“I’m not a very good gardener, for the same reason I would not make a very good poisoner: both activities benefit from advance planning.” – Margaret Atwood.
Sitting on my shady garden bench with my two small granddaughters from England one hot summer’s day, I warned them about the poisonous qualities of an oleander which they were stroking.
“Is there anything else in your garden that’s poisonous?” they enquired. Lots, I thought.
For a start, there was the Wild Peach (Kiggelaria africana) sheltering us. Its leaves contain cyanide, which gets transferred to the larvae of the Garden Acraea butterly which feed on it.
I have never come across any children who have been affected by poisonous plants but feel they should be made aware of them.
There is the beautiful, seemingly harmless, Moonflower (Brugmansia) for instance, and the indigenous Plakkie (Cotyledon orbiculata). Both are toxic, but the cotyledon has been used externally to treat boils, abscesses and Plantar’s warts.
Even the fragrant Carolina Jasmine vine (Gelsemium sempervirens), which might entice children to try sipping nectar from its dainty, yellow, trumpet-like flowers, is poisonous.
Adults also could make fatal mistakes. Recently a friend pointed to a tall shrub in her garden and remarked that she intended to brew elderberry wine from its berries. This was not the plant she had imagined, however, but a toxic cestrum from South America.
Its black berries do resemble those of the elderberry and its greeny-yellow flowers become so fragrant at dusk it has been called “The Queen of the Night”, so this poisonous alien weed is sometimes welcomed in gardens. Subsequently, I’ve learnt that even the elderberry is mildly toxic unless harvested when completely ripe.
My visit to Walter Mangold’s Secret Garden at World of Birds in Hout Bay last year reignited my love for bromeliads. This tough, interesting group of plants, originating from humid, sub-tropical forests in the Americas, do surprisingly well in semi-shaded gardens and patios here. I have just been given an Urn plant (Aechmea fasciata), with silver-dusted foliage and showy pink infloresences.
But the plants that are delighting me the most at present, belong to the Blushing Bromeliads (Neoregelia) that are not noted for attractive blooms. In fact, for most of the year, they present a dull, green appearance and are tucked away unobtrusively among my other potted plants. Now, however, when they’ve produced striking central rosettes of scarlet, flame and wine red, I have triumphantly brought them to the fore. - Cape Argus