Kokedamas, or moss balls, originated in Japan, and these charming floating gardens are taking over the internet. Reminiscent of the hanging gardens of Babylon, they’re a great way to turn a plant into a unique feature. Just recently, I bought one from my favorite online nursery Plantify. They found me a lovely Spekboom, and two days later, she arrived on our doorstep, intact and ready to fight climate change. She was such a gorgeous specimen I thought I’d dress her up a little and turn her into a Kokedama Fairy Village. Isn’t she so cool? This indigenous beauty is often confused with the Jade plant. But they’re different species. The Jade plant is a Crassula while the Spekboom is part of the Portulacaria family. We have quite a few in our garden. Some interesting facts about the Spekboom In Afrikaans, the word Spekboom literally translates to “Bacon Tree” and our elephants love it, consuming roughly 200kg of the leaves in a day!!! The leaves, which have a slight lemony taste, can be used in salads or to add a citrusy tang to icing. There’s even a gin made from this wonder plant 😉 A Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) can remove 10 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than a pine tree. The Xhosa’s call this carbon sponge an iGwanitsha. Legend has it that if a soon-to-be grandmother eats lots of iGwanitsha leaves before her daughter gives birth, she’ll be able to help suckle the baby when the new mom needs to pop out for a [...]

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