Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Type	Botanical garden
Location	Cape Town, South Africa
Coordinates	33°59′22″S 18°25′49″E / 33.98944°S 18.43028°E / -33.98944; 18.43028Coordinates: 33°59′22″S 18°25′49″E / 33.98944°S 18.43028°E / -33.98944; 18.43028
Area	528 hectares (1,300 acres)
Created	1913
Operated by	South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
Website	www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch

Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of nine National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Prior to 1 September 2004, the instiute was known as the National Botanical Institute.

When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the country's unique flora, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos. Kirstenbosch places a strong emphasis on the cultivation of indigenous plants.

The garden includes a large conservatory (The Botanical Society Conservatory) exhibiting plants from a number of different regions, including savanna, fynbos, karoo and others. Outdoors, the focus is on plants native to the Cape region, highlighted by the spectacular collections of proteas. Kirstenbosch enjoys great popularity with residents and visitors. From the gardens several trails lead off along and up the mountain slopes and these are much used by walkers and mountaineers. One of the trails, up a ravine called Skeleton Gorge, is an easy and popular route to the summit of Table Mountain. This route is also known as Smuts' Track after Prime Minister Jan Smuts who used this route regularly. On the slopes above the cultivated parts of the garden a contour path leads through forests to Constantia Nek to the south. The same contour path can be followed to the north for many kilometres and it will take the hiker past the Rhodes Memorial to the slopes of Devil's Peak and beyond.

Wild Seed Pod by Arthur Fata at the entrance to Kirstenbosch

Kirstenbosch regularly exhibits Zimbabwean stone sculptures in the gardens. Many of the artists are associated with Chapungu Sculpture Park in Zimbabwe.

In summer, a popular series of outdoor concerts are held in the gardens on Sunday evenings.

History

In 1660, by order of Jan van Riebeek, a hedge of Wild Almond and brambles was planted to afford some protection to the perimeter of the Dutch colony.^[1] Sections of this hedge, named Van Riebeek's Hedge, still exist in Kirstenbosch. The hedge is a Provincial Heritage Site.^[2] The area of the botanical garden was used for the harvesting of timber during this period.

The Kirsten part of the name is believed to be the surname of the manager of the land, J.F. Kirsten, in the 18th century. The bosch part of the name is a Dutch word for 'forest' or 'bush'.

The handover of ownership of the colony to Britain in 1811 wrought changes in the use of the Kirstenbosch area. Two large land grants were made, with a Colonel Bird building a house, planting chestnut trees, and probably establishing a bath (still extant) fed by a natural spring. The Ecksteen family acquired the land in 1823, and it later came into the possession of the Cloete family (a well-known Cape lineage). It was under their stewardship that the area was farmed more formally, being planted with oaks, fruit trees and vineyards.

The land was thereafter purchased by Cecil John Rhodes in 1895. After this point, the area became run-down, with large groups of pigs feeding on the acorns and wallowing in the pools. The famous Camphor Avenue was planted in 1898.

The land now occupied by the Kirstenbosch Gardens was bequeathed to the Nation by Cecil Rhodes, who died in 1902.

The history of the area as a botanical garden has its origin in Henry Harold Pearson, a botanist from Cambridge University who came to the Cape Colony in 1903 to take up a position as professor in the newly created Chair of Botany at the South African College (the predecessor of today's University of Cape Town.) In February 1911, Pearson visited the area of Kirstenbosch by cart to assess its suitability as a site for a botanical garden. On 1 July 1913, the area was set aside for this purpose by the government of the Colony, with an annual budget of ₤1,000. There was no money set aside for a salaried director's position, but Pearson accepted the position without pay. He lived in the gardens in difficult and reduced circumstances.

The task confronting Pearson was formidable. The area was overgrown, populated by wild pigs, overrun with weeds and planted with orchards. Money was tight, and the budget was supplemented by the sale of firewood and acorns. Pearson commenced work in the area of Kirstenbosch known as "The Dell", planting cycads which are still visible there today.

Pearson died in 1916 from pneumonia. He was buried in his beloved garden, and his epitaph is still there today : "If ye seek his monument, look around". Since 1913, The garden has been successively administered by the Botanical Society,^[3] the National Botanic Gardens of South Africa, the National Botanical Institute, and the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) from 2004. The garden celebrated its centenary in 2013, issuing the commemorative book Kirstenbosch: The Most Beautiful Garden in Africa.^[4][5]

Research

Kirstenbosch scientists such as Winsome Barker, Graham Duncan and John Manning have published many scientific papers, books and monographs on South African flora, including the Kirstenbosch Gardening Series. The Gardens have also published a series of monographs, known sequentiallly as Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa, Annals of the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens and Strelitzia.

Chelsea Flower Show

In 2008, the Kirstenbosch exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show won a gold medal for the most creative display and the President's Cup (a new award by the Royal Horticultural Society president Peter Buckley to his favourite stand). The 2008 exhibit was the 16th designed by David Davidson and Raymond Hudson, which established South Africa "as a front runner in horticulture".^[6] The exhibit was entitled The Heat is On and featured an aloe dichotoma (also known as a quiver tree), which is being studied and monitored as an indicator of climate change. Dead and dying quiver trees were displayed alongside live specimens to illustrate how warmer temperatures have forced the species to migrate southwards.^[7] Kirstenbosch has won 29 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in 33 appearances.

South African National Biodiversity Institute

In 1951, the Botanical Research Institute (BRI) was created from the Division of Botany, Pretoria, and in turn became the National Botanical Institute (NBI) in 1989. In 2004 the National Botanical Institute was absorbed into a broader configuration, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), by the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA).^[8] Since 1921 NBI has published a scientific botanical journal Bothalia. In 2014 it was renamed Bothalia - African Biodiversity & Conservation to reflect the broader scope of SANBI.^[9]

Panorama

360° Panorama of a part of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
  The Botanical Society Conservatory, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
• 
  Strelitzia juncea, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town
• 
  Boomslang, Tree canopy walkway, Arboretum
• 
  Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. Table Mountain is visible in the background with the 'tablecloth' of clouds shrouding the plateau.
• 
  The craggy edge of Table Mountain is visible in the background.

See also

• List of botanical gardens in South Africa

References

Bibliography

External links

• Kirstenbosch entry at Botanical Gardens Conservation International
• Description and history of Kirstenbosch at the University of Wisconsin

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.