Under the Radar: A Five-Star Garden in Cape Town - Gardenista
The Cellars Hohenort Hotel in the winemaking suburb of Constantia Cape Town is the kind of place where on a... Photography by Marie Viljoen for Gardenista. ...given night in South Africa s young democracy you might have bumped into Nelson Mandela Jimmy Carter or Desmond Tutu And an oil baron who reportedly requires 1,000 fresh roses every week for his suites. While five-star luxury is inherent, it is the nine-acre garden wrapping this historic property that defines it. Flowers greet visitors the minute the car door shuts behind them in the car park (a feature infrequently associated with horticultural interest). The effect is one of a small beautiful town where one strolls from terraced citrus orchard to rustic garden rose garden to vineyard forest walk to... ...Gary Player designed putting green all planted around a collection of buildings hotel restaurants and spa where flowers greenery and immaculate lawns knit the parts together Recently, at the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer, pink Bougainvillea billowed over whitewashed guest suites (converted from an original carriage house dating to the 17th century). Far from being aloof, the Cellars-Hohenort welcomes its neighbors. He belongs to neighbors but he likes it here The rose pruner is a retired banker and cousin to Jean Almon the woman... ...who defined and led the development and care of these gardens for 24 years retiring from her full time duties only in early 2014 White ducks paddle on water framed by flowers and herd their fluffy young beneath signs that warn cars of their presence. “But then a Dutch visitor looked at it and said, ‘That is a canal.’ So now it is a canal!” The ducks don’t care. There are other animal guests I am told by Niall McKrill the hotel s new garden manager his wife Jill designs all the flowers for the hotel... ...s interiors as we sit under the shade of an old yellowwood tree on the lawns a Cape cobra visits the resident vineyard to snack on mice But they cannot cope with the porcupine that comes rooting around four or five nights a week. McKrill works with a team of four gardeners. Every year six tons of the compost are dedicated to the rose garden alone She bought one The... ...Cellars and two years later acquired The Hohenort uniting them and transforming them into their current opulence and verdure In summer the gardens are perfumed. Jean Almon tells me that growing up in Port St John s on South Africa s subtropical Wild Coast she loved walking in forests and... ...damp places We are walking now beneath giant old camphor trees whose character echoes that of their even older cousins on the Vergelegen wine estate Beneath them lie the stumps of the oaks which first flanked the original drive, here, more than 300 years ago. At these exotic camphors’ feet grow local plants–Streptocarpus, Plectranthus and masses of forest-dwelling Clivias–which thrive in the shade. Pausing beneath the grandly stepped gables of The Hohenort part of the hotel, we look up at a towering bank of hydrangeas dominating the perennials below. I’m on flexi-time now, smiles the 83-year-old horticulturist. Spotting some rogue blue agapanthus, she marches towards them and climbs into a bed on a steep incline. Below the agapanthus border is a striking formal garden on a narrow terrace. Local ironsmith Simon Beede created the fountains poised over the water like oversized waterbugs. The bespoke roses do not end there last November the new Relais Chí teau rose was launched at the hotel s Conservatory restaurant... ...Soft pink plush and perfumed the cut blooms last well the one I was given remained fresh in water for an impressive week Clipped Westringia shrubs are the focal point from the patio where I sit with Almon at the end of our walk to share coffee and freshly baked scones. I don’t really want to leave. And that seems to be the idea I would like my guests to remember the garden as a place to wander in... ...peace and tranquility say McGrath in an email and to quietly enjoy the views and feel of the beauty of The Cape