Medicinal Garden

Here are to be found plants whose leaves, flowers, roots or stems are used for their medicinal, culinary or aromatic properties by the many different cultural groups in South Africa.

In this small herb garden many traditional medicinal plants are displayed, along with short notes explaining their uses. One familiar herb grown here is rooibos, Aspalathus linearis, which occurs naturally, mainly in the Cedarberg mountains of the Western Cape. The plant is used to produce rooibos tea, a popular South African beverage that contains no caffeine and has a very low tannin content. Rooibos has also been found to relieve insomnia, stomach cramps, allergies and has a soothing effect on the skin when directly applied. This area has been redeveloped and linked to the Useful Plants Garden

The Koppie

This is a well drained rocky outcrop which is used to display the Pelargonium collection, many bulbs and drought-tolerant plants. The Koppie is an interesting garden displaying a diversity of species and is at its best in winter and early spring.

Fragrance Garden

The Fragrance Garden features plants with aromatic properties and unusual textures. The plants are grown in waist-high, raised beds to enable visitors to touch them, feel them and smell them. Since this garden has been designed to highlight the interesting scent and texture properties of plants, a special effort has been made to enhance the experience for the sight impaired visitor. The Fragrance Garden is surrounded by a guard rail and contains plant information labels in large print, as well as braille.

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