Belmont

GPS: 32°24’05” S 25°57’48” E

BELMONT: The beautifully manicured and well-tended garden at Belmont farm in the Baviaans River Valley outside Bedford.

UPDATE: Since this interview was conducted, sisters-in-law Ria (Glen Ross) and Denel Moolman have swapped homes.

Ivor Markman

It’s one thing to inherit a farm, but quite another to inherit the garden, especially when the previous owner is your mother-in-law who still lives nearby. Danél Moolman, who grew up in the Eastern Cape, moved to the farm Belmont, in the Baviaans River Valley, with her husband André after his mom, Annetjie, moved to Somerset East in July last year.

To complicate matters for Danél, Annetjie was a keen gardener and set an incredibly high standard.

All her friends and neighbours told Danél she had big shoes to fill “and as you can see, they're huge shoes to fill,” she said pointing to the extensive garden.

“The layout is fine. It's just there are so many different kinds of flowers and plants, shrubs and perennials, and they are all scattered.

“I would like to make it a bit more ‘organised’ for cleaning sake,” she said.

The dedication of the gardeners in the Baviaans River Valley has never ceased to amaze me. Against all odds, they have continued to create the most magnificent, uniquely South African gardens in the country, and the farm Belmont is no exception.

To get to Belmont you have to travel on a rugged farm road, way up into the Baviaans River Valley, north of Bedford in the Eastern Cape. There’s definitely no speeding along the road, and careless drivers should beware of protruding rocks which have the potential to change the shape of a low-slung car’s oil sump.

But the resulting eye-soothing scene after the barren, rocky countryside, make it worthwhile enduring.

All around the farmhouse tall pine trees act as windbreaks to protect the home from the winds which blow down the valley and to provide shade and shelter.

TOY GARDEN: Zane Moolman has inherited her Mom's love of nature.

The sun was bright and the weather was warm, but Danél and daughter Zané’s welcoming smiles put both to shame. While sitting on the stoep, sipping tea and dunking rusks Danél spoke about inheriting her mother-in-law’s garden. “This is still Annetjie's garden, she started it, she made it, she planned it and she planted it” she said. “It feels to me like it's still her garden and I don't mind it.” Danél said she would like the garden to reflect her personality, but was trying not to step on anyone's toes. “You want to do what reflects you,” she said. “I've laid a few pathways, that weren't here before. There was just ground and mud. Where the grass didn't grow I made something different. I cut down one tree and made my own little bed with flowers, otherwise it was just cleaning up, giving fertilizer and maintenance,” she said.

HUGE VARIETY: Strolling through the garden one is struck by the huge variet of plants.

Learning to manage an extensive garden after living in a townhouse has been a challenge.

“I'm still learning which one is a flower and which is a weed.”

Fortunately she has a knowledgeable sister-in-law living close by who is able to point out the difference between weeds and plants.

“I've learnt by asking for help and by reading up. Whenever she visits stores selling gardening books, Danél buys all she can find.

That way when she sees the plant in the garden she is able to recognize them.

“When I see a plant in the garden I say I've seen this before and run back and see what I need to do. Do you need to prune it or do you need to leave it?

“Some need to be pruned now, some in June and the others in March."

Frost is a major concern for gardeners in the area - especially if they come late.

“If you prune the roses too early, they'll die from the frost. We get quite bad frost here.

"My mother-in-law said (plants) died here last year from frost that haven't died in years,” she said.

Every year bushes and plants need to be pruned.

Last year a beautiful two metre high hibiscus plant was trimmed. “I cut them down to about one metre after the frost and just as they started to bloom, the frost came again and took them down,” said Danél.

Because of the size of the garden, it’s quite daunting deciding where to start and what to do.

“If you stand here and say, ‘OK, today we are going to start cleaning,’ where do you start?

“Everybody says its lots of work, but I don't know. It's not that bad for me.

“I love my hibiscus, I love my irises and the arum lilies, I love the yellow lilies. I've got three different kinds but they are all covered up by bigger plants,” she said.

The garden has seven different types of ground-cover.

“Some of them I'm going to thin out, especially in the rose garden, because they're pushing my roses and taking all the food.

SHADY NOOKS: All over the garden visitors will find unexpected nooks and crannies where shelter can be obtained from the hot Karoo sun.

PEBBLED PATHS: Danél Moolman and her daughter Zané soak up the quiet of a tranquil pebbled path in the garden of Belmont farm.

ARUM LILIES: During the winter months in summer rainfall regions arum lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) rest but if kept watered constantly, they’re evergreen.

WATER FEATURE: A brass bird appears to be keeping tabs on Zane as she stands beside one of the water features on Belmont farm.

HEALTHY GARDEN: A sure sign of a healthy garden is the abundance of butterflies.

"A rose needs space to breathe," she said.

A few of the other plants adding colour to the garden include lavender, agapanthus, daisies, irises, strelitzias, various coloured coprosmas, clivia, geraniums, daylilies and helleborus.

“There is never a moment where you can sit and say OK, I'm done.

I have one lady, Rachel, who works in my garden every day. Actually, I think I'd like four or five, maybe six (helpers),” she laughed.

Fortunately, water is not a problem on the farm as it comes from a number of different perennial fountains situated in the mountains above the farm.
The water flows into holding dams and is then pumped to the house.

The Baviaans River, which passes close to the house, is an interesting river because it has both patches which are dry and patches where there’s water.

With water and flowers come the birds and the bees, and there is plenty of evidence they’re at Belmont.

The presence of numerous butterflies, universally accepted as indicators of the health of an environment, illustrate nature is thriving at Belmont.

“There are quite a lot of birds (in the garden, but) I'm not sure how many species there are,” said Danél.

“We've got lots of bees, especially when it has started blooming - there are hundreds and hundreds of bees.

“I have green in the garden the whole year round.

"Half the trees are evergreen and the other half lose their leaves.

"Nearly all of the shrubs are green the whole year."

Danél loves her roses.

Stones are scattered all around the garden.
Many of them have hollows and were collected from the river bed and the surrounding veld so when the garden is watered, they hold water for the birds.
“We collected the rocks from just outside (the farm), in the river beds.

"My husband said one day, the way we are collecting rocks, the farm is going to slip to the one side,” laughed Danél.
With such a wonderful setting, it’s not surprising Danél’s favourite spot is sitting in the shade at the bottom of the garden, especially when the sheep are playing across the road.
“I like sitting there in the late afternoons and watching them play, - I just sit there and take a deep breath,” she said.

BALCONY WITH A VIEW: A garden view from the house.