In a Vase on Monday and mountain flowers

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

Since our garden is manageable, I don't have beds or plants dedicated for cutting. I do always have colour. I am unwilling to cut unless they are pruning volunteers or to gift a posy. Chosen to provide habitat and food for wildlife, I prefer to let the plants play their role in the web of life. I do choose for foliage first, which always gives me the option of a generous sheaf of texture, shape and colour - cream, silver, all the greens, glaucous blue or even orange and red. I could have picked purple and white flowers, stripping the garden, but I will leave those to shine in the March garden update. For Foliage Follow-up.

In A Vase on Monday for March

When we lived in Porterville the 'garden' club was half floral art demonstrations. I have got out of the habit of exercising the skill I gained. For In a Vase On Monday I chose tall and delicate stars of dwarf Cyperus prolifer - always one of my first favourites for my garden, and vases. A lush groundcover lighting up the shade is the green and white striped forest Cyperus albostriatus as focal starbursts. Bonus of fragrance from the little sage green beach sage Salvia africana-lutea, and the large velvety ruffled leaves of rose Pelargonium. More height and contrasting colour from Brachylaena discolor  with bottle green shiny and silver matte surfaces. The vase is rectangular IKEA from wide eyed visits to Spreitenbach outside Zurich. We still, don't have IKEA shops in South Africa. Filled with glass pebbles to hold the stems, just there, where I placed them, thank you!

March leaves for In A Vase on Monday

His February moon bridges the gap to his February hikes and my preferred wild flowers on our mountains.

February moon

Red disas we first found by accident when we walked along the Pipe Track above Camps Bay. And again hiking in the Groot Winterhoek above Porterville. These Disa uniflora are in Echo Valley on Table Mountain living up to their Pride of Table Mountain name.

Red disa

Disa uniflora

In Bainskloof near Wellington he found blue flowers. Nivenia corymbosa ??

Blue Nivenia corymbosa ?? on Bainskloof

Looking down at Simon's Town, the naval dockyard (more sheltered than Table Bay) and our church on Sunday. The last layer of purple-headed mountain is Table Mountain under the Tablecloth with Devil's Peak.

Simon's Town

He was climbing on Simonsberg. (No wonder he comes home bruised and bloody to recover for the next round)

on Simonsberg

Up Little Lion's Head looking across Hout Bay to Chapman's Peak Drive on that almost unbuilt sweep from the mountain to the sea. Upmarket Tintswalo Atlantic Lodge is tucked out of sight down on the shore.

From Little Lion's Head to Chapman's Peak Drive

They hiked down to Sandy Bay on another route.

Down to Sandy Bay

For something completely different - architecture, history and art in my previous post.

Hiking with U3A both for the company (safety in numbers) and to discover more of our mountain nature.

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