Our False Bay garden in December

By Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

We needed more security at the palisade fence. But not barbed wire please. The Ungardener collected a flock of terracotta birds and they watch over us from the wall at the gate.

There was an old man with a beard

Who said - it is just as I feared

Three owls and ...

Have all made their nests in my beard!

Birds near the garden gate

On the Karoo Koppie is our volunteer tomato. If I'd had any idea how much fruit would come from that one plant I would have weighed our harvest. Having lived a full year here I know there are lemons year round. Lady finger edible banana pokes into the washing pergola and path, and sends up a new leaf every few days. One day ... we will harvest bananas!

Food from our garden

The East side with the Washing Pergola, herbs and lemon tree is filling in green and peaceful with blue and white flowers. The West side, planted first, needs some whupping back into shape. Certainly don't need to worry about planting to soften the paving stones. Brachylaena is cautiously trimmed to shape since it already waves over the wall.

Walking round the garden

Melianthus has gone to seed and I'm trimming back the branches that reach into the paving. Leonotis has faded but we had good flowers. Around the woodland planters in the blocks I've added the trailing ivy pelargoniums in pink and red we inherited with the garden. Added a new one with green and white leaves (for when there are no flowers). Still space for one more, when I find the right one.

Leonotis
Melianthus seeds
with pelargoniums

Filling the woodland planters with bietou and Hypoestes seedlings from the garden. We bought 2 Searsia crenata (dense shrub against the prevailing wind) and 2 Searsia leptodictya (arches gracefully like a willow and crushed leaves smell of perfect citrus) and Kei Apple Dovyalis caffra. Variegated Hypericum and a few shrubby pelargoniums with the Alstroemeria I harvest out of the garden. For End of Year View.

Woodland planters

Gathering the blue flowers across the garden. Remnant of the Plumbago hedge has risen from being hacked back. Dietes is settling in. Herbs bloom in blue and white - borage, sage, lemon balm, and Thai basil. In the tall blue pot Felicia makes its first flowers. Solitary flower is the one Agapanthus I didn't transplant. Stoep jacaranda has deeper purple flowers than the camera sees. And the blue star is a Campanula volunteer.

Blue flowers in December

At the bottom of the garden, near the woodland planters the Ungardener is building his next pond. We have a beach for the birds to bathe (going to be tricky with Thomas!) A large frog from ItalCement to spout water. We needed something that wouldn't disappear once the plants fill in.

The pond and the frog

At the Karoo Koppie tomatoes graciously follow the orange and red colour scheme. Potted Haworthia sent up a tall spike. Still masses of Californian poppies from ivory to russet via all the yellows and oranges in between. My current favourite is the grey leaved Cotyledon orbiculata with flowers shimmering in bronze, copper and gold.

Karoo Koppie

It's complicated combining 18 year old GTF off my patch Aragon and young rescue cat Thomas. We have some 'happy salmon paste' from the vet which helps. Thomas let me stroke his head yesterday, purring softly, today he hit me again. Aragon is sleeping peacefully instead of being on HIGH alert.

Thomas after salmon paste

For Wildflower Wednesday a bee on Limonium perezii which comes from the Canary Islands.

Bee on Limonium perezii

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