Midwinter in a Swartland garden

Winter interest? Seriously? We are not tropical, with NO winter. We are temperate, we do have seasons. But we are mediterranean, in the valley there is no frost or snow in the garden. So the garden stays green, with flowers, year round.

A New gardener, with James. We are learning summer New gardening. Coming round to letting the plants rest when it is hot and dry, instead of frantically and despairingly battling with life support. The seeds and bulbs wait, the shrubs and trees furl their leaves. Our garden year begins in March, cooler, some rain, March lilies. Garden!

Try again, winter interest. Early in the morning the garden is spangled with dew. On a sunny day like today, and many winter days are sunny, the dew burns off as the sun climbs the sky.  The cats who observe work in their garden, find a gardener's shadow, no reason why we should BOTH be hot and bothered!

Early on a winter's morning, dew smokes from Dombeya leaves

At Rest and Be Thankful we have bark underfoot. Pine bark. And a charming little family of rich gold mushrooms. Will have to ask Wiseacre what they are.

Golden mushrooms

There is snow. Sunday before last we drove just out of town. I’m enchanted by snow capped mountains, just keep the ice up there, or in the fridge, thank you!

Farm avenue

Groot Winterhoek

Klein Winterhoek

Winter brings blazing red aloes, vibrant red Lachenalia rubida, and green winter snow drags the crop sprayers up to do battle with wild rye grass in the farmers’ fields. In our garden the gravel paths roll out the plush green velvet carpet, and we weed along, a bit each day. Learning another new trick – 'weed like a cow', as Henk Gerritsen did for Strilli Oppenheimer at Waltham Place.

Holding back the barbarian hordes,
work for tomorrow

Every plant which is still visible, is fringed and shawled with Oxalis and winter grass. Green and exuberant showgirl style. I learn new respect for birds harvesting caterpillars. When I remove the surplus to requirements bunches of Oxalis, out fall curled up caterpillars. Try today to find some to photograph and show you, maybe work out who they are, not a one in sight! They have harvested swathes of leaves, now a forest of strimmed green stalks. But Mother Nature invented sustainable. Left in peace, those stalks contrive to send out fresh leaves, undeterred.

Oxalis with leaves,
strimmed by caterpillars

Amongst the weeds, the Ungardener’s free spirited plants, I find treasure. While we wait for flowers, the jury is still out, on whether this thistle with the pretty leaves, is invasive weedy milk thistle or a welcome Berkheya species.  

Milk thistle or Berkheya??

A New garden needs a sense of place, its place in the countryside. Before the garden, the house, the town, the farm, there was renosterveld. Annual daisies (yes we have a few), bulbs (yes, lots, but are they local?), and small dark bushes (rhino-dark for the renoster and the Swartland) we need wild rosemary and renosterbos.

Euryops, winter sunshine on Ungardening Pond

Come back to walk the garden and harvest the commonorgarden foreign exotic alien flowers, and our indigenous wildflowers with Gail on the 25th, as I do each month.

Pictures by Diana and Jurg
words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
- wildlife gardening in Porterville,
near Cape Town in South Africa

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