04 October, 2012

Your point of view

It depends how you look at it, where you are coming from, your terms of reference. This morning young Chocolat climbed the whippy Trimeria, leapt to the gutter and onto the roof! Then managed to scramble down again, via the same tree. Later I watched him, at the base of the wall, looking up, calculating distance and trajectory. Allowing for that thorny branch between him and the top of the wall. And he sails effortlessly up, like water poured from a jug.  
End of the month views from patientgardener in the Malvern Hills UK and First Views from Town Mouse and Country Mouse  in California call for WIDE views of the garden, NOT the details, flowers or leaves. The Ungardener has given me the bird’s eye view, from the roof. A formal garden requires to be seen from the first floor drawing room, or the balcony, which in our house we don’t have.  I see that central octagon around the sundial in my mind, on the paper plans – but in the garden it is simply where two paths cross.

Paradise and Roses from the imaginary balcony

Ungardening Pond seen from the roof remains larger than I’d like, but still smaller than he wanted. Black Stork Island somewhat overgrown, but difficult for this gardener to reach. Don’t like wet feet!

Ungardening Pond and Black Stork Island from 'upstairs'

My smelly daisy bush Argyranthemum has returned from not long for this world as a ‘small white car parked in our garden’ which glows in the evening light.

Daisy bush masquerading as a small car

Looking back to June 2011’s visit to Fairview cheese and wine estate. The artist’s impression of a goat. The Italianate wall fountain and South African arum lily leaves. Appropriate, since Zantedeschia aethiopica  was named for ‘Professor Zantedeschi, probably Giovanni Zantedeschi, 1773-1846, an Italian physician and botanist, although there is some uncertainty about this. The name aethiopica is not directly related to Ethiopia. In classical times it meant south of the known world i.e. south of Egypt and Libya’ – from PlantZAfrica.

Fairview goat fountain

Then the goat’s eye view, and what very strange haunting eyes they do have. Meet Lotus and Minnie at Curbstone Valley farm on California’s Central Coast.

Goat on his tower at Fairview

To me a garden is for people, and wildlife. But others choose a potager. At Fairview someone has had fun planting out the South African flag – an enticing combination of geometric forms and vibrant colours, if you have a large enough canvas to work on.

Potager at Fairview in June

Back in November 2009 Nell Jean asked Where are you planted? Where are you? Do we share the same sort of climate? I discovered Wikipedia has an entry for each degree of latitude. Elephant's Eye is at 33rd parallel South, echoing 33rd parallel North.

Looking back to the August moon



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.)

30 comments:

  1. I too think cats pour from one's hand rather than walk or jump. The goat on its tower is just like the one in the Rupert Bear stories - only not wearing a dressing gown!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I receive your posts by email, I'm not into all the social media; I enjoy following a few blogs that 'say' somehtig to me. Keep up the good work. Christina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. one of the select few who reveal an email address. I prefer my blogs in Google Reader and keep my email to an absolute minimum.

      Delete
  3. I just took the quiz:) They are good questions to ask. I've had to use Google Chrome now that they've changed to the new interface.....not very popular. I don't know why....but Goats scare me:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the birds' eye view of your garden. Mine is too messy right now (mainly with Oak Leaves and neglected dried-out perennial tops) to show. I visit blogs mainly through Blotanical. And I do interact with fellow gardeners on Facebook. Just starting to participate more on Twitter as I have a bit more time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, great fun to see your big picture views! I should really do some from upstairs as well, problem is we have screens on all the windows. But maybe it will work through the glass. Love the goat - after a visit to Curbstone last Saturday I'm totally in love with goats. Minnie & Lotus are even better in person than on the blog.

    (No, I don't do social media. Country Mouse does. I don't even fill out questionnaires, most of the time, but I'll make an exception for you ;->)

    As for the latitude, it's only part of the picture. For us at least, the cold water of the jet stream completely changes the climate - and think of Northern Europe, so much warmer because of the gulf stream. It's all complicated. Very interesting, though.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. don't do social media? But you do blog ;~)
      I've had someone laugh at a mediterranean climate, in Cape Town.
      There's altitude as well, we share our latitude with the Khyber Pass in the North!

      Delete
  6. Beautiful pictures. I especially like that scenery picture. I has wonderful colours.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good to be back - had a happy time browsing all my favourite blogs. Love the goat - one of my favourite places to visit is Fairview. Your garden must look absolutley gorgeous after all the rain.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chocolat is so endearing, and lithe...he could teach the Boo a few tricks.

    Love the arial views of your garden.

    Jen @ Muddy Dreams

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice to see the overviews of your garden in early spring. Wikipedia has so many fun little hidden pages, doesn't it? (I'm partial to the pages dedicated to the days of the year. Until I entered my birthday I thought nothing of note had happened on that day in history. Turns out it was a popular day for signing treaties, torrential rains and burst dams.) 32.7153° North is San Diego's latitude so I must mirror your location and climate at a 6-month remove, meaning I'll be seeing some of the same plants that you have blooming away in my garden. Good things coming.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello Diana,
    your garden is a delight as always!
    Have a nice day
    Elke

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Diana, wonderful photo of chocolat in funky and equally wonderful photo of august moon. As photos what they have in common is a very restricted colour range. I have a on-off ambivalent relationship with FB, far prefer the blogosphere, haven't worked out how to link it with my blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use the FB page for the blog - as a place to inform those readers - new post is up. My personal FB is just for family - which is scattered across the world.

      Delete
  12. I'm guessing that I'm unusual as I e-mail and blog but don't do twitter or facebook.

    Impressed that you managed to convince Ungardener to climb onto the roof to take those photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't do Twitter either, but G+ is addictive.
      It's the second time the Ungardener has taken upstairs photos for me. Two steps up the ladder makes me nervous, but he wanders around on the roof, quite unconcerned.

      Delete
  13. Diana I love those overhead shots, it's really neat to see the layout of a garden like that and get a sense of the space. Although I do hope he was very careful up on that roof. We have one climbing cat, in two previous homes we had trouble keeping him off the roof, so dangerous. Now in a large two story house even he can't get up that high and has to stick to trees.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am lucky as I can take my longer views from the second floor bedroom in back....I love the long views and especially of the pond...what a gorgeous structure....I read most blogs in email as I am on it constantly at work and it is easier at home...I check into FB daily and G+ as I have time....no Twitter as I barely have time to weekly read all the blogs in my email..those not in email I rarely get to read as I just don't have time to peruse readers. That may all change once I retire though.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The rooftop views of your garden are splendid!

    Chocolat sounds very cat-like. :) Such cats are amazing athletes. Over the years my family has had a couple of longhair cats that were throwbacks to their Persian ancestors and they were more like bumbles than cats though. lol Chocolat's picture looks very Halloween.

    Blogging is my main use of social media.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The goat on the Fairview tower seems to be smiling! Chocolat must also appreciate a good view of a pretty garden. Yours is lovely, and thanks to Ungardener for getting up on the roof so I can enjoy it more! Your 'balcony' views demonstrate what a well designed garden you have. By the way, and I know I must have said this before, but I love the names of the different areas of your garden.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Such a lovely name for a cat, love the views of your garden, i only blog, don't like facebook, twitter or anything else.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really love your pond and is in two minds about doing one for myself. I love your garden in general. Used to have a big daisy bush at our old place and have been wanting to plant one again for years now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice spring pictures made from the stairs or the roof. In this way you can see the whole design and it looks very good. I'm fond of the goat on the Tower, we used to have goats for the children when they were young. Facebook or Twitter is nothing for me. I started blogging only since Febr. this year and have Google+.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I spend too much time on Facebook, but it brings me things like - a little video of my granddaughter in the UK doing her gymnastics routine. I don't want to get into more so I haven't been looking into Google + or twitter. I have taken photos from the upstairs sometimes - I'll have to have another go at that next month. I love your wide views - the pond is great, and what a nice contrast between it and the formal path garden. I like both approaches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Facebook keeps me in touch with the great-niece who has just got married, the one who is supply-teaching in London, another is horse-riding in New Mexico ...

      Delete
  21. This is 'probeer weer': last week I couldn't get my message to 'stick', possibly because of internet problems this side.... I love the views from the roof - amazing how much one can learn with a bit of elevation! Do you have a worthwhile google-earth image? Mine was useless but for the last 2 years or so has been very valuable. A secret about design: I love the subliminal elements, which others can't possibly see and I only barely, the most. Go octagon! Jack http://sequoiagardens.wordpress.com
    PS: I'm still not managing to comment from my wordpress account.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. we do have a Google Earth, but it is mostly house and ash trees. Sorry about the WP problems, our internet is glitchy at this end too!

      Delete
  22. Diana, I love your birds-eye views, especially of Paradise and Roses. Cats love to be up high, so Chocolat must be thrilled with easy access to the roof. My brother has cats who are often found lounging on the roof, but it never fails to startle me when I look out the upstairs window.
    I was fascinated by your poll. I thought I would be in a tiny minority of those not using social media, but that turned out not to be the case! -Jean

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 's fun to poll my readers. I can shamelessly manipulate the questions, and answers.

      Delete

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.


Midnight in Darkest Africa

Midnight in Darkest Africa
For real time, click on the map.