False Bay garden in January
by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa
When this couch potato is reading that is my view. A glimpse
of mountain. Brick paving outside the palisade fence for parking, and inside for
the garden path, exposes me to passing traffic.
 |
| My view thru the window |
We have two Searsia
crenata. I rescued the one outside the front door from smothering by
exuberant Plectranthus neochilus. Fed
and watered it has revived. In a new terracotta 'egg' pot, that one has visibly
grown since I planted it!
 |
| Pots planted for privacy Searsia crenata |
The first garden blog advice I remember, is to concentrate
on ONE part of the garden, so you can see a difference from your hard work. In January
my camera never saw the garden. We spent many days on our
front verge, I prune, he chips, I spread the mulch.
 |
| Across our verge |
Thomas inspecting the Osteospermum
moniliferum. Volunteer seedling with delusions of eating our neighbour's parked
car. Cut back hard, down to ugly wooden twigs. Thomas shows how MANY more days
the garden staff needs to work. Sob.
 |
| Along our verge |
Parchment flowers on Metalasia muricata
shrub, another enthusiastic volunteer, which adds colour and texture to my
planned tapestry hedge. Groundcover is succulent Plectranthus neochilus. Funky smell and spires of elaborate purple
flowers. Hacked back bietou shrub is
rewarding me with yellow daisy flowers.
 |
| Verge flowers for January |
For Through
the Garden Gate with Sarah in Dorset. My Karoo Koppie is themed on Autumn
Fire and succulents. Flowers in orange and red. Red Pelargonium blooms year round, but I should cut it back now. Golden
orange Californian poppies and orange Tecomaria
from earlier gardeners. Red foliage from Crassula
and firesticks Euphorbia tirucalli.
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| Karoo Koppie for January |
I will let the Tecomaria
and sky blue Plumbago grow to the top
of the fence for strategic privacy from passing traffic and neighbours.
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| Karoo Koppie for January |
First yellow Natal laburnum Calpurnia aurea compound leaves, pea family, small tree growing in
afternoon shade. I battle with the glazed cobalt pots which get VERY hot. Now
using the empty pot for the blue focus, and have rescued the Liriope to
join the others in the shade at the Japanese maple. Turning gratefully green
simply from roots in cool ground.
 |
| Natal laburnum Blue pot and Liriope |
Pale pink Crinum
opened while I was collecting photos. Hoya
is blooming happily since I rescued it from its pot. Yellow Hibiscus would like the carob tree to
let in more sun - that needs men with chainsaws.
 |
| January flowers |
The Ungardener kindly removed the flap from cat-door on the
gate. Sitting listening at the vet I realised it is not good for Thomas to have
steps up the inside ... then leap down the wall outside. Two cats can come and
go as they choose. The pond was sad but bonus rain filled it up again. Spekboom
hedge on the kitchen patio is reaching its target height. Graciously hidden
behind Bauhinia is a rain tank.
 |
| January garden |
(Minus the Hoya, Hibiscus and Californian poppies) for Wildflower
Wednesday with Gail at Clay and Limestone in Tennessee.
Three years since we watched the Peers
Hill fire through our bay window. In January we had three awful fires.
Betty's Bay started with an emergency flare fired at the mountain - for fun on
New Year's Eve. One woman died, 31 houses destroyed, 13K hectares (half) of the
nature reserve around Harold Porter Botanical Garden burnt. Firefighter's account
(click translate to English). Then Groenlandberg near Elgin. Third Lion's Head
along the suburban edges of Cape Town.
I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay.
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That is very sound advice concentrating on one part of the garden at one time! You all worked hard in the front especially with the cat's help, they must appreciate that open cat flap! It must be lovely to look out on the mountains. I love that funky purple flower!. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteThe purple flowers are drop dead gorgeous, gorgeous to the eyes, and drop dead to the nose!
DeleteSorry to hear you have to deal with the horror of regional fires! In the US state of California, I understand homeowners take special precautions with their landscaping and choice of building materials for their homes. If you have done so, too, I'd love to see some of the selections you've made.
ReplyDeleteWe are three to five houses, one or two streets from the urban edge and Table Mountain National Park. Some of the houses lost to fire have thatched roofs, or are built of wood - most are sadly unfortunate. Tiled roof and brick walls for us. Before we moved in, we had the invasive alien trees removed, and replaced them with indigenous which is adapted to fire (and doesn't blaze up like a torch ... Eucalyptus, pines, palms)
DeleteOne neighbour has a palm planted in her corner - graciously shared with her 3 immediate neighbours - that I don't like, but it is still low young and green.
We have a large force of professional and volunteer firefighters since the devastating fires in 2000.
I'm sorry to learn that you're dealing with catastrophic fires too, Diana. Your garden looks wonderful despite what I'm sure are challenging summer conditions. I have a good-sized clump of Plectranthus neochilus in my own garden - it's too bad such a resilient and flowerful plants is so very stinky, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt requires its personal space, stay at a respectful distance - and we are both happy. When I am pruning it, the smell becomes medicinal and herbal, not UNpleasant. Bashed on windowsills, it is supposed to deter flies (but I couldn't live with that much in your face pong)
DeleteYour hedge certainly has more colour and texture than ours. Your garden is flourishing, despite the fact that you must still be on water restrictions. Did you have three fires this year? Dreadful at any time.
ReplyDeleteI have been comparing mediterranean gardens - the Californians with their marine layer and strategic watering, and the Filippi nursery's show garden in France which is NOT irrigated. Mine falls somewhere between, neither lush nor embattled.
DeleteWe are still not allowed to water with a hose - but I never have.
Glad Thomas is keeping you on your toes. Always so much to do in an ever expanding garden. It’s looking beautiful tho. Good you had some rain for your pond. B x
ReplyDeleteThe sailboat floating past the window, just so beautiful. (Is it suspended from the ceiling?)
ReplyDeleteA verge garden is a wonderful idea; we don't have that in our part of France as sidewalks often are used for parking since narrow streets don't afford much space for cars.
Long live empty pots!
Yacht is suspended from nylon thread - our Flying Dutchman.
DeleteWe do have cars parking with 2 tyres on our brick paving. We have parking in the garage and for 2 visitors.
Since we are responsible for maintaining our own verge, many people garden right to the edge. Pedestrians? Who walks?!
That is great advice to concentrate on one part of the garden at a time! It is so easy to focus on all the work that we have to do in the garden instead of realizing how much we've done. And you have done so much! That is so sad about the wildfires.
ReplyDeleteFires everywhere in the world seem to be so much worse. Perhaps one of the most terrifying consequences of climate change. Your garden has matured so quickly, you must be so pleased.
ReplyDeleteThat pink Crinum is really delicate. I need to follow that advice, too, to show the changes through the seasons in a specific area of the garden. Those are fun observations. Looks like Thomas is living in paradise. :)
ReplyDeleteYour January garden is gorgeous, Diana. I envy your view of the mountains. I live in the Pocono Mountains but no such view. P. x
ReplyDeleteTantalising! Not even a glimpse thru the trees?
DeleteSo much progress since you moved to Fall Bay! Thomas looks like he owns the place. I especially love your shot of Karoo Koppie. Your comment about the January fires is sobering. How tragic that a woman died and so much sorrow resulted from a careless flare shot in celebration.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you are all safe from the fires, Diana. We had an enormous bush fire near my home a couple of years ago and I well remember the horror and devastation.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Thank you we are still safe.
DeleteYour verge is very much like what we here call the "hellstrip", the planted area by the street that must survive reflected heat from pavement, as well as passersby and their pets. Tough plants for a difficult area. They look good.
ReplyDeleteNice you got bonus rain to fill your pond. Enjoyed your survey of your summer gardening activities.
Ours doesn't have the hell of salt and snowploughs. But we are anticipating fibre optic cables digging up the pavement. Everything outside the palisade fence is Council land, which we maintain.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about all the fires Diana. Bloody idjuts for letting off an emergency flare when they should know better. I hope they caught the culprits and smacked some sense into them. On a side note, have you tried double potting in your glazed cobalt pots? We have a few that I inherited from my gran and we've used bubble wrap and polystyrene to create a barrier between the glazed pot and a smaller, normal plastic pot. It works for us. The pots are up against a white wall and get hammered by the mid day sun and our aloes doing well. Having the aloes in the plastic pots inside the glazed pots also makes it easier to transplant when they get pot bound.
ReplyDeleteI am watering the Felicia (much) more often and they seem OK. Japanese maple is against an afternoon shade wall.
DeleteBut that slanted pot ... will try a small inner pot in the not summer months.
Purple sage is in a tall pot and very happy.
Thomas looks as though he considers it his rightful place to be out inspecting the work of mere humans. I love seeing all the exuberant color of your garden during our long season of white, and I'm particularly enchanted by the pink of that crinum.
ReplyDeleteWhat are people thinking when they fire off flares (or in my part of the world, fireworks) for fun in a fire-prone area? Or are they thinking at all?
It is fun! Stop whining about balloons killing wildlife - is another sore point.
Delete