Sunday Flower Walk through the Week

We had a Christmas in July party today so I'll have to pick out what we found in the week. I had a job on at Karweyderskraal and although I didn't have time to stop under the Eskom powerlines for the Protea compacta, Bot River Protea, which are at their very best at the moment, there were interesting flowers in the farm-yard.

We are used to the white Metalasia here, so a pink one was a novelty: M. erubescens?

Metalasia erubescens?

Near it in the yard was a Lobelia, also different from the ones we know here. To the right behind is a white Erica:

Unknown Lobelia

This bush with yellow flowers caught my eye, possibly with a pea-type flower.

Unknown plant

The triangle at the turn-off to our Country Club is looking impressive at the moment. These Proteas are a bit hidden behind the billboards:

Proteas at the Country Club turn-off

A distinctly paler one near them:

More Proteas at the Country Club turn-off

Leucadendron with yellow flowers, L. laureolum?:

Leucadendron laureolum?

And the red one! Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset'. This one obscures the signboards and has to be cut back every year, but it seems to thrive on it!

Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset'

It was too wet to do our 67 minutes for Mandela at Max Harris Park yesterday but I popped in to see what was in flower. The Japanese Flowering Quince Chaenomeles speciosa started flowering a couple of weeks ago. It was severely cut back at our first Gardening Day, so it should be fuller than it is. Nevertheless it is striking with its deep pink blossoms and no leaves:

Japanese Flowering Quince Chaenomeles speciosa buds

There is a single pink bloom on the otherwise white Camellia:

A single pink Camellia flower on an otherwise white bush

If you ignore the rubbish and tangled fencing under them, the Aloe arborescens are stunning. The NGK spire is having a face-lift. They're wasting their time looking for eggs under the cock!

Aloe arborescens

This bush has looked familiar all along; now that its colours are coming through, it looks like a Fiddlewood Citharexylum quadrangulare. The word 'guitar' can be picked out in the Greek!

Fiddlewood Citharexylum quadrangulare?

There are still lots of Proteas to come, with several buds like this:

Protea bud in Max Harris park

Is this a Blue Daisy, Blue Marguerite or Felicia amelloides?

Blue Daisy, Blue Marguerite Felicia amelloides?

So easily overlooked are the Crassula ovata or Jade Plant flowers! The leaves of this one are riddled with holes and it looks quite scruffy, but up close the flowers are exquisite!

Crassula ovata flower

We did go for a short walk yesterday. I took this picture of a white Metalasia to compare the foliage with the pink one. This one certainly has the 'axial tufts' referred to in some of the guides. The M. erubescens above (if that's what it is) has plainer leaves, more like a rosemary plant.

White Metalasia flower showing foliage

Here is an Erica we're not familiar with, we found several in one patch only:

Unknown Erica

Here's that plant with the red flowers again!

Unknown plant with red flowers

Amongst it and nearby is a tough-growing plant with almost Cedrus-type leaves, now covered in round white flowers:

Unknown plant with white flowers

In the middle of the road, right on the track was this unusual tiny plant. Felled trees had been dragged across the road on both sides of it, could it be something special?

Tiny plant in road, growing from corms

The Retios are numerous, impressive and complicated. At first they all look the same, until you look up close. The flowers particularly are beautiful if you study them closely, each one very different! Anina has kindly identified the three specimens in the photos below: 'This one is a Hypodiscus aristatus male flower'.

Hypodiscus aristatus male flower

Anina says of this below: 'Possibly another Hypodiscus aristatus male, but a younger flower. The female flowers are similar, but usually only a single inflorescence. (Yes, these are a whole inflorescence with lots of little flowers hidden by the spine bracts) and slimmer'.  

Younger Hypodiscus aristatus male flower?

Again, thanks to Anina, 'Thamnochortus lucens male.'

Thamnochortus lucens male flower

The much-hacked Buchu, Agathosma betulina has come back with a bang! We have to be careful where we stand near it, for its numerous babies! Two can be seen coming up at the bottom of the picture.

Buchu Agathosma betulina with babies

On the way home we found the remains of a Bolete (?) with scaffolding!

Old Bolete?

And close by, some impressive orange Cinnabar brackets, Pycnoporus spp?

Cinnabar Bracket fungus Pycnoporus spp?

On the subject of fungi, on the driveway at home we have been watching this Fairy Circle:

Fairy Circle at home

The bare ring is where they were growing and the grass in the middle was mown at the same time as the rest around but has grown vigorously in comparison with that on the outside of the ring!

:-) A

Gardening Day at Max Harris Park 24th May

Hello all,

The weather forecast might have frightened people off, but apart from the strong Northwester, we had sunshine! The rain came later, hopefully extinguishing the veld-fire on De Rust, of which we had a grandstand view.

Since last Gardening Day on 7th May, Lecia and Talitha have mapped the garden out and today Lecia staked out the various areas they demarcated on their map, Street Garden, Link, Kiddies Playground, etc with plastic markers.

Markers for different areas in the garden

Also during the week, Graeme sent one of his diggers to rip out some of the densely growing aloes and sisals:

Graeme's digger clearing Aloes and Sisal

Harold and Deborah have now laid out a wonderful succulent garden on the west side of the hill.

Succulent Garden takes shape with baby watching

...... incorporating the Babiana sambucina:

Babiana sambucina among the new succulents

A set of steps was discovered on that side of the hill, so rocks are now packed to guide visitors to the base; at the top one can turn left or right to inspect the variety of plants they put in.

More succulents

If they establish as well as those they have planted outside Bear Trap Lodge, then this will soon be spectacular!

Tannie Elma was cutting back on this shrub to make room for the Protea below, the name of the plant is still a mystery to us!

Omalanthus (or Homalanthus) populifolius

Detail of one of the red leaves:

Leaf detail Omalanthus populifolius

Someone suggested Bleeding Heart, but nothing with that name seems to match up with this!

I did some weed-eating on most of the western half of the park and managed to tidy where the piles of cuttings were. These had been removed by the Municilality. But my actual job for the day was marking the shrubs. I couldn't find anything commercial to attach to the plants, so I cut up a sign made of corrugated plastic and attached them with clout nails or cable ties (loosely!).

Crataegus phaenopyrum

Above is our now-identified Washington Hawthorn or Crataegus phaenopyrum.

Cupressus sempervirens

This is well-known as a Graveyard Cypress Cupressus sempervirens. It has other common names including Pencil Pine and Italian or Tuscan Cypress. I had to lie down to take this picture!

Red-berried Cotoneaster

This is a really magnificent Cotoneaster!

Eugenia

An impressive Eugenia, right in the middle of the park.

Protea spp

We seem to have (at least?) two kinds of Protea, this one above has curled-in petals (or bracts?) and the leaves have red rims.

Protea spp

This one has opened fully and has plain leaves.

What is this? 

What is this, with its yellow flowers, long leaves and brown seed pods, something Australian?

Lagerstroemia indica or speciosa, Nandina domestica to the right

Pride of India Lagerstroemia indica or L. speciosa? (I wrote both names on the card). There are several in that area. To the right, almost in line with the Church spire is the Sacred Bamboo Nandina domestica.

Marble-chip Coprosma

Marble-chip Coprosma. There are two examples.

Yucca filamentosa or gloriosa

Adam's Needle, Palmlelie, Spanish Dagger, Yucca filamentosa or Y. gloriosa; take your pick!

Camellia

Now trimmed into tree shape, this Camellia is about to burst into flower! The one open flower I saw is white. Let's hope some of the rest of the plants produce pink flowers! There are several of them and they will flower from now, all winter.

Late-maturing Apple

This is an apple, but which? Not a commercial variety, the red and greeny-yellow fruit is only ready to eat now, so it's a late one.

Oleander

Not everyone's favourite, Oleander, but a great specimen! Don't use the wood to braai with, it's poisonous!

Abelia

I thought I'd spotted Abelia on my first rainy visit! Here it is, much cut back. It will flourish, I'm sure, judging from those in our own garden. It carries sprays of small whitish-pink flowers over a long period. Some can be seen at the top.

Virgilia oroboides

This Keurboom Virgilia oroboides has been trimmed to turn into a well-shaped tree. They grow quickly!

There were lots more to mark, another Cotoneaster, more Pride of India, Camellias, the Strelitzia, a Syringa Melia azedarach (listed as invasive, but not badly so in our part of SA), more Keurbooms, but there's plenty more not identified yet, so we're waiting for the experts to come and fill in the gaps! But already a visit to the park can be an edifying experience; I've enjoyed looking all these ones up!

I'm progressing on the baboon-proof (for which read vagrant-proof) dust-bin:

Baboon (and vagrant) proof rubbish bin

... and the locking system for it:

Locking mechanism for bin

The next Gardening Day is scheduled for 16th June, so make a note of the date! There are still garden beds to allocate! Or just turn up and do some planting or weeding!

:-) Andy