The Somerset Garden Club wanted to experience the Vergelegen Cultural Heritage and Gardens in Somerset West, first-hand. We could do this either at our own pace or accompanied by a knowledgeable tour guide. We opted for the guided tour.
Next time when we plan an outing, we’ll double check the weather forecast as the SA Weather Forecast Service predicted cold winds and rain but it turned out to be mild weather with gentle breezes and dry conditions! So, the Guided Tour of the Gardens at Vergelegen was on.
We had to be there at 09h30 to start the tour. However, the start time did not take into account a Taxi strike, which meant our Horticulturalist, Courtney, was unable to make it in time so we decamped to the Stables Café for a warm drink, before we started the tour. Below is a photo of most of the happy band of Somerseters before the tour started.
Several families have owned the Vergelegen Estate, until it was bought in 1987 by Anglo American. Vergelegen is 3000 hectares, of which 60 are given over to the gardens and other 60 to a new Arboretum.
Before we went to the famous Camelia Garden, we were shown the Old Library.
Originally it was a wine store, but in 1917 it was converted into the Library and Board Room. The leather-bound books need a cool and dark environment, as does wine, so it was an ideal usage swap. Part of the ceiling was made in the 1880s, but the original, and much rougher wood ceiling, was constructed in the early 1700s. Our tour properly started with a walk through a stand of Italian Cyprus trees. Traditionally, these symbolise mourning because they do not regenerate if pruned too severely, but they were waving a gentle Hello to us when we arrived for our tour.
When the original Estate was planted by Willem van der Stel, he not only planted vines, half a million of them, but, amongst other things, an Orangery, Bamboo stands, Camphor trees and English oaks. And in 1942 these trees were made a Heritage Site.
Unfortunately, these magnificent trees were attacked by the Shothole Borer in 2020 and they have been battling it ever since. The base of the trees are paler because they have been treated with a natural anti-borer product.
Vergelegen has 550 different species of Camellia and is the only World Wide Garden of Chamelia Excellence in Africa. The colours range from white to a deep red and now is the best time to see them. The ground was carpeted by the blossoms that had already dropped, but the plants were still covered in magnificent flowers. Some were single flowers but there were also beautiful double camilias.
Willem also planted a Mulberry Tree in the hope it would encourage silkworms and to begin a silk industry on his Estate. Sadly, it was not a successful venture, although the Mulberry Tree still stands. In summer, the workers get covered in juice as they pick the sweet berries. The Hollow Oak, is thought to be, the oldest living tree in South Africa. It was planted somewhere between 1700 and 1706 and was set into the earth during the ownership of Willem van der Stel.
The original acorn came from Blenheim Palace’s Royal Oak. When the garden was visited by the Late Queen Elizabeth, she took acorns back to the UK so the cycle could be continued.
We were then shown the Celebration Bell, which, we were told, was rung at times of Celebration, such as harvest and births, and was erected in 1958.
However, as the bell is very much older than the tower, and I suspect it was originally used to wake the slaves so they would go to work, which was not much of a celebration for them!
Willem swapped it for some cattle, from another Estate, and later owners of Vergelegen, tried, unsuccessfully, for many years to buy it back. Eventually, the bell came into the hands of an Antique Dealer in Cape Town, and from him, the bell was reclaimed. The miniature Magnolia was to be found in the Reflection Garden, so called because the plants on both sides of the path are almost an exact reflection of each other.
The high walls around the Octagonal Garden were built in the 1600s, and were high enough to keep out the wild animals, that still existed, in this area, in past days. The walls surrounded a substantial Military outpost, but by the late 1700s, it had been converted from common barracks to a magnificent Manor House. It went through several owners but in the mid-19th Century, Lady Philips, wife of the owner, at that time, had it replanted in the English Style, because she felt the garden she inherited looked like that of “a Salt River factory”.
Van der Stel planted vast orchards of Almond trees but most of these have gone, now. Where their windbreaks were, the Estate has planted all of the 21 species of different Agapanthus, including some of the almost black variety.
And that was the end of our tour. It had taken just under two hours and was well worth the cost. We should certainly do it again, perhaps when the roses are out, and not heavily pruned as they were for our visit, but then we would miss the Camelias. But, a garden is ever evolving, and we should take the beauty of it now, and not think about the beauty that was or is to come.
