Elephant's Eye on False Bay

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March and our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:07:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

In a vase on Monday is a meme that has run for years - and sometimes my vase IS 'on a Monday'. Pink Thuli Madonsela roses have faded, but there are buds coming for next time. Marbles and pelargonium leaves still look good.

Thuli Madonsela
pink roses
In a Vase on Monday

Bright plans to get the garden together after the painters have slipped sideways, so no wide views yet. We have the blue pots back in place. Pruned the Brachylaena, again. Also our neighbour's Australian brush cherry. Since it is an invasive alien, I harvested fruit before the branches went for municipal composting. Litres and litres of them!! In desperation I mulched all the pots with a layer.

Blue pots mulched with cherries

Softest blue Plumbago. A lone late Crinum. Iceberg roses flourishing after being shunted around.

White garden flowers in March

Finally the March lilies which were spectacular in Porterville have bloomed here on False Bay. Because I had trimmed their Pelargonium shade away?

March lilies
in shade and brilliant sunshine

We have 2 Euryops bushes, the first with green leaves, and the second with grey leaves. Catching the autumn sun.

Euryops in March

First Nerine sarniensis flower with buds coming in the pots. Autumn blues from Plectranthus saccatus.

Nerine and Plectranthus

Next task is getting this rotten woodwork replaced. That gable vent faces the worst of the winter weather driving in from Antarctica (the others are fine). The gate has dry rot and we can see thru gaps which should not be there.

Rotten woodwork

Thomas and Zoe are almost never found this close together but they both like that corner. Warm and sheltered?

Thomas and Zoe together

Time out at Kirstenbosch, where they replace the old thatch in sections. Fascinating to watch a team working together with those buckets of wet concrete for the roof ridge.

Kirstenbosch thatch

I had to tweak the colours for this golden sunset (the camera saw it as menacing and smouldering) but it was ethereal and worth a long, lingering look.

Golden March sunset

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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February into March in our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 12:08:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Mission accomplished. Painters were here for 6 working days - as promised. We no longer need to beware of slabs of paint falling off walls battered by 10 years of baking sun, winter rain and salt sea breezes. That rotting gate is next on our list.

Needs painting

Thomas and Zoe blissfully unaware that they were about to spend a long week hiding in the greenest corner of the garden.

Zoe and Thomas in February

My Boophone disticha bloomed for the third time. Wafting sweet fragrance as you walk past! Bought in 2007. Bloomed for the first time in 2019. Then again in 2023.

Boophone disticha

Now we can Beware of The Cat, not the paint attack! Damp and cracks sorted, inside and out.

Beware of The Cats

Zoe is happily back to normal, but Thomas is still programmed to RUN, if there is an untoward noise. Knock at the door? MONSTERS!!

Thomas and Zoe today

My lovely pink flowering bulb has gone to seed till next autumn?

Boophone gone to seed

The weather was kind. Stayed dry for the painters. Yesterday a gentle 4.5 mm rain to rinse the roof for our rain tanks, settle the dust, and refresh battered plants. Thuli Madonsela (planted in 2020) pink rose spangled with raindrops against freshly painted walls.

Thuli Madonsela
fragrant pink roses with raindrops

March gardening. Replace pots and garden furniture. Prune hard, to open up paths. New plants for the gaps. Hope autumn and winter rain will bridge the gap our neighbour cut in our hedge - grumble.

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay. Please subscribe as you prefer

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January and our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:15:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

We will be getting our house painted, inside and out (two very disgruntled cats coming up!) Gardening in February will focus on clearing paths and their access to painted walls.

Sunset sky 1

There are evenings when the whole bowl of sky over our heads sparkles with glowing colours.

Kirstenbosch - Vlei Boardwalk

At Kirstenbosch the Vlei Boardwalk has opened. It is a short stretch but easy going, no steps. Causeway crossing at the other end needs a moment of concentration. This week they replaced a bench halfway - will try that view next time. Have found a few shady, refreshing paths for those summer days when the breeze drops and we gasp and pant in the 'Kirstenbosch cauldron'.

The new sculptures by Anton Smit have made that corner of the Garden a meandering destination.

Dwarf coral tree at Kirstenbosch in January

Walking up from the Otter Pond, I happened on the dwarf coral tree I was looking for.

Crinum are pink in sunshine

In January the row of Crinum have lit up like Christmas. Flowers are intensely fragrant. On stalks about hip high, lolling in the path, we have had to stake them upright as they tumble one by one. Those swirls of chunky, fleshy leaves have exploded since 2023!

Insect on Crinum

Waiting for iNatters to tell me what this visiting insect is.

Crinum in the evening

In the gentler light of evening the flowers appear more white than pink.

All good things come to an end. The Garden Gate meme has closed. I will use these monthly posts as a journal of life, and garden.

Sunset sky 2

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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November Fynbos Rambles to Simonsberg, Steenberg Plateau, Elsie's Peak and Noordhoek Wetland

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 12:54:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

Simonsberg

Wind cut short our walk. Mountain slope covered in Watsonia borbonica, with one last Serruria hirsuta.

Watsonia borbonica
Simonsberg November

Almost the same colour, and yet so different in mauvy blues. Roella ciliata adds navy and white stripes. Corymbium africanum - a daisy with a corymb of flowers and 'bulb' leaves. Pseudoselago spuria, darker in bud at centre of each head. Dilatris pillansii - for species check the stamens.

Mauvy blues on Simonsberg November

New to me - flowers on Gerbera linnaei. We always see those ferny leaves - for a daisy!

Gerbera linnaei
Simonsberg November

Pelargonium elongatum - long flowerstalks and zonal leaves. Two inches high, but still a (South of the Sahara) hibiscus = Hibiscus aethiopica. Rafnia angulata - glaucous leaves with yellow pea flowers.

November flowers on Simonsberg

Steenberg plateau

LONG steady walk to naval mast and burnt area for orchids. Wade carefully thru the bog first. Disa atricapilla the dark vibrant one. Disa bivalvata is a quieter version. Yellow orchid Pterygodium acutifolium. Gladiolus pappei staying with pinks.

Boggy orchids
Steenberg November

Then walk down the 'closed for frogs in season' path. Strange Evotella carnosa chunky flesh-coloured, liver orchid. Watsonia coccinea - boggy and small for a watsonia. Moraea angusta.

Evotella liver orchid
Steenberg November

Drosera cuneifolia with curled flowerstalk and luscious pink flowers. Villarsia goldblattiana, in the bog, big fleshy leaves, OTT fringed yellow flowers - a happy first for me.

Drosera and Villarsia
Steenberg November

Steady pace home on the jeep track, after tea at Junction Pool. Upside down orchid, toothy lip UP, Eulophia bolusii. Small furry yellow pea Aspalathus ericifolia.

Upside down orchid
Steenberg November

Elsie's Peak

Fierce windy and some spots of rain. Up to the rocks near the top to visit Teedia lucida with 'rock tomatoes'. Furry green Erica capitata. Down past Osmitopsis dentata. Aspalathus juniperina orange and yellow flowers.

Teedia
Elsie's Peak November

Pelargonium psammophilum with burgundy spotted petals. Daisy bracts on Senecio umbellatus. Pink and white Podalyria argentea - with rust lined buds.

Podalyria
Elsie's Peak November

Frame the view for the weekend's Ultra-Trail Cape Town runners. Kitty beetle. The scraped patch on the slope behind the hotel is another new development.

Kitty beetle Elsie's Peak

Noordhoek Wetland

Threatening clouds but no rain! At the wetland a woman on her horse. 'You are frightening my horse! All these people with white hats. He thinks you are monsters!' wow. Disa cornuta sparkles gold in the sun. Golden dragonfly. Red pollen on Moraea racemossisima. Yellow daisy Athanasia crithmifolia.

Gold sparkles
Noordhoek Wetland November

Chapman's Peak Nature Reserve

Hermannia angustibracteata deep orange twirly bells. Microloma sagittatum tightly twirled flower tips, with a twist of sweetness. Little pumpkin is Kedrostis nana. Careful engineering for winter rain at this development. Former kaolin mine, scrape off all indigenous vegetation, but retain the invasive alien pine trees, which are a fire hazard.

Chapman's Peak Nature Reserve
November

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We see ourselves in glass – dimly

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December around our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 14:15:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Today for Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. Flowers from my garden for New Year fireworks. Cotyledon orbiculata, the variety with soft grey leaves to match that stalk. Fragrant pink rose Thuli Madonsela - supporting 'people empowerment for ethical leadership, development and peace' . Paired golden Euryops chrysanthemoides. Busy bee in a Californian poppy for Californian bloggers Late to the Garden Party and Piece of Eden - who are among the bloggers I started with.

Garden flowers for New Year

My Christmas flower is Agapanthus. Again this year just the one flower from Agapanthus praecox minimus. 'Storms River' is a soft grey blue, grown from seed in 1996-7. At the end of the last century. Imagine that?!

Agapanthus Storms River

Streptocarpus catches the morning sun and crisps its edges. Just a hint of blue for Plumbago. Potted lime is flourishing in forgiveness, happy with sun and water there.

Potted lime

Glass Advent wreath had fresh flowers for the last week. Plenty of Alstroemeria and pink pelargoniums this year.

Advent Wreath 2024

Our 2024 Fynbos Rambles in four pictures. Emerging Haemanthus sanguineus bud from flowering bulb after fire in February. Spring visit to Rondebosch Common celebrating reestablished Moraea aristata in September. From Chapman's Peak watching South Atlantic fog fingers eat our mountains in April. Kommetjie to Soetwater with our usual beach walk hidden deep below foam, ahead of a winter storm in August.

2024 Fynbos Rambles remembered

Trappieskop fire yesterday. Took only minutes to go from the smoke we saw from our skylight, to serious smoke from the road! Some residual smoulder today.

Trappieskop fire 30 December 2024

With Janus we look back to 2024. And warily to 2025. My sister and I try out different Kirstenbosch benches. Which one has the best view? Looking across open and textured green to Teddy Bear rock, as sun glances thru shifting clouds.

Kirstenbosch with Teddy Bear rock

Kirstenbosch has a new sculpture exhibition. These 3 are from Anton Smit. Up close the mask is disturbing, riveted together from scrap bits of metal. 'Faith' is about

Fragmented beings

Face to face

Anton Smit - Fragmented Beings

Pleiades (sculpture). Digging stars isiLimela for South African farmers. The 7 sisters in the Northern hemisphere. The Ancient Greek word for navigating the Mediterranean in the safe sailing season. Could this be the oldest story in the world?

Anton Smit - Pleiades - 7 sisters - Digging stars - Safe sailing

May we go forward in safe hands. Happy New Year!

Whirlwind – “IZANDLA ZIYAGEZANA”

“Hands wash each other”

“One good turn deserves another”

Anton Smit - Safe Hands for 2025

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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October Fynbos Rambles to Myburghskloof, Cape Point, Brakkloofrant, Blackhill and Silvermine

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 12:03:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

October was 5 hikes, so more pictures.

Myburghskloof

Just past the Chapman's Peak Lookout a mid-size caracal kitten slipped across the road ahead of us, then turned to look back and show us that beautiful face, big blue eyes and tufted ears, with a russet coat and powerful legs.

My 3 sets of sleeves and woolly hat met an English hiker in sweatpants and a bikini top. A sun halo because it is COLD.

Sun halo October

Left of the pine sapling, snow on the distant Jonkershoek mountains! Weatherman said it would be 16 C.

Snow on Jonkershoek October

This short stretch above Suikerbossie restaurant at the beginning of the trail is our MOST rewarding! Low with intense colour Lessertia capensis. Pink Ixia scillaris. Daisy heart Arctotis acaulis. Pauridia capensis today all rather dark. Our year of orchids - 25 species on iNat! Orchid 1 Satyrium bicorne. Lachenalia orchioides greenish and tall.

Pauridia Myburghskloof October

Moraea gawleri - leaves crinkled margins. Trachyandra chlamydophylla with fleshy quill like leaves, still tight buds. Trametes bracket fungus. Euphorbia genistoides. Protea nitida bright red leaf buds. Never even got to Difficult Rock today.

Weird Trachyandra Myburghskloof October

Cape Point

Crassula thunbergiana - is it post-fire? Often coastal. White flowers in axillary heads. Common on sandy flats. Annual.

Circular Drive to burnt area at bokmakieriestert for Orchid 2 in pink and white Disa obtusa. Then Olifantsbos for the low path along the coast. Lessertia frutescens. Very large barred lappet caterpillar. Cineraria geifolia (blooming in my garden too)

Cape Point October

Brakkloofrant

Suddenly from one week to the next VERY hot. 3 sets of foreign / BRICS navy ships in our bay. Again in search of after fire flowers. Imagine the heat which shatters rocks. Pink llama / sooty moth came home with me.

Rock flakes from the fire

We make an annual visit to these (Orchid 3) Satyrium carneum, usually along the ridge, but also tumbling down the burnt slope. One white, but not the cherry red. Gladiolus carneus - mauve pollen, fan of flowers on stalk, and petal markings.

Satyrium carneum Brakkloofrant October

Moraea ochroleuca from buttery yellow to Sixties orange. Manulea rubra echoes the deep colour.

Moraea ochroleuca Brakkloofrant October

Pelargonium grossularoides flowers and leaves, small and low after fire. Sebaea schlechteri only 4 obs on iNat, my Least Observed species! Cleretum herrei sprawled on the rock. Wahlenbergia capensis elaborate blue perfection. Moraea setifolia the last one escaped mowing down.

Sebaea schlechteri Brakkloofrant October

Blackhill and Jonkersdam Trail

Hot. As hell. About 8 km circuit. Till we can see the sea. 5 stopped at the 'jonquils' turnoff for tea in the shade to catch the breeze. Steady pace for the rest of us, then we hunted for Orchid 4 - together we found 4 plants. On the return loop, good to see steady progress clearing the dark green invasive aliens above Glencairn.

Blackhill and Jonkersdam Trail

Bartholina burmanniana our ethereal target. Podalyria argentea in pink, and also plain white. Endangered. Orchid 5 - Pterygodium catholicum. Ursinia anthemoides exquisite seeds displaying 'spent matches'. Oedera capensis with narrow leaves, not 9 heads. Cyanella hyacinthoides - Wicked Witch of the South with her hollow for Halloween fingers - open stamens for buzz pollination by bees.

Bartholina Blackhill October

Silvermine South

From this hike I added 9 obs to iNat. Tropicorypha bifida bug on Pseudoselago. Our target is (Orchid 6) Disa maculata in a stiff breeze. Very few plants, due to changing weather, or poachers close to the busy road? While we waited for those trapped in traffic on Ou Kaapse Weg (running across bottom right) we pondered Kiggelaria africana, planted here.

New bug Silvermine October

Microdon dubius can be burgundy, or plain lemon yellow. Furry Trachyandra hirsutiflora. Syncarpha speciosissima yellow centre bare flowerstalk. Dilatris pillansii has 2 SHORT stamens (and a long one). Gnidia juniperifolia. Rafnia angulata yellow and russet flowers.

Dilatris Silvermine October

Need a hand up, over the rocks? White Acrosanthes teretifolia ( = leaves round in cross section) was challenging to name. Erica bruniades a Nother pink erica in a tulle tutu and dark tights. Serruria fasciflora

UNusual flowers Silvermine October

I wish my readers a Happy Christmas; will be back with a garden post as the year turns.

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November - 10 years in our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:39:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

We moved from Porterville (Swartland wheat farmers) to Fish Hoek (Cape Town - suburbia by the sea) in November 2014 ten years ago.

From that blank white wall to potted spekboom and pocket woodland

We had plans for house renovation and a much more interesting and indigenous for biodiversity garden. The large space at the bottom of the garden was filled with functional Wendy house / garden shed and a twirldry which hated me when the wind blew! We brought our own garden furniture, so that bench and table went too. Many, many pots, bulbs and cuttings ready to grow.

Bottom of the garden then

Out front was a sloping lawn. We added palisade fence. Wouldn't believe we cut back and dug out Tecomaria and Plumbago - have both roared up to cover that neighbouring wall. My sunny succulents are getting shaded out.

Karoo Koppie April 2018

That olive sapling was a municipal gift to Porterville residents. I cut it back hard this year to the Ungardener's horror - see how it already towers over the sunset!

Sunset with olive tree

Out the kitchen door and down thru Cornish Stripe to the lemon tree. I have deliberately chosen pictures from the first few years to remind me where I need to cut back to expose the good bones we started with then.

Cornish Stripe April 2018

Across the bottom we have Froggy Pond and a winding shady path, the nearest we come to an 'exclusion zone' for birds and small creatures.

Froggy Pond April 2018

Loop up the far side. All the lawns removed to make proper planting space. Between Summer Gold and Spring Promise we have an offset path - again in need of good pruning.

Summer Gold and Spring Promise April 2018

Today for Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. Harvesting our second bunch of bananas, retrieving a few each time as they show yellow, sharing a few with the birds. Cabbage white butterfly has fascinating eyes. Spring Promise intended to be pink (3 pelargoniums) and white (Bauhinia bowkeri) is doing very well this year.

November in our garden

My sister and I go to Kirstenbosch to walk and chat. For sun we like to sit near Pearson's Celtic cross - with its web of life Celtic knots I had sandblasted on our bathroom windows. Sadly his Centenarian High Atlas cedar has died. This bench reminds us of Kathleen our mother. The owls had a Flowerpot Kid this year in a hanging basket near the Conservatory. When we prefer shade we go to the Lieutenant Commander's bench in the shade of the Arboretum under the Boomslang, where we can admire Greyia flanaganii.

Kirstenbosch in November

As the year draws to a close we light the first Advent candle. This year has pink profusion, pelargoniums and Alstroemeria with Senecio tendrils.

First of Advent

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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September Fynbos Rambles St James Mule Track, Rondebosch Common and Elsie's Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 14:04:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

We began September on the Mule Track winding above St James. I enjoy seeing our same old same old thru fresh eyes as our hiking group grows slowly. Again seeking fire flowers, with the burnt slope dotted with tall and proud creamy Gerbera wrightii. Searsia lucida shows that waxy white line, if you remember to fold the leaf and check.

Gerbera wrightii on Mule Track above St James in September

The next tall white daisy is Dimorphotheca nudicaulis (with a bare of leaves flowerstalk). Not so unusual, nor as impressive. Morella kraussiana has weird oval fruit. Dark sheet-webber spider.

Dimorphotheca nudicaulis September above St James

Moraea gawleri leaves with riffled margins caught our attention. Oblong capsule fruit of Nemesia macrocarpa. Cyphia latipetala (climber) - broad petals with a dark spotted eye. Cyphia bulbosa (but Campanulaceae, not actually a bulb) softly pink with fine leaves.

Moraea gawleri September above St James

Aspalathus carnosa because of bracts. Satyrium bicallosum - small and pale. Peachy Oxalis obtusa. Pelargonium triste is often with us. Stachys aethiopica a quietly understated beauty. Podalyria calyptrata blasting our faces with PERFUME, too much for me.

On the Mule Track above St James in September

On to Rondebosch Common for spring flowers. Moraea aristata with peacock eye petals, in a nice population spreading steadily. Moraea gawleri in mostly soft pink, but also clear yellow. Moraea fugacissima gold sequins scattered along the damp paths. Rain daisies! Dimorphotheca pluvialis in drifts across the Common. Struthiola dodecandra grows tall with a happy mass of flowers.

Moraea on Rondebosch Common in September

White flowers. Tall Sparaxis bulbifera with papery bracts. And short Geissorhiza imbricata. Romulea hirsuta peach, burgundy and yellow! Lachenalia variegata was new to us, leaf base is spotted not zebra stripes. Baeometra uniflora has orange buds.

September bulbs on Rondebosch Common

Beetle with long legs. Black and yellow spotted beetle on deep blue Felicia heterophylla. Low in purple and white Babiana ambigua. Monkey beetles on a huge Pauridia capensis in a burnt patch. Tall in soft blue Babiana fragrans. Sadly a dead Cape dune mole rat (people walking off leash dogs!) Compensated by a tall long legged bird Western grey heron.

Babiana in September on Rondebosch Common

Finishing September on Elsie's Peak. Drimia exuviata. But first for the Serruria cyanoides we walk in the firebreak. Drosera cisticola. Small pink Muraltia demissa. Polygala bracteolata with white tassels. Diascia capensis.

Serruria on Elsie's Peak in September

Up to the top for Gladiolus debilis (debilis meaning delicate, but these were tall sturdy plants) burgundy calligraphy on white. Morella quercifolia (the 'oak' leaves). Where the path divided, we walked down to the right.

Gladiolus debilis in September on Elsie's Peak

Then across to explore the burnt area. Trachyandra hirsutiflora has hairy buds. Stately Aristea spiralis. Moraea fugax in the usual yellow. Wachendorfia paniculata. But also one blue Moraea fugax. Moraea ochroleuca plants in 3 variations from this deep orange to butter yellow.

September bulbs on Elsie's Peak

Ferraria crispa 2 plants on the rocky ridge. Oedera imbricata (with the 9 heads). A dark Satyrium lupulinum. Manulea cheiranthus orange spider flowers. Bee fly on Ursinia.

With a bee fly on Elsie's Peak in September

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October and our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 17:34:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

October has filled our garden with flowers. Posies on the windowsills. Pelargoniums for blowsy colour and Iceberg for fragrant elegance.

Posies on the windowsills

Salmon pelargonium explosion. Pink pelargonium with pretty marking on petals and leaves. Melianthus major.

That salmon pelargonium

Celeste's iris and memories of my mother's garden for Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah.

Celeste's iris

Perfect deep blue Anchusa capensis. Elaborate purple spire of Coleus neochilus. Left edible mint, right Coleus madagascariensis - not to be confused!

Blue and white garden

We took our egg boxes and jam jars to Heart and Soil. Where we met the goats for the cheese. Generous bunch of Swiss chard did 2 meals. Enjoying their marmalade.

From Heart and Soil

Bunch of bananas still, slowly turning yellow. We have trimmed off 2 to try. Fiercely pruned olive is now smothered in flowers / fruit. Lemon has flowers and tiny fruit. Sawed the lime stump down and have a fresh sprout!

Bananas, olive and citrus 'trees'

Bonsai forest is now 3 gnarled and twisty trees, with some lichen on the dead centre. Begonia buds and South American pink Oxalis.

Bonsai
and exotic pinks

Yellow climbing daisy. Hibiscus a deeper yellow with more sun. Coleonema album in blue pot flowering nicely. Alstroemeria lolling across the path - picked for my sister.

Yellow and white October flowers

Roepera flexuosa is flowering already (planted in June) Trusses of yellow on Psychotria capensis. Feathery Bulbine has leaves which are good against summer and hiking itchy bites.

Yellow flowers for October

I garden for biodiversity. On the Californian poppy a wild Cape honey bee feisty against the buffeting breeze. Monkey beetle diving into hawkweed. Dotted fruit chafer beetle on Felicia.

Little lives in our garden

Watch cats sitting either side of the gate on evening duty, Thomas looking up the road, and Zoe looking down. (Remembering first Pickwick, then Sparkles, Henry, Chocolat and Aragon)

Thomas and Zoe watch cats on duty

Today is All Souls and I remember my mother's Holds upon Happiness and my father (her lanky New Zealander), my middlest sister Margie, Jurg's parents, and Nick.

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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August Fynbos Rambles to Jonkersdam, Silvermine, Slangkop and Kommetjie

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 13:32:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

August was winter. Jonkersdam Trail. Trichocephalus stipularis with fleshy, furry pink fruit. Babiana villosula - usually blue, but this one is white. Weather rolling in to chase us home. Delicate Pelargonium. Lobostemon fruticosus in pink and blue flannel pyjamas. Disperis capensis - neat pair of slippers

Jonkersdam in August
Pink and blue

Spiralled heart of Cotula pruinosa. Chrome yellow orchid Satyrium coriifolium. Protea scolymocephala small perfection of protea. Leucadendron conocarpodendron buds sparkling silver where the pincushions catch the light. Pauridia flaccida, plain yellow above, beautifully striped in bud and below. Bolusafra bituminosa, yellow pea flowers and bitumen scented leaves.

Jonkersdam in August
Yellow

Oxalis obtusa in fruity ice cream pastels. View to mountains of Silvermine (past the Capri reservoir). Cliffortia polygonifolia (a burnet in the rose family) - red floof - is that all? asks J. Tall sundew Drosera cistiflora. Babiana ringens with ants enjoying nectar in the sun.

Jonkersdam in August
the warm colours

Silvermine to Junction Pool. Magnificent 'Oh my' Mimetes fimbriifolius all the way!

Mimetes fimbriifolius
Silvermine in August

Can that big fruit come from those small flowerbuds? Gomphocarpus cancellatus milkweed. Silvermine waterfall gushing with winter enthusiasm! Green Erica urna-viridis. Disperis capensis, orchid from the back. Amphithalea ericifolia. A Muraltia polygala family.

August waterfall at Silvermine

Slangkop. We were greeted by Mr Wahoo guarding his baboon troop.

Typical fynbos is mostly green and brown, and we look, for our flowers. Chapman's Peak sheltering below the protea bush. Gladiolus carinatus with the Atlantic Ocean on the horizon. Our favourite mystery Microdon capitatus (Scrophulariaceae) in seed - only this small population left on the Cape Peninsula. Pelargonium suburbanum (sub because taxonomy immortalises - we thought it was a city dweller!) Petalacte coronata.

Mr Wahoo at Slangkop in August

Winding slowly to the landmark dwarf Protea nitida. 4 pairs of yellow points for Struthiola ciliata flowers. Red velvet Hyobanche sanguinea (a root parasite) showing the white cat's claw flower. No rays for purple Othonna digitata. Metalasia compacta creamy flowers emerging from deep pink bracts. Unusual colour for a sage, dusky pink Salvia lanceolata.

Slangkop in August
pink ish flowers

Silver silk on Aspalathus sericea. Rare brown form of (usually yellow) Oxalis luteola. Weird shape and colours for Liparia parva (pea family). Emerging from the sand, dune cups are Peziza ammophila fungus. On this slope we look for Arctotis breviscapa, golden yellow daisies, beautiful on both sides!

Slangkop in August
with dune cups and yellow flowers

Kommetjie to Soetwater. In the little bay at Kommetjie, a promise of an incoming storm, with Hartlaub's gulls resting in the calm before.

Hartlaub's gulls in the calm before

We did, see flowers - but totally upstaged by a world of foam. Foam People flying inland on the gusts. Fiscal shrike busy hunting bugs among the washed up kelp. Beyond the grass, under the foam, is the beach we usually cross. April 2021 and September 2024.

Foaming Fiscal!

"What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It's today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favorite day,” said Pooh. - A.A. Milne

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September Darling Wildflower show, Great Southern Bioblitz, back to our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:04:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

We last went to Darling in 2018.

Swartland Granite Renosterveld - renoster means rhino and they had fun with a metal rhino and his lady covered in renosterbos (another Daisy).

Rhinos for Renosterveld

A day trip for Darling Wildflower Show. Prickles on Heterorhachis aculeata (endemic and Vulnerable). Nemesia strumosa (endemic) is HUGE compared to our local species. Common name Groen goggas ( = green bugs) is an orchid.

Darling Wildflower Show 2024

On to the wild flowers we came for at Tienie Versfeld Nature Reserve - named for Marthinus “Oom Tienie” Versfeld who donated the land. Wind turbines - I had to hold the flowers still. Moraea ~~tripetala~~ mutila (long slender inner tepals says John Manning) in sky blue. Heliophila africana.

Blue flowers and wind turbines

Renosterveld is famous for bulbs, both variety and quantity for a thriving porcupine population. Blue sequins Geissorhiza aspera. Lachenalia. Wachendorfia multiflora, the pink not yellow species. Halo winecup Geissorhiza radians (Endangered). Chink - my mother used to send these tight buds to Granma in London. White Sparaxis bulbifera.

Bulbs from Darling

Also famous for rocking the daisies. Marsh buttons Cotula coronopifolia near the dam. Orange Arctotis acaulis. Gazania the ultimate orange daisy.

Daisies from Darling

Pauridia canaliculata with a brown eye (endemic and Endangered), and little person SWIMming in pollen. Gaudy grasshopper not waiting for a photo! Yellow pea waiting to be named on iNaturalist. Bulbinella. Hermannia pinnata yellow twirly bells.

Yellow flowers swimming in pollen

Orchid Pterygodium orobanchioides - we brought one from our Porterville garden.

Hebenstretia has an orange eye, with the dam behind. Pelargonium triste. Lobostemon.

Darling flowers in soft colours

Romulea tabularis is named for Table Mountain. Best seen as a 'floating island' (the Peninsula) from across the bay. Here with lenticular cloud as we drove home - not quite enough in the battery, so we stopped for a quick top up at Century City.

Romulea tabularis
with That Table

8 C this October morning with snow on Jonkershoek mountains near Stellenbosch yesterday! Fragrances from funky to delicious in our garden. Blue Coleus neochilus. Long legs is a 'cosmopolitan cellar spider' travelling the world. Agathosma collina. Arum lily is simple self-striped perfection. Coleonema album. Freesia leichtlinii.

White garden flowers in September

Yellow Clivia has one flower this year. Gladiolus tristis prefers marshy. Albuca taking over this bed. Knowltonia vesicatoria, toothed trifoliate leaves, 'anemone' flowers, then green and black berries - makes for an interesting shady pot. Spanish bluebells two flowers this year, perhaps they need more sun, lots of leaves. Pink pelargoniums in one of 3 patterns.

Yellow garden flowers in September

Winter warmth in flowers for Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. Flamboyant pink, smouldering salmon and flaming red pelargoniums. Nasturtiums in all the tones from yellow to russet. Dusky pink Veltheimia. Coral begonia.

Winter warmth in September garden flowers

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

Zoe with her little black African wildcat toes, Thomas with his serious winter boots. As I write the sun is shining and back to 20 C inside.

Zoe and Thomas

Some flowers are still nameless as iNaturalist is engrossed in the Great Southern Bioblitz. Led by Melbourne, then Pondoland with almost 2 thousand species. We continue to 'name that' till 7 October - 1287 for me so far and that is HOURS a day!!

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August in our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:08:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

As we turn to spring our sombre tapestry hedge is lit with orange flames of Aloiampelos ciliaris. It is a scrambler that needs a friend to lean on - leaving that dead bietou to be a good friend, while the little replacement grows to fill the space.

Climbing aloe in tapestry hedge

Our only winter damage from the storm warnings was this chunk of Coprosma repens. Smothered table and chairs and blocked the path - why, does that look wrong?? Since it was here when we moved in, about 26 years old and the wood is rotten in parts. Good to have my little chainsaw to whizz thru reducing it to useful sections to edge the paths.

Storm damage to Coprosma

With carob and Coprosma trimmed that corner is lighter and brighter, with the glimpse of Brakkloofrant restored.

Coprosma and carob corner

Last time we got halfway across the Brachylaena discolor, waited for the cold, wet and windy to give us another gap. My yellow South Africa rose is sulking between fertiliser burn and too much winter shade, but it has leaf buds waiting. Trimmed the other half of the tree, and again appreciate countering winter's grey days.

Brachylaena discolor

Vlei lily Wurmbea stricta and pink rose Thuli Madonsela.

Vlei lily and pink rose

The original wild white species is Freesia leichtlinii. A perfect trumpet.

Freesia leichtlinii

Self-seeded lavender for Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah.

Lavender

Daisies, the new yellow Euryops and kingfisher blue Felicia.

Daisies

Lime gold Albuca is all over my garden. Albuca bracteata spreads its clump, but not far from the mother bulb - common name pregnant onions.

Albuca twice

Orange nasturtiums and salmon pink pelargonium for more spring colour.

Orange and pink for spring

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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July Fynbos Rambles to Elsie's and Noordhoek Peaks

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 13:07:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

Elsie's Peak was blooming cold - beanie and mitts all the way. But we were ahead of the next rain. Bottom left you can see the re-engineered dunes turning green, where Silvermine River reaches the sea.

Looking down from Elsie's Peak

Hoping to see our Audouinia capitata, but still tight buds. Aristea glauca has a translucent spathe with a dark keel.

Elsie's Peak with Aristea in July

Leucospermum hypohyllocarpodendron - green leaved ssp. First time we noticed those architectural and geometric deep red buds! This pincushion protea snakes along the ground. Othonna bulbosa petals furled under against the cold. Millipede with red legs Wenceslas walking.

Elsie's Peak with Leucospermum in July

Brunia noduliflora - leaves are not as soft as lanuginosa. Lobostemon fruticosus - hairy leaves - pink buds turning to blue flowers. Lobostemon montanus - soft velvety leaves with pale blue flowers.

Elsie's Peak with Lobostemon in July

Noordhoek fire lookout. Starting from the dam where they have worked hard to repair the jeep track across the river, gabions, concrete ford, and a little footbridge for dry feet. Spillway at the dam is usually dry, but flowing strongly after heavy rain.

Silvermine River the ford and the spillway

Erica physodes was the Peninsula Endemic reason for this walk. Gnidia tomentosa with central spiked golden crown. Stilbe vestita like white candles.

Erica physodes at Silvermine in July

Fish Hoek in the first broad valley, Simon's Town tucked in the next bay. Across the Cape Flats and winter smog the distant mountains are topped with snow.

View from Silvermine

Oedera imbricata (has broad leaves) displaying the 9 heads within the flower, the leader throning in the centre. Sweat bee on yellow daisy is the fifth bee for our FR project. Tall silver pea Xiphotheca fruticosa.

Oedera at Silvermine in July

Tiniest bunch of pink and white roses Metalasia divergens fusca, thumbnail-sized in life - Peninsula Endemic. Lichen on rock, colour just gently touched with gold. Reminds me of the dishevelled hair of 2 nameless politicians. Purple and white Muraltia heisteria with spiky leaves at the ready. Clump of arum lilies (neither arums, nor lilies) Zantedeschia aethiopica.

Politician's hair lichen at Silvermine in July

Shall we continue up Noordhoek Peak? The Nine agreed, while three headed home. Hard slog, UP, and UP. Sunny, but with an icy breeze for four hang-gliders nearer the dam. We were finally on Noordhoek Peak 754 M. Looking down to Chapman's Peak 593 M, Slangkop lighthouse mid-left and helicopters flying below us! Across to Little Lion's Head and up higher to Constantiaberg 928 M. We start from Silvermine Dam at 500 M.

View from Noordhoek Peak

Back down at the dam the bird whisperer caught the interest of a Cape boubou shrike, who studied us equally intently.

Cape boubou shrike

We have a Fynbos Rambles on the Cape Peninsula project on iNaturalist. As we work back adding observations from our hikes, we have 570 species. 483 plants, including 35 Peninsula Endemics. 73 assorted animals including 52 arthropods for C. 12 mushrooms and lichen.

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July around our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 14:42:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Silvermine bridge suffering from July's winter rain. It was closed last time, but now it dips in 3 places where the pillars were undermined. Municipality must restore it when the weather allows, as the electricity supply across to Clovelly runs thru there. In June we walked across that causeway bridge!

Silvermine Bridge in July

Silvermine River sparkling with innocence on a brilliant sunny day - Cape Town winter at its best!

Silvermine River

We have had a series of 14 cold fronts. More coming in August, perhaps even September. And cold (he bought an electric blanket) with a fire earlier each evening.

Storm clouds rolling in July

Bunch of wimps!! Where are our cushions?! Never mind the unexpected puddles rolling in. Thomas at his freshly filled waterbowl - no wonder his tail swishes wet when he comes in again.

Winter weather for cats

Gifted flowers - mostly fynbos with Serruria and Leucadendron. Geraldton waxflower too, which my mother liked.

Gifted flowers

For Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. Under the trees are mushrooms - a children's storybook clump, and others with dissolving margins. Milkweed climber has big pods.

Garden mushrooms

At Kirstenbosch, took my camera hoping for snow (yes, but too far for my lens). The mountain is called Castle Rock, but now that someone has called it Teddy Bear Mountain I cannot UNsee that. Streams bubbling with foam and raging down towards the sea.

Kirstenbosch in July

Remember the tiny baboon troop that came down our street? The Ungardener met them later up on Brakkloofrant. Thanks to our City's baboon 'management protocols' the 'raiding male' was 'euthanased'. RIP Creamy. Leaving 2 girls and 2 kids unprotected. A last glimpse of little Squeak caring for baby Pip. RIP Squeak. Now there are only 2 girls (Eileen has one blind eye) defending a baby ... SO Inconvenient for wine estates and developments on the urban edge of Table Mountain - National Park AND World Heritage site. Cannot expect residents to live WITH nature, what do you think this place is, a jungle?!

RIP Creamy and Squeak

Our fynbos needs our baboons. Our baboons need to forage in fynbos.

Dramatic July sunset

We have been pruning on the sunny between days. Hope August will see more gardening.

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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May and June Fynbos Rambles

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 14:27:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

May Fynbos Rambles

Up to Elsie's Peak for after the fire flowers. Looking across to slopes turning green after December fire above St James. Asparagus capensis blooms for bees 6 weeks after a fire. Grass with spiky flowers, and Colpoon compressum resprouting.

Elsie's Peak in May after fire

White pompoms are Brunia noduliflora. Haemanthus sanguineus berries for 'once were tortoises here'. Erica similis has Y anthers. Nose fly on Protea repens. Olea capensis laden with fruit. Yellow lobelia is Monopsis lutea

Elsie's Peak - May flowers

Slangkop above Kommetjie. Microdon capitatus fruit - endangered - this is the only surviving population on the Peninsula. Morella quercifolia leaves like oak, as the name says. Oxalis luteola. Bulbine praemorsa has thick fleshy channelled leaves, with a Thomisus spider waiting for lunch to be delivered. Dancing daisy Othonna quinquedentata.

Slangkop in May with Bulbine

Orange bunches twirled up the stem is Manulea rubra. Cynanchum africanum (milkweed family) - dark twirly petals, tall narrow white crown or corona. A little kind winter sunshine with Antarctica behind us to the South. White feathers for Ficinia deusta. Muraltia spinosa in pink, and a white one too.

Slangkop in May with Cynanchum

Silvermine longer circuit around Maiden Peak, then dip down to the river and wind up again. Astephanus triflorus (another milkweed). Lampranthus bicolor fruit opening with drizzle. Tetraria thermalis scattered across the hillside in large clumps. Gomphocarpus cancellatus (third milkweed) - mother and baby plants this year. Oxalis eckloniana has a long floral tube, leaves are red below. Metalasia densa with deep pink bracts.

Pink flowers at Silvermine in May

Gladiolus x 2, priorii - red flashes across the landscape, and spotty maculatus. Slime mould. Leucadendron salignum female cones with lime gold and ivory bracts lighting up the slopes Yellow daisy, trident leaves Athanasia trifurcata.

Yellow flowers at Silvermine in May

June Fynbos Rambles

Spitskop in Silvermine. Shower as we drove up then the weather held for us. A longer circuit along the jeep track up over the ridge to junction for tea. Then up the valley, squidge across the river and wind our way back up and down. Selection of Gladiolus maculatus with burgundy-brown-purple spots and stripes on buttery yellow.

Gladiolus maculatus at Spitskop in June

Black beard and dark bracts for Protea lepidocarpodendron. Boggy bit near and across the river - with a landmark of swamp daisy Osmitopsis we found Mimetes hirtus, and Leucadendron spissifolium with shiny red cones. Podalyria sericea (have added this beauty to my garden). Tiny crystalwort towards the bubbling stream edge.

Proteas at Spitskop in June

Cape Point Red Track with my favourite wide open views across the plain - mountains and sea we have 'everywhere' but our flat plains are concrete jungle. Again drizzle on windscreen - then sunny and not too cold all morning. Scuttle back to vote in our local by-election (after we just had the national election!)

Red Track at Cape Point

Serruria villosa. We were looking for mielie heath - another boggy plant and we found a few - yellow flowers sparkling in the sun like a glossy corncob - Erica patersonii. But first to admire Gladiolus merianellus glowing and backlit by the sun. Red fruiting Penaea mucronata. Pelargonium myrrhifolium growing with determination IN the jeep track. Bronze and ivory - both daisies!

Red Track flowers in June

Silvermine to Blackburn Ravine. For that view, unexpected as it opens with the last few steps on the trail, enjoyed with a new member A. Erica abietina constantiana (that little bit different to atrorosea). Watsonia borbonica a graceful echo of a ballet dancer. Erica parviflora is furry like hirtiflora, but the flowers are narrower tubes. Moon peeking over the ridge. Little ivory and red fruiting mystery is Erica glabella. Gnidia pinifolia.

June flowers to Blackburn Ravine

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3 Suez Canal to the Red Sea

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Reunion Island and Jardin des Parfums et des Epices

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 14:28:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Splendid birthday 5

We arrived at Reunion Island at sunrise (in November 2023). To see this, I will be up early. Our tugs were Volcan! and Bougainville (the man for whom Bougainvillea was named - French admiral and explorer contemporary with James Cook)

Sunrise arrival at Reunion

Along the shore an unexpected elevated freeway in 'tropical France'. Concrete block number 13 along the breakwater, so they can monitor storm movement. Ship shuttle then local bus to a large and very French shopping mall - with prices also in familiar Swiss francs. Temple Mariamen bus stop unmissable! Shuttle again to get free WiFi - and a nasty scrum at the bus, as one impatient thug insisted on shoving his way on while the crammed bus was offloading. Not nearly enough shuttle buses for such a humungous ship.

Bus stop at the mall in Reunion

Next day our journey round the island. To (St Denis) St Dni for locals, on that elevated freeway - recently built against rockfalls on the old road. Bagasse (sugarcane waste) is burnt for power, with solar and wind turbines.

Notre Dame des Laves church in St Rose was our first stop. The church split the lava flow in April 1977, and stands as a memorial and active Catholic church.

St Rose church

Madonna of the Lava - Notre Dame des Laves - La Metisse 77 sculpted from basalt with tears running down her cheeks - she has ferns growing in her hair. Seems a brutal habitat for ferns, but spores blowing in the wind, and the dark lava catches dew near the sea?

Madonna of the Lava

At the foot of the lava flow in 2007. Lichen which can colonise lava. Sword fern and polypody also thriving here.

Foot of the lava flow in 2007

Lunch at Le Cap Mechant where I saw tropicbirds with long white tails.

Tropicbird

And plants I had only seen on iNaturalist before. Scaevola taccada fan flower growing on lava at the sea shore. That wicked cape below a gentle lawn of indigenous Manila grass, seeds blown in on the wind and thriving on lava in moisture from sea spray! Screw pine Pandanus utilis - named for the leaf scars which spiral up the stem like the thread of a screw.

Le Cap Mechant

Jardin des Parfums et des Epices

Garden of Perfumes and Spices. Who knew - cinnamon leaves are also fragrant. Vanilla orchid is a climber with pods - brought Bourbon vanilla pods back for my sabbatiCAT niece. Between that local garden guide and iNat I hope to name my pictures. Dendrobium fimbriatum - the lip is fimbriate, divided into narrow lobes.

Bourbon vanilla

Ornamental pink bananas (can eat but beware of seeds) and pink pineapple. Coco pod for chocolate fans.

Pink bananas

Four gingers. Chunky yellow bud shampoo ginger. Spiral ginger with the stem spiralling up. Smaller Alpinia purpurata. Flamboyant red torch ginger with emerging orange flowers.

Four gingers

Two epiphytes. Lush shell pink bracts Medinilla magnifica. Cinderella sister Medinilla speciosa.

Commonorgarden Anthurium

Rosie and friends

String of stars Heliotropium. Jack fruit has lots of edible uses. Euphorbia with thorny stem. Large epiphytic fern is Asplenium. Five fingers in arum family. Red Flaming Sword bromeliad.

Jack fruit

Four Heliconia. Primary red yellow and blue. Orange zigzag with blue tips - parrot's beak. Chunky red has 'strelitzia' leaves. Slender orange.

Four Heliconia

Curved blue trumpet with orange throat Thunbergia. White flowers emerge on golden shrimp plant (from Peru). Yellow flowers down below tall leaves for Calathea (related to gingers and bananas) prayer plant (leaves fold closed overnight). Red 'bouquet' of Ixora

Golden shrimp plant

A long day, including rush hour traffic, but we caught our ship, just in time for dinner and departure. About 200 kilometres. There ends a Splendid birthday.

1 Our ship and Trieste

2 Cruising around Greece

4 Mauritius and Pamplemousses garden

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June and our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 14:53:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

June saw me in the garden. Ticking off my long list. Walked down to the Silvermine wetland. The City cleared reeds, dredged silt, created new islands. We saw a heron and blacksmith lapwings - one enjoying a bath in that perfect shallow water.

Silvermine wetland rehab for the birds

I coveted a habitat sign for our garden. Comes from Fynbos LIFE nursery for my lowland fynbos.

LIFE garden

Interesting caterpillars on Streptocarpus and pelargonium. We have our new GNU cabinet. DA (devil's alliance) won the environment portfolio 'transformation of our economy from a high carbon economy to a green economy'

Garden caterpillars

This side of the garden, Cornish Stripe, works best. Bananas are ripening very slowly, turning yellow towards Sunnyside Up.

Cornish Stripe

For Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. I moved the biggest blue pot, from hidden among tall Cyperus to be a focal point where 2 paths meet at the lemon tree. Coleonema should be flowerier with more sun. Carved a lot off the shrubs which blocked our view - so we can see the house lights across the valley as evening falls.

Blue pots as focal point

Blue and white intended, altho the Icebergs grow on the other side. Bit of yellow to take the chilly edge off. Albuca blooming in the wall planter thru the kitchen window.

Blue and yellow garden flowers

Working on the silver leaves and pink flowers for Spring Promise. I added Podalyria sericea and Chironia baccifera. Helmet sedge likes seasonally wet and lives in a pot on the pebble beach at Froggy Pond.

Silver leaves

For Summer Gold the inherited hibiscus is responding well to - cutting back the carob etc for more sun, fed and watered. We have flowers and buds. Squares and octagons are my favourite shape. I moved this pot, again hidden among green stuff, to be a little focal point below the bird feeder. Paved it with golden stones while I wait for the forest sedge to bulk up. 2 different Sansevieria leaves. Thinned them out from overlapping the paved edge of the pond - they will make a lusher impact here too.

Yellow hibiscus

New yellow flowers. Euryops pectinatus flowers with enthusiasm outside our bedroom window. Roepera flexuosa under our bedroom window to catch the afternoon sun. Cineraria geifolia, I think of those leaves as kidney-shaped - but geifolia means leaves like Geum?

New yellow flowers

But in winter Karoo Koppie out front, catching sun all day, comes into its own. Dangling bells of soft terracotta with lime silver Cotyledon orbiculata. Red aloe appreciates the slice I carved off the top of the olive tree. Twirled Boophone leaves, no flowers this year? Bees humming around yellow aloe flowers (need to prune more around that one). Lachenalia bulbifera flowers are fading slowly. Halleria lucida has its flowers on the trunk - called cauliflory (stem + flowers, easy to remember with stemless plant species called acaulis). Moved a substantial chunk of Euphorbia tirucalli - will see if it survives. Steadily removing Euphorbia mauritanica - clipping the bits to 'chop and drop' and dry out in our garden. Then he cleans the latex off my secateurs and I UNstick my fingers.

Winter aloes

Potted lime is struggling. My yellow rose is sulking - perhaps too deep and wet, but the stem is still green. 'We' need to prune the Brachylaena, and I will nibble away at the ivy monster and our neighbour's toppling hedge. Also fighting back against the gloom as our nearly ten year old garden grows up, and closes in!

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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April Fynbos Rambles to Olifantsbos, Saint James, Chapman's Peak and Jonkersdam

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:33:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

At Cape Point we drove in past a baboon troop. Large male enjoying something - like chewing corn on the cob, but it looked twiggy? Stopped at the marsh and peat for a woody iris Witsenia maura.

Witsenia maura Cape Point in April

On to Olifantsbos. Very windy, we chose a short circuit. Looking back to hidden Scarborough then Kommetjie. And the view, turquoise sea, white sandy beach, distant blue mountains, deeply eroded sandstone.

Cape Point towards Scarborough and Kommetjie

Hanging white bells Euclea racemosa. On the horizon before the beach a herd of fynbos bontebok silhouetted against vivid blue sea. Staavia dodii - spectacular white flowers - are bracts - sparkling across the slope as we climbed to the ridge. Zoomed right in, the centre has pink tipped white flowers. Forking red lichen. Stopped on the way back for this Haemanthus coccineus. Spotted stalk is the clue here. Ethereal Cape caraway - white wispy flowers to lime gold fruit.

Olifantsbos April flowers

St James Mule Track after the February fire, interesting plants to explore. View of the Sunny Cove burn scar, that green strip between the coastal road and the upper houses - burnt 4 houses.

Fire scars in April

This slope was dotted with proud yellow daisies on tall stalks Capelio tabularis, with velvety and glossy leaves.

Capelio tabularis April

Tall tight buds on fire pea Indigofera cytisoides. Watsonia tabularis first flower, many more to come from fans of leaves. Syncarpha vestita has shed its seeds. Watsonia corms dug up by baboons or porcupines? Tall lichen. Viscum capense with fruit.

St James April flowers rising from the ash

Weary Willie stream flowing. Trichocephalus stipularis. Much prettier buds on white daisy Arctotis aspera. Erica nudiflora - has one side of the stalk bare of flowers. Erica coccinea. Othonna quinquedentata.

St James April flowers from a greener part

Chapman's Peak with fog and sun performing. Flowers completely upstaged by a cloud spectacle! First brilliant sunshine, then foggy fingers reaching thru the gaps. Dense fog bank rolling in from the South Atlantic Ocean. Even foggy fingers below us. Clouds and fog ate the Sentinel (that last peak towering above the sea) and swallowed our path around us.

Chapman's Peak Clouds in April

We went a bit further than usual, left towards Constantiaberg at the cairn. Erica cerinthoides. Erica pulchella. Chrysocoma coma-aurea twice golden, chrys in Greek and aurea in Latin.

Chapman's Peak April flowers

On the Jonkersdam Trail. Oxalis dentata - which despite the name, has NO teeth. Anaxeton laeve. Erica glabella. Pine emperor moth which we found thawing out on the path - named because it bothered the pine plantations, but it eats Protea repens which is where we found it. Between trail runners and horses, when the wing twitched, we rescued it to a sunny bush instead. Lachenalia punctata.

Jonkersdam April with 'pine' moth

Erica mammosa now, but was gilva. Empodium plicatum prompts farmers to plough their autumn fields. Macrostylis villosa. Clutia ericoides flowers on a female plant. Euphorbia tuberosa with fruit.

Jonkersdam April flowers

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May and our False Bay garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 16:39:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Between catching up with my iNaturalist backlog and this week's elections, not much gardening done. My bird has been framed in 'weathered denim' to sing with his blue-grey square (reduction linocut).

Cape robin-chat

Red-wing starlings flocking to Searsia crenata berries - which are falling to the path as they dry out.

Red-wing starlings

Bunch of bananas still startles us when we look that way!

Bananas

For Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah. My camera skills don't capture what my merely human eye does. Waves of purples and a little white. Mother plant and finally a white seedling (hidden away behind the lemon tree) to nurture in a more visible place.

Cornish Stripe in purples

For the bluer - Barleria obtusa. White mother Hypoestes aristata. Self-seeded purples vary, more pink, more purple, lighter or darker.

Purples for Cornish Stripe
and Zackie Achmat

Lemon tree leafing out. Will rescue it from shrubs and groundcovers when winter fades the lush flowers.

Lemon tree

Working on cutting back Hibiscus tiliaceus. Which exploded across to the bird-feeder after the carob was pruned. It has buttery yellow flowers. But way up high and I only see them when they fade and fall.

Hibiscus tiliaceus

May flowers. Fruity fragrant South Africa rose - brought that flower in ahead of stormy weather. Felicia daisy - felicity - my colour of happiness. Delicate mauve Plectranthus saccatus. Sturdy Lachenalia bulbifera.

May flowers in my garden

That week I took my camera to Kirstenbosch, to record the fire scar. Flames and embers licked down to Newlands forest - held back by firefighters, helicopters with buckets, and indigenous forest resistant to fire. 283 hectares burnt across the Back Table of Table Mountain.

Fire scar above Kirstenbosch

Bonus picture of Tetradenia riparia also known as iboza. Leaves smell gently of camphor.

Tetradenia riparia

Elections. We had independent candidates for the first time. Western Cape had Zackie Achmat (known for the Treatment Action Campaign for antiretroviral drugs against HIV and AIDS) - "all of us are disheartened by the results for the forces of hate such as MK, the Patriotic Alliance and the Coloured Congress but we accept the will of their voters without question. These are forces that will destroy our society and no democrat should encourage them, faux leftists notwithstanding” he wrote.

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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March Fynbos Rambles to Silvermine and Smitswinkel Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Fri, 17 May 2024 14:54:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

Back in March our first hike was to Noordhoek Fire Lookout. Last one with a twirly start at 08:30. And that view of my Table Mountain with Devil's Peak to the right.

Table Mountain from Silvermine

At Disa ferruginea we were divebombed by Table Mountain Beauty butterfly - large and lovely - but took off as I focused! Erica ericoides the usual pink. Ifloga has fascicles of leaves. New development on a former kaolin mine. Strip the vegetation, leaving strategic pines for fires?

Noordhoek Fire Lookout
March flowers

Looped around Silvermine Village, which is kinder to its firebreak wildflowers. Starting again at 09:30 - flower time! An unusual Brunsvigia orientalis, just the one - in white with soft yellow stripes along the petals.

White Brunsvigia orientalis
Silvermine in March

Neighbouring plant striped in a gentle colour between the common red and this white.

Striped Brunsvigia orientalis
Silvermine in March

Continue to Silvermine Mule Track along Noordhoek Manor firebreak and verge, strimmed to within an inch of its life. African Coromandel - Asystasia intrusa - sprawling groundcover - hived off from gangetica which is bigger and bluer. Ours is dainty in white with a purple filigree on the lip. Phyla nodiflora - another sprawling groundcover with spikes of scroph flowers (petals fused to a child's scrawled drawing of A Flower). Two clumps of March lilies - Amaryllis belladonna - permitted their frou frou pink and white cancan skirts. (Accompanied by a surviving plague of invasive Australian acacia seedlings)

Silvermine Mule Track
March flowers

Rafnia triflora fruit. Rafnia is a pea, and those 'twirled leaves' are its fruit (I despair). Counting teeth on Struthiola dodecandra flowers. Erica ericoides - one in white. Lonely pink Erica viscaria.

Silvermine Mule Track
with Rafnia in March

Down to Smitswinkel Bay where it was autumn equinox at 5AM in Cape Town. Leucadendron macowanii - mother (has also been strimmed!) and a younger one. More plants in the reserve behind the fence. A and I walked a few minutes further to dolerite intrusion / dyke. Tea on the rocks, while wary of equinoctial waves. Cape beach lichen. Seaside sunburst lichen.

Leucadendron, dolerite and lichen
Smitswinkel in March

Big fern is Blechnum capense. Medium is coral fern. Cliffortia obcordata, with its stacked coin leaves, haunted me at the City Nature Challenge. Mimetes cucullatus - the smaller one. Standard red Brunsvigia permitted to flower on the firebreak this year. Effective biocontrol on invasive Australian wattles.

Smitswinkel Mimetes in March

Smitswinkel beach. A treasure trove of rocks. Long haul back up, with my rocks!

Smitswinkel beach - treasure trove of rocks

Back to Silvermine past the waterfall. Looking for Witsenia maura. Foiled us as the plants have moved further towards Ou Kaapse Weg. Didn't even find leaves! L's dog doing zoomies at the lily pond, and showering mud - loved his Fynbos Ramble! Tea break on the rocks with - what is that flash of red? Disa ferruginea. Staavia radiata 's pink flowers require close attention. Gladiolus brevifolius each one that little bit different!

Silvermine Waterfall path in March

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April and our False Bay garden with CNC and FIRES!

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:50:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

City Nature Challenge is done. Now, we ID thousands of pictures! We are running eighth ... and counting. La Paz, Hong Kong, San Antonio, Houston, Monterey, Dallas, San Francisco (four in the USA where the challenge was launched). Ninth! Edged out by Graz.

In the garden we have bananas coming with at least four bunches visible as the bracts lift away. Previous harvest was May 2018! For Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah.

Bananas in April 2024

April has been an appalling month for fires. 1 April a fire started a few houses away from us in the National Park, then burnt towards the beach.

Peers Hill fire 1 April 2024

7 April a small greenbelt along the coast burnt in ferocious wind. Four houses destroyed and more damaged.

Sunny Cove fire 7 April 2024

Today we are in the third day of a fire started on Table Mountain by a lightning strike. Inaccessible to firefighters, it is on the cliffs. Threatening both Kirstenbosch garden and pockets of indigenous forests. Yesterday an oblivious trail runner was rescued.

Thomas says bedtime!

Turning to the creatures that find a home in our garden. Thomas explaining to Jurg - time to switch off the laptop and head for bed!

Clicking stream frog

Frog with long toes. With an orchestra clicking away in our pond overnight.

Rain spider, looking at you

Spider eyes are diagnostic for species. Long learning curve.

Crimson speckled footman butterfly

Butterfly - crimson speckled footman - sheltering from strong wind.

Red-wing starlings eating Searsia berries

Our Searsia shrubs are absolutely laden with berries this year and fruit-eating birds are happy.

Zoë belly to the sun

Soaking up the autumn sun!

Robin-chat linocut print

My London-born mother taught me that Cape robins have white eyebrows. Our usual Kirstenbosch Mondays include rotating art exhibitions. This is a print from an eight layer reduction linocut by Philippa-Jane Versfeld - 'some of the layers have multiple colour tones (sometimes up to 5 colours in one layer). Your Robin has 8 layers but 16 hand mixed colours in total'

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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February hikes to Cecilia Forest, Slangkop, to Blackburn Ravine and Elsie's Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 16:36:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

February is Disa month. Started from Cecilia Forest to avoid gate fee at Kirstenbosch. Botanical Society members have lost their free entry - we need a new SANBI card. More disas blooming than we have seen before. Almost 20, and a bud. One ripped trouser to reach that Hex of Hex River - we met an Afrikaans teacher who told us the story. Disa uniflora - Pride of Table Mountain - likes damp cliffs or stream banks.

Disa uniflora
Kirstenbosch in February

Blissful in forest with stream running - Disney and Bambi. Twinkly sparkly feather moss is Neckera valentiniana for Valentine's Day! Big fruit polypody fern. Long walk across to our kloof. Hot and exposed in former bluegum and pine plantation with black girdled lizard. Helichrysum grandiflorum ivory and silver against bronzed fallen eucalyptus leaves. Pink is unusual for our Crassula coccinea. Finally reached the natural fynbos above Kirstenbosch.

Cecilia to Kirstenbosch
Flowers in February

They call it blister bush. Does it? Leaves like celery, but beware. 2 guinea-pigs volunteered (not me, not a chance!) They mashed the leaves, rubbed them on 2 arms. Hiked in the sun for the morning - since it needs sunshine to react. With token picture of relevant leaves, not the actual guilty plant. Results after 2 weeks. Still red and angry, and yes there were actual blisters.

Blister bush

Only 5 cellophane bees observed on iNaturalist for the Cape Peninsula. Looking down to Kommetjie. Conehead mantis nymph pretending to be a spider against grey wood. Avenue, past the church where we park, is planted with flowering gums. Slangkop for Erica ferrea - tubby with a collar (but Erica corifolia pictured). Burnt on Christmas Eve just over a year ago. We walked 7 km.

Slangkop biodiversity in February

Up to radar station to decipher new graffiti. Two spotted frogs nose to nose? Aboriginal dreamtime art in dots.

Dotted frogs on Slangkop

Silvermine to Blackburn Ravine for That View to Hout Bay. DOWN Blackburn Ravine and across. We need only walk along, not much uphill.

Our view from the top of Blackburn Ravine

Lots of black girdled lizards and agamas - also 2 babies who were camera shy!

Baby agamas

Blue Disa graminifolia. Red Disa ferruginea cheats - NO nectar for pollinators (while red Tritoniopsis triticea has nectar for endemic Table Mountain Pride Butterfly). Another flaming red day. F's caterpillar 'unequal shark' - very pretty with dots and stripes in bright colours. Erica nevillei likes rocks and endures nectar thieves. Erica nevillei was Neville Pillans' 4124th contribution to the Bolus herbarium! Curly grass. Stoebe capitata. A longer walk, grateful for some clouds, even a few spots of rain. But a light breeze with a gentle hint of autumn.

Silvermine to Blackburn
February flowers

To see the Haemanthus sanguineus (UNspotted stalk) near Elsie's Peak after the Brakkloofrant fire 22 December.

Haemanthus sanguineus
February on Elsie's Peak after fire

Leucadendron salignum resprouting with many stems. Spiky blonde grass. Sticky Erica viscaria. White Drimia media. Bulbine favosa - fluffy anthers and no leaves now. We will not forget that cautious walk down again!

Elsie's Peak in February
Flowers after December fire

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3 Suez Canal to the Red Sea

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Mauritius and Pamplemousses garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 13:15:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Splendid birthday 4

Red Sea now our blurred memory (altho Splendida had second thoughts and is going the long way round, from Durban to Las Palmas this week). Next port last November was Mauritius. Named for Maurits of Orange. Maurice for French. We had three days to amble at leisure from Port Louis. Jogging track signposted along the waterfront.

Long walk back to the ship, ahead is open water

For me it was an untethered, mostly 'lass dich überraschen' (let yourself be surprised) holiday. One thing I asked for was Pamplemousses garden. Disconcerted to find a very large funerary monument (Samadhi) to the first Prime Minister of Mauritius.

In the medicinal garden. Yellow Allamanda cathartica from Brazil. Asparagus umbellatus from Canary Islands. Ravenala madagascariensis (Strelitzia family) traveller's palm. Frangipani (Central America) covered in moss and lichen - while I think of it as a 'dry' garden plant. Olea lancea endemic to Mascarene Islands. Noni fruit of Morinda citrifolia from Indo-Malaysia.

Traditional medicine garden at Pamplemousses November

Pink and white lotus each have their own pond. That fruit which looks like a showerhead.

Pink and white lotus Pamplemousses November

Amazon lily, young leaves concertina open, shares its pond with water lilies in pink, white and blue. White spike is water banana.

Amazon and water lilies Pamplemousses November

We criss-crossed the garden. Bois benjoin in Mauritian Creole. Buttress roots. African giant land snail. Bridge of sighs - Pont des Soupirs, even the stones grow green in this climate. Tapeworm plant has segmented leaves with tiddly flowers. Furled orange trumpet Cascabela thevetia Apocynaceae.

Pamplemousses garden in November

Grateful to be on our balcony when the afternoon brought a tropical downpour. Then we understood the stepped stacks of pallets against the warehouse.

Tropical downpour

Shopping for Mauritian tea. I found herbal and Earl Grey as well as Bois Cheri. Blue string of stars. God is looking after these people! - said the young Black ship photographer who needed my birthday for the Splendida app.

Blue string of stars in November

From the ship we watched the light rail train climb the hill. Where does it go? Helpful staff at the ticket machines - where, how much, yes you can use your card. Employment for school leavers? We travelled inland to Curepipe, and up 580 metres. Comfortable way to enjoy the inland scenery - altho we were the only tourists or expats to use good public transport both ways.

Sleek modern train on Mauritius

Mauritian sega (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage) dancers performed for us on the ship. Wide full skirts to swirl and flourish. The dance is both slave heritage from the many countries flung together, and protest against slavery. Drum, washboard and triangle are the musical instruments. Intercontinental Slavery Museum was on our walking route into town. Mask of Dhiahilila dit Jasmin from Tanzania, from the ethnographic collection of Froberville. Mauritian Creole is a recognised language, taught in schools and the university, with a first dictionary in 2009. Sited at the former military hospital as a symbol of 'healing memories and souls'. For more justice in society - 'honouring the contribution of enslaved people'.

Intercontinental Slavery Museum Project

We watched the island ferry loading. Mauritius Trochetia.

Mauritius Trochetia ferry

On the right side to look across the city to the mountains, we left as the sun set. Ship staff have 8 month contracts. Bibi told us she usually flies away, a clean sharp break. But watching her mother weeping on the breakwater, was hard.

Sunset departure from Mauritius

Dedicated to cruise ship staff

Mauritius has had some rough weather since.

1 Our ship and Trieste

2 Cruising around Greece

5 Reunion Island and Jardin des Parfums et des Epices

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March in our False Bay garden - Easter bunny and autumn flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Studer) — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 17:38:00 +0000

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

To those who celebrate - Happy Easter tomorrow. There is chocolate, and dyed eggs to bash in the Swiss tradition.

Easter bunny and dyed eggs

A neat slit in the clouds, but it blurred closed while I was focusing.

Zip the clouds open

First time in the nearly 10 years we have lived here, that I saw baboons. They want to migrate to a new troop, but suburbia. Our neighbour left her windows open, and he found a nice juicy red apple. Much enjoyed while planning how to convince his lady to bring the baby and go to that ridge. Two volunteer monitors were here with them. The baby was gleeful - look - half a loaf of white bread!

Baboon with apple

The Ungardener offers me - this Searsia beetle - for an iNaturalist photo. Thank you!

Searsia beetle

Autumn snooze, Zoe was asleep, but that damn camera clicking, then she settled again. When it is chilly she goes in. Too warm and she comes out, makes a carefully calculated leap up, lands on the squidgy top, and settles there. Thomas doesn't need to be in; his luxurious coat is proper winter gear.

Zoe, and Thomas - autumn snooze

Yesterday's sunset, first the wide sky, then down to the golden glow.

Sunset yesterday

3 pots of Nerine sarniensis, scarlet with gold sparkles, are opening in turn. Also a delicate pink one, but camera shy. For Through the Garden Gate Down by the Sea in Dorset with Sarah.

Nerine sarniensis

My mother's garlic chives - edible flowers for a pretty garnish. Sunset glow Tecomaria came with the garden. White daisy, and yellow Euryops.

Garlic chives, Tecomaria
white and yellow daisies

Always lavender - this one volunteering around pots and across the path. Plectranthus around the birdbath. Pink Pelargonium. Autumn announced by Hypoestes aristata with curled and spotted ribbon petals.

Lavender, Plectranthus
Pelargonium, Hypoestes aristata

My previous gravatar was from 2015 with pre-COVID lockdown short haircut. Backdrop of invasive ivy, ick. This one is from November on the Suez Canal - long hair up, sunglasses on, and my camera round my neck.

November 2023 on Suez Canal

Our rain water pump died after previous repairs. Now working properly. Then the solar geyser refused to use grid power. In April will get back to our tree-pruning. Then some new fynbos plants.

Garden year month by month here, back to November 2014.

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