Mr Gum’s garden

The elegant enchantment and breath-taking serenity of Ntsikelelo Gum’s garden stands in a township filled with squalor. It is so rare and comely that it has recently been hailed as the grandest township garden in South Africa. This has provided Gum with the opportunity to grace this year’s legendary Chelsea Flower Show.

It is difficult to comprehend that Gum, a resident of Langa, Cape Town, came into contact with gardening completely by chance. Years of destitution, caused by chronic unemployment, saw him on the verge of the abyss of alcoholism. His situation forced him to make a simple decision — grow a garden — that changed the course of his life.

‘When I could not secure a job as an electrician for two years, I loitered around the township with nothing to do. So I thought of starting up a garden. When I started off, I was merely creating a friend to play with rather than going to the shebeens to drink myself into oblivion. It helped me to get in touch with my soul, and relieved my troubles and sorrows, stresses and strains, problems and pains of being unemployed in a manner that I have never imagined before.”

By his actions, Gum has demystified the notion that gardening is the province of the white elite, and foreign to Africans. However revolutionary that may sound, though, Gum’s garden did not have an auspicious start.

At first, his idea was not welcomed by his family, who were up in arms about his utilisation of all the discarded materials he could lay his hands on. Gum used zinc, paint tins, wood and rusty bicycle frames — anything that was deemed useless and filthy. His family began to wonder about the soundness of his mind, but, despite this, he fought on — and his garden’s cheerful and poetic elegance has endeared him to garden buffs at home and, soon, to those across the Atlantic.

‘At home they thought I had lost my mind. Even my best friends deserted me. But all along, I knew what my intentions were. When they became a fully formed concept and got unprecedented acclaim, my friends accepted it.”

He makes it clear that he is more of an artist than a gardener. His is not just a garden, it is poetic craftsmanship. How he turned his Langa matchbox home into an indigenous plant species theme park — peppered with a slew of his sculptures and various kinds of art work — proves this. His garden is a perfect example of the modern indigenous gardening concept, occasioned by dainty enclosed yards and patios with secluded areas that are calm, cosy and comfortable; ideal for sitting, eating and entertaining.

Gum has acquired acclaim in Langa and has, in turn, made the township popular. Keith Kirsten shot an episode of his gardening show live in Langa, and even the BBC could not resist quenching the curiosity of its viewers with his creation. Two weeks ago, a crew descended on Gum’s home to shoot a documentary about his accomplishment.

‘The impact of my garden craft may not have been fully felt as of yet at home, but it is the talk of the town in Britain. The fact that the BBC took the trouble to fly to South Africa to document me speaks volumes about the value of my work. And I must say that it was quite a humbling experience. It’s definitely a highlight of my career, if not my life.”

Gum got acquainted with indigenous plants through Kirstenbosch Gardens’ national indigenous garden. Under its auspices he rose to prominence in this niche, so much so that his services have been enlisted on several occasions to design Kirstenbosch’s stalls at flower shows.

In his short but eventful career he has scooped two awards. In 2004 he won the Cape Times Caltex Environmental Award. But his most prized award is the South African Garden of Pride Award, which he won last year, guaranteeing his sojourn to Chelsea.

Sadly, for all the praise, awards and honours he has received, he still endures much hardship and has nothing to show for his efforts. ‘I have knocked on countless doors with my professional business plan, desperately trying to source either a tender or funding for my environmental plan in Langa. This could create employment for many, but my efforts have drawn a blank.

‘I am still prepared to knock some more, but I am truly fed up with empty promises. I am disillusioned by the red tape of many private and government organisations that profess to help people with funding. If it takes so much for a skilled person to find his footing, how much more for one who has none?

‘I thought I would be roped in by one of the local NGO environmental initiatives to green the townships, but I was excluded.

‘If it were not for the piecemeal jobs I do, tending other people’s gardens in Langa, I would not know where my next meal was coming from.”

How does someone bereft of a stable, let alone decent, income keep such an acclaimed sanctuary? ‘Indigenous gardens are easier to maintain than others. For instance, they don’t consume much water and I spend weeks on end without irrigating it. They also don’t need expensive and sophisticated fertilisers. I recycle leaves to make fertiliser and cuttings to expand it. I basically have no garden budget. In fact I never had one.”

His is an undertaking that would have discouraged even the most avid gardener. The sheer amount of work, energy and resilience needed to create such a serene and tranquil outdoor oasis in a hot, dry and often harsh township climate and terrain is incomprehensible. But this wiry, energetic character is one of the select few gardeners who could make it happen.