MAURITZFONTEIN: the Story of a Karoo Garden

To many gardeners, the scale of the gardens at Mauritzfontein could seem overwhelming. Only the brave attempt to garden in the Karoo on this scale, 9 hectares, and only the fearless tackle the even more arid Nama Karoo. To landscape designer Arthur Mennigke, a garden of this size is an exciting challenge.

These are the gardens pioneered by Joane Pim in the 1950s, when their owner, Harry Oppenheimer, invited her ‘to green the veld’ around the homestead at his stud outside Kimberley. From barren veld to romantic and bountiful arcadia, today you only have to look around you to see how successful the transformation has been. Joane tackled the project with alacrity, while her patron took a keen interest in her work and maintained that these gardens were her masterpiece. In fact, with their pioneering and carefully considered use of indigenous plants and their clever landscaping, the gardens are also one of the most enduring legacies of Joane’s stellar