Species source document

Egoli Granite Grassland species list, with plants recommended for landscaping

This species list is curated by Ivan van der Walt specifically for the Egoli Granite Grasslands area, which is the northern suburbs of Joburg. The list's primary purpose is to guide people doing landscaping in this area so that landscaping can have a significant role in supporting local biodiversity. There is no longer sufficient land to create nature reserves of enough size to conserve this vegetation type through traditional conservation, and because it occurs only here and nowhere else, other means are needed to enhance its chances of survival. Instead of one big reserve, we hope that you will dedicate your garden or park, or at least parts of it, to landscaping with these particular local species. This list favours plants that are more showy for landscaping purposes, but if you are working in an open veld area that can be rehabilitated or restored to veld, particularly ones with rivers or wetlands, then rehabilitation or rehabilitation should be your aim rather than landscaping. This list can then be used as a starting point and edited down to remove general regional species and in favour of more very local and sensitive species that suit the site and the aims of your rehabilitation or restoration project. A Practical Grass Selection Guide is a key additional resource available from Abrus. In addition, Ivan van der Walt and Abrus offer plants and consulting for this kind of project.