A Sense of Place

Inspired by Helen Battersby's recent post in Toronto Gardens  I thought I would answer her question "Are their any things you love and hate in your garden". In my case it's snails, I've always loved them, in particular the lovely ones with striped shells; they used to be quite rare in my garden so I always turned a blind eye to them when I came across them. More recently the population has exploded and has taken a toll on many plants turning them into delicate lace.  Now I won't hesitate crush them under foot. A cast metal snail found in Bankok slides across one of my alpine troughs. I have a number of chinese copies of japanese Netsuke... quite a few of these are in the shape of snails. The real thing seen here sliding across the glass in my front door.

We are in the latter part of October when the temperature is starting to drop and the days starting to shorten, but still plant life continues to thrive. Here are some of the plants that are now in bloom in the garden and greenhouse. Crocus speciosus. Haemanthus albiflos. Cyclamen hederifolium. Nerine humilis Pelargonium 'Mini karmine' Geranium wallichianum. Saxifragia fortunii Pink Form. Anemonehupehensis v. japonica Erodium 'Natascha'.

I had only seen these flamboyant members of the Iridaceae family in photographs, so it was exciting to see them in their own habitat on my visit to South Africa this September. They grow in arid parts of the Western Cape and brought out of dormancy by late winter rains. Mostly I saw F. crispa which seem to have endless variation in colour and pattern in the flowers. For more information about Ferraria see http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Ferraria Long shot of Ferraria crispa showing foliage and flowers. Stripes and dots are common on the flowers. Colours vary from mostly dark brown to... mostly yellow.

I am showing some pictures of the colony of Pelargonium triste I mentioned in my earlier post. I was unsure if this would interest anyone other than myself, but here goes. A long shot of the colony and six variations of the flower. A large colony of Pelargonium triste at the Darling Wild Flower Reserve. 

The genus Pelargonium includes well over two hundred species. The majority of them ( over 80%) are found in southern Africa, and on my recent trip I was lucky enough to see a number that were in bloom. Of these, my favourites were  P. incrassatum, growing in great profusion among rocky banks at the side of the road; and in Namaqualand, P. sericifolium had just come into bloom with viola-like flowers standing tall against beautifully serrated foliage.  On a hike in Gifberg I came across P. magenteum  with masses of magenta flowers with darker marking on each petal. I saw P. triste everywhere throughout my travels, but it wasn't until the last day at the Darling Wild Flower Reserve that I saw a large colony with a huge variation in colour and markings. I could do a post on P. triste alone, there was so much attractive variety of flower, but for the moment, I have included an image of my favourite. Pelargonium incrassatum. Pelargonium sericifolium. Pelargonium ...

As requested, I'm posting some long shots of the South African landscape covered with Spring flowers. I'n not satisfied with these shots, but they will give some idea of what I experienced last month.

Osteospermum, Gazania,Arctotis, Gorteria, Felicia. All these belong to the family Compositae, but there are others that have the same "daisy-like" flowers, they are Ruschia, Lampranthus, Dorotheanthus, Mesembryanthemum and others belonging to the family Aizoaceae. The thing they have in common is that they all are part of the tapestry of colour that covers vast areas of land in South Africa in the early Spring. Individually they may not be the most complex of flowers but en masse they will not be ignored as they transform the landscape with blankets of brilliant colour.   I will try to identify those pictured here. I think this is an Arctotis or Osteospermum, and I'm not sure if it's opening up  or going over, but I love it at this stage. Gorteria diffusa with dark "beetle-like" markings that encourage   real pollinators to visit. This is, I think an Osteospermum. An Arctotis fastuosa in a colony of interesting  double flowers. ...

I had heard so much about South African Gladiolus, but nothing had prepared me for the huge variety and beauty of these diminutive bulbous plants. So unlike the florist hybrids that we see in the Fall, with their huge flowers on long stems. Although some of the species have long and slender stems, the ones I preferred were no taller than 25cm with subtle colours and vivid markings to invite pollinators in to do their work. Gladiolus elatus. Gladiolus orchidiflorus. Gladiolus meliusculus. Gladiolus watermeyeri.

I've just returned from a trip to South Africa, where I took part in a botanical tour of the Western Cape. The abundance of flowers at the time of year is remarkable, but so too were the structure and textures of the many plants that were not yet in bloom. This was the case when we visited rocky dolerite ridges on which the large succulent Quiver Trees (Aloe dictotoma) grow in impressive colonies. Most appealing to my eye was the huge trunks of these plants, which as it grew in girth, revealed an endless variety of colour and texture on the surface underneath. A forest of Quiver Trees on a dolerite ridge. The beautiful symmetry of a single tree. Every trunk bore a different pattern... And endless variety of shape and colour. These colours, shapes and marks seem typical of those found in African art and craft.