Coot Club on the Experimental Farm dam:
The Nymphea nouchali a little more advanced:
A Raptor which was too far away for us to identify, definitely not Jackal Buzzard, too pale underneath:
The sparsely-growing pines are being felled and left, so I followed my patteran to where we saw the Gladiolus several weeks ago, to make sure it hadn't been trodden on; it was fine:
I was being watched! Perfect colour scheme for our sandstone
Last year there were Roella all along this road, now there seems to be only one area with several plants:
The Helichrysums aren't all the same (244 species in South Africa!); this one has a much bigger flower centre (can't find the right name!) than those behind:
Normally those in our area have a light green fleshy leaf. Later on we found one with completely different leaves, looking like Rosemary:
 
We'll have to look that one up! Once again, the Watsonia schlechteri are very noticeable, particularly on the rocky slopes:
  
We're looking out carefully at the moment for Agapanthus walshii, which should be in flower. It will be interesting to see if plants like this will react to being now exposed to sunlight, and flower next year:
We were rewarded by finding several in flower, besides the pair on the plant we have been watching for years now:
The height and thickness of the flower stem, compared with the puny leaves is interesting, especially comparing them with the 'normal' africanus of which this is now a sub-species:
  
There are still Therianthus around, still not sure if they're spicatus or bracteolatus!
On 20th January last year this Cyrtanthus ventricosus on the cycle path in the forest was in full bloom:
We've been watching it ever since, packing stones on each side of it and widening the cycle path away from it on the other side. Full of hope, today I diverted to look at it:
Either it's having an off year, or it's late!
I mentioned Lobelia last week. Here's an example of the splashes of blue they add to the landscape!
Up close:
We were pleased to see many buds on the Protea cynaroidies
Two for one!
I was wondering how this Daisy could possibly survive and thrive in a crack in the rock. Look carefully below it and see the root going down into the soil!
Before now I've mentioned 'hectares' of helichrysums. This picture gives an idea of what I mean!
Here's a pink one:
Erica are to be seen all over, mostly pink and mauve:
This tall Erica plukenetii (?) is an exception to the low-growing pink and mauve ones:
This one looks like an Erica pulchella:
But this is different again!
That's far from all we saw today, but it should keep us going for a week!
:-) A
| ||||||
Amazing Photos
ReplyDelete