Shimmering by moonlight in my mind, with Lighten our darkness, were the contemplative almost coloured flowers in my garden.
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| The Ungardener's moon rising |
Plumbago auriculata glimmers in an unequivocal whiteout. Dandelion seed head spangled with fragile stars anchored on a deep bronze heart. Once when I was a child I gathered various leaves with sprigs of Abelia from my mother’s garden to fill a vase for the living room. Tiny barely pink trumpets – one of the first plants whose names I learnt. Wild jasmine leans to lime green. Plectranthus madagascariensis spires of pure white flowers on a burgundy spike.
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| Wild jasmine, Plumbago Abelia, dandelion seedhead, Plectranthus madagascariensis |
Tecoma lutea bringing memories of Cornish clotted cream, an edible buttery yellow. Daisies in lemon bietou and egg yolk Euryops pectinatus. Spiralling in mahogany with the olifantsriet flowers.
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| Euryops pectinatus |
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| Euryops pectinatus, Tecoma capensis olifantsriet, bietou |
My white pelargonium from my mother, often shows blush pink. Jade plant Crassula ovata is known as Pink Joy. I have a pink Barleria; usually April Violets is in muted lavender. Pearl of Bedfordview is coming into her autumn flush. Dimorphotheca jucunda covers each petal in white to purple via shell and shriek pink.
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| Crassula ovata, Pearl of Bedfordview Barleria, pelargonium |
Forgotten from April, is Tradescantia. It appeared uninvited and I weed it back. In the planters under the ash tree the Tradescantia is happy, and those flowers are a magic blue. Plumbago in a hazy sky blue. Mauve and white wild sage, my signature plant for this garden. Lemon verbena was one of my mother’s favourites. I've planted a bank of fragrant plants near the washing lines, and the South American lemon verbena flowers waft a delectable scent my way with the washing. My heart sings with Felicia amelloides, kingfisher daisy, felicity the colour of happiness!
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| Felicia amelloides |
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| Tradescantia, lemon verbena lavender, Plumbago, blue sage |
There are three layers to our garden. The hardscape - Ungardening Pond, Karoo Koppie, formal Paradise and Roses, with brick lined gravel paths. With the green, and blond and dark, and silvery grey, even blue and red, bones of foliage. Today I sought the quiet understated moonlit colours – the third layer. But the second layer shouts in your face! I have deep velvety fragrant red roses. Black Prince, Anna’s Red, Alec’s Red and Papa Meilland. The Darling buds of May Cotyledon orbiculata is singing in terracotta. Pelargoniums in Schiaparelli pink and coral. Phyllis van Heerden is having a good year across the garden. Halleria dangles slender clear red trumpets.
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| Halleria, Port St John's creeper Phyllis van Heerden, Dimorphotheca jucunda |
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| Cotyledon orbiculata with pelargoniums |
Apologies for the broken poll widget. I did SEE votes, but they were nuked back to zero overnight. Starting fresh with PollDaddy. Let’s try again to gather votes over the second half of May? Elephant’s Eye has 8 new subscribers via Feedly, but there are none for EE on False Bay.
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| Black Prince, Papa Meilland Anna's Red, Alec's Red |
For Wildflower Wednesday (April link), as reflected in my garden, most flowers are South African. Today’s exotics are Abelia from Mexico, roses from the North, Tradescantia from the Americas, South American lemon verbena, and Mediterranean lavender.
text by Diana Studer
(also on Google Plus)
AKA Diana of Elephant's Eye
- wildlife gardening in Porterville,
near Cape Town in South Africa
(If you mouse over brown text, it turns shriek pink. Those are my links)
