Our False bay garden in May

 by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

Chilly but the sun is shining. Step Through the Garden Gate with Sarah Down By the Sea in Dorset. Rescued from the weather a golden South Africa rose with orange Tecomaria capensis retrieved from pruning.

 

Golden South Africa rose with orange Tecomaria capensis

High wispy clouds, COLD, 7C overnight. Weather gods tipped out a bag of marshmallows ahead of the cold front.

 

Clouds

Pink Thuli Madonsela winter battered, South Africa picked when perfect, Iceberg always in bloom. Our owl has a stately backdrop of glowing Euphorbia tirucalli. Aloe marlothii with a candelabra of buds. Ruby Lachenalia bulbifera coming.

 

Garden flowers in May

Boophone leaves fan out almost a metre wide. Kumara plicatilis has four fans of leaves (needs more light and space). Spotted Aloe maculata has babies around it. In that pot I planted the reindeer antlers Cotyledon orbiculata, and lavender seedlings, but the lush Pelargonium capitatum and dancing Oxalis are gifted. Pregnant onion Ornithogallum bracteolata has one perfect spike. I weeded the beach, but the 'dwarf' papyrus is marching onwards!

 

May garden in green and texture

When we moved in, down by Froggy Pond seemed a good place for the bird feeder. But, unlike Porterville, we can't see there from inside. And if we walk down ... the birds take off. The feeder is now outside my bedroom window, where I can enjoy the birds with my morning tea. Or lurk discreetly with my camera. And we can see it from the livingroom. He will paint it in pearly grey and a gentle rosy pink to fit its new home in Spring Promise (velvety grey Dusty Miller, with pink and white flowers)

 

Moved the bird feeder

Pruning the carob steadily, has opened a hole. The new trellis needs to budge over a bit to the left. Now my sister's sculpture and the bonsais on the table can star in that corner.

 

Without the green bird feeder
with new trellis

Bottoms up, many doves hoover up as much and as fast as they can. The sparrows sing while they squeeze in between. Saw one weaver lady. (Thomas is responsible for the taller pole. Someone. Used to leap up and clip the corner, leaving it resting at a drunken, guilty, angle). Disconcerted one morning to look out and see a black cat with amber eyes gazing back at me. Chocolat! But as he beat a dignified retreat the tail was fluffier.

 

Doves and sparrow at feeder 

In working days, the Ungardener was a tour guide. Found a model of the tour bus he used to drive. That is why he, can garage the car with centimetres to spare, while I sweat blood and weep.

 

When the Ungardener
was a tour guide

April Love was my mother's favourite. Pre-Raphaelite vivid blue dress is one my cherished memories.

 

April Love

Exhibition by local artists (mine is the one bottom of her sold list) at our mall. Each time I walked out, these oak leaves caught and held me. Scraperboard, so you get three layers - the white lines on black drawing, in relief, with colour added to make it sing. And as my mother said - read something new. What IS scraperboard? The next novel I read has an artist working on scraperboard.

 

Constantia scraperboard

Every few weeks I make another batch of muesli.

 

Muesli

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Pictures by Diana and Jürg Studer

of Elephant's Eye on False Bay

 

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