November in our False Bay garden

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

It is two years since we moved to False Bay and the last three weeks have been, interesting. The Ungardener is recovering from pneumonia while the garden and my blog have slipped off my radar. Today we had our first gentle walk along the prom.

2016 Advent Wreath
with pelargoniums

This year for my Advent wreath I gathered the bounty of pelargonium flowers, from white to red via soft and warm pinks. Colour to lift the heart.

Pelargoniums in November
The leaves are nutmeg with its tiny white flowers to the left

Potted lime has five good fruit and the lemon tree about two dozen. This year's compost volunteer tomato is medium sized fruit, good flavour, with a tough skin, and more fruit ripening every day. Fiddlewood heralds summer with a blaze of orange leaves against a sapphire sky. At Cornish Stripe the Japanese maple and Prunus nigra are leafed out to the two dark dramas I cherish (in the garden!)

Fiddlewood, lime, lemon
Japanese maple
Tomato and Prunus nigra

Strelitzia nicolai rescued from my sister's broken wine barrel and making its first flowers, blue and white perfect for Cornish Stripe. Enough nectar to 'tap maple syrup' and fuel starlings.

Strelitzia nicolai

The garden is a green and peaceful place for those first few circuits of walking after almost three weeks in bed.

Froggy Pond and Cornish Stripe

The Maid of the Forest catches the sun and is a vibrant focal point as you approach from either side (but the camera is dazzled)

November sun on the Maid of the Forest

The verge and the Karoo Koppie out front make the most of the sun and I enjoy the contrast of quiet blue against boisterous oranges and reds. For Through the Garden Gate with Sarah in Dorset.

Dombeya, Summer Gold and Pink Promise
on the verge, looking back

Now I add fresh cobalt blue flowers of Cape forget me not Anchusa capensis, to the usual blue suspects.

Scabiosa, Californian Gilia, Anchusa capensis
heartsease, Plectranthus, lavender

Iceberg roses are getting a bit chewed but there are more buds coming so long as I remember to water. Yellow Hypoxis, pink Oxalis and Alstroemeria blends pink and yellow.

This summer will be interesting. Our dams are about half full and Cape Town's water may, hopefully, last till March and autumn rain.

November bulbs and Iceberg rose

I garden for biodiversity. Caterpillars and butterflies on daisies and pelargoniums. Bees hum on poppies and Plectranthus. A crab spider lurks at the edge of a daisy. For Gail at Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday in Tennessee.

November bugs

When I walk to the Leonotis I startle the sunbirds who appreciate the trumpet flowers as I do those whorled layers of velvety bronze.

Leonotis

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Pictures by Diana Studer

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