Hantam, our newest National Botanical Garden

We went to the Tankwa Karoo, then the Hantam NBG in Nieuwoudtville. When I started this blog I wanted to know about renosterveld  –  what our garden would have been, before the farming. The newest NBG is dedicated to renosterveld! ‘Less than 10% of the Renosterveld survives.’

Hantam National Botanical Garden

Eucalyptus on former field, wild rosemary
renosterbos

Rushing along the national road, you see low grey shrubs. The renosterbos Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis, and kapokbossie wild rosemary  Eriocephalus species – currently providing an illusion of snow, covered in fluffy white seeds. Species vary between new born lamb, whiter than white – and the muddier dustier colour of yearling lambs. Then, you see yellow daisy bushes. But, if you walk – this NBG has good spring flowers this year!

Yellow daisies in the Hantam

Gazania rigida *, Gorteria diffusa (beetle daisy, no bugs on here!)
Arctotis acaulis *, Felicia australis

The garden was established in 2007 on Neil MacGregor’s farm Glenlyon. The name Hantam comes from a Khoi word ‘where the red bulbs grow’, a red pelargonium eaten by the Khoi.

Stachys rugosa *, Microloma sagittatum*
Silene pilosellifolia *, Sutherlandia frutescens

The MacGregor’s Blue butterfly was first discovered on the Glenlyon farm. The wings are a deep bitter chocolate, and we DID see them on the Butterfly Trail (August to October, when the flowers are out).

Nemesia leipoldtii *, Cromidon varicalyx *
Hermannia johansenii *, Nemesia cheiranthus

On the first afternoon we walked the short route near the entrance gate. There we saw communal spiders and Satyrium orchids. Next morning we walked towards the Camel Koppie, but since I had to look at every different flower … we only got halfway.

?? caterpillar, Namaqua dove
red locust (feeds on milkweed and) on Asparagus sp, *, monkey beetles on daisy

The porcupines of Nieuwoudtville can weigh up to 24kg (elsewhere average weight is 14kg). In one square metre here a porcupine could find 25 000 bulbs of various species. In spring they seek high energy bulbs, but otherwise they rely on bulbs for water. From research by Christy Bragg.

Moraea pritzeliana * with corkscrew leaves,
Geissorhiza splendidissima Blue Pride of Nieuwoudtville  and  Babiana spathacea *

Bulbinella floribunda, Bulbinella elegans *
Moraea fragrans *, Moraea bifida *

Top Left Hesperantha cucullata *
Bottom left Cyanella alba subsp. alba * 
Right Gladiolus scullyi

Australian Eucalyptus were planted near farm houses, to reduce mud during heavy winter rain. Each tree can absorb up to 600 litres a day. Some invasives will remain to provide welcome shade. 

The MacGregors farmed here from 1883. The family is remembered in the butterfly, an oil collecting bee, a monkey beetle, a wasp, an ant. And amongst the huge variety of low growing bulbs, by two Lachenalia and a Moraea. 

The Maartblom candelabra lily Brunsvigia bosmaniae, having bloomed in March, becomes a tumbleweed.  Clever to grow its leaves wide and flat on the ground. By night, any humidity condenses on leaves, now colder than the air!

The background information comes from informative signage in the garden.

Kew's MSBP, Brunsvigia tumbleweed
orange Erythrophysa alata
kapok on wild rosemary

At the Swiss Villa guest house were a group drawn from all our NBGs, being trained by Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Project. They will be collecting seed of threatened plants. Noah’s Ark against climate change? We met Dr Michiel van Slageren. Before Kew he was in Syria. Working with wheat farmers. Next day he was going to visit a Swartland wheat farmer.

Thanks to Eugene Marinus, curator of the Hantam NBG for helping to ID the species with an asterisk!

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.)

Wildflower Wednesday in September

I was early for Gail's Wildflower-Wednesday. Last week the flowers were foreign, today they are Proudly South African. Perhaps the spirit of WFW is more about the wildflowers that would grow in my garden, if nature decided. Yellow Oxalis. White rain daisies on otherwise bare earth. In the damp hollows Melianthus and arum lilies. Where the winter rain leaves a few inches of standing water, vlei lilies.

Most of my bulbs were grown from seed. Fairy bells of Melasphaerula. White Babiana inherited from the previous gardener. Vlei lilies, seed didn’t work, so I bought bulbs with delight, when I found them. Arum lily snuck in with a Strelitzia. Freesia alba once from seed, now self-sown. Dietes some inherited, some from seed, some as bulbs – but somehow, they are all the same species.

Melasphaerula, Babiana, vlei lily
arum, Freesia alba, Dietes

Chasmanthe should be yellow, but the orange bobs up. Oxalis to strike fear in the heart of Californian gardeners, this has seeded in the crook of the ash tree, and waves its flowers in my face! The orange Clivia sulks and dwindles; the yellow threatens to burst out of its pot. Ifafa lilies flower on.

Chasmanthe, Oxalis
Clivia, Ifafa lily

The first of the scabious with masses of buds poised fatly. Plectranthus neochilus with architectural spires at ankle height. Melianthus up high, with birds bickering over nectar. Solitary Dianthus (sorry, that's what you get when you schedule posts ahead - Dianthus is NOT one of our wildflowers!)

Scabious, Plectranthus neochilus
Melianthus, Dianthus

On the Karoo Koppie, the winter aloes are stalks with seeds. Now the highest flowers are Euphorbia mauretanica a cushion of lime gold. Cotyledon orbiculata blooms on. We have tangerine and lemon Bulbinella. And the vygies begin, the taller shrubby Lampranthus and The Others (not good at IDing succulents).

Euphorbia mauretanica, Bulbinella, Cotyledon orbiculata, ?? vygie
Lampranthus twice, Bulbinella

I don’t do annuals, but I do do shrubs. One of the Podalyria calyptrata had a hidden label ‘white’ and so it is. The Buddleja sends out swoons of fragrance. Jasmine is fragrant if you get up close and personal. Knoffel buchu, with its garlic leaves.

Podalyria calyptrata, Buddleja
Jasmine, knoffel buchu

Podalyria calyptrata in the gentle sweetpea colours I expected. Pink bells of Dombeya hanging down, and needing to be uplifted for the camera. Hazy soft mauve wild sage. The only survivor of the fynbos garden I tried, Erica baccans, berry heath for the shape of the little flowers.

Podalyria calyptrata, Dombeya
sage, Erica baccans

Ribbon bush Hypoestes such delicate flowers. Clerodendron Oxford and Cambridge bush with blue butterfly flowers. Tiny blue Freylinia flowers. And you all recognise sky blue Plumbago?

Hypoestes, Clerodendron
Freylinia, Plumbago

Bruinsalie. Salvia africana-lutea. Once the burnt orange flowers fall, the sepals remain, as ornamental as the flowers, but in burnished burgundy. Yellow, orange and red Tecomaria.

Top right Salvia africana-lutea
Three colours of Tecomaria

Species Pelargoniums, some from seed, some passalong. And my favourite nutmeg pelargonium, kidney shaped spicy leaves and tiny white flowers. patientgardener a-new-passion-species-pelargoniums

Bottom right nutmeg pelargonium

These daisies are all Proudly South African. Kingfisher blue Felicia, this one with green and white leaves. Cream and yellow Gazania. Dimorphotheca in deepest purple and gentlest yellow (also pink and white).

White Dimorphotheca pluvialis, purple Dimorphotheca jucunda
cream and yellow Gazanias
blue Felicia, yellow Dimorphotheca jucunda

‘Now is the winter of our discontent’ NOT. Summer is forgotten, we have had some rain.

Pictures and 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.)

Bloom day – not from around here

Using the blog as a garden journal – for Gesine's  Blogger-Bluten-im-September – I collect the foreign/exotic/commonorgarden. That’s my spin, NOT a requirement for Gesine’s meme!

The starring role in the garden now, is a rowing-boat sized white daisy bush. I know where it comes from; the gardener at my mother’s retirement village was ripping out wheelbarrows of the stuff. New gardener’s eyes light up, and I brought a bit home. It sulks in summer – does an Estherism – not sure if it wants to go on growing. So I put it on life support, water steadily thru the summer, feed a little in desperation. Once the rain came, I turned away for a moment – and the blooming thing is as wide and high as I am tall. Green fernish feathered leaves. Large white daisies on long stems, ideal for picking. But only once, the flowers smell evil. Anyone know what it is? A Shasta daisy? I know, despite the huge variety of South African daisies, it isn’t one of ours.

Nameless white daisy

From leopards to dent de lion lion’s teeth. Dandelion. Putting shrieks of WEED KILL IT aside, clear true yellow pompom, stars of parachute silk in the puffball of seeds, and toothed green leaves fanned out on the ground. Deep roots bring minerals to the surface. Leaves can be eaten in salad. What’s not to like?

Dent-de-lion Dandelion

Around the edge of the gravel forecourt we have nasturtiums. I never planted them. The faded flowers shed their seeds. And each year they return. Once had a packet of exotic mix, came with a gardening magazine. Those I planted under the fig tree. I see a really deep russet, and a yellow with brown markings. New variations come up each year. And again, leaves and flowers go in our salad. (He will persist in calling them Cistercians, well but they have a hood …)

Nasturtiums

The commonorgarden includes herbs and edible plants. Lavender. Plum, edible and Prunus nigra, orange blossom smells to die for doll.

Three sorts of lavender

Edible plum
Prunus nigra, orange blossom

There are still a few flowers on the Japanese flowering quince, but the glory is gone. The yellow Chinese winter jasmine is fountaining up thru a self planted guava tree. My most hated weed – Paterson's Curse – still sneaks past me. Salvia greggei and pineapple sage compete to see who can give the camera a migraine first.

Japanese flowering quince, Chinese winter jasmine
Paterson's Curse, pineapple sage

The roses after a ratty last year, are now burgeoning out exuberantly with an armload of flamboyant deepest red leaves. Fat buds. The first of next summer’s flowers. Chaim Soutine with pink and white Rosa mundi stripes. Anna’s Red, deeply fragrant, low growing. Courvoisier, in bunches of true yellow. Pearl of Bedfordview, bunches of open flowers, just touched with pink.

Pearl of Bedfordview, Courvoisier
Anna's Red, Chaim Soutine

Cut flowers for the vase? But I have a cross dressing King Arthur. With baroque garnished avocado green, cream, and what shall I call that colour, umber – lady’s slippers. Cypripedium orchid in a pot which will bloom for weeks.

Cypripedium King Arthur
's Slipper
The eagle-eyed will see the camera gazing at my dictionaries

My snowdrop has been kindly kept in the shade and has begun to flower.

Snowdrop Leucojum

Next week - South African flowers. Then the Cape Leopard Trust.

Pictures and 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.)

To Driehoek in search of leopards

Since we moved to Porterville the Ungardener has hoped that one day, hiking up in the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area, we would see Cape leopards. In the newsletter from the Cape Leopard Trust they recently asked for volunteers. He spent a week at Driehoek in the Cederberg, which flow on from our Groot Winterhoek mountains.

Mountain stream looking across to the Koerasieberg
 at Driehoek in the Cederberg

Leopards and other predators are a problem for stock farmers. They were hunted and trapped. At Driehoek is an Anatolian shepherd dog. Himself was dozing in his chair, when something leapt on his stomach. He woke up thinking leopard! But it was the border collie, accompanied by the Anatolian shepherd dog who asked for a cuddle. Beware, they are supposed NOT to be pets, they are supposed to defend the livestock from the leopards!

Driehoek Guest Farm
Accomodation near the river

The Du Toit family have been farming at Driehoek for five generations. The guest farm offers accommodation/camping. Mountain biking trails. Swimming in mountain streams. Wildlife and fynbos flowers. Hiking to the Maltese Cross etc. Horse riding. Fishing. The highest vineyards in South Africa producing award winning wines. Farm animals are child friendly. Then something completely different – skincare treatment!

Baboon at Driehoek

There are troops of baboons. Foraging cautiously around the campsite for bulbs. Accompanied by a grey duiker.

Baboons, with a grey duiker

This bulb with its vibrant coloured flowers is named Babiana for the baboons who like to dig up the bulbs to eat. Mole rats and porcupines will also eat these bulbs. Babiana ambigua grows in flat sandy places near Clanwilliam.

Babiana ambigua

In the caves above Driehoek, the patient and curious can find San/Bushman paintings. Sadly campfires in the cave have spoilt some of the paintings. But we can still see a mountain rhebok and a San hunter.

San/bushman rock paintings

There in the mountains amongst the rocks, are Cape leopard. ‘Twenty-seven leopards have been identified in the Cederberg study area over six years.’ – from the Cape Leopard Trust.

The Middelberg mountains at Driehoek

Remember leaf ears in the Karoo? Klipspringer and grey duiker are potential prey for the leopards.

Klipspringer
Grey duiker

Beneath the stones, the cautious may find scorpions. Only those with the appropriate skill and knowledge, NOT me or the Ungardener, would handle them. Trained zoologist or conservationist?

Scorpion in the hand of Dr Quinton Martins,
researching leopards in the Cederberg mountains

Come back ... The closing picture is a rock agama. See how the lizard's colour and texture disappears against the lichened rock. Only betrayed by his shadow. (That awful old joke about soldiers learning to camouflage tanks in the desert – very good, now what about that shadow? Throw some sand on it!) Do come back, for working with the Cape Leopard Trust.

Rock agama
This lizard was so well camouflaged that
the Ungardener simply aimed the camera blindly at the rock

He paid for accommodation at Driehoek, but at a special rate for the Cape Leopard Trust.

Pictures by 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.)

Blogging stats, Came From, Keywords, Exit Links and Downloads

If we are outside as the world turns colour before the setting sun – we may see the egrets flying overhead. We might, in the day, see them settled on our ash trees. Observing us from on high.

Egret in our ash tree

As I write, I should be
-  feeding the roses, ahead of the rain
-  pruning the figs, which have already leafed out
-  pruning the plums, which are blooming. No flowers last year, so that is promising!

At Rest and Be Thankful
has been downloaded to 
Nashville Tennessee, Madrid, 
London, Brooklyn NY
and Khon Kaen Thailand

But it is so much more inviting, to take time to smell the freesias and the Buddleja. To sits and thinks in the winter sunshine.

Aragon

After the garden, I spend the evening blogging. Chocolat on the Jacob blanket we once bought in Yorkshire. Aragon as close to the fire as she can get. Laptop comfortably perched on a dedicated table, made by the Ungardener for her IKEA chair and mywifetheblogger.

Blogging in winter
This picture has been downloaded
to London, Edgewood New Mexico
Brooklyn NY and Madrid ;~)

Bloggers and our statistics. It is about the dopamine hit, our ‘runner’s’ high. Mr Brown Thumb's readers asked how you know what your readers are looking for. StatCounter lets you dig all the way down, to everything but the reader’s name (it goes to IP address).

Came From

Be warned blog stats and obsessive-compulsive disorder walk hand in hand. First to Came From. For each link, if you click the magnifying glass, you can bury yourself in more than you EVER wanted to know. Most of my hits come via Google searches.

‘No Referring Link’ is people who have me on their blogroll, bookmarks, favourites, regular returning readers.  Flavour of the week, brings me hits from Wigandia and Microcosm-in-the-Q and …

Keywords?

Keywords that brought readers to me? Recent Keyword Activity lets you click to see the actual Google search screen that was used. It lets you see just where and why Google brought the reader to you – and disproves your instinctive response – BUT I never wrote about, Oh Yes You DID!

Exit Links

Exit Links show me what you click on as you leave. The pattern is – first Blogger = reading/leaving comments. Second – timeanddate = the day/night map at the foot of my home page. Third is Google Plus. Exit Link Activity shows me which, if any, links are clicked from recent posts. Or where my blogroll takes My readers to Your blogs.

Downloads

Finally Downloads is – Henry Ford any colour you want so long as it’s black – on my blog, Nguni. Halfway down is the yellow Leucadendron from the last post. At the bottom Acacia thorns. Click the link to remind yourself which picture lurks behind the string of code. I name the pictures something that makes sense.

Chocolat's gardening paws

Gardener’s hands get battered and grubby. Shredded and stabbed by rose thorns and splinters. Nails chipped and cracked, rimmed with mud, then a ghostly residue of fine red clay. And I do hate it when the Oxalis gets stuck in your claws!

Egret

Shudder of disgust. A little grooming and preening is required.  

Pictures by Jurg (and Diana),
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.)