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

Agapanthus walshii Sunday Flower Walk

We are certainly in for a good year of Agapanthus walshii flowers; we hope the worms give them a chance to set seed!

Down on the dam on the Experimental farm next door, the water level is still quite high so it's difficult to get close to the Nymphaea nouchali, so this is a long shot:

Nymphaea nouchali

There are also patches of small yellow hairy flowers in the water:

Unknown water plant, is it invasive?

Fighting through the undergrowth to get to the edge of the dam, I came across this stand of Combflowers Micranthus:

Combflowers Micranthus

We have markers out all over 'our' patch to remind us to check on plants. One is hidden from the road behind a Brunia and we haven't checked there for a while. Today we hit paydirt!

Erica longifolia

We found it last year just after it had flowered and the spent flowers looked as if they'd been pink, but we weren't expecting this! Looking it up was easy, since John Manning has it on the front cover of his Field Guide to Fynbos, Erica longifolia which is found in several colours and bi-colours like this. The flowers are distinctly waxy. This one is growing next to a Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita. There are many more buds still to open.

Erica longifolia and Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita

The Wyrm is helping to take notes!

Pippa taking notes with the help of the Wyrm

This must surely be the last Watsonia borbonica in flower. We have spotted it before and although this stalk is short which might make it a W. rogersii, this is actually a side branch of a long stalk which has bent over. The leaves are very wide as can be seen:

Watsonia borbonica

We keep thinking the Vygies Mesembryanthemums we are seeing are the last, but there are still odd flowers out!

Vygie Mesembryanthemum

I was too quick last week to say the Therianthus had come and gone! These are on a track we call Therianthus road. Note how the buds are in a spiral.

Therianthus

Also on that road we found this delicate pink pea-type, complete with tiny pods.

Unknown pea-type

Erica pulchella. Thanks Pat for the reminder of the name!

Erica pulchella

So easily overlooked, the tiny pink flowers in the fluff of the Lanaria lanata:

Lanaria lanata flowers

It was overcast at times, but it still took a while to find an open Bobartia filiformis.

Bobartia filiformis

We were walking cross country looking for Agapanthus which we've never seen flower in this area before, naturally hoping they'd be A. walshii, when we came across another example of the bi-colour Erica longifolia.

Another Erica longifolia

We weren't disappointed when we came to what we think is Agapanthus walshii; no less than five flowers on one plant!

Agapanthus walshii

This bud is just opening:

A. walshii bud opening

We found another close by with two buds on shorter stems at this stage, we're still hoping we'll find white ones!

Two buds on this one!

We haven't noticed this bush before, it looks like a Stilbe, and it's in flower:

Stilbe, but which one?

Flower detail. The leaves are in sixes, so that would probably rule out S.ericoides, yet another possibility is S. vestita, but that is supposed to have spiky leaves.

Flower detail

We were keen to check on the plant we've been told might be a Campylostachys cernua which is growing elsewhere in the middelmannetjie of a red road. Sure enough, it's flowering too!

Campylostachys cernua in flower

This one has a tendency, after standing erect for as long as we've been watching it, to droop down as it flowers!

Tips hanging, ready to flower

Therianthus are out all over, this is what the flower looks like up close:

Therianthus flower

At first glance this looked like another Lobelia jasionoides, but these have symmetrical flowers:

Unknown plant

The pencil gives an idea of the size. The individual flowers are long trumpets and the forked stamen protrudes almost as far beyond!

Flower detail

I thought this was another, but it's completely different!

Another unknown plant in flower

We checked on the other Agapanthus Walsii with the five flowers, all's well there too!

Another Agapanthus walshii with five flowers

In the week, Pippa pointed out that what I had thought last week was a late Dilatris pillansii was very different.

Dilatris corymbosa (?) flower

This one looks more like Dilatris corymbosa. This one is past its best, but we'll watch for it next year!

Dilatris corymbosa (?) plant

Pat wrote in in the week to say that the Daisy we thought might have been Athanasia trifurcata is more likely A. Crithmifolia, which means 'with leaves like Sea Fennel' Crithmum maritimum.

Athanasia crithmifolia (?) leaves

From the garden, actually from last week, Sprekelia with two flowers this year!

Sprekelia formosissima at home

Happy Christmas to everybody and may we find and share many more beautiful flowers in the coming yyear!

:-) A

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