False Bay garden in September

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Californian poppies bloom on our Karoo Koppie in a thick carpet! Yellow, gold, orange and russet for Through the Garden Gate.

Californian poppies

One end has a border of golden Portulacaria afra. Euphorbia tirucalli Firesticks fights thru pelargoniums and poppies. Against the north-facing wall a red Crassula. Bells on Cotyledon orbiculata. Red Pelargonium. Barely yellow Lampranthus has faded. Euphorbia mauritanica covered in lime gold bronze flowers. Finely dotted margin of a Cotyledon orbiculata leaf.

Today I cut back two Osteospermum moniliferum on the verge Plectranthus neochilus ate the brick pavement and eyes the tarred road.

Karoo Koppie in reds

He relaid the slabs at Spring Promise, removing the zig zag that we stepped over - keeping the offset path curving off from the stone circle. I yanked out the Euryops virgineus - gone brown. Moved half of the white iris - wonder if they will bloom? From under the previous slabs I rescued bluebells and arum lilies.

Offset path from Summer Gold to Spring Promise

Silver Dymondia margaretae carpet is offended by the burying. Trusses of pink Dombeya festoon the new rain tank. Five corners are anchored by Dusty Miller. Veltheimia settled in to bloom. Brachylaena has ivory and russet furry thistle flowers. Buddleja tiny flowers in ivory flushed with purple and an orange eye - waft honey thru the garden. Shocking pink Oxalis border Spring Promise.

Spring Promise in pinks

I have perhaps a dozen pelargoniums. Each flower varies in size, shape and markings. The leaves are large or small, dark-veined, silver blue or green, almost a semicircle or finely divided - each with its own perfume.

Pelargoniums in September

In Summer Gold Albuca dangles lime gold and ivory bells. Yellow Euryops daisies. Garden hibiscus sparks the gold with terracotta and burgundy. Repotted my mother's cymbidiums - surviving my neglect are Venus, an apricot and a miniature. When I did King Arthur slipper orchid out fell a label in my mother's writing. In 1964 I was 9. Hibiscus tiliaceus russet new leaf. Neighbour thinned our fiddlewood = more mountain view. Rose Courtyard is dominated by huge burgundy black Melianthus flowers.

Summer Gold in yellows

Moved to a focal point under the bird feeder is the gentle yellow Clivia. He is working on rain tank overflow to fill the pond. Filters and pump wait to be plumbed in. Our dams are expected to last till the third week in February. Farmers have their irrigation cut by 50%. Food inflation and unemployment ahead.

Froggy Pond

New focal point for Cornish Stripe is the large black caddy where I store grey (rinse) water from the washing machine, to reuse for the next load. I cut back the Plectranthus neochilus under the lemon tree for the variegated Felicia. Planted bluebells around that house corner.

Cornish Stripe and washing pergola

Yellow lemons, Senecio climbing daisy and Bulbinella. My blues are on glazed pots, and purple flowers of Polygala myrtifolia both the pot and the sapling. White leaves of variegated mint, Cyperus albostriatus and Plectranthus madagascariensis. Dark leaves on a purple sage and a surviving crown of English violets.

Cornish Stripe in yellow, white and purple

Zoё and I don't do TV. Thomas and the Ungardener are fascinated. Thomas with feet overhanging the edge of his bed.

Since the Botanical Rambles my Feedly exploded with 300 posts ... I still have the last hundred to read.

... the extravagant warmth ... of those who see that something complicated, or obscure, that they have thought or made has after all been noticed and understood - from Still life by A S Byatt

Thomas watching TV

Truly wild flowers for Wildflower Wednesday in my Sentinel to Redhill post.

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