The History of Kirstenbosch

On Friday, August 1^st, Melissa tested us on the history of Kirstenbosch as told by Mr. Andrew Jacobs. Andrew is the head tour guide/historian of Kirstenbosch. Super exciting and energetic man who actually just came back to Kirstenbosch from a month in California/Washington. I figured I would dedicate this post to give you a brief history on Kirstenbosch.

Back in 1895, a politician named Cecil John Rhodes bought the eastern slope of Table Mountain. While he owned the land, he was expecting the Queen of England to come and visit. To impress her, he planted Camphora cinnamon and Ficus macrophylla up the road she would be travelling to reach his estate. Ironically, neither of these trees are South African and there are a number of other trees here and there that aren’t native but were planted during the time the British occupied the land. Fortunately for Rhodes, the Queen did not make the voyage. At the time, she would’ve been 90 years old and the trek up Camphor Avenue probably would’ve given her a hard attack (if the boat ride hadn’t done so already). Here are some pictures to show how steep and long Camphor Avenue really is. 

From the bottom looking up.

From the middle looking down.

From the middle looking up.

In 1902, Cecil John Rhodes passed away and bequeathed the land to the people of South Africa. The government then decided to create Kirstenbosch, an educational display of the South African Flora. They chose this location because of the rainfall and diversity on the mountainside. Today, Kirstenbosch boasts over 5,000 species of plants, 95% of them being native. It is world renowned because it is the only botanical garden with a mountain backdrop and on a world heritage site (Table Mountain). 

On July 1^st, 1913, Henry Harold R. Pearson was appointed the first director of Kirstenbosch and in charge of turning the wineland estate into a botanical garden. At the time, Pearson was the assistant director at the Royal Botanical Garden- Kew in London. Sadly, he was only around for three years before he croaked. Today, you can find his burial site between the Dell, cycads, and arboretum sections of the garden.

When Pearson came to Kirstenbosch, he brought with him the first curator of the gardens, J.W. Mathews. Together, the two of them constructed The Dell, which is the first constructed section of the garden. Here, you can view “The Colonel’s Bird Bath”, a natural spring, and some of the original plantings of Kirstenbosch. 

The original plantings are as follows:

1.       Ilex mitis- Cape Holly. Located in the Dell.

2.       Encephalartos woodii- Now an extinct cycad that is only present in Kirstenbosch. It is massive for a cycad.

3.       Gingko biloba- Maidenhair Tree. Located next to the Dell.

4.       Cedrus Atlantica- Atlas Cedar. Planted for Cecil John Rhodes. Planted below the arboretum.

5.       Anthocleista grandiflora- Forest Fever Tree. In the Dell.

Sadly, since I've been here, there have been 22 cycads stolen from the cycad amphitheater. Some of which are critically endangered. But not the Encephalartos woodii. That specimen has a cage around it for protection against theft. 

After Pearson’s passing and the construction of the Dell, Mathews then constructed his rockery. Mathew’s rockery is a collection of aloes, succulent mesembs, acacia sieberianas, and other drought tolerant plant selections that prefer well-draining soil. The original site for the rockery was going to be on Pelargonium Hill, but the soil there had poor drainage for the succulent’s needs, especially for the Aloe barberae. Today, the rockery is managed by Ernst Van Jaarsveld who is an amazing botanist and expert on Plectranthus species, Mesembs, and Succulents. Here are some photos of Mathew's Rockery. 

As the years went by, Kirstenbosch continued to expand and grow with each director. After Pearson, a man by the name of Compton became director. The herbarium at Kirstenbosch was named after Compton. Next was director H.B. Rycroft. Apparently, during his time the government wanted to make Camphor Avenue a public street. Rycroft had to literally stand in front of the bull dozers to keep them from making a new road that would split the garden in half. After Rycroft, the garden was led by Kobus Eroff, Brian Huntley, and now Dr. Tanya Abramson. In this time, Kirstenbosch became a premier garden next to other great botanical institutions such as: Kew Gardens, Edinburgh Gardens, Sydney Gardens, Kamorov Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, and Missouri Botanical Garden.

In the 70’s, the Protea section of the garden was constructed, followed by the Ericas and eventually the Restios. The Restios section was made possible to the creation of Kirstenbosch’s smoke primer. Before this liquid, the nursery team would be lucky to received 20% germination. Now, the primer has improved germination to a rate of 50-100%. Around this time in the 80’s, the garden began coordinating their summer concert program. The original intention of the concerts was to bring more blacks into the garden. In 2005/2006, the garden was proud to announce that it was self-sustaining, largely due to the revenue received from the concerts. The garden no longer required government assistance. 

In the 90’s, the conservatory, visitor center, and research center were all new facilities added to Kirstenbosch. In 1996, Nelson Mandela visited the garden. To honor this visit, the garden changed the name of their iconic yellow flowering strelitzia called Strelitzia reginae “Kirstenbosch Gold” to Strelitzia reginae “Mandela Gold”.

This past year, the garden celebrated its centenary with the construction of the Canopy Tree Walk, also known as “The Boomslang”. Even for the winter season, the number of visitors coming to see the walk is incredible. Adam says the arboretum is barely ever packed and I can attest to the opinion that the patrons are coming to Kirstenbosch primarily for the boomslang.

Any questions on the topic, let me know!