Flirting Malachite Sunday Flower Walk

The Malachite Sunbird pair were actually performing here at home during the week, making a lot of noise, or he was, and much flashing of wings. Not sure whether madam on the left was impressed or not, but they looked good in the Klipdagga Leonotis nepetifolia.

Male Malachite Sunbird showing off to the female on the left

Also in the week I came across several cream-coloured Sugarbush Proteas Protea repens, this one complete with bug.

Sugarbush Protea repens

On the same farm a delightful red Pelargonium:

Pelargonium

And.....?

Unknown flower

It was good that there was some colour about because today in the burned hills there was just green, and ever more of it! In this case, Wachendorfia paniculata and Lanaria lanata:

Wachendorfia paniculata and Lanaria lanata

The strange thing about the Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus is that many of them have come up out of burned stands of what look like just that, yet we've never noticed the plant before! This one has set fat green berries.

Berries on Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus

I walked to the top of a hill where I know there was a Pagoda flower Mimetes cucullatus.

Burned Pagoda Mimetes cucullatus

I was interested to inspect the spent and burned flowers to see whether there were seeds, seeing as this doesn't appear to be a re-sprouter. This is what the old flower looks like up close:

Close-up of burned flower

... and yes, breaking away a little part of it, yielded a healthy looking seed, which I planted under it.

.... and a seed!

Not far away there is a burned Leucospermum oleifolium, which we had only just discovered before the fire.

Burned Leucospermum oleifolium

There are many spent flowers on it and I broke one open and found it completely packed with little seeds:

... and seeds! 

Back to the re-sprouters, this looks like a Rhus / Searsia:

Rhus / Searsia

The leaves are veined and in threes. We folded a leaf back to see if it would leave a white line.... it snapped!

Leaf detail

We walked down what we call 'the gully' where we knew there were two Agapanthus walshii before the fire. Up till today we had not found them. They are there! One:

Agapanthus walshii which we couldn't find before

... and the other!

The other one we were looking for!

This was also where we found the Oxalis polyphylla with the strange needle-like leaves. They weren't easy to find because the flowers are spent but we did find one, we think!

Oxalis polyphylla

The spent flower up close:

Spent Oxalis polyphylla flower

I thought this was yet another part-burned stump but it was hollow. It is or was an ant-hill!

Burned ant-hill

This looked funny, a Daisy right in the middle of a re-growing Restio!

Daisy in Restio!

The scraggly Pelargoniums seem to have benefited from the fire:

Pelargoniums coming up nicely after the fire

Ever hopeful that the Heeria argentea will re-sprout, but these are all also Pelargoniums.

Heeria argentea, no sign of re-sprouting

This is one of two Liparia splendens we found re-sprouting nicely:

Liparia splendens re-sprouting nicely!

Can this be the first Arum Lily Zantedeschia aethiopica we have seen?

Arum Lily Zantedeschia aethiopica

We will just have to be patient for the other colours... they will come!

:-) A

Cold and Wet Sunday Flower Walk

The wind was straight from the South Pole and we had a shower at the highest, furthest part of our walk! However, it takes more than that to shake off your hardy Flower Walkers!

I had a feeling we would find no other colour than green on our walk, so I snapped the Prickly Pear Opuntia at the ruins of the Railway Cottages.

Prickly Pear Opuntia

The re-growth all over is really impressive especially up close. From a distance the hills still look dark grey. But views like these give us an idea of the Spring we can expect:

Lots of bulbs coming up!

We're not sure what they are, but we're pretty sure we remember a pink Watsonia borbonica here:

We think this is a pink Watsonia borbonica

All the Agapanthus walshii plants we remember are coming back, in most cases, invigorated.

Agapanthus walshii

These Fungi we will have to look up or put on iSpot; growing in the cracks of a rotten pine stump.

Unknown fungus

We think (hope!) this is a Liparia splendens, coming back with a bang!

Liparia splendens? 

A Daisy?

Daisy? 

Another Daisy?

Another Daisy, but different? 

We thought these would be tightly closed; our 'new find' from last week, Oxalis polyphylla.

Oxalis polyphylla

This is re-growing in a crack in the rock:

Rhus / Searsia? 

Last week, Dominic told us that if the leaves were growing in threes, it was a strong indication that these are Rhus / Searsia:

Three leaves

... and Pat said that if one folds a leaf and gets a white stripe when folded back flat, it would be a further indication to particular Searsia. But I forgot to fold it! And forgot which one anyway!

But this is definitely something else, maybe the Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana that Dominic suggested:

Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana?

We're finding plenty of them, and the leaves are pointed and grow opposite one another in pairs.

We're still perplexed by these Wachendorfias with curved leaves growing flat on the ground:

Wachendorfia, but which one?

Just 35 paces from the one above, are these which we are pretty sure, are Wachendorfia paniculata:

Wachendorfia paniculata, we think!

We know the W. thyrsiflora is the tall one in river beds, and there's W. brachyandra and W. multiflora, and that's it! Maybe the curved flat ones are W. paniculata which got hotter in the fire?

This is going to be interesting!?

Wait and see!

Just before the rain came, we saw this strange phenomenon; clouds of vapour coming up from the forest!

Clouds of vapour coming out of the forest, just before the rain

The Eikenhof Dam should start filling now that irrigation has stopped.

:-) A

Gloomy Sunday Flower Walk

Yes, gloomy and overcast and a South-westerly wind from Gordon's Bay. We've had a few light showers since the fire, but no real rain so far.

Lack of sunshine meant that our 'new find for the day' was closed, Oxalis Polyphylla which we've never noticed before!

Oxalis polyphylla

The more normal pink Oxalis has a clover-like leaf, we saw some later:

Our more familiar pink Oxalis

In the middle upper part of the picture above is a plant we have started to find, not sure what it will turn into, but we're watching!

On the way out we found some puff-balls Scleroderma citrinum (?) which are easily mistaken for stones in the road:

Puffballs in the track

Another Puffball

We're still finding plenty of Swollen Restio Beetles Pseudorupilia on the new growth of Restios, but not on any of the tufts of grass.

Swollen Restio Beetle Pseudorupilia

The densest stand we've found so far of Agapanthus walshii is coming along nicely!

Agapanthus walshii, doing well!

The Leucospermum oleifolium nearby is doing nothing yet.

Leucospermum oleifolium, no sign of life since the fire

What I'd hoped would be re-shooting at the base of the Heeria, is in fact Pelargonium!

Pelargoniums growing at the base of the burned Heeria

In places the Pelargoniums are coming up well!

Pelargoniums

Where the fire was hottest, the Palmiet has burned off completely and there's no sign of shooting. In other places, it's very encouraging.

Palmiet, recovering

We're still confused with the bushes we're seeing shooting from their bases. These leaves are in threes and are veined diagonally from the centre.

We had thought this might be Cape Myrtle but it's all wrong!

The burned remains of berries can be found.

Detail of a burned branch, with berries

New leaf detail:

Leaf detail, showing radiating veins

In many cases, these were saved from the worst of the fire's heat by their growing next to or between rocks. Here's another:

Another similar plant

How lucky we are to live here!

Eikenhof Dam and Groenlandberg

We found just two Tritoniopsis lata today, but what's that behind?  

Tritoniopsis lata

We were able to have a good look at the leaves here, definitely multi-ribbed:

Leaf detail

What might this be, next to an Oxalis?

What are these leaves?

We found several Fire Asparagus Asparagus Lignosus, this one's berries have turned dark:

Asparagus lignosus with dark berries

Others are still green.

Asparagus lignosus with still-green berries

And some are still in flower:

Asparagus lignosus in flower still

This gives an idea of how densely they sometimes grow!

Dense stand of Asparagus lignosus

'Till next time, from the Wurm.....

Wurm on the alert

.... and the Boy, who was determined to get in the pictures, every time!

I want to be in this picture!

:-) A