Hot Sunday Flower Walk

It's still 27°C in the garden, it was a lot hotter up on the bare hill this afternoon! We're not used to it after a long, cold winter!

I did some gardening at the Max Harris Park yesterday and had to be careful not to cut this Gazania (hybrid?). There were many other wild flowers growing up in the grass.

Gazania hybrid? in Max Harris Park

During the week I was asked to look at this flower on a farm I was working on (see the black hands?). From a distance I thought they would be Geissorhiza aspera which we have seen in flower now, but the pleated leaves made me think of Babiana. The closest I get is Babiana stricta.

Babiana stricta?

All along The Valley Road, right from the turn-off from the N2 Garden Route, the side of the road is speckled with orange flowers, either Satyr Orchids Satyrium coriifolium, or these Beetle Lilies, Baeometra uniflora:

Beetle Lily Baeometra uniflora on the side of the Valley Road

Before we left the farm today we walked through Steen's garden. He works at a garden shop and often brings home left-behinds. In the undergrowth, Pippa had noticed Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa, a single species in the Iridaceae genus 'and it resembles no other plant in the entire family' [Peter Ashby, Pacific Bulb Society].

Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa 

This is how they grow:

Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa plant

There were more of the Geissorhiza aspera not far from where we first found a single example a week or two ago. They are also called Satin Flowers or Wine Cups. They are also members of the Iris family.

Satin Flower, Wine Cup, Geissorhiza aspera

A beetle teeters on the edge of this Harlequin Flower Sparaxis bulbifera:

Harlequin Flower Sparaxis bulbifera

For very the first time we have seen the insect-eating Sundews Drosera in flower! They are tiny and very difficult to get the auto-focus to home-in on:

Sundew Drosera flower open!

I put my cap behind this one. The stitching gives an idea of the size!

Comparison of stitching and partly-open Drosera flower and buds

In places there were many of them. By the time we came back past them on the way home, the flowers had closed for the night!

A patch of Sundew Drosera

At last, the bigger, well-established Wachendorfia paniculata further up the hill have started pushing up flower buds:

Large Wachendorfia paniculata and bud, at last!

Those further down have been flowering for weeks now. They have proliferated amazingly in the last year, and right across the Elgin Valley!

Lower down, the smaller ones have been in flower for weeks!

The Eikenhof Dam was like a Mill-Pond!

Eikenhof Dan like a mill-pond!

Always worth stopping for, Saltera sarcocolla!

Saltera sarcocolla flower

Just below it was this plant, or is it a flowering plant within the tuft of grass?

Unknown flower or flower in a tuft of grass?

Flower detail:

Flower detail

We deliberately looked for the pink flower we found two weeks ago, a cluster of pink balls. One had partly opened last week, now the middle ones look fully open:

Helichrysum?

This is what the leaves look like. Apart from guessing it's some kind of Helichrysum, we're baffled! A sort of indigenous 'Pink Sapphire' with green leaves?

Leaves on above plant

By chance, on the Walking the Cape blogspot, http://walkthecape.blogspot.com/2009/09/assegaaibosch-wild-flower-garden.html while following up another flower, we found the name for the flower we've found in a small area, and up till now thought was a Drimia. It seems to be a Trachyandra revoluta. The flowers are all finished now:

Trachyandra revoluta, finished flowering

.... but many have set seeds! Thanks for the identification, Helen!

Seeds of Trachyandra revoluta

The single Phaenocoma prolifera in 'our patch' was so bright in the strong sunlight that I had to cast my own shadow over it for a photo!

Phaenocoma prolifera

About 30 metres apart, we have been watching the development of two Leucadendrons:

Leucadendron (m/f?)

They look as if they are 'related'!

Leucadendron (f/m?)

There are still many yellow daisies out (Euryops?), but many are past their best now:

Euryops Daisy? 

We're checking for buds on this Agapanthus walshii, which usually gives us one or two flowers. They seem to have to have grown into a dense tuft before they flower. Nothing yet!

Agapanthus walshii, waiting for buds! 

Neighbour's hitch-hiking water-dog and Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos:

Aponogeton distachyos Waterblommetjies and Waterhond!

Yes, it was hot!

:-) 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