October hikes, almost back to normal

 by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

 

We mask, we sanitise, we distance. Almost back to normal while we hike.

 

Rondebosch Common October flowers

On Rondebosch Common with University of Cape Town in the centre. Neon Sixties orange and chartreuse Gladiolus alatus. Pelargonium triste. Bulb arrowgrass mystified us at first Triglochin bulbosa.

 

White Sparaxis bulbifera. Pink purple and cream Romulea hirsuta. Babiana fragrans with blue pollen. Baeometra uniflora terracotta buds.

 

Crowd of Cyphia bulbosa. Wurmbea inusta cream touched with burgundy. Copper penny seeds for a Nother Yellow Daisy Osteospermum clandestinum.

 

From Blackburn Ravine to Hout Bay

 

His group, as always, up and over. Looking from Blackburn Ravine down to Hout Bay with The Sentinel peak.

 

Spitzkop in Silvermine October fynbos

 

We loop around from flower to flower at Spitzkop in Silvermine. Tall and proud Leucadendron. Mimetes hirtus likes swampy. Black beard Protea lepidocarpodendron.

 

Leucadendron cones. Erica amoena flared Barbie pink bells. Erica curviflora (battled to convince my camera to show me the curvi)

 

Buttery yellow Wachendrofia paniculata. Aristea africana midday sun washed out the periwinkle blue. Blue sequins Geissorhiza aspera.

 

Spitzkop in Silvermine with swamp daisy in the centre

 

Silky Aspalathus ericifolia. Sebaea aurea showing the defining keels. Sebaea exacoides with an = on each petal.

 

Gnidia pinifolia smothered in flowers. Swamp daisy Osmitopsis astericoides glowing white high above its neighbours. Straw flower Syncarpha speciosissima, again just a white daisy.

 

Shimmery pink Chironia jasminoides. Magenta Pelargonium cucullatum (central casting sent the wrong costume, again). Burgundy and cream spike of Microdon dubius (so close the flowers are succulent)

 

Muizenberg Peak to Table Mountain

 

Swiss mountain goat on Muizenberg Peak with Table Mountain hazy in the distance.

 

Satyrium carneum on Brakkloofrant in October

 

Our Brakkloofrant hike target was pink Satyrium carneum in a gentle range of tones. Busy with small life.

 

Brakkloofrant October flowers

 

Yellow daisy Cullumia squarrosa with monkey beetle and tiny bees. Gazania pectinata with a different monkey beetle. Syncarpha gnaphaloides (with all those colours!) on my want list. Mauve Felicia fruticosa.

 

Helichrysum dasyanthemum looking to Glencairn, then Simon's Town. Hairy sugar ant on Helichrysum teretifolium. Fluffy Serruria cyanoides. Protea scolymocephala.

 

My garden Knowltonia vesicatoria will bring me berries, as well as good shady leaves and soft flowers! Tall Pelargonium betulinum with toothy leaves. Muted mauve Otholobium virgatum with silvery leaves. Cape bluebell Wahlenbergia capensis.

 

Central dark buds Pseudoselago spuria. Delicate Moraea tripetala. Greenery yallery Tetragonia fruticosa. Crassula fascicularis more pink than usual.

 

Boulder hopping past Antipolis wreck at Oudekraal

 

Boulder hopping. To each his own. Along Oudekraal past the Antipolis wreck. Was being towed to the East for shipbreaking in 1977. Foundered in a Cape Storm. We have watched it break apart down the years; this is left as an artificial reef for marine life (and scuba diving)

 

Sirkelsvlei Cape Point October bulbs and Fabaceae

 

At Cape Point we looped across to Sirkelsvlei. Acrolophia lamellata with corrugated white lip. Moraea neglecta (they missed those spotted stripes at first). Pink striped buds Geissorhiza tenella. Bergpalmiet Tetraria thermalia.

 

The usual cream and brick red Crassula fascicularis. Creamy Brunia noduliflora. Buchu Agathosma hookerii. Pink Lachnaea densiflora.

 

First Aspalathus callosa small flowers clustered at tips. Second Aspalathus carnosa medium flowers with fleshy leaves. Third (not Aspalathus but) Rafnia angulata with glaucous leaves. Serruria glomerata.

 

October daisies and Erica at Sirkelsvlei Cape Point

 

Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita. Senecio halimifolius subcanescens, a Nother Y D - always check the bracts. Y D Arctotis angustifolia. Silvery pink bud Edmondia sesamoides.

 

Flowers and fine leaves Senecio umbellatus. Pink everlasting flowers and tiny tightly packed leaves Phaenocoma prolifera.

 

Dark tipped Erica corifolia. Raised pink urns Erica obliqua . Marshy Erica bruniades, furry white balls (usually growing near Brunia to explain its name). Dung beetle reminding us of the larger creatures we didn't see this time.

 

Our hikes are listed on my page.

 

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Pictures by Diana and Jürg Studer

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