Mandela Day – Plant indigenous with CapeNature

As part of the Mandela Day campaign on Saturday 18 July this year, we’re urging members of the public to #plantindigenous4madiba and educate themselves about local flora, and the ways in which we can all contribute to the sustainable conservation of our unique biodiversity.

If you want to #plantindigenous4madiba, contact us on info@capenature.co.za with the subject line ‘Mandela Day 2015′ and we will tell you, based on your location, when and where you can pick up your indigenous plants to be planted in your garden or community. The plants are being distributed free of charge by various CapeNature offices around the province.

On 18 July 2015, Mandela Day, follow the planting and care instructions on the packaging and upload a photo of yourself to social media using the hashtags#plantindigenous4madiba and #MandelaDay. You are also welcome to email your photos to us on info@capenature.co.za.

But we don’t want you to stop there – we’d like you to post progress images of your new plants as they grow, using the same hashtags, and we encourage you to explore how you can grow more indigenous plants in your own garden, and get others to join you in pledging to plant local and indigenous.

The aim of our Mandela Day campaign is to educate people about the importance of planting indigenous plants rather than aliens and other land- and water-intensive options.

By planting indigenous we can not only preserve our local species for the enjoyment of future generations, but we can also ensure that less water is wasted by irrigating thirsty alien vegetation and grasses, which require far more of that precious natural resource to survive.