The Friends of the Liesbeek (FoL) is excited to announce the commencement of our longstanding “Fynbos Snake” garden project planned for Observatory.
This project is happening in partnership with the City of Cape Town and is the result of a ward allocation received in response a project that the FoL submitted back in the 2022/23 financial year. The grant was received from Councilor Yusuf Mohamed in his capacity as ward councilor for Ward 57.
The project aims to create a small, snaking fynbos garden bed alongside the pedestrian pathway alongside the Liesbeek, directly opposite the road from Hartleyvale Stadium (see the images below).
The vision for this project is to convert a patch of the grassy bank, currently dominated by invasive Kikuyu Grass (Cenchrus clandestinus) with seasonal proliferations of Paterson’s Curse (Echium plantagineum) with locally appropriate fynbos wetland species.
Figure 1: An aerial view of the fynbos snake garden (top) which includes site photographs as seen looking in an Eastwards direction (A) at the stormwater outlet and in a Northerly direction (B) alongside the pedestrian pathway.
Figure 1: An aerial view of the fynbos snake garden (top) which includes site photographs as seen looking in an Eastwards direction (A) at the stormwater outlet and in a Northerly direction (B) alongside the pedestrian pathway.It is hoped that this will support local biodiversity whilst also providing residents and locals with a chance to appreciate some of our local flora up close. The garden plans to include several tree stumps for casual seating.
An exciting addition to the project is the opportunity to vegetate a low laying area that includes a storm water drain. This is part of a broader project of FoL which aims to pilot the first ever real example of sustainable urban drainage (SUD) in the city.
Over the next couple of weeks, earthworks and landscaping will be taking place. Initially, this may be concerning to residents as the machinery will be removing the top layer of vegetation to prepare the site for planting.
Residents are encouraged to contact the FoL should they have any concerns. We can be contacted by email at [email protected] and our project manager, Jessleena Suri, will be available during this time at [email protected].
