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

Gloomy Sunday Flower Walk

There was less than one millimetre of rain forecast; most came this morning, but it left the day heavily overcast and gloomy!

During the week, Pippa found this Red Stinkhorn Clathrus archeri growing on the farm. It lives up to its name!

Red Stinkhorn Clathrus archeri

We didn't know what to expect today being dead-of-winter and overcast to boot, but as usual we weren't disappointed! This morning's rain can still be seen on this Prickly Pear, Opuntia flower:

Opuntia flower

We're so used to seeing the 'baubles' on the Brunias but it was a treat to see some of them in flower!

Brunia in flower

Another Brunia in flower

Raindrops on a Leucadendron:

Leucadendron spp

A striking Metalasia:

Metalasia

Detail of a flower:

Metalasia flower

What might this be? We first thought it could be a Gnidia

Unknown plant in flower

Closer:

Closer view of flower

We don't think we've seen this before! Alison Steyn suggests it might be Amphithalea tomentosa. That belongs to the Fabaceae (pea) family and the flower did look pea-like!

Amphithalea tomentosa?

A Teedia growing in a crack in the rockface:

Teedia in a crack

We were checking up on 'our' plants in the area which has just been clear-felled. Here it looks a bit like the Somme on a bad day:

Clear-felled!

The view on the other side, of the Eikenhof Dam with cats' paws, was better. The Country Club is just showing on the near bank on the right:

Eikenhof Dam with cats' paws

We were pleased to uncover a Gnidia at the top which we thought had been smashed by the felling.

A splash of sunshine highlighted this Lobelia which we think might be L. pinifolia:

Lobelia pinifolia? 

A Mimetes cucullatus which was luckily undamaged by the felling, is partly in flower. I'm not sure if there's more 'fluff' to come or if it's come and gone. It is now much more exposed than it was.

Mimetes cucullatus

This late-flowering Liparia splendens or Mountain Dahlia is still completely covered in flowers, while others have long since finished.

Liparia splendens in full bloom

One of the flowers up close, with raindrops:

Liparia splendens flower

Today I remembered to take a photo of the foliage of the daisy-type plant with the yellow flowers with three petals. There is a Dandelion look about the leaves! Any guesses?

Unknown Daisy-type with detail of leaves

A tallish pink Erica, leaves not in tufts, E. longifolia?

Erica longifolia?

For a change, more than one flower was open on this Daisy. That caused me to go off the path for a picture, which deliberately shows detail of the leaves. Would they be described as 'fern-like'? If so, is it a Euryops?

Euryops?

Here's one of our 'normal' Lobelias, L. tomentosa, we think. It seems that the more difficult the circumstances they grow in, the better they flower! This is just one flower on a row of plants growing in the red pebbles which can be seen in the background, in the middle of the jeep track, making a strong blue stripe!

Lobelia tomentosa

This looked like a Mom (behind) and Dad in front. Anina has kindly suggested that it looks like Hypodiscus argenteus:

Hypodiscus argenteus? F&M

Another interesting Restio. Anina's comment again: Not very clear, but looks like Hypodiscus aristatus male.

Hypodiscus aristatus? Male

On the way into the farm we noticed a strange cloud over Hans se Kop, our rain predictor. It'll be clear for a while!

Hans se Kop

We weren't disappointed, despite the time of the year and the gloom!

:-) A

Snowy Sunday Flower Walk

The storm was on Friday and there's 41mm in the meter. That was the rain, but what about the snow? Just look at it on the High Topps!

Snow!

The calm before the storm, at our Country Club, taken on Thursday:

Calm before the storm at Elgin Grabouw Country Club

Also on Thursday, on the way to Karweyderskraal, Protea compacta, Bot River Protea:

Protea compacta Bot River Protea

The Mimetes cucullatus is also in flower!

Mimetes cucullatus

And this tiny little Leucospermum truncatulum or Patrysbos (Partridge Bush). Still in bud form, it will become a pincushion later:

Leucospermum truncatulum

Outside a farm gate, this Aloe had been planted, with tubular flowers and toothed leaves, and with no stripes or blotches on them, so we're not sure which one it is yet. With over 500 to choose from, not an easy task, especially as this is not growing here naturally!

Unknown Aloe

On our farm we have one bush of Wild Rosemary, Kapokbos or Eriocephalus africanus which is in flower at the moment. It's also showing some of its characteristic woolly fruit:

Eriocephalus africanus Wild Rosemary or Kapokbos

On our walk today we checked progress on the yellow-green Erica coccinea which we found first, it's still looking good!

Erica coccinea

A few weeks ago we found a tall Erica near it, with spent flowers on it. We weren't sure what colour they had been. Now we know: pink and white. We'll be following this one!

Erica spp

Also under the microscope is this..... Last year it had the most beautiful pink Gladiolus flowers. Here comes a second leaf!

Gladiolus leaves

There's still quite a lot of this taller pink Erica; not sure of the name yet. It 'took over' from the pink ones growing closer to the ground, which are now covered with rusty-coloured spent flowers.

Erica spp

The Protea cynaroides or King Proteas are past their best now:

Protea cynaroides King Protea

There are still Liparia splendens or Mountain Dahlia flowers out; this one looks as though it was thrashed around in the wind last week!

Liparia splendens Mountain Dahlia

This plant has us guessing at the moment. One plant has flowers / fruit like this......

Unknown plant

..... and the other like this, growing in close proximity:

Similar unknown plant with different flowers

In fact, seemingly trying to reach one another. M&F? This wasn't the only 'pair' we found.

Both plants growing together

Here is a Gnidia, quite a large bush at more than a metre tall.

Gnidia anomala

Initially we thought it might be G. oppositifolia, but the bare stems and short leafy sections behind the flowers make it look more like G. anomala.

Gnidia anomala flower

These Saltera sarcocolla just beg you to come over and photograph them!

Saltera sarcocolla flower

Here is a single low-growing pink Erica which has come up in a bed of Carpobrotus edulis or Sour Fig:

Erica spp

Detail of the mass of flowers:

Flower detail of above Erica

We checked on a tall Erica which we weren't able to identify last year. It is now in growing mode:

Erica spp

Leaf detail, short, and slightly tufty, and significantly, not a flower or bud in sight at this time of year. That should all help!

Leaf detail of above Erica

At the extreme limit of the zoom of my little camera, I caught this Stone Chat. Just missed a horse and rider in the background, but that would have toooo lucky!

Stone Chat

On the way back, the Worm posed on a tuft. Always one for her creature-comforts! She was concentrating on the horse!

The Worm, concentrating!

:-) A