Almost all Blue Sunday Flower Walk

We've moved away from the yellows, and much of what we saw today was in various shades of blue, starting with the Roella ciliata:

They seem to be taller than the ones we remember from two years ago, before the big fire in this area. 

We always see Lobelias, those with the bright blue large flowers we think is L. tomentosa:

Although most are past their best, there are still Agapanthus walshii in flower:

This one below had us excited, was it the elusive white one? No, but a very pale blue:

It was pleasing to check that this one had been logged, finding my present position exactly the same as one marked 'AW Lower Rocky Ridge'. 

The deep blue of the Purple Powder Puff Pseudoselago serrata, after an impressive season, is nearly over.

There were even still a few flowers on occasional Psoralea pinnata:

Pinks, oranges and reds seemed to be the other colour of the day. Although many of these Watsonia schlechteri have gone to seed, there are still many in bud, so we'll be seeing them for a while yet.

Before the fire, we pinpointed what we thought were Erica obliqua. We have searched that location carefully since without success. About 100 metres away we have found a strong population, perhaps 20 plants so far, of what we hope is the same:

Welcome back!

Also pleasing to see in that vicinity, another old favourite (the Ericas seem to have recovered the slowest!) Erica pulchella:

We specially went back to look at a Protea-type which we've been watching for weeks now. Only one tiny flower opened in the middle of December, and we found it today, actually loose from the plant, but held in place by branches of new growth. We left it there, to mature fully and disperse seeds. 

There are about eight plants in a small area. The closest we get to identifying it from the books is Leucospermum bolusii, but if it is, it's way out of its area, supposed to be the slopes above Gordon's Bay. The tips of the new growth are pinkish:

What can it be?

It's nice to see the Brachylaena neriifolia in flower again! The shrubs have a lot of growing to do to reach the size of some of those which were burnt!

It's always nice to go home past the Prickly Pear Opuntia in the garden of the ruins of the Railway Foreman's house:

:-) Andy

Watsonia borbonica Sunday Flower Walk

I said the Prickly Pear Opuntia would be impressive! There's a bee on one of the flowers.

Prickly Pear Opuntia

I have been seeing Combflowers Micranthus on the farms for a few weeks already, so it was no surprise to see them starting to flower today in this area. In a week or two there will be hundreds of them!

Combflower Micranthus

Pippa noticed this splash of pink from far away!

Watsonia borbonica?

It's in the unburnt part and the leaves are well established. We think it's Watsonia borbonica.

Flower detail

There was another one, in the burnt area, which can be seen in the background, growing over nicely!

Another example

Here's a Purple Powder Puff Pseudoselago serrata, one of the best developed we've seen so far, also in the burnt area:

Purple Powder Puff Pseudoselago serrata

The flower up close, as usual with bright blue bugs crawling over it.

Flowers and bugs

Agapanthus walshii! In this small area I counted 35 flowers or buds!

Agapanthus walshii

In another stand of them we were disappointed to find many of the closed buds have been bored into already. It will be interesting to see if any viable flowers come out.

Agapanthus walshii bud, bored

I think I was lucky last Sunday to spot the Corymbium glabrum var. glabrum open. It's almost over already!

Corymbium glabrum var. glabrum

While we were in that area we checked up on the Heeria argentea which was severely burned. It's coming back nicely!

Heeria argentea

Could this be an Erica coming back at last?

Erica? 

Also growing back nicely from the burnt remains, Water White Alder Brachylaena neriifolia:

Brachylaena neriifolia

In a week, we seem to have missed the flowering of the big Pelargoniums!

Pelargonium spent flowers

Part of 'paying our dues' to be in this beautiful area involves pulling out aliens, in this case Port Jackson Acacia saligna and Black Wattle. This was just one bunch of several.

Port Jackson and Black Wattle, pulled out

The remains of three Wachendorfia paniculata flowers!

Wachendorfia paniculata spent flowers

Back at home, during the week past, the Sprekelia opened, just for a day or two!

Sprekelia, at home

.... and these wine-coloured Arums!

.... and Arums

:-) A

Dilatris pillansii Sunday Flower Walk

We found this Dilatris pillansii in a place which had not been burnt, but near a burnt area. We have never seen it here before, right next to one of the 'red roads' so we would surely have seen them in the past. Maybe some of the thousands of substances which we are told are to be found in Fynbos smoke have caused them to burst into flower?

Dilatris pillansii

Flower detail (there's a strong northwester blowing):

Flower detail

Flowers up close? This is the best week for Dorothy Perkins roses! These are in our driveway:

Dorothy Perkins roses

The Salsify Tragopogon which popped up in a pot in our garden is interesting to watch. This morning, two of the flowers decided to open, just for a few hours. Late morning, they closed again, despite being in full sun. I didn't notice any bird or insect activity.

Salsify Tragopogon flower

Just these two opened today, others will choose their time!

Only two flowers were open

We'll be watching for when those two re-open as seed heads!

Back to our walk, the Prickly Pear Opuntia at the Railway cottage ruins seems set for a bumper crop of flowers and fruit!

Prickly Pear Opuntia with many buds!

Close by, I had to hold the stem of this Helichrysum foetida to hold it in the wind, and I'm regretting it, I just can't get the smell off my hands! The whole area here has a very 'dead' smell at some times of the year.

Helichrysum foetida

This little blue flower..........

Could this be a kind of Borage?

.... turns into a seed pod like this:

Spent flowers

The Ericas in the burnt areas seem to be the last to recover, but this was in an unburnt area, and it reminded us how much colour they normally give the veld. This is Many Umbrellas, E. multumbellifera, and we've never seen it flower like this before!

Many Umbrellas Erica multumbellifera

Flowers up close:

Flowers up close

It's Pea flower time of year, so it's no surprise to see Psoralea pinnata looking its best!

Psoralea pinnata

Another Pea, Bolusafra bitumenosa or Tar Pea. We found lots more, not flowering yet, though.

Tar Pea Bolusafra bitumenosa

We have really missed the flowering of the Aristea africanus, these flowers are spent.

Aristea africanus with spent flowers

Some white Helichrysums are now open!

Helichrysums, open at last!

Lobelia jasionoides seems to thrive on the barren rocky hilltops:

Lobelia jasionoides

We are now fairly sure that this is Pseudoselago spuria. Now we have the name, they have passed their prime. There are areas particularly of burnt veld where the ground is carpeted with these!

Pseudoselago spuria

While they are getting less spectacular, the purple ones Pseudoselago serrata are just starting to flower, and there are many of them too!

Pseudoselago serrata, just coming into bloom

Flower detail, Purple Powder Puff:

Purple Powder Puff Pseudoselago serrata flowers

In another place we were disappointed to find that new growth at the bases of Protea cynaroides has withered. There seem to be spots of white fungus growing on the burnt wood.

Withered re-growth at the base of yet another Protea cynaroides

Despite marking the place last week, we had difficulty finding this which we have since identified as a fern called Cockscomb or Curlygrass Schizaea pectinata:

Curlyleaf, Cockscomb fern Schizaea pectinata

We needn't have bothered searching, because on the way down we found several more examples! Here are the 'croziers' which give it one of its names!

Croziers on Schizaea pectinata

We found lost more of these spready little pink pea flowers which we haven't pinned down yet.

Unidentified pink Pea

Here is the very first Agapanthus walshii we have found to be opening. We live in hope of finding a white example, but so far they have all been blue.

First Agapanthus walshii to open!

We're going to have to wait longer for these taller ones to open!

More to come!

The Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis were hit badly by the fire, but we're finding them all over, first a couple of fleshy leaves, then four, and more. This one is the best developed one we have found so far.

Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis recovering nine months after the fire

This is the spent remains of the single Orchid we've been watching for months. Maybe there will be more here next year?

The remains of our single Orchid

It was early evening by the time we came down, one advantage being that the Bobartia filiformis were nicely open!

Bobartia filiformis flower

And the late sun picked this Wachendorfia's candelabra of seed pods nicely:

Wachendorfia in the late afternoon sun

:-) A