoo, the winter rainfall fynbos region, succulent thickets, grassland and savanna, and even in comparatively high-rainfall forests. Aloe Vera is an extremely popular house plant and has been grown for centuries for its purported medicinal properties.
Succulents are commonly used for ground cover, firebreaks and as decorative elements in homes and gardens. Some succulents are also edible and can be used in various culinary applications. Additionally, succulents contribute to air purification, add a touch of nature to indoor spaces and have symbolic meanings in different cultures.
Cacti come in various shapes, sizes and textures, adding a unique aesthetic to gardens. Cacti are known for their hardiness and require minimal watering and maintenance once established. Incorporate cacti with contrasting colors and flower shapes to highlight the rugged beauty of the stones.
Pansies will flower best in full sun but will tolerate light shade. Gorgeous in mass plantings, the versatile pansy also does extremely well in containers including hanging baskets and planter boxes. Pansies can bloom for several months depending on temperatures and growing conditions. To make sure they bloom as long as possible, keep them well irrigated and fertilize regularly. Deadhead whenever necessary by snipping off the stem to the base of the foliage.
Plant vygies to add vibrant, rainbow-colored, daisy-like flowers to your garden. Their cheerful blooms are a favourite for bees and butterflies, which helps support local biodiversity in your garden. Vygies are easy to care for, forming dense mats that help suppress weeds and add beauty with minimal fuss. Vygies are ideal for various garden designs, from rock gardens and borders to cascading over walls, used as groundcover or in mixed containers. Get in touch with John from Lots of Pots for more details.
Indoor plants are a great way to enhance interior design by adding visual interest, improving air quality, and promoting a sense of well-being. They can be used to create focal points, soften architectural features, and bring a touch of nature indoors.
Very few shrubs flower so profusely that one can hardly see the leaves. Their beautiful spring flowers, vibrant colours and attractive glossy foliage adds structure and interest to any garden year-round. Azaleas can be clipped to form shade hedges or balls and as lollipops they add instant height in small spaces, while their relative ease of care and pest resistance makes them a good choice for gardeners of all skill levels. Remember to plant Gladioli, Liatris and Dahlias. This is also a good time to sow cosmos.
Clivias are indigenous and versatile with year-round evergreen foliage. They are low-maintenance, thrive in shady spots both indoors and outdoors and are relatively water-wise once established. They naturally multiply, allowing for easy propagation by division to share with friends and family.
Water lilies have unique adaptations for aquatic life, such as round, waxy leaves that float on the water’s surface and help provide shade and shelter for fish. Their flowers can generate their own heat to attract pollinators and they play an important role in filtering water and controlling algae growth. Water lilies contribute to the health of ponds and lakes by cooling the water, absorbing pollutants and providing habitat and food for aquatic wildlife. Their presence supports biodiversity and helps maintain a balanced aquatic ecosystem.
Native to South Africa, arum or calla lilies (also known as Zantedeschia), deserve a place in any garden or home for their striking beauty, versatility and ease of care. These plants thrive in garden beds, borders, containers and even wetter areas, performing well in full sun or partial shade with minimal effort. They offer lush, attractive foliage and spectacular, long-lasting chalice-shaped flowers in rich, cheerful colours, each surrounding a distinctive yellow finger-like stalk. Ideal as garden features or cut flowers, arum lilies burst into bloom in summer, adding bright, elegant colour and year-round visual interest with very little maintenance required.
Key Reasons to Grow Petunias. Petunias produce abundant blooms in a wide range of colours and patterns with bushy, spreading or trailing growth habits. Their cascading varieties create beautiful displays in hanging baskets and pots. Once established, they’re low-maintenance, heat-tolerant and thrive in sunny spots, perfect for busy households. Their bright flowers attract bees and butterflies, support a healthy garden ecosystem and some varieties help repel pests like aphids and beetles, making them useful companion plants for vegetables.
Day lilies offer spectacular, long-lasting blooms in almost any colour, thriving in sun or shade with minimal care, making them perfect for reliable garden colour and erosion control. Their name reflects that each flower lasts only a day but the plant produces many, ensuring continuous beauty through summer. Great for borders, mass plantings, slopes (erosion control), rock gardens, containers and attracting pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds.
Dahlias are planted for their immense, long-lasting, and diverse blooms that thrive from mid-summer through late autumn, often when other garden plants fade. They offer incredible variety in color, shape and size, making them perfect for versatile, show-stopping garden displays and cut flowers. They are ideal for bouquets and the more you cut them, the more they bloom. While they need support for large varieties and water, they are easy to grow and often produce tubers that can be lifted, stored and split to multiply your stock for free.
Fuchsias are a staple for adding vibrant colour to shady areas and are prized for their versatility. With thousands of varieties ranging from compact upright shrubs to trailing types ideal for hanging baskets, they provide long-lasting blooms from late spring through early autumn. Their distinctive flowers appear in beautiful combinations of white, pink, magenta, red and purple, creating striking displays in gardens and containers. Fuchsias can be grown as cascading plants in baskets, bushy shrubs in borders or even trained as elegant standards. Thriving in shade or dappled light, they are perfect for spaces where sun-loving plants struggle, while their nectar-rich blooms attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. With their delicate, graceful appearance, fuchsias have long symbolised grace, love and femininity.
Cosmos are considered special in gardening for their resilience, low-maintenance nature and prolific blooms. These carefree annuals produce delicate, daisy-like flowers above airy foliage and flower continuously from summer to frost. Thriving even in poor soil and dry conditions, they require minimal care while adding vibrant color to the garden. Cosmos are also excellent for attracting pollinators such as bees and butterflies, making them a popular choice for cutting gardens, borders and wildlife-friendly landscapes.
The Golden Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia chrysotricha or Handroanthus chrysotrichus) often blooms in early spring (August–September) when it is completely bare of leaves, creating a dramatic, bright yellow landscape contrast. While exotic to South Africa, it is widely planted, particularly in Gauteng, for its aesthetic appeal. It has high drought tolerance and prefers well-drained soil in full sun, making it well-adapted to many parts of South Africa. It is a small to medium-sized tree, generally growing between 4 and 7 meters, sometimes reaching 10 meters, with a rounded, spreading canopy. While the Golden Trumpet is common, pink varieties (Tabebuia pentaphylla) are also found in South African gardens.