False Bay garden and water in September

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

in Cape Town, South Africa

Pictures are from the 1st and 2nd of October for 'September in our garden'. Through the Garden Gate with Sarah in Dorset. Follow your nose via a honey trail. Soft purple and cream flowers with a hint of orange in Buddleja salviifolia throats.

Buddleja salviifolia

Our garden's Spring Promise is in the pink. Especially this Oxalis which I inherited with the garden. I never see THIS one on the mountain as it is brasiliensis! Potted lime has baby fruit. Pink pelargonium with toothy citrus-scented leaves and another pink pelargonium. Bells of Dombeya burgessiae. Tillandsia (air plant) blooms in shade.

Spring Promise in the pink

Furry caterpillars with purple eyebrows are Cape lappet moths. In the birdbaths his Cape robin and my wagtail. Zoë the cat.

Garden wildlife

Gathering the yellows for Summer Gold. Lemon Bulbine and climbing Senecio macroglossus. Lime striped Albuca. At long last rusty orange Salvia africana-lutea to delight the sunbirds. Lime gold Euphorbia mauritanica. Exuberant frilled Californian poppy.

Summer Gold glowing

Sitting by Froggy Pond with flowers on Gladiolus tristis - and faded next day.

Gladiolus tristis

I pruned for two solid days to reduce one Osteospermum moniliferum bush on the verge to a reasonable size, then he chipped and I mulched. The olive tree is sprouting. Winding along Woodland Walk next to Froggy Pond on a sunny afternoon or a clouded over morning.

September between Woodland Walk and Froggy Pond

Melasphaerula grows across our garden like grass, each tiny flower utterly beautiful. Lavender - left funky Plectranthus neochilus, right commonorgarden.

Melasphaerula
Plectranthus neochilus, lavender

Blue and white for Cornish Stripe. Purple and white Babiana and commonorgarden violet. Kingfisher blue Felicia. Forget-me-not. Four purple and white Lachenalia. Polka dots of white Pelargonium.

Cornish Stripe blue and white

For Wildflower Wednesday with Gail in Tennessee truly wildflowers from our August hikes.

Orange Bulbine and red flowers to Karoo Koppie. Pelargonium and poppy. Wand of Melianthus major. Waxy lenses of Begonia.

Karoo Koppie flames red

From our September municipal accounts in litres per person per day.

232 litres 2015 garden. Tall blue pot outside glazed kitchen door.

233 litres 2016 garden. Tapestry hedge on our verge.

  50 litres 2017 garden. Drought - planning filters and a pump for rain tanks.

2018 on our latest account 31 litres.

In September we used 76 litres, without our rain tanks it is 18 litres of municipal water. 22 days were off-grid using our rain water.

From 1st October our water restrictions have been reduced from a target of 50 litres per person per day to 70 litres.

September is Heritage month. Fish Hoek Museum organised a walk among history and spring flowers at the Silvermine Wetlands. Yellow flowers with crumpled leathery petals Lyperia lychnidea. Reeds filter land-based pollution and prevent storm surge flooding of houses. In 1969 there were plans to confine the river to a concrete canal - but we have retained a source to the sea river.

Silvermine Wetland and river mouth

We in the Far South were the first for mains water pressure reduction. Brooklands water treatment works is on our Fynbos Ramble route next week.

News from our councillor, Felicity Purchase:

“The Far South has dropped from the 20Ml a day through Clovelly pump station in June 2017 to 9Ml today. We are currently using 7Ml from Clovelly and 2 Ml from Brooklands Treatment works in Red Hill.”

I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay. Please subscribe as you prefer

via Feedly,

or Bloglovin,

Email with Feedburner,

or Facebook 

Pictures by Diana and Jürg Studer

of Elephant's Eye on False Bay

Teal blue text is my links.

To read comments if you are in email or a Reader,

first click thru to the blog)

Thanks for comments that add value. Maybe start a new thread of discussion? BTW your comment won't appear until I've read it. No Google account? Just use Anonymous, but do leave a link to your own blog. I would return the visit, if I could...

I welcome comments on posts from the last 2 months.