Van Loveren’s picture-perfect heritage garden

Photographs Francois Oberholster

Jean Retief in the colourful garden she started at Van Loveren in 1939.

The garden has an old-world feel that is strongly reminiscent of an ‘English garden'. - Shan

Nico and Shan Retief, their son Bussell and his wife Anne-Marie all live side by side on the Van Loveren family farm, where their two gardens are as good as one.

"Our garden and Bussell's garden blend into one," says Shan. "Ours was already 65 years old when I moved here. "My mom-in-law Jean started her garden in 1939 after she married my father-in-law Hennie. About five years before she passed away in December 2002, my sister-in-law Penny and I took over the garden. After her death, Nico and I moved into the main house and planted a Cape chestnut in memory of Jean and Hennie because that's what we do here - we plant trees to commemorate people and important occasions," she says.

Although the garden has been passed down from generation to generation, each one developing and beautifying it during their time, it retains its original identity. "Each new generation may try to improve it but no one wants to change it," says Shan. "It has a slightly updated look but we want the garden to be true to what it was in the early years when Jean created it."

There is plenty of shade in the garden, due to the many large trees, with the hydrangeas beneath them a sight to behold in December. There are also fuchsias, tree ferns, clivias, camellias and the aptly named bloodleaf with its red foliage.

From October, the rose garden is a spectacle; ‘Just Joey', ‘Double Delight' and ‘South Africa' are among the favourites. Other plants growing with the roses in the sunny beds include hibiscus, day lily, arum lily, agapanthus and foxglove, with an edging of pansies. Since the garden is so large and plants always need replacing, the Retiefs propagate new plants from cuttings and seeds or multiply them by division.

Fuchsias thrive in the Retiefs' shady garden.

Shan planted one Digiplexis years ago; it now grows all over her garden.

Canna

Many trees in the garden means there are numerous shady beds. Here, the hydrangeas are a mass of colour in summer.

Nico's hibiscus

Shan says gardening is in the Retiefs' blood. "We are farm kids, through and through. The entire family is passionate about gardening."

Since Nico no longer farms full time, he also helps in the garden and has developed a passion for hibiscus. "The abundant blooms on the shrub in front of our house fascinated him so much that he started buying these shrubs wherever we went," Shan recalls. "We have shrubs in 30 different colours in the garden. Nico even started grafting some with different coloured flowers on one tree - he loves it when people can't figure out how there can be blooms in three different colours on one shrub."

Nico's vegetable garden is also a hit; he enjoys sharing it with his daughters-in-law and their families. But they do have help in the large farm garden. "Sakkie Fortuin lends a hand. He's a stalwart who loves plants and he has the most beautiful garden himself. Maryna Booysen and Wilma Tromp keep the garden tidy and about twice a year I get in extra help during the busiest periods," says Shan.

Although the Van Loveren gardens are private, the Retiefs like to share them with the public. "Visitors to the wine-- tasting room and restaurant often wander through the gardens. We love sharing our stories and our passion for the trees and the garden with others."

Nico and Shan Retief

One of Nico's hibiscus shrubs starts its summer display.

[SHAN'S GARDENING TIPS]

• Know your soil. "We have alluvial silt that has washed up here from Montagu during several floods over the years (those we can remember were in 1981 and 2003). It is extremely fertile agricultural soil."

• Feed your plants regularly. "Once a year, we add grape skins and chicken manure to the beds." A mulch of wood chips is applied around the roots and in-between the plants. Nico fertilises the gardens twice a year with 3:1:5. Until last year, he cared for both gardens, but when Anne-Marie relocated her roses to a sunnier part of the garden, she started following her own nutrition programme. She says: "I give my roses Ludwig's Vigolonger once a year after pruning (mid-July) and then Vigorosa monthly from September to June.Ialso spray monthly with Ludwig's cocktail of Ludwig's Insect Spray, Chronos and Picanta." The rose bed also gets a layer of grape skins and chicken manure every year. "Nico and I have decided that we are going to see whose roses are the most beautiful this year!" adds Anne-Marie with a smile.

• If you want a lush green garden, you need water. "We are fortunate to get water from the canals that flow from the Breede River and the Brandvlei Dam," says Shan.

• Grow a variety of plants for colour throughout the year. "In October, the roses are magnificent, with abundant colour and fragrance. The Clivia miniata with their orange blooms are beautiful just after winter and in summer the cannas and hibiscus provide colour. I love the bloodleaf (Iresine herbstii); its red foliage makes a wonderful statement in the garden."

• And last but not least: "Enjoy your garden!" says Shan.

This gable was a feature of the old main house, which is now the restaurant Christina's.

Star jasmine in full bloom with blue dwarf agapanthus growing in the foreground.

Tree tales

In this garden, the trees have their own back stories. Over the years, Hennie and Jean planted numerous trees to celebrate major events - from the birth of a grandchild to the end of World War II. The first tree they planted together was a California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) in 1939.

The two karee trees (Searsia lancea syn. Rhus lancea) in the photo are known as the "tangled trees" (also the name of a Van Loveren wine range). In the early 1940s, Jean wrote to a nursery in Natal, asking them to send her a hardy tree. When the sapling, which at the time cost the equivalent of 15c, arrived at Klaasvoogd Station, the farmers were convinced it was none other than the well-known karee common to the area. Jean insisted it was something else and planted her Rhus lancea on the property. Not to be outdone, Hennie picked a twig from a karee tree growing by the river and planted it next to Jean's new tree.

Over the years, the two karee trees became intertwined and neither Jean nor Hennie was willing to take out their tree. Jean always said these two trees symbolised their love for each other

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is the oldest tree in the garden; it still bears fruit, which is either handed out to visitors or used in juices and salads. It was planted in about 1930 and was part of a hedge that used to form a kraal. It's the only one of those trees still remaining.

When each grandchild was born (there were 11 such milestones!), Jean planted a special cycad. Over= time, each one was lifted and given to the grandchildren's parents. Only Bussell's cycad remains as he and Anne-Marie live next door; it boasts beautiful cones every year.

The laurel magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) - which blooms in early summer - was planted in 2012 in honour of the four cousins who work together at Van Loveren. The wine estate was named South Africa's Farming Enterprise of the Year in 2012.

Mixed borders and beautiful trees -such as the ?ve leopard trees (Caesalpinia ferrea) - are a hallmark of the Van Loveren gardens.

[ANNE-MARIE TELLS US MORE…]

"When I came to the farm in November 1994, I didn't have a clue about gardening! Then I ended up living right next door to Ouma Jean, a capable, knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardener; she was so patient with me.

"Early in the morning, she would send me arose with a card wit hthe rose's name written on it. The most beautiful one was a ‘Just Joey' and in my ignorance I called it a ‘Jolly Joey'! To this day, that rose is still my favourite and brings back fond memories of Ouma Jean.

"I also learned a lot from Shan and Nico. Nico has free rein in our garden. When I look again, there's another new tree. After 15 years, I had to relocate my rose garden because there was far too much shade cast by all the trees!"

White bell-shaped foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) and white trumpet-shaped tobacco plants (Nicotiana alata) form a striking combination.

Hendrik the rooster is well-known on the farm. Every afternoon he takes a nap on the carpet in the living room where Shan and Nico relax and read after lunch.

Anne-Marie likes to sit quietly in this sheltered nook under the pepper tree.

Interesting pathways lead to different sections of the two gardens.

The tree aloe (Aloidendron barberae) was planted by Nico.

[THE FARM WITH THE CANNAS]

Van Loveren has been in the Retief family since 1937 when Hennie Retief snr's dad, Nico, bought part of the farm Goudmyn in the Robertson district. In 1939, Hennie married Jean van Zyl, who convinced him to name the farm Van Loveren in memory of Christina van Loveren who came to South Africa from the Netherlands in 1699.

Christina was married to Wilhelm van Zyl and they started the Van Zyl family here. A kist made of Philippine mahogany that contained Christina's trousseau today stands in the Van Loveren tasting room.

When you see the blood-red cannas along the R317 between Robertson and Bonnievale, then you know you're close to the Van Loveren Wine Estate.

"There was a clump of cannas in Jean's garden that Nico just loved. He decided to plant the clump next to the tar road that passes by here," says Shan. "We now plant cannas all along this road where we have land. Those beautiful plants bloom for up to eight months of the year."

When Bussell was a child, his family often went to the Kruger National Park and he was fascinated by the palms in Tzaneen. This, as well as the palms planted by his grandfather Hennie, inspired him to grow some of these trees. In this part of the garden, the red and white pelargoniums are among Anne-Marie's favourite plants. "I took a cutting of a white pelargonium during a trip to Israel and brought it home in a water bottle. It is now the most gorgeous plant and brings back wonderful memories."

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