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

Signs of Spring again!

Yes, the signs of another Spring are definitely here! Near the Railway cottages, our old favourite Geissorhiza aspera:

And along with them, Sparaxis bulbifera:

And in that area, flowering strongly, Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis:

On the way up the hill we knew to watch on the left hand side at this time of the year for what we think is Trachyandra revoluta:

The tufts of boot-lace type leaves are getting thicker by the year!

In the wetter places, the Sundews, Drosera are to be found, but not putting up flower stalks yet!

Here and there we found Wachendorfia paniculata flowers, but they haven't come into their own yet. On the recently burnt areas near Villiersdorp the ground is carpeted with them!

The Daisy we think is Euryops starts by having one flower per plant for months, then suddenly they come out all over the plant!

Here's a huge flower!

We're never too sure whether these plants which have proliferated strongly since the fire of about 18 months ago, are Teedias or Oftias, until they flower. Pink for Teedia, white for Oftia?

On the subject of Trachyandra, we came across what we think might be another type while I was out with Forester Tommy Eckley on Friday. It must have been here all along, but we've never noticed it! We're having difficulty pinning down which it may be, with tough smooth leaves.

Flower detail:

These Pelargoniums are at their best now!

The leaves are enormous in places!

Another old favourite, the Tar Pea Bolusafra bitumenosa:

Flower detail:

On a rocky outcrop we were looking out for this, Gladiolus debilis:

From there, an unusual view of the Eikenhof Dam, now full, without any pines around it! Our Country Club seems to have the only trees!

What we think is Pseudoselago spuria are out again. The flowers get longer and longer as they continue flowering through the season, then some plants die off, some seem to start flowering again.

Up there, the dogs found a swimming pool!

:-) Andy

After a Gap Sunday Flower Walk

Two weekends milling Stone-ground Meal at Beaumont Wines / Compagnes Drift in Bot River as part of Elgin Open Gardens, means it's been three weeks since we had a proper Flower Walk! There were some exciting surprises in store for us! But first a few things seen in the past weeks, first a beautiful white Pelargonium, possibly P. suburbanum spp bipinnatifidum on a farm here:

Pelargonium suburbanum spp bipinnatifidum? 

In a flower pot in our garden, we suddenly found a Salsify growing, the spent flower looks more impressive than the flower itself! There are many more flowers behind, waiting to open, when they decide the time is right!

Salsify seed head

On the same farm as the Pelargonium, there are many of these pink Watsonias, possibly W. borbonica ssp ardernii:

Watsonia borbonica spp ardernii?

On the side of the road, I spotted this. Could it be a Pink Chink, a kind of Ornithogalum?

Ornithogalum? 

The whole plant looks like this:

The whole plant, on the roadside

Back to today, we were delighted to see a flower on the Gladiolus carneus we have been watching (and had marked) since the fire, now exactly nine months ago. The leaves had been nibbled off by rabbits (we saw the spoor) and on one occasion the bulbs were scratched out of the ground (we covered them up again), so we were lucky to get anything at all!

Gladiolus carneus

Last year there was a dense stand of them. We could find them after the fire because they were close to a strong bunch of Lanaria lanata. These were some of the first plants to come up after the fire and they are now more prolific than ever before! The little flowers are beginning to show in the cotton-buds:

Lanaria lanata flowers

The Wachendorfia question is still foxing us! Here are the seed pods already orange on the plants with the curved leaves growing flat on the ground. The leaves have dried up completely:

Wachendorfia, curled leaf growing on the ground, flowers gone to seed

Yet those we know as W. paniculata with the radiating leaves growing upwards, are now just starting to flower. Both are growing in areas equally burnt. These will be stunning in a couple of weeks!

Wachendorfia paniculata, just starting to flower

Flower, up close:

Wachendorfia paniculata flower

The Trachyandra divaricata have set masses of seed pods. I have read they are hardy and are useful in binding dunes. Their shoe-lace type leaves are still green below.

Trachyandra divaricata, gone to seed

These Stargrass Ficinia radiata have never been so impressive, they seem to have appreciated the fire!

Stargrass, Ficinia radiata

Flower up close:

Ficinia radiata flower

I remember finding these Daisies before, in just one place. All the others seem to be yellow only:

Unidentified Daisy

Here the flower is from behind, apparently important for identification:

Flower from the back

All on its own, this looks like a Mimetes or a Leucadendron?

Is this a Mimetes? A Leucadendron?

Three weeks ago, we were excited to find this bud on an Agapanthus walshii. It has grown about two feet since. We can't wait for it to open! The exciting thing is that we have never seen this stand of these ultra-rare plants (more can be seen in the background) before!

Agapanthus walshii with tall bud

Here close by were at least five more buds. There are never many flowers on each stem and they get eaten by caterpillars and possibly birds, so very few actually get to make seeds.

Several Agapanthus walshii buds

This Orchid made me stop and take a photo of it!

Orchid

The consensus is that this is a kind of Pseudoselago. It is to be seen all over, having recovered after the fire better than ever before!

Pseudoselago spuria?

Flower detail, Pseudosalago spuria?

Close-up off the flowers

On the subject of Pseudoselagos, these Purple Powder Puffs P. serrata are about to open.

Pseudoselago serrata, about to flower

This little pink pea has us stumped! There were quite a lot of them, here and there.

Unknown pea

This is what the flowers and leaves look like, up close:

Flower detail

We were making our way upwards to a hilltop, and came across this, growing out of the burnt remains of a Restio:

Restio? 

Many of the stems are curled and the fan-shaped flowers (?) at the ends were intriguing!

Up close

The slope up there is carpeted with Lobelia jasionoides. Again we've never seen so many!

Lobelia jasionoides

At the top we wanted to see the 'babies' around the burnt Pagoda Flower Mimetes cucullatus. They are fighting for space:

Mimetes cucullatus, growing from spread seed after the fire

Then on the way down, after months of watching, suddenly these plants with the rubbery leaves have burst into flower, giving us a clue to what they are. The closest we get is Lachenalia montana:

Lachenalia montana?

Flower detail:

Flower detail

The Bobartias are out! B. filiformis? This one is growing in a crack in the rock!

Bobartia filiformis

Flower detail:

Bobartia flower

What we were aiming for was what we thought last time was an Aristea:

Aristea bakeri?

Here is the flower up close, Aristea bakeri seems to match the description best:

Flower detail

We were very disappointed to see re-shooting under a burnt Protea cynaroides which had died off:

Re-growth on Protea cynaroides died off

On the way back I went to see where I'd found the first of the rubbery leaves. I wasn't disappointed, they were all over the place! More Lachenalia montana:

Lots more Lachenalias! 

:-) A