Showing posts with label Aloe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aloe. Show all posts

Sunday, 25 September 2016

Almost all Yellow Sunday Flower walk

It was so yellow that we longed to see another colour! But first, in our own garden, I couldn't go past this Clivia without snapping it! All over, they seem to be beautiful this year!


Then yesterday at Compagnes Drift Mill, where we celebrated Heritage Day, this Gazania stopped me in my tracks. In fact later in the day there was a second one growing through it, the bud must have been behind it!


As we were enjoying lunch outside, listening to the machinery inside creaking away, a Lesser Double-collared Sunbird was having lunch on an aloe too.


The Coral tree there is shy to set flowers, but they are impressive when they do!


This morning on the farm, Pippa spotted an Aristea africana open. I rushed out with the camera, knowing they're a mornings-only flower!


Another sign of spring, a Pin-tailed Whydah flirting with a couple of females in the garden.


Yes, the walk today was mostly yellow. I was wondering why some people travel long distances for Spring Flowers when they're right here!


Up close, vying for a space in the sun!


It seemed the only other colour was pink in several shades, Sheep Sorrel here:


.... and the Pelargoniums are still in flower:


We found another example of the peppery-scented-leaves one, right next to the path too:


Also pink were these little pea types:


Flower detail:


.... these Teedias:


and our faithful Saltera sarcocolla!


A lot of our walk was in the recently deforested (and by chance also burnt) area where we were often watched by these Stone Chats:


A plant we've found has really established itself since the fire of nearly two years ago is the Trachyandra. It's not impressive, with tiny pinkish flowers, bootlace like leaves, but the bees go mad about it!


On what we think is Pseudoselago spuria the flowers are filling out:


This plant has us stumped! Will it ever flower to help us identify it?


The pathway past the old Railway cottages always comes up trumps. Now the Beetle Lilies are up, but not fully open yet, Baeometra uniflora:


These now join the Sparaxis bulbiflora:


Geissorhiza aspera:


Was this the only blue flower all day? No! The Lobelias were also out!

 ... and these orange Moraeas all in 50 metres!


:-) Andy

Sunday, 12 July 2015

After the Rain Sunday Flower Walk

First, some colour from during the week to liven it up! I think this is Aloe ferox, it's outside our Post Office at Elgin Station. More important, it's completely covered in bees! Even the broken-off flowers on the ground had bees on them!

Aloe ferox at the Station

A trip to Karweyderskraal is always interesting. I hadn't realised the veld had burned there too. This was under the Eskom power lines which in the past has been worth stopping at. It's a reminder of how vast our floral variety is; there was little that I recognised! Just look at the twist in these (single) leaves!

Single twisted leaves?

This has grown very fast. At first glance I thought it was a Campylostachys, but now I doubt it.

A fast re-grower

Another fast-grower!

What is this?

Here at least was a familiar one, not in the burned part, Phaenocoma prolifera.

Phaenocoma prolifera

I came back over Highlands from Kleinmond side. I don't recommend the road itself, but it was worth it for the flowers! (and the views!)

Proteas and the view down to the lagoon

Is this the Bot River Protea Protea compacta?

Bot River Protea P. compacta (?)

Long Leaved Sugarbush Protea longifolia:

Protea longifolia

Is this another Protea compacta?

Metalasia:

Metalasia

Unfortunately now past its spectacular blue flowering, Nivenia stokoei:

Nivenia stokoei

There was quite a lot of rain forecast for the weekend and I was worried about the 4X4 tracks from last week straight up the sandy part of the burned veld. So Brian and I went up on Saturday morning to make some diagonal cross trenches. The route had already been changed, I just moved the sign to the middle of the track. The first diagonal can be seen behind.

Bottom of last week's 4X4 track and the first diagonal trench

Brian knows how it's done! It needs more sand on the lower side, a rake is ideal. Then it needs to be stamped firnly on the lower side. The end of the cut must go far enough not let the water flow back into the road.

Brian showing me how it's done!

While I was up there, I thought I saw a snake!

'New' plant I thought was a snake!

No! Another 'new' plant we haven't seen before with fleshy leaves! There were several of them, just in that area.

Leaf detail, it's fleshy

The rain did come, we had 17mm here in a few hours last night. On our walk today we were keen to see if the trenches had worked. This one needed deepening at the upper end; some water had got past straight down the hill. I reinforced it. Most of the water (and sand) had gone off to the right.

After the rain, the upper end of the cross trench wasn't quite deep enough

The rest held nicely. We had made about ten:

The rest worked well!

Here's another of the 'new' plants, with a number of thinner, roundish leaves with a red tinge, growing more upright.

Another 'snake' plant, with thinner more upright leaves

Is this what I saw on Friday (above)?

Is this what I saw on Friday?

We were keen to check on re-growth on a stand of King Protea Protea cynaroides which had been burned.

Pippa at the burned Protea cynaroides

We were not disappointed!

Re-growth at the base!

What we thought last week were re-seeding Proteas now look more like Othonna, perhaps O. quinquedentata:

Probably an Othonna, not a Protea as we thought last week

Here is one that is well established already!

Othonna quinquedentata, growing well!

The re-sprouting Protea I checked on last week has put on more growth in the meantime.

More Protea re-growth

And another!

And another!

Encouraged, I went to look at the Pagoda Flower Mimetes cucullatus, and found this at its base. Could it be a baby?

Could this be a baby Mimetes cucullatus?

In the immediate vicinity there were other plants, maybe more?

Could these be more?

We'll certainly be back to check!
Finally, the Magnolias are out at the Auto Electricians!

Magnolia in the Village

:-) A