Umdloti Dune Planting

Dune reconstruction and rehabilitation along South Beach Road, Umdloti

The Natal Dune Vygie growing through hessian mats on a reconstructed dune in Umdloti

Locals Plant Vegetation on Our Dunes: April 2008 CONGRATULATIONS to beachfront residents who have taken the initiative and started re-planting our dunes opposite their properties and caring for them with regular watering. Belinda Weyers planted Natal Dune Vygies or Sour Figs (Carpobrotus acinaciformis) and installed an irrigation system on South Beach Road dunes. Tracey Simkiss, Meryl and Don Cockerell, Elsa and Richard Seidle have also joined the swelling ranks of "Umdloti Dune Planters".

Sour figs are grown as ground cover to stabilise sandy banks. They display attractive purple flowers year round and the astringent juice of their succulent leaves provides excellent relief from Physalia (blue bottle or Portugese man-of-war) stings. Nice choice! The Natal Dune Vygie often grows intertwined with the Creeping Foxglove which also flowers profusely throughout the year and the Rock Rose with reddish pink flowers.

Hlumelela Natural Products CC, sponsors of www.umdloti.org, make a special compost that helps dune vegetation grow in nutrient depleted sugar cane soil. Umdloti Dune Planters can apply for sponsored supplies of this natural organic fertilizer from Hlumelela. Simply e-mail them for details or visit their website at www.hlumelela.umdloti.org

To view the original storm damage to these dunes Click Here.
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