WHO LIVES HERE? Anne Turner and her husband, their adult children David, Katie and Alex and their four dogs
WHERE Beaulieu, Johannesburg
SIZE OF GARDEN 1ha
TYPE OF SOIL Sandy
"I was always a roses and lavender type of gardener,” says Anne Turner. So, when she and her family left their small, suburban home with its manicured garden and moved to a semi-wild, 1ha property, her first reaction was: "What have we done?”.
The previous owner loved the bush and had planted a number of beautiful indigenous trees and shrubs, but when the Turners arrived the garden was extremely overgrown.
"You couldn't see the roof in some places and the only section of the house that was visible was the entrance,” says Anne. "For the first 18 months, we didn't really do any gardening. We just cut back and cleared and dug out roots of invasive plants until we had some idea of what we were dealing with.”
During the clearing out, they discovered gems which normally doesn't grow in cold areas like this. A coral tree was uncovered and moved to a more prominent position and further cutting back revealed a couple of yellowwoods.
