Gloomy Sunday Flower Walk

There was less than one millimetre of rain forecast; most came this morning, but it left the day heavily overcast and gloomy!

During the week, Pippa found this Red Stinkhorn Clathrus archeri growing on the farm. It lives up to its name!

Red Stinkhorn Clathrus archeri

We didn't know what to expect today being dead-of-winter and overcast to boot, but as usual we weren't disappointed! This morning's rain can still be seen on this Prickly Pear, Opuntia flower:

Opuntia flower

We're so used to seeing the 'baubles' on the Brunias but it was a treat to see some of them in flower!

Brunia in flower

Another Brunia in flower

Raindrops on a Leucadendron:

Leucadendron spp

A striking Metalasia:

Metalasia

Detail of a flower:

Metalasia flower

What might this be? We first thought it could be a Gnidia

Unknown plant in flower

Closer:

Closer view of flower

We don't think we've seen this before! Alison Steyn suggests it might be Amphithalea tomentosa. That belongs to the Fabaceae (pea) family and the flower did look pea-like!

Amphithalea tomentosa?

A Teedia growing in a crack in the rockface:

Teedia in a crack

We were checking up on 'our' plants in the area which has just been clear-felled. Here it looks a bit like the Somme on a bad day:

Clear-felled!

The view on the other side, of the Eikenhof Dam with cats' paws, was better. The Country Club is just showing on the near bank on the right:

Eikenhof Dam with cats' paws

We were pleased to uncover a Gnidia at the top which we thought had been smashed by the felling.

A splash of sunshine highlighted this Lobelia which we think might be L. pinifolia:

Lobelia pinifolia? 

A Mimetes cucullatus which was luckily undamaged by the felling, is partly in flower. I'm not sure if there's more 'fluff' to come or if it's come and gone. It is now much more exposed than it was.

Mimetes cucullatus

This late-flowering Liparia splendens or Mountain Dahlia is still completely covered in flowers, while others have long since finished.

Liparia splendens in full bloom

One of the flowers up close, with raindrops:

Liparia splendens flower

Today I remembered to take a photo of the foliage of the daisy-type plant with the yellow flowers with three petals. There is a Dandelion look about the leaves! Any guesses?

Unknown Daisy-type with detail of leaves

A tallish pink Erica, leaves not in tufts, E. longifolia?

Erica longifolia?

For a change, more than one flower was open on this Daisy. That caused me to go off the path for a picture, which deliberately shows detail of the leaves. Would they be described as 'fern-like'? If so, is it a Euryops?

Euryops?

Here's one of our 'normal' Lobelias, L. tomentosa, we think. It seems that the more difficult the circumstances they grow in, the better they flower! This is just one flower on a row of plants growing in the red pebbles which can be seen in the background, in the middle of the jeep track, making a strong blue stripe!

Lobelia tomentosa

This looked like a Mom (behind) and Dad in front. Anina has kindly suggested that it looks like Hypodiscus argenteus:

Hypodiscus argenteus? F&M

Another interesting Restio. Anina's comment again: Not very clear, but looks like Hypodiscus aristatus male.

Hypodiscus aristatus? Male

On the way into the farm we noticed a strange cloud over Hans se Kop, our rain predictor. It'll be clear for a while!

Hans se Kop

We weren't disappointed, despite the time of the year and the gloom!

:-) A

Snowy Sunday Flower Walk

The storm was on Friday and there's 41mm in the meter. That was the rain, but what about the snow? Just look at it on the High Topps!

Snow!

The calm before the storm, at our Country Club, taken on Thursday:

Calm before the storm at Elgin Grabouw Country Club

Also on Thursday, on the way to Karweyderskraal, Protea compacta, Bot River Protea:

Protea compacta Bot River Protea

The Mimetes cucullatus is also in flower!

Mimetes cucullatus

And this tiny little Leucospermum truncatulum or Patrysbos (Partridge Bush). Still in bud form, it will become a pincushion later:

Leucospermum truncatulum

Outside a farm gate, this Aloe had been planted, with tubular flowers and toothed leaves, and with no stripes or blotches on them, so we're not sure which one it is yet. With over 500 to choose from, not an easy task, especially as this is not growing here naturally!

Unknown Aloe

On our farm we have one bush of Wild Rosemary, Kapokbos or Eriocephalus africanus which is in flower at the moment. It's also showing some of its characteristic woolly fruit:

Eriocephalus africanus Wild Rosemary or Kapokbos

On our walk today we checked progress on the yellow-green Erica coccinea which we found first, it's still looking good!

Erica coccinea

A few weeks ago we found a tall Erica near it, with spent flowers on it. We weren't sure what colour they had been. Now we know: pink and white. We'll be following this one!

Erica spp

Also under the microscope is this..... Last year it had the most beautiful pink Gladiolus flowers. Here comes a second leaf!

Gladiolus leaves

There's still quite a lot of this taller pink Erica; not sure of the name yet. It 'took over' from the pink ones growing closer to the ground, which are now covered with rusty-coloured spent flowers.

Erica spp

The Protea cynaroides or King Proteas are past their best now:

Protea cynaroides King Protea

There are still Liparia splendens or Mountain Dahlia flowers out; this one looks as though it was thrashed around in the wind last week!

Liparia splendens Mountain Dahlia

This plant has us guessing at the moment. One plant has flowers / fruit like this......

Unknown plant

..... and the other like this, growing in close proximity:

Similar unknown plant with different flowers

In fact, seemingly trying to reach one another. M&F? This wasn't the only 'pair' we found.

Both plants growing together

Here is a Gnidia, quite a large bush at more than a metre tall.

Gnidia anomala

Initially we thought it might be G. oppositifolia, but the bare stems and short leafy sections behind the flowers make it look more like G. anomala.

Gnidia anomala flower

These Saltera sarcocolla just beg you to come over and photograph them!

Saltera sarcocolla flower

Here is a single low-growing pink Erica which has come up in a bed of Carpobrotus edulis or Sour Fig:

Erica spp

Detail of the mass of flowers:

Flower detail of above Erica

We checked on a tall Erica which we weren't able to identify last year. It is now in growing mode:

Erica spp

Leaf detail, short, and slightly tufty, and significantly, not a flower or bud in sight at this time of year. That should all help!

Leaf detail of above Erica

At the extreme limit of the zoom of my little camera, I caught this Stone Chat. Just missed a horse and rider in the background, but that would have toooo lucky!

Stone Chat

On the way back, the Worm posed on a tuft. Always one for her creature-comforts! She was concentrating on the horse!

The Worm, concentrating!

:-) A

Sunday Flower Walk on the Bike

An injured dog meant Pippa stayed at home with them and I went off on the bicycle to follow the pipeline from the old Wesselsgat dam which used to supply water to the village of Grabouw. The dam and pipeline have been abandoned and I wanted to see if it was possible that water from a leak in this line could be flooding our road to the Country Club.

Wesselsgat Dam in a deep ravine

The dam is in a narrow ravine, probably very silted up by now, and it looks as if water was pumped from it up to this filtration plant (?) before running down by gravity to the village. So, water caught in this could just run down to the Club which is just above the level of the now nearly full Eikenhof Dam beyond. The Village now draws water from there.

Derelict Filtration Plant?

There was a single watchman at the plant, but he wasn't enough to stop all the metal pipes from being stolen.

Lizard keeping watch!

Blue under the throat, not sure if that makes it a Bloukop Koggelmander or Blue Head Agama. Total length about 6 to 7 inches.

Although it isn't easy to spot flowers from a bike, I did have my eyes peeled when I was able to look around and I wasn't disappointed! Being a 'new' area, there were some unfamiliar plants.

Leucadendron laureolum?

There was lots of yellow around again, several of these Leucadendrons made me get off and look.... L. laureolum?

Flower of L. laureolum?

Still only one flower per plant, what we think is a Euryops. Just look at the Fibonacci sequence in the layout of the florets in the middle!

Euryops flower?

Another example of the little three-petalled daisy-type flower:

Unknown flower

Among the yellow, these Lobelia tomentosa always seem to add a splash of violet!

Lobelia tomentosa

Thamnochortus spp?

This looked like a Mum and Dad restio, flower detail of the male:

Thamnochortus male flower?

... and female:

Thamnochortus female flower?

Anina has kindly responded to a preview of this mail, and says:

These are probably Thamnochortus but I can't tell which one. It's most likely T. lucens, but the female flower doesn't look like lucens on the photo. One would have to see details of the whole plant to be sure.

What is even more interesting is that she is not familiar with the following plant.

Beyond, another pair, now that we know to look out for the difference:

Unknown Restio 

And

Unknown Restio

I wasn't disappointed in the Ericas I found:

Erica plukenetii?

Could they be E. plukenetii or Hangertjies in their pink form?

Erica plukenetii?

Here and there were examples of our favourite Saltera sarcocolla:

Saltera sarcocolla

And what must have been an impressive display some months ago of Phaenocoma prolifera, although I had to look hard for any still in flower:

Phaenocoma prolifera

Different Proteas grow in that area, P. repens or Suikerbossie living up to their reputation of being the most common:

Protea repens

And a few of these, could they be P. lepidocarpodendron?

Protea lepidocarpodendron?

Amongst them were these tall Ericas we remember from before, possibly E. longifolia:

Erica longifolia?

I was surprised by this unfamiliar tall daisy:

Unknown Daisy

I had two bird experiences, one a Malachite Sunbird above these pink proteas. I first watched an aerial display, with its characteristic pin tail with two tufts, lost sight of it and looked up, and there he was on the protea bush next to me! By the time I had my camera out again, he was off!

The other was a smallish kestrel or sparrowhawk which flew out in front of me at head height near this daisy and settled on the top wire of the power lines, just a foot or so before the insulator. By the time I'd ridden close enough to the pole, stopped the bike and taken the camera out, off he flew in a looong loop away from me, to the next pole, again just a foot short of the insulator. He repeated this about six times, before flying off back to where he came from, probably thinking, Got rid of that one nicely, and robbed him of a shot every time!

Tomorrow I'll have sore muscles I never knew I had, but it was worth it, pipeline as well as the flowers!

:-) A