Simplicity is everything

Andrew Mangwarara

AS you move along Sam Nujoma Street in Harare, it is hard to miss Tongfu Restaurant, a new establishment that specialises in Chinese cuisine.

What stands out is how the owners have greened their surroundings.

And the way they have done it shows that sometimes simplicity is everything in a garden.

Overcrowding a garden does not always bring out serenity.

The front entrance to the food court greets you with an amazing water pond that is elegantly furnished with plants like rudbeckia fulgida (coneflower), zinnia elegans (elegant zinnia) and roses for colour.

Additional plants included, because of their foliage effects, are pampas grass (cortaderia selloana), New Zealand flux (phormium tenax), umbrella sedge (cyperus altemifolius), tree fern (alsophila dregei) and pickerel weed (pontederia cordata).

The waterfall symphony completes the puzzle of beauty created in this green space.

This is a place where one can enjoy a good meal and take in the aesthetics.

A garden must blend into the surroundings, as has been achieved at the restaurant.

Adding a wooden floor and maintaining an even ground elevation makes the transition seamless.

They have also selected a good lawn, Durban grass (dactyloctenium australe), which, if well-maintained, will give the desired soothing effect because of its fine texture.

If you stroll in the garden, you will not miss indigenous trees like trichelia emetica (Natal mahogany) and acacia xanthophloea (fever tree), as well as oriental palms like the golden cane palm (chrysalidocarpus lutescens) and the date palm (phoenix reclinata).

This garden exemplifies a robust greening concept, as it spills onto Sam Nujoma Street.

They have provided a wide pathway for pedestrians to walk by while enjoying the shade of spathodea campanulata (the African flame tree), matching with pyrostegia venusta (golden shower climber), which I have always admired for some time.

The Tongfu Restaurant garden, which is maintained by Mr Wonder Gurendende, has two entrances, with one of them furnished with two large pots carrying the Japanese sago palm (Cycas revoluta), which is par excellence when landscaping a garden.

Other elongated pots at the entrance are adorned with red roses to match with the red name Chinese signage (a thumbs up).

Choosing some plants to stand out on their own is necessary as it creates a rendezvous (meeting place), which they have achieved with the golden cane palm (chrysalidocarpus lutescens).

Much can be admired in this landscape — including lighting, gazebo feature, bird life, selection of the right colours for the building and the modern design of the precast wall.

Exquisite!

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* If you wish to be featured in our green up campaign, contact us on the numbers above. Pleasant greening up.