National Water Week: all of our concern

National Water Week, from March 15 to 21, tries to increase public awareness on the importance of water, one of South Africa’s most limited resources.

Pom pom weed

Maropeng supports this initiative and tries to use water responsibly in everything we do.

Earlier this month, for example, we spent two weekends with a team of 30 gardeners removing noxious pompom weeds (Campuloclinium macrocephalum), also known as the “pink plague”, from the Maropeng property and surrounding roadside verges.

Says Maropeng Managing Director Tony Rubin, “Pompom weed is the biggest threat to the conservation of grasslands in South Africa. It’s a very pretty pink thistle from Argentina, but it’s a killer of our natural vegetation. If you’ve got pompom weed, please remove it.”

Rubin explains that the weed has a tubular root system, and it needs to be cut just above the roots, and the cut-off plant needs to be treated. The cut vegetation needs to be burned, or the weed will continue to propagate.

Pompom weed photo courtesy of the Randpark Ridge Village Association.