The Jacaranda City

You are in the right place if you are in search for spectacular accommodation in Pretoria. The Jacaranda City is the name by which Pretoria is familiarly known, because of the spectacular show of Jacaranda during October and November. Enter Pretoria at the start of the summer season, and you are welcomed by the breathtaking purple display of thousands of Jacaranda blossoms.

Yet, how many of us know the story behind this attraction in Pretoria? In spite of popular belief, the Jacaranda is not native to Pretoria and South Africa, but to South America, and in particular to Brazil and Argentina. The Jacaranda is also found in Australia, Mexico and Zimbabwe.

In 1830, Baron von Ludwig, a Cape Town tobacconist, imported Jacaranda trees from Brazil to Cape Town. In 1888, a visiting horticulturalist from Cape Town by name of Tempelmann, imported two Jacaranda trees from Brazil and planted them in front of market-master Japie Celliers’ house, Myrtle Lodge, in Sunnyside. This house and garden now forms part of Sunnyside School at 146 Celliers Street.

In 1903, James Clarke, the then state horticulturalist, was assigned to cultivate trees for the State Nursery in Groenkloof. He ordered seed from Australia, and found that a packet of Jacaranda seed was accidentally included in the batch. Clarke then cultivated the seed and in 1906 donated a few of the trees to the municipality of Pretoria. These Jacaranda were planted in Bosman street and their display was so spectacular that it was decided to start with a big scale planting of Jacaranda. In due course, the Jacaranda became so popular and extensively planted that Pretoria became known as the Jacaranda City.

Different sources estimate the number of Jacaranda trees in Pretoria between 40 000 and 70 000 trees. An official guide to Pretoria stated in 1952 that 250 miles of streets in and around Pretoria were lined with Jacaranda.

A well-known tourist attraction is the less than 100 white Jacaranda that line Herbert Baker Street in the suburb Groenkloof. In 1952, a white Jacaranda was found in a jungle of Peru. Cuttings were taken to California and one was implanted on a purple Jacaranda. The first white blossoms appeared in 1957. In 1961, the then South African director of parks, received one of these trees from Los Angeles, which he gave to the then mayor of Pretoria, Mr IR Bester.

The University of Pretoria holds a legend that if you are a student studying for your final year exams and a blossom falls on your head, you will pass with flying colours. In general, there is also a legend that the shade of the Jacaranda tree symbolises the maintenance of good order in the community.

Other facts:

The blossoms of Jacaranda bloom for eight weeks in spring.

Jacaranda trees work well as street trees.

Jacaranda trees are drought tolerant and like full sun and moderate water.

Jacaranda trees will grow in poor soil.

The scientific name for Jacaranda is Mimosifolia

Despite its beauty, this tree has been categorised as an invader plant in the Jacaranda City.

Pretoria - What is in the name?

The naming of Pretoria has traditionally been attributed to two leaders in the history of South Africa, namely Andries Pretorius and his son Marthinus Wessels Pretorius. Andries Pretorius led the Voortrekker victory over the Zulus in 1838 and settled the Sand River Convention, which resulted in Britain’s acknowledgement of the independence of the Transvaal. Andries Pretorius thus became the first successful leader in the fight against British colonialism in Sub-Sahara Africa. His son, Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, founded Pretoria in 1855. He bought a farm on the border of the Apies river in Pretoria, established a congregation there in honour of his father and named it Pretoria Philadelphia. On 16 November 1855 the Volksraad (parliament) approved the founding of the church farm as a town. It was just a matter of time before the new town was declared the official capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on 1 May 1860. The Volksraad was then instituted in Pretoria after the town of Potchefstroom failed to secure a bid to secure the role of capital.

The Volksraad’s decision was preceded by some uncertainty about what the town should be called. Suggestions included Pretoriusdorp, Pretoriusstad and Pretoria-Philadelphia. Eventually the name Pretoria was decided on. When the South African Republic (ZAR) was annexed by Britain in 1877, Pretoria became the capital of the Transvaal Colony, with the government building on Church Square as the seat of colonial rule.

The First Boer war lasted from 16 December until 23 March 1881 but was ended with the peace treaty called the Pretoria Convention in August 1881. The treaty was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881.

The Staatsmodelskool on the corner of Skinner and van der Walt Streets in Pretoria was built in the 1880s. During the Second Boer War this school building became a prison and it was here that Sir Winston Churchill was captured and imprisoned. Within two months, Churchill escaped to Mozambique. Pretoria surrendered and all conflict came to a halt with the Vereeniging convention in May 1902.

When the South African Union was founded in 1910, Pretoria was declared the administrative capital of this Union. In 1961, when South Africa became a republic, Pretoria retained its status as administrative capital.

The naming of Pretoria has also been connected with the Latin words Praetor and Praetorium. Praetor refers to a forerunner or leader. The head quarter of the Roman army was known as Praetorium.

More recently, in 2005, the City Council voted for a change of the name of Pretoria to Tshwane. The name Tshwane has more than one association: The first link is with Chief Tshwane, the son of Chief Mushi, who is said to have settled in the Pretoria area before the arrival of the Voortrekkers. The second link refers to an authentic African name for Pretoria, used by early inhabitants of the area. The third link is embedded in the meaning of the word Tshwane, namely "we are the same" or "we are one because we live together". The fourth link can be found in a connection between Tshwane and the Apies river in Pretoria.

The name Tshwane has indeed been approved by the Central Government and Tshwane is now the name of the metropolitan council that includes suburbs like Bryntirion, Pretoria, Sunnyside, Groenkloof, etc. Due to major criticism around the acceptance of the proposed name, especially from the business community, a full change over of the name has not yet taken place. The question to what the actual name of the capital city must be is still pending a decision by the minister of art and culture, dr. Pallo Jordaan.