Camphor Avenue & Ficus Avenue

The Camphor Avenue is a remnant of the avenue of trees planted by Cecil John Rhodes around 1898 to honour Queen Victoria. Trees representing the outposts of the British Empire were planted along this road. The section that runs through Kirstenbosch consists of camphor trees from China, Cinnamonum camphorum, the Moreton Bay figs from Australia, Ficus macrophylla. If you were to continue along Rhodes Drive in the direction of Hout Bay, you would find Spanish chestnuts and cork oaks. Sadly, Queen Victoria never got to see her avenue, but we are left with beautiful trees forming a magnificent avenue, where a variety of shade-loving bulbs and herbaceous plants thrive under the spreading canopy. A frequent visitor to Camphor Avenue is the Cape eagle owl; an event which causes quite a stir, while it studiously ignores its admirers on the ground below.

Bushveld Garden

The Bushveld Garden is located on our hottest, sunniest, driest slope; a strong recommendation during Cape winters when days are short, sunlight is low and the ground gets very wet. In this area are plants that come from the north of South Africa, the Bushveld. We have a variety of thorn trees, Acacia species, and herbaceous plants that are at their best in late summer.

Concert Area

This area includes a well designed, inconspicuous stage and a steep lawn which provides a perfect natural auditorium against a magnificent mountain back drop. During the long Cape summer evenings from December to March, music concerts are held here. Families bring their picnic baskets on Sunday evenings to enjoy what has become a Cape Town institution.

Mathew's Rockery

This section is one of the earliest developments in the Garden, built and named in honour of the first curator of Kirstenbosch. Mathew's Rockery is constructed of local sandstone and is used to display plants from the more arid region of South Africa, e.g. aloes, crassulas, euphorbias and many others. The Rockery is an intricate maze of small pathways in amongst these weird and wonderful xerophytic plants.

More Forest & Veld...