12 August, 2011

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold


Became a book title for Chinua Achebe. From a poem by William Butler Yeats. On Tuesday I needed to get images of London Is Burning out of my mind. From 6-things-bloggers-can-learn-from-dr-seuss. I'm too old to have read Dr Seuss as a child, and childless, so I missed his books both ways. A really good, classic, quotable ‘child’s’ book – is not childish. It crystallises wisdom down to its simple essence, to truth.

Dr. Seuss
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

Euryops sp. growing tall
The centre, cannot hold, and scatters seeds


We went up our mountain to the Groot Winterhoek World Heritage Site . Driving up the Dasklip Pass, either at his brisk getting somewhere pace. Or my - Stop stop, there’s a flower - pace. Once when he was truck driving, we went, heavy laden, across the Brenner Pass in Austria. Very very slowly. Up in the cab of the truck, at eye level with the flowers, so close I could, almost, reach out and touch them. One of the magical stardust spattered times in my life. I remember wild violets … 

Oxalis

As we stepped out of the car, lying close to the ground is Oxalis. In vibrant fuchsia pink, barely there blush pink, gentle buttery yellow (without the lime undertone of the taller pes-caprae), and a gorgeous apricot with peach veining.

Ursinia paleacea

This daisy has buds packed in russet, opening to an electrifying golden yellow. Ursinia paleacea

Berry bush ? Gazania sp.
Bartholina burmannia
orchid, a vygie

I needed to be reminded how nature uses fire. To clear the shrub layer. To make space for smaller annuals, bulbs and orchids. And to send up the new generation of shrublets, who will, over years to come, grow tall and strong.

Carabid ground beetle
An unnamed moth

Where we saw  baboons, now we had eagles and swallows circling and calling overhead. We saw rheebok, outside the reserve, in an open field at the protea farm, enjoying the winter afternoon sun. This time the wildlife the camera captured was smaller. A carabid ground beetle.

Phylica pubescens, Muraltia heisteria

Feathery white Phylica pubescens in the reserve. Purple and white Muraltia heisteria accompanied us all the way. As you rise up the pass, so the plants change. I remember what I see driving up, hope to find it again when we are walking. Stop on the way down, for many plants grow just in one tightly defined area. Too hot, too cold, too much sun, too much shade, too wet, too dry, yes we like wet but free draining, no we prefer wet feet, sand, clay, rock fissure, and then some are very picky about their neighbours!

Heliophila trifurca

This Heliophila trifurca was scattered in drifts on the slope beside the Dasklip road. I thought it was a bulb, but it has twiggy stems and small leaves. Comes in light and dark purple, and almost white.

Earth laughs in flowers- Ralph Waldo Emerson, but here in its darker context. Laughs at in Schadenfreude, or in delight and joy, with us? I can’t solve the problems of the world, but I have been reading England based Rebecca Woodhead over at Google Plus. Later we’ll take a wider view, getting things into perspective – a landscape view of the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area.

Pictures by Diana and Jurg,
words by 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.)



31 comments:

  1. Diana - The berry bush was queried on Sprig a couple of days ago - but no clarification there yet either.

    Your photo's of Heliophila trifurca are stunning!

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  2. Well put. Nothing like wildflowers to pick one up.

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  3. Timely quote from Dr. Seuss for us in the UK.

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  4. Oh! The Heliophila trifurca is magnificent! I love how you've captured it and its color! I also love the many color of oxalis you found. We only get yellow here and I love the peach ones you shared.

    Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

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  5. Diane - I just love stopping by to see your latest adventure, read your impassioned words and enjoy your keen eye for beauty. [Here in the Midwest, US ("home") - is pretty quiet and understated.]

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  6. Nature always seems to provide a cure for disturbing images~Lovely images and the unknown moth is a beauty. gail

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  7. Exploration and remembrance of things past sound like good things to do if you can't solve the world's troubles. "One of the magical stardust spattered times in my life"--umm? It's all worth it.

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  8. James - you find me quotable? Thank you :~)) My stardust still sparkles some 30 years later ...

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  9. I discovered Dr. Seuss as a teenager reading them over and over to my much younger sister. I still laugh at the memory of the hapless insurance agent trying to sell my older sister an annuity in the kitchen while a dramatic reading of "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose" was taking place in the next room.

    I do love all the shades of yellow in your flowers. -Jean

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  10. Wonderful wonderful wild flowers... you have so many interesting subjects to photograph...

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  11. Wow, Chinua Achebe. That is a name I have not heard in a long time. I read the book so so many years ago. Time to look it up again.

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  12. Hi, I am sorry I have not visited for a while. Love looking at your pics and your link to Dr Seuss post on Kikilani.com was a geat find. Thank you! Ronnie

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  13. A scorched earth rejuventes and thanks for showing us the results of fire's more productive purposes after the chaotic breakdown of society here. Your descriptions and images are so very lyrical. Oxalis in all its many fineries and best of all Heliophila - the sun lover.

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  14. Very poetic reflections of current events and life. I love your photos, and enjoyed reading about your blog's name. Thank you!

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  15. Hi Connie, yours is the first comment from Jordan. Hope you can learn to like your Plumbago ;~)

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  16. Thank you for taking us along on your exploration of the Groot Winterhoek reserve - uplifting! I still need to get myself there.
    xx

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  17. I do like the plumbago... it is sticky and invasive, but it has those brilliant flowers and it turns my garden GREEN!!! Of course, I can find beauty in dandelions and aggressive giant thistles too... ;)

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  18. I read Dr Seuss to my children and one of our favourites was the Star-bellied Sneetches. The story encapsulated the stupidity of humans and their need to do one another down. Flowers, moths and beetles just are.

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  19. What a treat for you to discover such beautiful surprises on your journey! (I have a small flag in a pot on the porch with 'Earth Laughs in Flowers.')

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  20. So many beautiful flowers in bloom and with spring approaching it can only get better. Absolutely love the first one. Very cool shot.

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  21. sucked me in with my man Yeats, then show me such happy sunny flower and introduce me to my favourite new word 'shrublet', all in all a super fab post xxx

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  22. that is my fave doctor seuss book, as you say full of wisdom. I have given it to adult people for birthdays and used in my therapy work. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold is brilliantly expressive of plant behaviour. very creative interesting post.

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  23. Oh, Diana, how I love this post! How I would love going botanising with you in your mountains - or in mine! And I read your opening paragraph to my grade 11s, where on Friday we discussed the following amazing article, one I'm sure Woodhead also refers to, so you might have seen it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8693536/Raised-to-rampage.html

    But when the world gets too confused and complex, we turn to the magical complexity of creation for solice...

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  24. Jack - I'm flattered. It has taken me decades to learn to 'discuss' as your Grade 11s do.

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  25. Great photos, and I love the quotes.

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  26. Wonderful post Diana. Dr. Seuss...never a more true word spoken. We do have brains in our heads, I just think that too often some forget to use them! I was living in England during the Brixton riots, and couldn't believe what I was seeing on the BBC during this latest round. Oh well, as you say, I can't solve the problems of the world either. Fortunately, your lovely flowers don't have such worries. I'll take a riot of blooms like yours any day!

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  27. Diana I love when you take a walk about into the wild areas. The Heliophila trifurca is stunning. So many new blooms and bugs to see. I do love Dr Seuss. As a child and a teacher I read and reread his work. A garden gives us such a refuge when the world seems to be going crazy.

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  28. I always love it when you go on excursions. Presumably you and the Ungardener found a happy medium between your two different paces, as I see you have plenty of photographs and made it home eventually, too.

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  29. We were nearby in Citrusdal and Cederberg over the weekend and saw many of the same flowers. Had a good laugh at your "Stop Stop driving style", having just employed the same. I will hopefully finish my post today - with some links back to you.

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  30. Garden Girl's Citrusdal sashay where the snow comes much closer to the town

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Photographs and Copyright

Photographs are from Diana Studer or Jurg Studer.
My Canon PowerShot A490

If I use your images or information, it will be clearly acknowledged with either a link to the website, or details of the book. If you use my images or words, I expect you to acknowledge them in turn.


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