2GreenLandscaping & garden maintenance in Val de Vie
2Green is based at Val de Vie and has been an approved estate contractor here for over seven years: we know the estate's gardens, its standards and its access rules better than anyone.
Your local garden team in Val de Vie
Val de Vie is one of South Africa's premier lifestyle estates, spread across the Berg River valley between Paarl and Franschhoek, with polo fields, wine farms and a strong architectural and landscaping code. Gardens here are held to a high, consistent standard, and residents rightly expect a contractor who understands that, from approved plant palettes and neat verges to the way a private garden reads against the estate's shared landscape.
We are literally on site: our base is at Val de Vie, so we are the team that is already here, day in and day out. We maintain private homeowners' gardens on a weekly or fortnightly schedule and work on the estate's common grounds, which means presentation stays consistent across the whole estate rather than garden by garden.
Because Val de Vie sits in the hot, dry Berg River valley on fast-draining soils, we plan planting and irrigation around those conditions: water-wise and indigenous species, efficient drip through the beds and correctly zoned pop-up sprinklers on the lawns, so gardens stay lush through summer without wasting water or falling foul of restrictions.
Registered & approved contractor at Val de Vie for over 7 years: vetted, insured and cleared for estate access. We work within the estate's contractor rules and landscaping code as a matter of routine, so residents can book us with total confidence.
What we look after at Val de Vie
What Val de Vie gardens are working with
The ground
The estate sits on the Berg River valley floor, on alluvium the river laid down, not the decomposed granite of the Paarl slopes. Val de Vie calls its corridor a remnant of the Swartland Alluvium Renosterveld that once covered this floor. Twelve estate lakes are old quarries: terraces that drain hard, heavier ground by the river.
The weather
Winter rainfall. Paarl, the nearest published record, averages February highs of 30 degrees and somewhere between 770 and 820 mm a year depending on the dataset, with the dry stretch running from about the start of October to mid-April. On this open valley floor the summer wind sits in the south through most of it, drying beds faster than a fixed estate allocation refills them.
The properties
One estate, three different jobs. Polo Village and Vivante Village are apartment addresses, so it is courtyard planting against shared landscape. Le Domaine, La Vue and The Reserve are freehold erven under the full landscape code. Gentleman's Estates properties carry paddocks, pastures, orchards and vines, which is land management, not garden maintenance.
Best lawn for Val de Vie
Cynodon dactylon, with a palette groundcover in the deeply shaded corners.
The Val de Vie Phase I and Phase II Architectural Design Guidelines, revision March 2024, permit three lawn grasses on the estate: Cynodon dactylon, Paspalum vaginatum and kikuyu. Kikuyu is allowed outright now, but on this open valley floor we still steer residents to Cynodon dactylon, which asks less water for the same wear. LM Berea, the usual shade reflex, is on no estate list.
What we plant here
Garden palette: Celtis africana, wild olive, Eriocephalus africanus, Tecoma capensis, Plumbago auriculata, Protea spp. Corridor and riparian lists: Vachellia karroo, Themeda triandra, Cynodon dactylon, Salix mucronata, Cyperus textilis, Zantedeschia aethiopica.
The November 2020 estate guide ran three separate lists: a garden palette, one for the biodiversity corridor and the 6 metre transition strip on erven bordering it, and one for the Berg River riparian zone. The March 2024 guidelines carry a single suggested palette, so on a corridor or river erf we confirm the current list with the HOA before planting. Palms and large-leafed tropical species stay refused estate-wide, so shelter planting on an open stand has to come off the palette.
What we get called out to in Val de Vie
Protea spp. is on the Val de Vie plant palette in the March 2024 guidelines, and the estate encourages composting, so residents plant proteas and then feed them. That is what kills them. Proteaceae run cluster roots that scavenge phosphorus, so compost or bonemeal on this alluvium, richer than the sandstone soils they evolved on, poisons them. We give proteas a raised, sharply drained, deliberately lean bed, and keep the compost heap for everything else.
Watering rules: Drakenstein Municipality
Checked August 2026
Level 0, in force since 1 November 2020
Val de Vie sits in Drakenstein, but estate irrigation comes off the HOA's own extraction rights rather than the municipal meter, so the estate allocation usually binds before the municipal level does. Drakenstein's standing notice to users of municipal potable water allows watering of gardens, lawns and beds before 10:00 and after 16:00, every day. Boreholes and well points inside the municipal network must be registered, and under the Drakenstein Water and Sanitation Services By-law of 2023 any alternative water source must display the municipality's sign.
Restriction levels change with dam levels. Confirm the current one with Drakenstein Municipality before you set an irrigation controller.
What we do in Val de Vie
Complete landscaping and garden care for private homes and estate common grounds alike.
Garden landscaping & design
Complete garden landscaping: from concept and planting plans to paving, lawns, retaining walls and water-wise indigenous gardens, built to transform your outdoor space.
Garden maintenance
Regular garden maintenance for private gardens and estate common grounds: mowing, weeding, pruning, hedge trimming, bed care and seasonal clean-ups all year.
Irrigation systems
Water-wise irrigation designed, installed and maintained so your lawns, beds and new landscaping thrive with less water.
Tree felling & pruning
Tree felling, removal and pruning, plus lawn treatment and pest & weed control by experienced, horticulturally-minded hands.
Paving & hard landscaping
Patios, driveways and garden paths laid on a properly prepared base, with edging and drainage that keep them level for years.
Instant lawn
Supplied, prepared and laid: a level, rooted lawn in a day, with the soil prep and top-dressing that makes it take.
Artificial grass
Hard-wearing artificial grass for shaded corners, pet runs and small courtyards where real lawn simply will not grow.
Val de Vie garden FAQs
Are you an approved contractor at Val de Vie?๏ผ
Yes. 2Green is a registered and approved contractor at Val de Vie and has been for over 7 years. We are vetted, insured and cleared for estate access, and we work within the estate's contractor and landscaping requirements as standard.
Are you based at Val de Vie?๏ผ
Yes. Our base is at Val de Vie, so we are already on the estate every day. That means fast response times, familiarity with the estate's gardens and standards, and consistent scheduled maintenance for residents.
Do you maintain both private gardens and common grounds?๏ผ
We do both. We look after private homeowners' gardens on a weekly or fortnightly schedule and work on the estate's shared common grounds, so presentation stays consistent across the whole estate.
How does billing work for Val de Vie residents?๏ผ
Every client gets a secure online portal. Save a card once and your monthly invoices are charged automatically and securely via PayFast: no cash on the day and no admin, which suits estate living well.
Can you work within our estate irrigation water allocation?๏ผ
Yes, and on the farm-style precincts it shapes the design. For Gentleman's Estates, River Reserve and River Club properties the Val de Vie guidelines of March 2024 give each property an allocation from the HOA's own extraction rights, the Berg River plus HOA boreholes, delivered to a metered connection and pumped into a reservoir you build. Estate-wide, no borehole may be sunk on your own stand. So we zone tightly and run drip through the beds.
Can we lay kikuyu, and how much lawn do we have to have?๏ผ
You can. The Val de Vie design guidelines of March 2024 permit three grasses on the estate: Cynodon dactylon, Paspalum vaginatum and kikuyu. An older revision restricted kikuyu to a framework plan, so you may still be told otherwise. We would still put Cynodon on an open stand for the water. You cannot gravel the front over either way: those guidelines require at least 30 percent of the stand width along the street boundary to be lawn or a mat-forming groundcover that reads as lawn, and artificial turf does not count street-facing. Corridor erven have carried extra planting controls, so on one of those we get the current requirement from the HOA in writing. And we do not spray: the guidelines forbid herbicides without written approval from Estate Management.
Helpful guides for Val de Vie gardens
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