Abrus Enterprise grows indigenous plants and develop new products for the horticulture industry like the new Eco Green Wall.
Our plant breeding activities are aimed at the introduction of new and improved plant varieties for the urban landscape and ornamental horticulture sectors, locally and internationally.
PLANT BREEDING
TULBAGHIA
PLANT PROPAGATION
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
LIVING WALLS
PLANT BREEDING
We develop new improved products for the local and export horticulture and landscape industry.
We have been involved in the breeding programme of new Tulbaghia hybrids for the past 25 years.
For many decades, Tulbaghia or society garlic or wild garlic, as it is commonly known, has been the backbone of the landscape industry all over the world. The plant from the Eastern Cape province of South Africa has been widely cultivated due to its toughness and versatility as a water wise landscape plant as well as the culinary use of the plant and flowers for flavouring and garnishing dishes.
It is for this reason that we embarked on the development and introduction of new Tulbaghia hybrids with superior qualities of leaf color, texture, growth habit, flower colour and resilience for the landscape, horticulture and culinary industries.
It is our objective to stimulate the awareness of the versatility of Tulbaghia and the increased use as a landscape and garden plant.
We do plant selections of indigenous South African grass species with superior characteristics for introduction into the landscape industry.
We also bred two exciting new Bulbine hybrids (Kalahari and Dune) for ornamental horticulture.
TULBAGHIA
Hybrids
We grow a variety of new exclusive Tulbaghia hybrids bred by Ivan van der Walt and registered for Plant Breeders Rights by Abrus Enterprise for the landscaping, retail and export markets.
Ashanti PBR
This is one of the best Tulbaghia hybrids created to date. It is a smaller plant with thinner leaves than Tulbaghia violacea with light pink flowers and a florescent pink corona. It is very floriferous, flowering most of summer, making it the ideal landscape plant. Ashanti achieved certification as “Flameproof Plant” during the Dallas Arboretum Plant Trials 2013. This means that it could withstand extreme heat and achieved an exceptionally high score of 3.78 out of 5; the only Tulbaghia ever achieving this status.
Flamingo PBR
It is a most unique plant with unusual lime green foliage and florescent pink stems, leaf tips and flower buds. It prefers light shade and has pink flowers. It is beautiful as a contrast plant and displays well as a unique container plant.
Himba PBR
This plant has light green foliage with magenta flowers and an orange corona. It has a slight sweet fragrance. Dallas Arboretum Plant Trial overall score: 3.19 out of 5 for heat resistance.
Savanna Lightning PBR
It has a spreading growth habit with dark green foliage. The flowers are bright white with a yellow corona. Dallas Arboretum Plant Trial overall score: 3 out of 5 for heat resistance.
Kilimanjaro PBR
The foliage of this plant is dark green with an upright growth habit. The pink flowers are displayed on very long flower stems. It can tolerate light shade. Dallas Arboretum Plant Trial overall score: 3.25 out of 5 for heat resistance.
Pearl
A very nice white Tulbaghia with pink buds opening to pure white flowers. Easy to grow and a good landscape plant, especially if combined with other colour Tulbaghias. Dallas Arboretum Plant Trial overall score: 3.41 out of 5 for heat resistance.
Silver Lace
An old favorite with pink flowers and nice contrasting white variegated foliage with some pink shades in winter.
Species
We also grow Tulbaghia species for rehabilitation and landscaping.
Tulbaghia violacea
The well-known species most used in landscape projects all over the world.
Tulbaghia violacea var. maritima
This is a very elegant plant with short, shiny, broad, dark green foliage and pink flowers. It is a compact plant that can tolerate more shade than other Tulbaghias. This variety has a very restricted natural distribution occurring in sandy soil and between rocks near the sea in the forest habitat of the Southern Cape.
Tulbaghia leucantha
A small flowering plant usually growing between rocks in moist grassland, on river banks and seepage areas.
Tulbaghia simmleri
A species with a very restricted natural distribution on the northern Drakensberg of South Africa. It occurs on rock ledges in light forest, often associated with Clivia miniata, ferns and epiphytic orchids. The flowers have a sweet fragrance.
PLANT PROPAGATION
Our wholesale nursery grows a wide variety of indigenous plants for the local landscape and retail industry as well as Tulbaghia hybrids and species for the local and export market.
Check availability of Abrus Horticulture under Plant Explorer: www.bfscorridor.org
GRASSLAND PLANTS
We grow an extensive range of indigenous and endemic grassland plants for grassland rehabilitation and landscaping. We consult and undertake selected plant search and rescue projects to save especially rare plants from being destroyed by construction activities.
We grow dominant grassland species as well as rare and unusual plants.
WETLAND PLANTS
We grow a variety of indigenous wetland plants for wetland rehabilitation, landscaping and phytoremediation. We focus on the introduction of local Highveld species, previously rare in cultivation, like Kniphofia ensifolia, Kniphofia porphyrantha, Falkia oblonga and Schoenoplectus pulchellus.
GRASS
We specialise in the selection, propagation and sourcing of indigenous South African grass species and seed for the landscape and rehabilitation industries.
The use of native grass species in the landscape has increased dramatically in recent years, due to the increased awareness of the environment, grass becoming trendier as a landscape element, and the fact that grasses are so diverse, versatile and drought resistant.
We grow a wide range of indigenous grass species for the landscape and rehabilitation industries.
Read more about our insights on grass in the publication: A Practical Grass Selection Guide (South Africa)
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
We engage in the consultation and design of sustainable ecological landscape projects. Our emphasis is on eco-tourism projects and other developments with a high biodiversity theme.
LIVING WALLS
The patented Eco Green Wall system is a living wall concept that we developed specifically suited for South African conditions. It is our aim to encourage the use of living walls in the urban environment to create sustainable habitats for humans that are aesthetically pleasing as well as ecologically friendly.
