Our False Bay garden in August

 by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

masked bee blowing nectar bubbles into the wind to evaporate the water for Through the Garden Gate with Sarah Down by the Sea in Dorset. Delighted to capture that moment! She is collecting pollen and nectar to feed her larvae - too small to carry pollen bags or excess water.

 

Masked bee blowing nectar bubbles into the wind
Masked bee blowing nectar bubbles into the wind

New plants from Fynbos LIFE new nursery in Muizenberg for lowland fynbos. My garden learning curve starts again. Much appreciate the informative labels.

 

Seven new lowland fynbos plants
Seven new lowland fynbos plants

Four lowland fynbos daisies.

 

Hymenolepis crithmifolia. Yellow daisy at Froggy Pond corner. Sandy, full sun.

 

Eriocephalus africanus. Edible wild rosemary in front of camphorbush. Grey to my grey leaves.

 

Trailing daisy Osteospermum fruticosum under lemon tree. Cape Flats Dune Strandveld. Mauve buds to white flowers. For butterflies.

 

Felicia filifolia in front of limy Karoo Buddleja. Strandveld and Renosterveld. Purple flowers in spring.

 

Lowland fynbos daisies
Lowland fynbos daisies

Cassine peragua peragua. Celastraceae. Forest and Strandveld thicket. Cape saffron. Planted in shady corner with Maid of the Forest. Wants rich moist soil.

 

Fine forest sedge Ficinia - waiting for a pot? Southern Afrotemperate Forest. Shade, rich moist soil please.

 

Banished sad Australian Plectranthus parviflorus to rain tank.

Replaced in large blue pot by Coleonema album. Strandveld. Buchu. Hope it has enough sun against the house wall.

 

Lowland fynbos
Lowland fynbos

Pruning the front slice off the hedge, and the fiddlewood. I cut -- he takes the evidence for municipal composting.

 

Pruning, hedge left, fiddlewood right
Pruning, hedge left, fiddlewood right

That hedge should stop at the top of the palisade fence pillars. Zöe for scale.

 

Hedge with Zöe
Hedge with Zöe

Blue pots kindly filling and displaying themselves.

 

Blue pots
Blue pots

White Babiana. Garlic buchu. The original white species Freesia leichtlinii alba. Maidenhair fern enjoying winter. Spike of pregnant onion flowers. White pelargonium. Melianthus major bud. Edible banana conceding spring is coming and unfurling a new leaf. Way up high Strelitzia nicolai flower in white and blue.

 

White and green August flowers
White and green August flowers

Pink bells Dombeya. Pink and salmon (difficult colour to place) pelargoniums. Blue Felicia. Lavender. Garden violets flowering since I moved them to the sunny side. Ethereal Melasphaerula graminea will smother everything if you let it! Fat pink rose bud. Red pelargonium stops me in my track like a traffic light.

 

Blue and pink August flowers
Blue and pink August flowers

Golden leaved Portulacaria afra. Chunky bells in green lime and white edging Albuca. Yellow Chasmanthe grow too tall for their strength (especially when the gardener drops fiddlewood branches on them). Hypochaeris left to feed the bees. Euryops and bietou Osteospermum moniliferum. Coral aloe is the third to keep the Karoo Koppie in bloom. Climbing aloe has a few last flowers. Hibiscus appreciates more sun after the carob was cut back.

 

Yellow and orange August flowers
Yellow and orange August flowers

I check with StatCounter which of my blog pictures have been downloaded. Then use Google Search by Image to see where they appear - which sometimes tricks me  onto a porn site. So convenient to click up my map of False Bay if someone glances at your computer screen! Also tried TinEye

 

Password hacked (and since changed!) for sextortion scam. (Thanks to Canva and LinkedIn data breaches)

Strong passwords

 

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Thanks for comments that add value. Your comment will not appear until I've read it. No Google account? Use Anonymous, then please include a link to your own blog. I welcome comments on posts from the last 2 months.

 

Comments

  1. Wow that masked bee blowing nectar bubbles into the wind is an incredible image and one you should be so proud of! That looks an amazing nursery with some very tempting plants! Your colour selection of flowers is lovely too, what package do you use to create the beautiful collages?

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    1. Still using Picasa, as I have an old version on my laptop. But there are other options.

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  2. It looks like your garden is already celebrating spring! You have a nice haul from that new nursery. The bee photo is a wonderful capture.

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  3. That bubble blowing bee photo is just amazing!

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  4. Have to say that your amazing bee picture stopped me in my tracks! Oh, and how lovely to start the new gardening season with new plants. As gardeners, we never stop learning do we? P. x

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  5. So much to love in your garden Diana. Sorry you are having technical problems. B x

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  6. New plants! That's exciting. I really like your blue pots and your August/September flowers. Darn about the hack! :(

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  7. What an amazing photo of the Masked bee blowing nectar bubbles!

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  8. Dear Diana,
    I am thrilled by the picture of the bee blowing nectar bubbles into the wind! I've never seen anything like it, neither in photos nor in nature. Many new plants are moving in with you - wonderful! Not so nice that your password was hacked and that you landed on porn sites ...
    I find the term "kissing cousins" delightful :-D
    Happy Sunday and a good new week!
    Traude
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2021/09/ausflug-in-die-johannesbachklamm.html

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  9. I love the bee blowing a bubble. For some reason, your comments on my blog were going to spam but hopefully that won't happen anymore. hugs, Laura

    ReplyDelete