A rill over the long driveway breaks the monotony and creates a delightful swishy sound and cooling effect as you approach the house. It attracts a variety of birds – over 100 species – that drink and socialise there. A pair of bronze hadedas placed near the rill are so realistic that the owners once witnessed a black sparrowhawk leaping on top of them – an embarassing ‘bird’ moment! Visitors are warned to approach with caution.
White trelliswork acts as an unusual screen between sea and house. It extends along the side of the verandah disguising ugly gutters and exposed cables. The popular Balinese carved-wood fish are a humorous reminder of the ever-present ocean.
The owners chose to paint the pond wall yellow to echo the colour of the walls of the house, which were originally white. They feel this helps to reduce the bulky appearance of the house by visually sinking it down to the level of the garden. The decorative, hand-painted tiles of pheasants were bought in Italy. A mixed planting of draceana, a fan palm, ice-cream bush and bougainvillea add a splash of colour and texture to the pond area.
This Victorian stained-glass window rescued from a junk shop in Howick found a new home in the upstairs sun room, which faces west and benefits from the afternoon sun. Surprisingly for Durban, winter afternoons have been known to drop as low as 15 °C, which makes this sun-trap a wonderfully warm spot for a catnap, yet it is a cool corner on hot summer mornings.
This indigenous fig (Ficus lutea) acts as a gigantic umbrella over the white, cast-aluminium garden table and chairs, offering shade for long, lazy lunches. The white marble tabletop was sourced from a local tombstone maker.
There are seven ponds in the garden. Water from the top pond crosses the rill and flows through a natural filter to the next pond. In order not to break up the sweeping expanse of lawn visually, it meanders underground to a waterfall and enters the large pond at the bottom of the garden. A solar-powered pump returns the water to the top. Any top-up water required is sourced from a borehole and rainwater off the roof of the house. This lush tropical paradise is accentuated by an exotic species of cycas.
Tim and Nick Hancock, the owners of this property high up on Durban’s Bluff, have lived here for over 50 years. It is one of the original homes in the area and has a commanding view of the Indian Ocean.
Of their three-hectare mostly indigenous garden with acres of dune forest leading down to the sea, Tim comments: ‘Initially the garden was very bare, except for a lot of roses, some exotic trees and a few large indigenous figs. We felled some 40 Norfolk pines, then, presuming that nothing would grow so close to the sea and in this particularly hot and humid part of Durban, we just bumbled along, instructing the plants that they just had to look after themselves, which they did!
‘Most of the new planting comes out of the existing garden. With Durban’s climate, things grow very quickly. We have to divide and cut back severely every year and if there is a gap, we have more than enough with which to fill it.
‘Many of the exotic plants began as indoor plants, such as the crotons, acalyphas, draceana and the giant umbrella tree, and were transplanted to the garden when they had done their bit in the house, sometimes trebling in size.’
A flourishing croton, known botanically as Codiaeum variegatum var. pictum ‘Gloriosum’, is at home in tropical coastal gardens.
‘Every year the local garden club nags me to enter their competition … I win simply because mine is the only large garden in the ‘‘big garden’’ category.’