In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie explores Brenthurst, arguably Johannesburg’s most splendid garden. The piece was first published on the City of Joburg's website on 2 February 2004. Please note that tours of the garden are no longer available. Click here to view more of Davie's work.
There’re not many people around town who have 45 gardeners tending their garden. But then there’re not many people around town who have 45 acres of gardens that need tending. One person who does is Strilli Oppenheimer of Brenthurst, in the heart of Parktown.
Those 45 gardeners are doing a magnificent job – the gardens are breathtaking. Led by head gardener and horticulturist Dawid Klopper from Kirstenbosch, who joined the team at Brenthurst two years ago, the gardens range from gracious avenues of planes and oaks, to indigenous grass enclaves, beautifully manicured circular lawns, and several miniature forests. All this is interspersed with tumbling fountains and sculptures, and several kilometres of stone pathways.
What’s extraordinary is that all this is in the middle of the suburbs, just below the Johannesburg Hospital, and just above the M1, so Joburgers have driven past it hundreds of times, unaware of this delightful slice of paradise.
An extraordinary garden (Lucille Davie)
The garden is 70 percent indigenous, with trees and plants from Australia, South America, New...
