Travel to the southwest tip of South Africa and you’ll find a Mediterranean climate remarkably like ours: long, hot summers without rain, rainfall in the fall and winter months (which of course are the opposite of our fall and winter months). The native landscape in this area echoes our native chaparral, woodlands and forests, too.
Because of the similarities, South African native plants are well represented in our low-water plant palette. Many aloes, spring flowering bulbs and most of the world’s scented geraniums come from South Africa.
Our local nurseries carry many South African plants. Among them are the colorful, exotic-looking shrubby pincushions, Leucospermum. These Protea cousins are well known in San Diego’s cut-flower industry. Recently, they have crossed over into horticulture.
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