Autumn Sunday Flower Walk

During the week I was back at the farm with the tall, deep red Ericas and took some more pictures of them in a more advanced state: Erica spp The general feeling seems to be that they are probably E.pilansii Erica pilansii ? There was also a Pelargonium with the tiniest of flowers: Erica spp And lots of these on the north-facing slopes, a kind of Metalasia, perhaps? The leaves are quite spiky: Metalasia spp At home, Pippa picked her biggest Sunflower, Helianthus anuus. It measures 330mm across. Just look at the Fibonacci sequence in the layout of the seeds! Helianthus anuus seedhead Down at the dam next door, the single Spoonbill was at the limit of my lens' capacity: Spoonbill Here I managed to freeze a bee collecting pollen (or nectar?) from a tiny Erica flower: Erica with bee The Stoebe plumosa or Seriphium plumosum (slangbos) is in full flower, filling out and turning brown: Stoebe plumosa / Seriphium plumosum We are fairly sure that these shrubs in one area are Brabejum stellatifolium or Wild Almond, as in van Riebeeck's Hedge: Brabejum stellatifolium Here are some flowers in a quite advanced state, let's see if they set 'almonds'. The toothed leaves can be seen here: Wild Almond The Wachendorfia paniculata are coming up, their leaves already show their characteristic pleats: Wachendorfia paniculata The low sun was catching the spiders' webs between these pines which are about to be felled. Unfortunately, although stronger than a steel cable size for size, they won't save the trees. Spiders' web between the Pine trees The Ericas are still stunning! Erica spp All over, the Oxalis are out: Oxalis This Liparia splendens is likely to be in full sun if the forest is cut further, we hope it won't get too damaged in the process: Liparia splendens Likewise this Leucospermum oleifolium which we've been watching in the forest for a couple of years now. At least the gardening books say the less you tend them, the better they grow! Leucospermum oleifolium The Eikenhof Dam (our irrigation water) is being emptied at the moment for maintenance. Eikenhof dam While we were up there, I thought I'd have a look at what we now think are Erica coccinea, with their spent flowers: Erica coccinea And look what we found in the process! The flower is at the end of a very long stalk, there are only a few thin leaves at the base. Could they be Bulbinella trinervis? see http://www.ispot.org.za/node/192907?nav=parent_ob I don't think anybody could deliberately make a garden feature as beautiful as this; a yellow Oxalis in a sandy hollow in the rock! Oxalis rockgarden Could it be Oxalis luteola? Oxalis spp Lobelia are still to be seen all over. Here is one of the low-growing ones with the tangled stems:  Lobelia spp We still haven't found a name for it! Lobelia spp While photographing this Prickly Pear or Opuntia, I noticed the Aphids crawling away between the spines behind the flower! Prickly Pear - Opuntia We're noticing more and more African Black Duck, Anas sparsa, than the familiar Yellow-bills lately: African Black Duck - Anas sparsa Until next week.... :-) A