Herman's Blog

History of cacti in South Africa
May 22, 2008 | 10:36 PM PST
Tags: Soekershof , Malherbe , South Africa , cactus , history

On our website (just google to Soekershof) you can find a brief history of cacti in South Africa. Last night we received a nice addition from the USA:

"The restablishment of the Soekershof garden after many years of
neglect is fantastic --- the photos were fantastic.  Here is what I
have in my records for Marthinus Malherbe:

Malherbe, Marthinus [Maarten] (1885-1976); RSA nurseryman & amateur
botanist; creator & owner of Sheilam Cactus Gardens nursery in
Robertson, RSA on and after 1936; designed succ garden at Soekershof
Walkabout 1965; explored & collected in RSA; introduced cacti &
other Amer succ in RSA 1910; spouse Molly [nee Darling] Malherbe
( -1994);

Nananthus (Aloinopsis) malherbei was named after him and he
discovered Haworthia comptoniana, now Haworthia emelyae var
comptoniana."

In addition to this: The name SHEILAM is an abbreviation of the names of his children. During the first 15 years the nursery was named SHEILA and the M was added in 1951 when his (second) wife gave birth to their daughter Marsha.