About the Book

Old Nectar is South Africa’s most famous private garden and its creator and constant gardener, Una van der Spuy, takes us through it in this book, sharing a lifetime of knowledge and experience about gardening and plants.

Una van der Spuy is one of South Africa’s best-known gardeners, the author of nine gardening books, and the garden she has created at her home, Old Nectar, in the Jonkershoek Valley near Stellenbosch, has been visited and admired for decades. Now an irrepressible 97, still active and enthusiastic, Una van der Spuy has distilled a lifetime of knowledge and experience in this volume about her famous garden, which, as well as being a National Monument, features regularly in overseas books and magazines. This work, illustrated with some 200 photographs, shows off the several different gardens that make up Una van der Spuy’s creation and provides a wealth of information that will help readers choose plants to suit their particular climatic conditions. It is a book to treasure; a tribute to a grand lady and her entrancing garden.

About the Author

Previous books by Una van der Spuy:

Garden planning and construction (1955), also Afrikaans edition

Gardening in Southern Africa: the flower garden (1953, 1981), also Afrikaans edition

Gardening with climbers (1976), also Afrikaans edition

Gardening with ground covers (1975), also Afrikaans edition

Gardening with shrubs (1973, 1980), also Afrikaans edition, co-published in Australia

Gardening with trees (1977), also Afrikaans edition, co-published in Australia

How to design your garden (1987, 1992)

Ornamental shrubs and trees for gardens in Southern Africa (1954, 1965, 1983), also Afrikaans edition

Wildflowers of Southern Africa for gardens (1971, 1976), also Afrikaans edition

South African shrubs and trees for gardens (1971, 1975, 1976), also Afrikaans edition