Special Projects
Alongside our day-to-day work in the nursery, we are also involved in a small number of conservation-focused projects. These are not large or formal programmes. They are simply things we care about, and where we feel we can play a small part over time.
Working on this land every day, you start to notice what used to be here, and what is becoming harder to find. Our work here is not driven by timelines or targets. It is simply about taking some responsibility, in a small way, for plants that belong to this landscape, and trying to ensure that they are not lost completely. For now, the focus is on learning, growing, and doing it properly.
Lampranthus Coccineus
One of the plants we are working with is Lampranthus coccineus. It naturally occurs in Hopefield Sand Fynbos, right here in our area. Today, it is listed as Critically Endangered, with only a few small populations remaining and fewer than 250 mature plants estimated to be left.
Much of its habitat has already been lost, mainly to agriculture, and what remains continues to be under pressure. There is something quite grounding about working with a plant that belongs so specifically to this place.
Pelaragonium Reniforme
We are also working with Pelargonium reniforme, a species that is under pressure for a different reason. It is listed as Near Threatened. Because it closely resembles Pelargonium sidoides, which is widely used in traditional medicine, it is often harvested alongside it for commercial herbal production. Over time, this has led to noticeable declines in certain areas, with population reductions of around 20–30% observed in parts of the Eastern Cape.
Ongoing harvesting continues to place pressure on wild populations. Our interest here is to better understand how the plant can be grown sustainably, so that demand does not need to be met through continued removal from the wild.