TALK : SALI setting the standard for South African Landscaping

Overview:
Laurel Cadle-Barber, National Chairperson of the South African Landscapers Institute (SALI), shares who SALI is, what it does, and why using a SALI member matters. Discover how South Africa’s only national landscaping standards body ensures quality, ethics, and sustainability in projects, from private gardens to public spaces.

Biography:
Laurel Cadle-Barber leads the South African Landscapers Institute (SALI), promoting excellence, ethics, and environmental responsibility in landscaping. With experience across design, construction, and maintenance, they champion industry standards, training, and SALI’s prestigious Awards of Excellence, ensuring that landscapes across South Africa are not only beautiful, but sustainable and enduring.

Website : South African Landscapers Institute

Friday 5th September 17:00
Saturday 6th September 13:00
Sunday 7th September 13:00

VIDEO TALK : Indigenous plants and the necessity of Re-Wilding our future.

Overview:
Her presentation will be about the amazing natural vegetation in Knysna and what we can do to ensure that it, and the myriad other organisms it lives in association with, survive for future generations.

Biography:
Nanna Joubert is a horticulturist with 40 years’ experience in various fields of the trade. She began her career in landscaping in Cape Town with a specific interest in using indigenous plants. This was followed by a dream job. As a student her practical studies included work in Botanical Gardens – Kirstenbosh and Stellebosch, she found this world inspiring so was thrilled to be appointed as curator of the Villiersdorp Wildflower Garden.

Life led her to Mossel Bay where she did landscaping and started a small retail indigenous nursery. She spent a few years in Thailand, where she did some landscaping on the sly, as foreigners were not allowed to work in this field!

On her return to South Africa, she worked at a wholesale nursery in George, which specialised in indigenous species and the introduction of new species to the trade. As part of her work, she liaised closely with landscape architects and environmental practitioners on the development of plant palettes for housing estates. This entailed surveying sites to select appropriate species to propagate for replanting. She is currently working as a consultant for restoration and rewilding projects.

Nanna is one of the founders of the Garden Route Branch of the Botanical Society of South Africa and has always been involved in community projects which celebrate our flora and the importance of protecting it. So, shortly after moving to Knysna she started volunteering at Pledge Nature Reserve, and now after fifteen years she is still as passionate about this gem in the heart of Knysna.

Website : Pledge Nature Reserve

Saturday 6th September 11:00
Sunday 7th September 11:00

TALK : Issues & Solutions on Rainwater Harvesting, Garden Maintenance, Tree Care & Nutrition – Horticulturist/Arborist/Landscaper : Charles Reitz

Overview:
Charles Reitz talks on obvious issues and solutions on rainwater harvesting, general garden maintenance (especially estates), tree care practices and plant nutrition…

Biography:
Charles grew up in the Garden Route on a farm near Buffalo Bay. His natural love for flora and fauna was further nurtured through the exposure he received as a child from his parents, both avid bush lovers and travellers.

With a diploma in Horticulture in hand he then set off to discover the world, landing a job in Hawaii with North Shore Tree Service. It was here that Charles had his first taste in climbing large trees and learning the fine skills of tree surgery and rope work and realised that these skills, coupled with horticultural knowledge, was the key to successful tree care.

From the US he moved to Europe where he gained further experience in estate management and garden maintenance in the South of France.

Upon returning to South Africa in 2006, Charles turned his attention to developing his own tree pruning and landscaping company, Reitz Tree Care, operated from his family farm in Plettenberg Bay.

After more than a decade in operation, Reitz Tree Care has grown into a highly regarded and sought-after landscaping company in the Garden Route with many notable clients to their name.

Website : Ouland Nursery

Saturday 6th September 12:00
Sunday 7th September 12:00

VIDEO TALK : Delightful Late Afternoon Chat – Whispers through the Forest – the enchanting Mycelleum Wood Wide Web – Ecologist Mark Dixon

Overview :
Talks on the Mycelleum Network within Forest and even your own Garden and how it works and how you should take care of it, with enchanting stories of the mycelleum Wood Wide Web

Biography:
Mark Dixon, a qualified marine biologist, has worked in environmental positions globally as a CCAMLR Scientific Observer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, and on a Jaguar Project with Conservation International in the Pantanal, Brazil.

An avid hiker, Mark has hiked in the USA and Canadian Rockies, the Chilean, Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, Nepalese Himalaya’s, New Zealand Alps as well as the Drakensberg, Swartberg and Outeniqua mountain ranges.

An astute naturalist and an active field researcher (ornithologist, marine biologist and ichnologist), Mark informs guests with a mixture of scientific information and personal observations.

In addition to hiking, mountain biking and birding, Mark also has initiated the Strandloper Project to research ghost fishing from snagged recreational fishing tackle in the Garden Route.

Website : Garden Route Trail

Saturday 6th September 14:00
Sunday 7th September 14:00