You’ve probably heard the old joke that if you haven’t started studying for your year-end exams by the time the Jacarandas start blooming, then you’ve left it too late.
That’s quite funny, especially if you have started your exam revision.
What isn’t funny, though, is watching those beautiful lilac blossoms dropping into your swimming pool. The blossoms get heavy after a while and fall to the bottom of the pool, making your automatic pool cleaner struggle to cope with the extra load.
More than that, however, it’s not funny having to clean out the weir basket daily to ensure there’s enough pressure in the system to power the pool cleaner.
According to the In Your Pocket blog, the Jacaranda is believed to have first arrived in Gauteng during the Gold Rush in the late nineteenth century.
The trees quickly became so popular that they were planted along almost every new street built in the rapidly growing cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
At that time, however, swimming pools in suburban back gardens must have been a pipe dream. But these days, there are thousands of residential swimming pools in Johannesburg, each having to be well maintained to get maximum use out of them.
Besides the chemical top-ups and backwashing, a large part of pool maintenance is keeping the large debris, leaves and other garden refuse out of the pool. This is where the leaf catcher comes in so handy.
Made from industrial-grade shade cloth, a swimming pool leaf catcher is lightweight and has a reinforced hem to prevent fraying.
It’s perfect for autumn and winter in Joburg where the dry leaves fall from the trees and wind up in the pool. But it’s also perfect for spring to keep those blooming Jacarandas at bay . . .
Being porous, the shade cloth of the leaf catcher allows rainwater through so there’s no run-off (water is such a scarce resource) and is also UV and chemical resistant.
The durable, non-corrosive materials secure the cover to the paving, and it allows for the pool cleaner to do its thing underneath.
But a word of warning. Though they may look like trampolines, leaf catchers are not safe for children to walk on as they can’t handle their weight.
Install a leaf catcher and let it be you that has the last laugh. Not the Jacarandas.
