Sea of Yellow Sunday Flower Walk

First, the Sundowners are almost Full Blossom! First to blossom, last to pick!

Yes, still a sea of yellow, mostly Daisies.

Up close!

But that wasn't the only yellow flower! A Pea with needle-like leaves which we haven't been able to track down:

The flower up close:

And the buds:

Last week I mentioned the Lobelias were out, these deep blue ones seem always to be in flower:

Then there's a lighter one:

... and the Lobelia jasionoides:

The Pelargoniums are still in full flower:

More pink from these little pea-types:

Teedias, but they're nearly over:

.... and a lovely Mesemb, just one flower at a time at the moment:

The whole plant, with red edges to the leaves:

Some white, from Helichrysums:

Pseudoselago spuria:

.... and Zantedeschia aethiopica!

A noisy coot on the dam next door, didn't like the dogs wallowing:

The most important part of the Walk was to log the positions, conditions and size of the various Agapanthus walshii plants we know about. In the week, forester Tommy Eckley passed on a mail from Karen Kirkman, MTO's Environmental Specialist. I tried to log the positions with my phone, but it wouldn't work, although I could see where we were on the map. We have anyway started describing where the plants are, in the old fashioned way, on paper! Once all (many of the) the plants are plotted, a plan of action will be formed, either to leave areas unplanted or more sparsely planted, with maybe some from the stronger populations moved, but gradually, into those areas.

On the way home, a Drosera:

.... and a Beetle Lily Baeometra:

:-) Andy

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

Mostly Yellow Sunday Flower Walk

Today we were attracted to a flower near the ruins of the Railway cottages. We think it's an Ornithogalum saundersiae, not from these parts, rather Eastern Transvaal, Swaziland and the Natal mountains. We won't hold that against it, it is beautiful! That makes it related to the Chincherinchee. From what we've found in this garden, someone must have been a keen gardener!

Ornithogalum saundersiae (?)

There are lots more flowers to come!

Many buds still to open! 

On the subject of Natal mountains, last week I was in Pietermaritzburg and we visited the Minerva Reserve which is 6 000 feet above sea level, where we saw this, any ideas?

Unknown plant on Minerva Reserve

One thing is for sure, Clivias grow well there!

Clivia in PMB

Back to today's walk, the Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos on the Experimental Farm dam are looking good! We don't remember them being as prolific as this before, they are all around the western bank, up to the houses opposite.

Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos

Suddenly a white Erica is in full bloom! This reminds us that we haven't seen any resurgence of Ericas in the burnt areas, was the fire too hot?

White Erica

Flower detail:

White Erica up close

Not as impressive as before, but there's still a lot of it, Arctotheca... is it A. calendula or A. acaulis as we thought?

Arctotheca, but which one?

We have come across these Geissorhiza aspera before

Satin Flower Geissorhiza aspera

.... and these Sparaxis bulbifera close by. Many more this year than we remember!

Sparaxis bulbifera

And to make a trio in this small area, this is the first Beetle Lily Baeometra uniflora we've found, not fully open yet. It will be mostly yellow when open!

Beetle Lily Baeometra uniflora

The Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis are in full flower. Here are two buds, one open flower and one spent. They suffered badly in the fire, but we're seeing some small plants growing here and there.

Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis

There are tiny buds on the Sundews Drosera

Sundews Drosera with buds!

The Oxalis aren't over yet!

After several vehicles had driven over a small area (after the fire) where we first found Trachyandra ciliata last year we were worried about its survival. It seems to have come back with a vengeance!

Trachyandra ciliata

Detail of the delicate flower:

Trachyandra ciliata flower

In the burnt area a few of these bright yellow Stargrass Ficinia radiata stood out. We saw them in the forest (which is being cut down at the moment), but we don't remember them in the open.

Stargrass Ficinia radiata

We thought the Spiloxene capensis might be over by now. No, there are still plenty of these bright yellow flowers which are hard to miss!

Spiloxene capensis

Considering this area was totally burnt in March, it's impressive that these Euryops have re-grown and are flowering so profusely already! There are millions more plants coming up!

Euryops

'Our' single Satyr Orchid is past its best. We haven't found any others like it.

Satyr Orchid

This poor Othonna dentata has been eaten yet again! Maybe that's what's making it keep flowering?

Othonna dentata with eaten leaves and flowers

While this uneaten one has just spent flowers. We found and marked a third in this area. There aren't many that we've found!

Othonna dentata with uneaten leaves but spent flowers!

We're not sure what these are, but these are the first open of many from a sprawling plant!

On the south-east facing slopes, the Moraea ochroleuca are even more impressive than last time we looked!

This one's single leaf must be 1½metres long!

Long leaf on a Moraea ochroleuca!

Very slowly the flowers on this two-leafed plant are developing. Dominic says it might turn into an Orchid, or maybe a Lachenalia.

What will this turn out to be?

On our way home we're always followed by Stone Chats, but at a distance. This one stayed still just long enough for me to snap him at maximum zoom! 

:-) A