With the annual purple bloom in full swing, Joburgers across the city are grabbing their cameras to capture Joburg’s jacaranda spring. Here are some of our favourite images of this year’s blooms.
From mid-October to early November, a sea of purple petals from thousands of jacaranda trees bloom above Joburg’s suburban streets. Not a native African tree (the jacaranda originated in South America), jacarandas first arrived in Gauteng in 1888 (just two years after the mining town of Johannesburg became a city). We guess that their instant popularity was due to their exquisite colour providing a startling contrast to the predominant shades of dust that swirled around Joburg in the wake of all the mining activity.
The trees quickly becoming so popular that they were planted along almost every new street built in the rapidly growing cities of Johannesburg, and also in Pretoria.
To help you find the best viewing spots we put together a guide that will take you to see the best of the spectacular spring blossoms in Joburg’s older suburbs like Parkwood, Northcliff, Kensington, Melrose, Norwood, Melville or Westcliff. Read it in full here – A guide to Joburg’s best jacaranda viewing spots.
Pretoria’s purple bloom
Nicknamed the Jacaranda City, Pretoria (a 45-minute drive north of Joburg) has suburban streets that are lined with purple trees almost everywhere you look. It is thought that 17% of all the trees in Pretoria are jacarandas, which makes for almost 70,000 trees!
Looking for the best places to snap beautiful images of Gauteng’s jacarandas in bloom? Read our guide to the best jacaranda viewing spots here.