At historic Mauritzfontein, a renowned stud near Kimberley in South Africa, there’s an astonishing nine hectare garden which emerged against all odds from the hot red dust of the surrounding Nama Karoo veld about half a century ago. This book is the story of that garden’s evolution, much of it today the work of horticulturist and landscape designer Arthur Mennigke who inherited a garden pioneered by Joane Pim in the 1950s. She had been invited by the farm’s owner to green the veld around his homestead. Then as now, faced with rock and a smattering of desiccated vegetation, hot summers and bitterly cold winters, it’s the kind of environment that forces gardeners to adjust everything they know to ensure success. Despite the challenges, these gardens thrive, the native species of trees planted half a century ago reminiscent of what might have been in the Kimberley veld before prospectors searching for diamonds denuded it of nearly everything growing there.

Writers: Paul Duncan and Arthur Mennigke
Photographers: Charles Johnstone, Connall Oosterbroek, Joag van Rooyen
Designer: Joag van Rooyen