The Quest for Pretoria's White Jacarandas
I’m in America right now and I had really been looking forward to seeing the fall leaves here. I came home at exactly this time last year and the leaves were spectacular. Alas, it’s been a warm autumn on the East Coast and that seems to have slowed down the color change. The leaves have only just begun their transition in Maryland and Virginia.
Not to worry though. While I don’t have any good fall leaf photos yet, I do have good pictures of white jacarandas in South Africa.
Two weeks ago I went to Pretoria with my journalist friend Marie-Lais Emond, who writes a weekly column for the Citizen called “Other Side of the City”, to find the legendary white jacarandas. Marie-Lais had known about Pretoria’s white jacarandas for years but had never been able to find them before. Finally this year, someone gave her their exact location on Herbert Baker Street in Groenkloof.
What’s the Big Deal About White Jacarandas?
A bunch of white-flowering trees in early summer might not seem like a big deal to those of you on the American East Coast and in Europe. But if you live in Africa or California or South America or anywhere else jacarandas grow, you’ll understand the significance. Jacarandas are known for being purple; the white ones (at least the white ones in South Africa) are rare and reportedly sterile, meaning they don’t reproduce. Herbert Baker Street is the only place in South Africa where the white trees grow in abundance – there are several dozen of them snaking up the curvy road.
We arrived on Herbert Baker in the middle of a rainstorm and were instantly enchanted by the clouds of white interspersed with purple. I practically ran up and down the street, ignoring the raindrops and thunder, shooting like mad.
After roving up and down Herbert Baker for a while, Marie-Lais and I drove a few minutes up the hill in nearby Fort Klapperkop Nature Reserve to check out the white jacarandas from above.
Read more about Pretoria’s jacarandas in this post by my Pretoria-based travel-blogger friends, the Louwkuls.
Pretoria’s jacarandas peaked earlier in October and I’m not sure how they’re looking this week. But if you hightail it up to Herbert Baker Street immediately, you might still find some white blossoms hanging around. If not, there’s always next year: These white and purple beauties won’t be replanted after they die (jacarandas are classified as alien species in South Africa and it’s against the law to plant new ones) but they’ll probably live another hundred years or so.
Post-script:
Marie-Lais’ column in last Saturday’s Citizen, which was accompanied by my photos, doesn’t appear online so I’ve included the text below.
HEARING, SEEING THE OTHER JACARANDAS
By Marie-Lais Emond
It’s a dark and stormy few minutes. Lightning cracks; a projectile rain spews. Then, following a thunder roll, they appear in front of us: the almost fabled white jacarandas of Pretoria’s Groenkloof. Here are maybe eighty lined up, branches thrashing in the wind, all down this one road. They were grafted originally, rather than planted, here because they are sterile. Hair and skirt swirling, I rush across the road for the long anticipated better look. A silver car draws up.
“Are you on your way then?” I stop and turn slowly against weather odds, to face the driver.
“Why?” I demand, rather than ask, through lots of hair.
“Oh you look just like someone I know,” she wails. “Enjoy!” Her street gate having glided open, glides back to cover her disappearance.
Heather is on her knees on the wet pavement, surrounded by what looks like flung white confetti. That’s the thing. I’ve seen many pictures of the white jacarandas but they don’t always read as jacarandas without some reference. In this section of Herbert Baker Street, some purple ones oblige as back and side drops. Sun starts streaming though dark cloud and light patches the street.
“It’s like the garden of Eden,” Heather yells above more thunder. She’s looking up at the two different jacaranda colours and a green trunked, yellow blooming fever tree. On the other, loftier side of the road in this part of Groenkloof are one-way mirrored security rooms adjoining the entrances and the gardens look as though they are planted to overawe rather than delight. Soaring palms stand next to soaring cedar trees on tall terraces. Further up and away is Klapperkop.
“We’re actually looking for zebras.” A man with a blond fringe and snor is holding a can of Carling Black Label, surrounded by a crowd of inebriated young Thais, all the males holding Carlings too. I was indicating to them the impressive line down there of the white jacarandas. Heather and I have stopped on Klapperkop next to a capacious four by four. A small girl scampers around with a pink towel to protect her against the faint drizzle. Her elder sister, without a Carling and walking steadily approaches us. The blond points his thumb. “This is my wof.”
As we return I mentally replay the sounds of the street where we were, the white flowers falling with that satisfying “plip” of all jacarandas.
Comments
My home town of Adelaide, has Jacaranda trees in abundance in certain suburbs, and you’ve reminded me of how they’d be looking now, especially the view from the nearby Mt Lofty Ranges. I’m a teensy bit nostalgic for them….. White ones of course, are mind-boggling to me! Love your favourite shot too, with the two seed pods hanging there also. :-)
I’m pleased to have boggled your mind :) And I’m wondering about those seed pods actually…The word is that the trees are sterile, so I guess the seeds are there but just infertile?
It would be interesting to harvest those seeds and find out……Do the bees enjoy the white flowers as much as the coloured ones?
Hmm, I don’t know. I only spent about 20 minutes with them and it was raining.
There’s white jacarandas all so on the m1 between the R566 and Paul Kruger street
I’m going to be on the lookout for the white ones in Southern California. I may have seen them and just not known they were jacarandas!
But purple ones line the streets of Torrance.
In Windhoek, Namibia there is (or was early 90s) an avenue of purple and white jacaranda planted alternately leading up the hill to the main government building. At this time of year the sidewalk was striped purple and white. Astonishing.
This is so cool, I was JUST going to go on a quest to find white jacaranda pictures for my FB page and here you have the most beautiful ones I could have imagined! I love all of them. Such a feast of blossoms. And yes, sorry that our fall has been held back. It was the warmest Halloween in 50 years here in Tennessee, apparently.
Oh, and I also loved Marie-Lais’ column!
Haha. You’re welcome to use one of my pics for FB.
These trees are beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like them. What a wonderful way to spend some time :)
We are staying in the West Coast of South Africa and have a white Jacaranda tree next to our church. We planted the seeds and they grew but the flowers are purple
I live in Pretoria and have had the exact same exprience. I harvested pods from white Jacaranda trees, planted some seeds of which five trees grew. I planted one of them in my own garden and now, after a few years, it bloomed for the first time - the flowers are purple!
I found the following on ’travelnewsnamiibia.com: ‘According to a spokesperson at the National Botanical Research Institute, the white Jacaranda is a fluke, a single-gene mutation that was developed, and is basically an albino version of the purple Jacaranda.’ - This article appeared in the Dec ‘03/Jan ‘04 edition of Travel News Namibia.
That’s so interesting!
I live in the Northern suburbs/ Brackenfell , and am looking for a purple and yellow jacarandas. Where can i find them?
Hi Ntombi, there are no yellow jacarandas - just purple ones and white ones. The yellow flowers you see in this post are from a nearby acacia tree I think (or some other tree). But the jacarandas are finished blooming for this year anyway. You won’t see anymore jacaranda flowers until October next year.
Northcliff/Fairlands JHB has many, many of Jacarandas. And I just spotted my first white Jacaranda recently, after living in this area for 10 years.
Oh wow, cool! Do you remember which street it was on?
It’s on 13th Ave Northcliff. But today I noted that it’s in a private yard, where most Jacarandas are on the pavement. So the owner probably planted it.
Ahhh, got it. That’s interesting.