Gardening in South Africa Throughout the Year by Alexander, Marianne
Gardening in South Africa Throughout the Year (Collectible Hardcover Edition)
The Definitive Regional Month-by-Month Guide to Custom Horticultural Care Across South Africa's Diverse Climatic Zones
The Definitive Regional Month-by-Month Guide to Custom Horticultural Care Across South Africa's Diverse Climatic Zones
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Gardening in South Africa Throughout the Year
- Author: Marianne Alexander
- Publisher: Struik Publishers, Cape Town
- Publication Date: 1999
- ISBN-10: 1868721981
- ISBN-13: 9781868721986
- Edition Details: Presumed First Edition / First Printing. A highly coveted regional field and calendar guide tailored specifically to Southern African topographies.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium heavy-gauge printed glossy pictorial laminated hardboards, issued without a dust jacket.
- Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 144 pages. Lavishly supplemented with full-colour studio photographs, seasonal sowing timetables, regional zone maps, and technical pruning diagrams.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior Boards: The original publisher's printed pictorial laminated boards are exceptionally flat, clean, and structurally square. The surface gloss is bright and crisp, showing only slight, age-appropriate storage shelf-rubbing along the face and extreme base corners from careful handling. The spine is completely firm, uncreased, and unbroken.
- Interior: The structural text block and signatures are in excellent, immaculate condition. Internal pages are bright, crisp, clean, and fully intact. Free of previous owner ink signatures, modern highlighting, text underscores, dog-ears, or dealer pencil notations.
- The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Historical Value
First released in Cape Town in 1999 by the prestigious local house Struik Publishers, Marianne Alexander's Gardening in South Africa Throughout the Year remains an indispensable classic on regional climate-adapted horticulture. Geographically, South Africa is a remarkably diverse country featuring a complex matrix of distinct climatic zones—spanning from the winter-rainfall regions of the Western Cape to the frosty winters of the Highveld, the blazing heat of the Karoo, and the subtropical humidity of the Lowveld. Recognizing these distinct challenges, this masterfully structured guide acts as a rolling calendar, explaining exactly what needs to be done each month to maintain a beautiful plot in tip-top condition regardless of natural environment or soil variations.
Moving far beyond raw botanical definitions, the manual shares month-by-month suggestions for executing general gardening tasks alongside clever tips for managing highly productive kitchen and fruit gardens. Alexander teaches readers how to step into harmony with changing natural cycles—utilizing rich autumn foliage, the striking sculptural qualities of bare trees in winter, spring bulbs, and fragrant summer plants to create a living space that maintains color and interest all year round. Rich with localized wisdom and exceptional visual layout work, this pristine copy serves as an invaluable workbook for local landscape architects, estate curators, and collectors of rare out-of-print Africana literature.
Author Profile: Marianne Alexander
Marianne Alexander is a highly distinguished South African horticultural writer, landscape consultant, and specialized agricultural journalist whose prolific career has focused heavily on making home gardening accessible under harsh Southern African elements. Widely celebrated for her expert regular contributions to prominent local gardening magazines and newspapers, Alexander is praised for stripping the dry, overly technical academic stiffness away from botany. Her clear, highly logical, and pragmatic prose style teaches everyday homeowners how to work with their specific microclimates rather than against them, making her definitive handbooks standard reference points for global reference libraries and private collectors across the country.
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