Whether you’re a beginner or a know-it-all, the special gift of a genial Pinetown nurseryman will provide fresh inspiration.
With a name that sounds like newly-minted coins jingling in a pocket, it’s perhaps unsurprising that pensioner Colin Silver is running one of the most successful nurseries in the highway area. While the credit crunch is causing garden lovers to prune expenditure on their gardens, Colin’s unusual artistry draws a constant stream of admirers to Stoneage, in Pinetown’s Crompton Road.
Formerly known chiefly for pre-cast concrete garden ornaments, the nursery has undergone an astonishing metamorphosis in the four years since Silver was appointed manager. There is still concrete a-plenty, but the real drawcard has become the imaginative creations that, guided by his hand, mushroom overnight in the nursery.
On the busy road motorists’ heads whip round as they pass, to catch a better look at a sculptural pop-art display featuring a series of brightly painted balls mounted on metal poles in a bed of crushed stone. Definitely well worth the effort.
Educator
It’s clear Silver regards a large part of his function as being that of horticultural educator, but there’s nothing pedantic or inaccessible about the way he shares knowledge. “People ask if I work here. I couldn’t really claim that,” he says. “What I do can’t be considered work, because I absolutely love it. There’s no pressure, in fact it’s totally stress-free.”
Hard as it might be to believe, Silver spent the 30 years of his “first” career wearing a suit and working for a major liquor company. One suspects, however, he probably spent a lot of the time dreaming up the changes he was going to make to his garden when he knocked off work at the end of each day.
Although he came to his life’s passion a complete novice, his skill was honed patiently over many years, and he was president of the Queensburgh Orchid Club for more than two decades. In the 80s his small but exquisite home garden was awarded National Best Garden for Natal and the Eastern Transvaal Lowveld.
Reassuringly, Silver made all the same mistakes most of us do when first bitten by the greening bug. “I didn’t know the names of anything, not even petunias,” he grins. “I went to the biggest nursery I could find, and said: ‘I’ll have some of those colourful things, and some of that, and those shrubs over there.’ After a couple of months I had to dig out half the plants, because they’d grown so much they were strangling one another.”
He describes his current personal garden as “tropical and eclectic, with oriental features, a waterfall and an Italian fountain”. This inspired gardener has the knack of making the most seemingly incompatible plants and features meld together to form a harmonious whole. And items most of us would relegate to the rubbish heap are his delight.
At the rear of the nursery, is a scene straight from the historic Pilgrim’s Rest mining town. Plants in drie-poot potjie pots cluster round the tiny wooden veranda of what appears to be an antique house, complete with weathered wooden door, window with brass catch, and rusted roof and walls. It’s a masterpiece of trompe l’oeil art. There is nothing beyond the façade, but it provides a Secret Garden effect that is quite magical.
“The staff thought I was mad, because every time some piece of junk was being thrown out, I’d pounce on it and hide it in my office,” Silver twinkles. “Lots of people want me to build them one like it, but it took me ages to find suitably distressed materials.”
One of the nurseryman’s particular fortes is building one-of-a-kind water features. Another marvel of ingenuity is the graceful piece of driftwood from which, at intervals, a series of old brass taps spurt water into tall clay pots. “Rather fond of that one. I secretly hope no one buys it,” he confides. Further on, in another “room” of the enchanted garden, Silver has just completed another masterpiece.
“I call this the Twin Towers, for obvious reasons,” he says of the double water feature fashioned from shards of mottled slate threaded on to central copper pipes. Further on, he adds a few finishing touches to an oriental pagoda screened in bamboo and sporting feng shui sculpture and mature bonsais.
Maternity ward
Then it’s time for a tour of the orchid “maternity ward”, where tiny, exquisite exotics are in every stage of growth. In a remarkably short period of time Silver has built up the largest orchid nursery in the province. He produces one Lilliputian treasure after another, reverently pronouncing their complex botanical names. Some varieties are so rare their provenance is unknown, like a minute example with spidery-fine filaments that came from a breeder at one of Holland’s premiere orchid farms.
“We are blessed with our climate,” Silver observes. “Naturally there are some varieties of orchid that will never flower here, because we never get 12 degrees of difference temperature between seasons, but for the rest, as you can see . . .”
Next time the cares of the world are weighing you down, take a trip to Colin Silver’s sanctuary. As some sage quoted: “He who would be happy, should make a garden.”
Free classes in the potting and cultivation of orchids are offered once a month at the Stoneage Nursery. Call 031 701 2411 for more details.