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

Purple Powder-puff Sunday Flower Walk

We've been watching the plants of the Purple Powder-puff Pseudoselago serrata develop all year, but nothing prepared us for the display of flowers we saw today, particularly lower down on the flatter ground!

Purple Powder-puff Pseudoselago serrata

Up close, with the mandatory bottle-green bugs. The flowering heads are in some cases huge, bigger than a tennis ball, like a garden Statice:

Pseudoselago serrata flower

During the week, Pat instructed me to take pictures of Daisies from behind the flower, so here goes on last week's mystery which she thinks might be Athanasia trifurcata. In the pictures on the web, the three-forked leaves are clear. Here are the leaves of this one, from last week's photo; certainly the leaves are forked:

Athanasia trifurcata (?)

Dominic wrote and asked whether the Many Umbrellas Erica multumbellifera we had found, was in any way sticky. We are still foxed by the holes in the sides of the flowers. The answer is no, they are dry and as can be seen in the photo below, the opening of the flower is very small as if pollination must take place by an insect with a long proboscis or does it have to be eaten through from the side?

Many Umbrellas Erica multumbellifera

We collected the stockings of seeds from what we think may be Gladiolus carneus Painted Lady for Jessie, leaving many behind to spread naturally. There are two flower heads in each stocking.

Two stockings of Gladiolus carneus (?) seeds for Jessie

The Combflowers Micranthus are out at the moment:

Combflower Micranthus

We noticed something strange on some of them, worth checking up on next week; some of the stalks are branched below the flowers, as if further flowers might open on the branches:

Micranthus with branched flower stem

Some of the centres of the Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita are still red.....

Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita flowers with red centres

..... while others have turned dark brown and black:

Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita flowers with brown and black centres

.... but one gets an idea of why it's called Cape Snow from this picture:

Cape Snow looking like snow!

From a distance we noticed splashes of orange in the veld, then we remembered the Wachendorfia paniculata which are now spectacularly in seed!

Wachendorfia paniculata seeds

Not easy to find in 'our' patch, Stargrass Ficinia radiata:

Stargrass Ficinia radiata

These pink Ericas must be much easier to pollinate!

Pink Erica

We are delighted with the number of buds on the Agapanthus walshii this year! This one had two flowers last year, there are five now!

Agapanthus walshii with five flowers!

Elsewhere, plants with one last year have two, and ones we have never known to flower, have one:

Small Agapanthus walshii with bud

What looked at first glance in the distance like yet another Pseudoselago serrata, made me look a second time. The colour was wrong! Yes, it is a Dilatris pillansii, probably a laatlammertjie, the rest are over!

Dilatris pillansii, the last one this year?

We often see this Daisy; the distinctive feature being the puff-ball spent flower:

Daisy with distinctive spent flowers

Yes, Pat, I did photograph it from the side :-)

Leaves, buds and spent flowers of above Daisy

Most of the Pelargoniums are spent but there are a few flowers out still:

Pelargonium

We were lucky to find (or do we know 'our' patch so well?) the plant with spent flowers which was identified at Villiersdorp Show as Anaxeton asperum, although I'm not so sure of the identification now, judging from the pictures on the web. The flowers were pink balls with a yellow centre and the leaves remind me of the feet of a chameleon.

Identified as Anaxeton asperum, but I'm not sure.....

This was the specimen in the bottle:

Specimen of above plant at Villiersdorp Show recently

There are just a few open flowers still on this Vygie Mesembryanthemum:

Vygie Mesembryanthemum

In the 'gulley' we found just one Bobartia filiformis flower open. It had been overcast earlier so that might have been why this sun-shy flower was open.

Bobartia filiformis 

A few splashes of pink at the top of the hill made us inspect the Red, or Common Pagoda Mimetes cucullatus up there. It hasn't started showing fluff between the leaves / petals yet, but I'm sure that's not far off! This is the first year it's been in full sunlight; it seems to be enjoying it.

Mimetes cucullatus

From up there, a splash of van Gogh-type yellow caught my eye and I went across to see what it was. A different Daisy from the previous one, I think:

A different Daisy?

Or is it the same?

Or is it the same as the one lower down?

Now in full sun, the Leucospermum oleifolium seems to be recovering from the pounding it got when the trees were felled around it. Gardening hints for this plant are, 'do as little as possible and it will thrive', so we'll be watching for it to set flowers again next year.

Leucospermum oleifolium, recovering!

There are two specimens we have found in this area which is now deforested, of Fire Lilies Cyrtanthus ventricosa. Both are pushing up leaves now, unfortunately one is on the edge of a cycle path. In the left foreground:

Cyrtanthus ventricosa leaves on cycle path

Also on the edge of the path, but not under any threat and now in full sun, are Agapanthus which are growing under a Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens. We've never seen them flower before, but we're pleased to see a bud for the first time, which Pippa is pointing out. We are looking forward to seeing what type it is!

Agapanthus with a bud for the first time, but which type?

The Therianthus seem to have come and gone this year without us spotting many of them.

Therianthus

On the way home past the ruins of the Railway cottages, there are masses of these pea-type flowers which have no scent:

Pea, but which one?

During the week, I stopped at the plant on a farm I work on, which we think might be a Moraea. There is just one flower left:

Moraea (?)

The seed pods are distinctive:

Seed pods of above flower

The other interesting plant from this past week, I spotted in my own orchard. I had by chance seen a posting on Elgin Grabouw Garden Club Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SithandPlants of a Purple Salsify, Goatsbeard or Tragopogon porrifolius.

Salsify, Goatsbeard Tragopogon porrifolius

Imagine my surprise at finding one (and only one!) in my orchard!

Salsify, goatsbeard Tragopogon porrifolius in my orchard

It is a root vegetable and I read that it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides, although commercially it has been supplanted by Spanish Salsify. It seems to open and close for the sun and one of the possible explanations for the unusual name is an adaptation from Solsequiens or 'following the sun'. I have searched the orchard and find just that one!

:-) A