Meet the PENROC managers

Penrock Seeds and Penrock Plants are managed by the husband and wife team Johann and Leigh Nieuwoudt. Penrock Specialist Flora is managed by Charles Craib.

Johann Nieuwoudt has a BA degree in Development Studies and Anthropology from the University of Johannesburg as well as a four year qualification in Nature Conservation from Technikon RSA. Johann and his wife Leigh were instrumental in the creation of Simply Indigenous Nursery near Hartbeespoortdam, South Africa in 1997. Simply Indigenous is an award-wining South African retail nursery and bulb exporter. Johann and Leigh have recently started their own specialist wholesale nursery The Roraima Garden and are partners in Penrock Seeds and Penrock Plants. Johann is currently the chairman of the Indigenous Plant Growers Association of SA and serves on the executive committee of the South African Nursery Association. Johann is an amateur botanical photographer and is currently reading for his Masters degree in Sustainable Agriculture at the University of the Free State. Johann enjoys South American travel, bulb and pelargonium propagation and collection, travel and natural history books, studying snakes and bird watching. Johann intends producing photographic guides to the bulbs of South America in the future.

Leigh Nieuwoudt has a BA Honours degree in Political Science from the University of Johannesburg. She was a political researcher for a geo-political newsletter in Johannesburg for 7 years. Leigh is responsible for the marketing, administration and accounts at Simply Indigenous, Penrock Seeds and also Penrock Plants. She has been at the forefront of the marketing of indigenous plants in South Africa for some years. Leigh is absolutely passionate about Brazil, its music, culture, natural landscapes, patriotism, socio-political dynamics, regional and global influence and its economic prosperity. She has a very keen interest in all things South American, its future, sustainable development, geo-politics, culture, and natural wild places such as the Andes, Tierra del Fuego and Gran Sabana. She intends writing numerous books on South America. She enjoys books on international relations, remote places, travel books and Native American art and craft.

In their management of Penrock Seeds and Penrock Plants Johann and Leigh focus on supplying seed and plant material that is not often readily available in the horticultural trade. They endeavour to propagate and keep in stock some rare and seldom offered plants, particularly in the Amaryllidaceae.

Charles Craib obtained his BA degree with majors in Law and Social Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. This he followed with an honours degree in Social Anthropology. He then went on to Cambridge where he read for his Masters degree in Social Anthropology.

Charles has been an amateur botanist for many years and focuses most of his attention on the little known and little studied field of autecology with specific reference to South African plants. He is widely published locally and abroad.

Charles has written two books Geophytic Pelargoniums (Umdaus Press, Hatfield, Pretoria, 2001) and Grass Aloes in the South African Veld (Umdaus Press, Hatfield, Pretoria, 2005). He is currently busy writing a book on Monsonia subgenus Sarcocaulon titled “The Bushman’s Candles” which he is co-authoring with John Lavranos.

Charles has many and varied interests. Amongst these are creative container planting in specially hand made ornamental containers and studying the knowledge construction process in botany (the sociology of botanical knowledge). He is also particularly interested in the use of language to convey concepts, research findings, implicit meanings and ideas.

In the management of Penrock Specialist Flora Charles focuses on supplying rarity and novelty, particularly bulbs and unusual caudiciforms. Charles also places an emphasis on the supply of plants new to cultivation.

Charles also writes the Penrock newsletters posted on the web site. The newsletters feature many topics concerning the natural history and cultivation of South African plants. Some of them also concern new original autecological research.

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