False Bay garden in June

by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa

This is a good winter. My aloes have recovered from last year's shrizzled buds. Aloe ferox blooming in June. Buds of Aloe marlothii coming for July. Emerging buds on the coral Aloe striata. For Through the Garden Gate with Sarah in Dorset.

Winter aloes
Winter aloes

Karoo Koppie is ticking all my orange and red boxes. Leaf margins on coral aloe. Firesticks Euphorbia tirucalli turning from lime gold thru bronze to terracotta. Raspberry red Lachenalia bulbifera. Gold and orange Chasmanthe floribunda. Stately bells of Cotyledon orbiculata got knocked sideways by wind. Garlanded by a border of scarlet pelargoniums.

Karoo Koppie in reds
Karoo Koppie in reds


Cypripedium King Arthur
Cypripedium King Arthur

June garden flowers blue Rotheca myricoides and Felicia. Blue and white Strelitzia nicolai. Pure white pelargonium and Iceberg rose. Still patiently pruning my lemon tree to a better, more compact more reachable shape, and thinning out the too much groundcover above the roots. Yellow Euryops pectinatus. Pink Dais cotonifolia (sorry too late for the photo - but we had nice flowers) and pelargonium. For Wildflower Wednesday with Gail at Clay and Limestone in Tennessee.

June garden flowers
June garden flowers

From the sky came a gangly ungainly shadow. Not dark and menacing hadeda ibis. But a young purple heron, with his snakelike head and neck. Hoping for a frog...

Young purple heron
Young purple heron

Emptying the overflow buckets after rain I found a rain spider.

Rain spider
Rain spider

'The service in this place is the pits. Half rations (vet put them on a diet). And I think you should know, this fire is not working!' says Zoë.

Zoë waiting for the fire to be lit
Zoë waiting for the fire to be lit

Sleep sandwich. Thomas enjoys coming in festooned with garden bits like an over decorated Christmas tree (now he is curled on the cushion on my chair)

Sleep sandwich
Sleep sandwich

Mid-winter sunny breezy days and my washing pergola does good service.

Line dried washing in winter
Line dried washing in winter

Don't judge a book by its cover, but I do! Alex Latimer is both author, and illustrator. The cover tells the story, set in Upington, Northern Cape, hot just across the border to Namibia. With an entertaining visual gift to his readers spread across all the pages.

Followed by Alaska. Rosamund Lupton and I both have/had one deaf ear. Her narrator is a profoundly deaf young girl. But the cover, tall trees, while she is crossing the tundra in a blizzard and utter darkness!

Book cover art
Book cover art

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Pictures by Diana and Jürg Studer

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Comments

  1. Your Aloes look fabulous! Every time I see your Rotheca I kick myself once again for not yet finding a spot to make one happy here. (Of course, I'm also running out of spots for anything more.) And poor kitties!

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  2. That aloe is amazing! And so is that spider, in a creepy scary way. Come have a look at my tiny wild orchid.

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  3. I read The Quality Of Silence and enjoyed it, despite the fact it was a little far fetched. Loved the Slipper Orchid. Poor Thomas being on half rations. Bet he’s not happy :) B x

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    1. I did enjoy seeing the world thru a deaf girl's eyes. And a society where sign is one more language in the repertoire.

      Still fascinating by a hearing man who taught his hearing baby to sign before she could talk. (Not in that book)

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  4. I#m so glad you managed to join us again this month. The colours of the winter aloes and Karoo Koppie are stunning. It;s strange with it being winter and some blooms are just the same as in my summer garden - felicia, iceberg rose and pelargonium..I am currently reading a book about orchids, your slipper orchid is fantastic! Sarah x

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  5. Wow, to all of your blooms. Nice blue heron, creepy spider. Love the photo of your three enjoying the sun.

    Happy winter to you from hot and steamy south FL ~ FlowerLady

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  6. I sometimes recognize having seen one of your flowers whilst on a visit, but most times, not. I took a bit of photos of flora on my visits. I should see if I could identify any of them through your photos. I will not likely work that hard at this late date, but I very much enjoy seeing yours and the views of an area that I came to appreciate for many reasons.

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  7. Those aloe flowers are amazing; unlike anything I have in my garden. Thanks for the reading suggestions along with the flowers. I've just put the Rosamund Lupton book on my wish list at the library. I recently read Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone, also set in Alaska. More than twenty years ago, I spent a month traveling in Alaska at this time of year, and I continue to find it a fascinating place. (Maybe I'll get back there someday.)

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    1. I had three hopefully on my library list from Kristin Hannah. Now four!

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  8. Thanks for the book ideas--I will research for my book club. Zoe is precious. 'King Arthur' is stunning, and I am going to click on the photo to enlarge it and study it more. I'm glad it's a good winter for you and your Aloes. Happy June/July!

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  9. Glad to hear your winter is going well, Diana. Are you getting a lot of rain? Your plants look so healthy and beautiful, I hope you do, you deserve it after the long drought. And thanks for the book recommendations, I'm always looking for new books.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. June rain was good and grateful. July is starting slowly.

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  10. What beautiful aloe blooms! My kitty needs a diet as well, so I've started transitioning my kitty to more diet food, but he does not approve.

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    1. Thomas is vociferous and eloquent in his disapproval. Even Zoe has been provoked to utter a few carefully chosen WORDS.

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  11. The garden looks amazing and that sleep sandwich is wonderful😊, it’s always so nice to line dry our clothes, they smell so good don’t they, I enjoyed my visit with you today,

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  12. firecracking aloes for winter colour - I like the fact that we grow the same flowers sometimes - in this case pelargoniums, scented and not - and Felicia (mine is white) impressive rain spider and presumably a good sign - I read they are Huntsman types - I have a few of these around what I call 'the garden room' at the moment but less aggressive than yours when moved!

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    1. Our rain spiders are related to America's tarantulas.

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  13. Winter in my garden is mostly colorless so I love all the vibrancy in yours! I have a cat now and I'm not sure she's ever experienced a fire place. It will be interesting to see what she does this winter!

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  14. What a wonderful selection of aloes and other winter blooms.(This looks like summer to me!) Cypripedium King Arthur is stunning; what a treasure from your mother!

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  15. Well Diana, we do get a hint of Winter flowers but none as Summery looking as yours. Off to have a bit of fun and show your rain spider to Myra.

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  16. This posting has so much for me to take in that I had to read it twice. Such gorgeous winter blooms. Your mother's slipper orchid is so special. I love Zoe. P. x

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  17. Beautiful photos here. I see that I am not the only one who loves to take photos of flowers! But it is a big pleasure for me. I think that my favourite plant from your photos is Aloe ferox. I have one in my garden but in different colours. It looks like on these pictures https://gardenseedsmarket.com/red-hot-poker-tritoma-seeds-kniphofia-uvaria.html so instead of orange it is red. I love the way it grows because it is quite tall. Also I have to try growing Cypripedium King Arthur, it is awesome and I have never heard about this plant!

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