A Sense of Place

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.