Barberton and Daisies

Barberton. I spent a lot of time in that small town many, many years ago, visiting my Grandfather who worked on the mines.  Barberton is an interesting town from a historical point of view. As an adult I returned to that town often.

The flower is named after the town, obviously, but here are a few other interesting things about Barberton. The main attraction was…..Gold!

This is what put Barberton on the map.  James Murray and Ingram James first discovered gold in this area in 1882, pegging claims along the Noordkaap River. Soon the gold rush began, and eventually over 350 claims were pegged in the hills surrounding Barberton – including a sizeable gold nugget weighing 1.65kgs. The discovery of gold along the Greenstone Belt is the reason Barberton exists today.
In 1990 I joined a friend of mine that had just bought the Bougainvillea Hotel , renaming it, Digger’s Retreat, in the Noordkaap area.  I was taught how to pan for gold and took tourists panning for a few months. The owner of the hotel had a claim, so could deal in raw gold.

The JSE was not the first stock exchange in the Transvaal , it was in Barberton around 1885. They are still taking gold out of the New Consort mine more than a hundred years later.
But I digress, I started this article to show you some photographs of Barberton Daisies!

1. jamesonii was first described by Robert Jameson in 1889 while exploring the Barberton area in the Lowveld region of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

The scientific name is Gerbera jamesonii, in the veldt the are as you see them in my photos, red and single petals. I see that the horticulturist have cultivated  out a few varieties different colours  and more petals. 


As you can see, I am not an expert at flora, but I hope you enjoy the photos.

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