Centenarian Plants at Kirstenbosch: White Gardenia

4. White Gardenia, Gardenia thunbergia
This plant was brought to Kirstenbosch in September 1913 by the first Curator of Kirstenbosch, Joseph William ‘Jimmy’ Mathews (1871-1949), and planted here soon afterwards. The White Gardenia is very slow growing. There is a picture showing this same bush, behind Smuts’s audience gathered around the Oak in 1938, when it was a 25 year old youngster. Plants grown from cuttings of this bush are planted in the Dell and the Arboretum.
408/13, H lawn early planting pre 1923 – mention of ‘gardenia bed’ in 1923 annual report. Also old planting in Dell, and 1985 planting in Q

Joseph William Mathews was born in Cheshire in the United Kingdom and trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He moved to Cape Town and for 20 years was a nurseryman and florist and is credited as being the founder of floriculture in South Africa. He was curator of Kirstenbosch from 1913 until 1936. He was one of the first horticulturists to encourage the use of indigenous plants. He collected some new species, wrote many articles on growing indigenous plants and was the gardening correspondent of the Cape Argus.