Rain Stopped Play Sunday Flower Walk

The rain had been promised for today, just two millimetres out of the south. Rain from that direction is hard to predict here, but it hit with a clap of thunder after lunch, followed by a few drops. The real rain came when we were furthest from home! We had seen quite a lot of flowers by then and saw more on the way home but it wasn't fun stopping for pictures!

But this morning on the farm, two plants were worth snapping, Virgilia oroboides (or capensis), our Keurboom is looking magnificent:

Keurboom Virgilia oroboides

Under it are Scilla peruviana growing wild:

Scilla peruviana

There are still a few Satin Flowers, Wine-cups, Geissorhiza aspera to be seen, but they are past their best.

Satin Flower Geissorhiza aspera

We caught the tiny Sundews Drosera open again!

Sundew Drosera flower

The smaller, earlier Wachendorfia paniculata have finished flowering now and have set seeds. These triangular turban-like pods will still turn orange.

Wachendorfia paniculata seed pods

But on the big ones further up, the flowers have still to open!

Large Wachendorfia paniculata

Some of the Brunias have finished flowering and new growth is pushing through the spent flowers:

Brunia with spent flowers and new growth

The single Buchu Agathosma betulina we have found which was so badly hacked at last year is recovering and we're watching the progress of its babies scattered around. This is the most impressive one. Rubbing a single leaf is enough to leave a distinctive smell on your fingers for hours!

Young Agathosma betulina plant

We thought all the Trachyandra revoluta were finished flowering, now we had found the right name for them. We did find two examples still flowering:

Trachyandra revoluta, still in flower

What I thought before might be Combflowers Micranthus, have turned out to be grass:

Grass seed

The tufts are impressive! 

Tuft of grass with above seeds

All year we've been keeping an eye on the Purple Powderpuffs Pseudoselago serrata, waiting for the flowers to appear. There are again many more plants than we remember before, so when they come they'll be spectacular. This is the biggest plant we've found, about 60cm tall, and the flower heads aren't forming yet.

Purple Powderpuff Pseudoselago serrata

Right next to the road where we usually find Lobelia tomentosa, suddenly I noticed a very different one! It's not L. pinifolia which as it sounds has needle-like leaves, we know where to find plenty of those, this one is different.

Lobelia comosa? 

Could it be Lobelia comosa?

Flower detail

While on the subject of Lobelias, we've never seen a white one before! Hidden between two large rocks:

White Lobelia

A white L. pinifolia?

Flower of white Lobelia

The flowers are out on the big Psoralea pinnata, dead on cue (October to December).

Psoralea pinnata flowers

The local Pelargoniums are all out, with their exquisite red veined pattern in the pink flowers!

Pelargoniums in flower!

One of 'our' roads is literally lined with these plants with white clusters of flowers:

Unknown plant

Twice through Manning's Fynbos book hasn't given a clue as to what it is, and there were lots of them!

Flower detail

This Teedia is growing out of a hole in the rock face where it has found enough sustenance to produce flowers and berries!

Teedia growing out of a hole in the rocks!

It's Vygie time!

Vygies, but which one?

The succulent leaves are short and triangular, and with all the rain we've had, fat!

Succulent leaf detail

Pippa's next exam is Rock Art. No we didn't find any!

Any Rock Art?

I spotted a splash of colour in the midst of what we think is a Campylostachys cernua. But it's supposed to be white and flower in February, this was pink. It looks as if an Orchid of some kind is growing up within the plant!

Orchid in Campylostachis cernua?

On the way home the Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis had closed up.

Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis closed for the weather

These Helichrysums are aptly called Cape Snow!

Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita

:-) A

Hot Sunday Flower Walk

It's still 27°C in the garden, it was a lot hotter up on the bare hill this afternoon! We're not used to it after a long, cold winter!

I did some gardening at the Max Harris Park yesterday and had to be careful not to cut this Gazania (hybrid?). There were many other wild flowers growing up in the grass.

Gazania hybrid? in Max Harris Park

During the week I was asked to look at this flower on a farm I was working on (see the black hands?). From a distance I thought they would be Geissorhiza aspera which we have seen in flower now, but the pleated leaves made me think of Babiana. The closest I get is Babiana stricta.

Babiana stricta?

All along The Valley Road, right from the turn-off from the N2 Garden Route, the side of the road is speckled with orange flowers, either Satyr Orchids Satyrium coriifolium, or these Beetle Lilies, Baeometra uniflora:

Beetle Lily Baeometra uniflora on the side of the Valley Road

Before we left the farm today we walked through Steen's garden. He works at a garden shop and often brings home left-behinds. In the undergrowth, Pippa had noticed Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa, a single species in the Iridaceae genus 'and it resembles no other plant in the entire family' [Peter Ashby, Pacific Bulb Society].

Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa 

This is how they grow:

Fairy Bells Melasphaerula ramosa plant

There were more of the Geissorhiza aspera not far from where we first found a single example a week or two ago. They are also called Satin Flowers or Wine Cups. They are also members of the Iris family.

Satin Flower, Wine Cup, Geissorhiza aspera

A beetle teeters on the edge of this Harlequin Flower Sparaxis bulbifera:

Harlequin Flower Sparaxis bulbifera

For very the first time we have seen the insect-eating Sundews Drosera in flower! They are tiny and very difficult to get the auto-focus to home-in on:

Sundew Drosera flower open!

I put my cap behind this one. The stitching gives an idea of the size!

Comparison of stitching and partly-open Drosera flower and buds

In places there were many of them. By the time we came back past them on the way home, the flowers had closed for the night!

A patch of Sundew Drosera

At last, the bigger, well-established Wachendorfia paniculata further up the hill have started pushing up flower buds:

Large Wachendorfia paniculata and bud, at last!

Those further down have been flowering for weeks now. They have proliferated amazingly in the last year, and right across the Elgin Valley!

Lower down, the smaller ones have been in flower for weeks!

The Eikenhof Dam was like a Mill-Pond!

Eikenhof Dan like a mill-pond!

Always worth stopping for, Saltera sarcocolla!

Saltera sarcocolla flower

Just below it was this plant, or is it a flowering plant within the tuft of grass?

Unknown flower or flower in a tuft of grass?

Flower detail:

Flower detail

We deliberately looked for the pink flower we found two weeks ago, a cluster of pink balls. One had partly opened last week, now the middle ones look fully open:

Helichrysum?

This is what the leaves look like. Apart from guessing it's some kind of Helichrysum, we're baffled! A sort of indigenous 'Pink Sapphire' with green leaves?

Leaves on above plant

By chance, on the Walking the Cape blogspot, http://walkthecape.blogspot.com/2009/09/assegaaibosch-wild-flower-garden.html while following up another flower, we found the name for the flower we've found in a small area, and up till now thought was a Drimia. It seems to be a Trachyandra revoluta. The flowers are all finished now:

Trachyandra revoluta, finished flowering

.... but many have set seeds! Thanks for the identification, Helen!

Seeds of Trachyandra revoluta

The single Phaenocoma prolifera in 'our patch' was so bright in the strong sunlight that I had to cast my own shadow over it for a photo!

Phaenocoma prolifera

About 30 metres apart, we have been watching the development of two Leucadendrons:

Leucadendron (m/f?)

They look as if they are 'related'!

Leucadendron (f/m?)

There are still many yellow daisies out (Euryops?), but many are past their best now:

Euryops Daisy? 

We're checking for buds on this Agapanthus walshii, which usually gives us one or two flowers. They seem to have to have grown into a dense tuft before they flower. Nothing yet!

Agapanthus walshii, waiting for buds! 

Neighbour's hitch-hiking water-dog and Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos:

Aponogeton distachyos Waterblommetjies and Waterhond!

Yes, it was hot!

:-) A