Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

We spent the morning in Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden—acclaimed as one of the most beautiful, great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur. Our guide, Dominic thefynbosguy.com, is amazing!! 

Sylvia @capelily is queen of our tour. She is a South African floral designer living in Harlem, New York. The photographer accompanying us is Heather Saunders {www.heathersaunders.photo}.
The videographer is a 5th year student from the University of Capetown; his thesis is a documentary related to geography and social class/status evolving from Table Mountain and the surrounding area.

Some of the most interesting facts shared with us during the tour:

• The Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden
  is comprised of  57 square kilometers and has more plant species than the country of Sweden.
• The gardens were at the bottom of the ocean over 10 million years ago—the five mile high sandstone mountains surrounding them have been eroding for over 4 million years.
• And, we were told 47% of the worlds succulent plants come from South Africa.
• There are actually 652 species of heather in the mountain ranges.
• There is a woody iris variety in the garden—the only variety in the world which grows on a few square miles 1 1/2 hours from Capetown.
• The Sugar Bush Protea gets its name from the sweet nectar you can drink from the bloom when it is turned upside down—I tasted it and found it to be better/sweeter than 7up.

AND, the water shortage is real!