We are caught up in, what I hope is the last of the fierce winter rain. Port Alfred had 165 mm of rain by Thursday morning. That is six and a half inches.
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| Blue sky feathered with clouds |
It took me a day to cut the three Searsia/Rhus back so we can again see our ‘town glimpse’ of the Elephant’s Eye. Another day to chip and distribute as mulch – wherever my grey watering reveals bare earth.
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| Olifantskop, Elephant's Eye |
Green hair algae floating on the pond, scattered leaves, needs a little clearing by the Ungardener on his Pond.
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| Ungardening Pond |
One of the few water plants we found was this iris. Yellow, this year covered in flowers. I roped in the Ungardener and his zoom lens for the picture.
UPDATE October 2014 - Sadly this is a seek and destroy INVASIVE ALIEN. Please don't plant it. We bought it at the nursery in good faith.
UPDATE October 2014 - Sadly this is a seek and destroy INVASIVE ALIEN. Please don't plant it. We bought it at the nursery in good faith.
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| Yellow water iris |
Our fruit trees are looking promising. The first figs getting steadily bigger. Prunus nigra has branches bowed down under the weight of lots of tiny plums – still hard but getting riper by the day. The apple trees are spangled with OTT pink and white prettiness.
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| Prunus nigra fruit, apple blossom Fig |
The pink water lily has claimed a chunk of pond real estate. Little potted Japanese maple is stretching its wings. The dark and the pink lavender, chosen for Paradise and Roses, give vases of flowers, and keep the bees happy.
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| Pink lavender, Japanese maple water lily, dark lavender |
Now, when I visit my mother in Cape Town, I can pick the first roses. Gathered more for the house today, ahead of that threatened heavy rain. Summer Gold sings against a supporting chorus of golden Mare’s Tail.
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| Pearl of Bedfordview (twice), Courvoisier Oyster Pearl, Great North, Sheila's Perfume |
Black Prince, my Old Cape rose, has gone to my sister, to the dinner table, and there are a few fat buds waiting on the bush.
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| Anna's Apricot, Black Prince Lavender Jade Burning Sky, Karoo Rose (twice) |
October brings Dozen for Diana to the tenth plant. Now my choice turns to foliage which lights up the garden year round, regardless of who is blooming or not. Plectranthus madagascariensis. My sort of snow in summer, although there is STILL a little snow in the shady valleys right at the top of Groot Winterhoek, and fresh snow yesterday. Chosen again in 2013 for False Bay's Dozen.
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| Plectranthus madagascariensis |
My virtual courtyard garden is shaping up nicely, but then I would say that, these plants are MY choice. All 10 indigenous/native to South Africa.
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| 10 in Dozen for Diana 2012 |
MyCapeGarden chose the white arum lily. She tells me birds will eat the berries – I will look out for that.
PlantPostings in Wisconsin chose the flowering almond. Chosen now as the leaves are turning peach and yellow in her fall. As seen at Jefferson’s Monticello.
TheVioletFern in upstate NY has chocolate Joe Pye weed for August. Black-eyed Susans for September. October Skies aster for this month.
Donna of Garden's Eye View near Oneida Lake in NY unfolds the story of Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus sunflower.
Pam in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania shares my love for the dark-leaved Black Cherry Plum.
Donna of Garden's Eye View near Oneida Lake in NY unfolds the story of Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus sunflower.
Pam in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania shares my love for the dark-leaved Black Cherry Plum.
What is your one and only plant for this October?
Greetings to a new reader, from Thabit in the Sudan, on this my 400th post.
Pictures by Diana and Jurg
words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
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. near Cape Town in South Africa
Those are my links.)
So many beautiful Roses--thanks for the treat! Mine are long gone for the season, so I will be virtually visiting yours for the pleasure. Looked up some information on Plectranthus, and confirmed that, yes, some here in my northern U.S. climate do indeed plant it as an annual. Seems like a good choice as it is drought-tolerant. Thanks for hosting Dozens for Diana!
ReplyDeleteDiana, everything looks so lush and green, esp. the view from Paradise and Roses. Glad you've had real winter rain this year, even though you may be ready for it to be done by now. We had two of the Prunus nigra when I was growing up, and my mom used to make jam and syrup from the fruit, as even the birds found it a little tart for eating.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on post 400!
I tried grey water (bath-water) when we had a hose-pipe ban. It would make sense to use it for watering all the time.
ReplyDeleteForgot about Dozen for Diana - need to catch up!
So glad you've got your view back again, it must make such a difference to your garden. Love all your roses that are just starting just as ours are finishing. Do yours carry on through the heat of your summer or do they have a rest?
ReplyDeleteThey do continue thru summer, but the flowers are small and battle.
Delete400th post! Well done, Diana. Our landscape os looking lovely (briefly) in its fall colours, but its nice to think of yours just waking up to its beauty. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI got my laptop fixed and my brain is a little calmer, so....here I am. What a fabulous burst of colour your blog post is, oh woe is me as we enter into dark, damp dreary days of Autumn/Winter. I can't stand it and there you are with so much loveliness. Thank you for sharing and giving me a taste of what lies on the other side of these seasons xxxx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo's of your roses, and the Yellow iris is fabulous. Lots of flowers for picking, I sometimes pick lavender for vases too. Have a nice day Diana.
ReplyDeletehappy 400th post-a-versary! I love the feathered sky and admire your un-Gardener (mine is a Non-Gardener though admiring and supportive and prolific tea maker)
ReplyDeleteBoy every time I see your gardens I can almost smell the wild spicy fragrances on a gentle warm breeze in mind mind's virtual senses. It's tough here in Sweden to get any scent from the wilds. Often times it is cold and wet and tough to get aromas permeating the air.
ReplyDeleteGood for S.A. for labeling GMO foods BTW. I wish such bad science didn't exist.
The GM labels is an ongoing battle - it now says 'may contain GMs', but we can choose certified organic.
DeleteI have green hair algae in our ponds too - never had it before. Any tips on controlling it? At the moment I just rake it out. We had quite heavy snow on our mountains yesterday. Choosing a one and only for October is hard, everything looks good at this time. Congrats on your 400th post, we look forward to many more.
ReplyDeletegreen hair? They say the answer is barley straw. We haven't tried that. We rake. It's too much sun (but it's winter!) and too much 'food', we need to remove part of the underwater forest of oxygenating plant.
DeleteLovely, specially love the yellow (iris and rose). We have had lots of rain and lots of power issues. Really hope this ends soon.
ReplyDeleteYou made beautiful collages of your plants and roses. Your native plants are the plants we have in pots and put inside in winter. I like the Plectranthus and use it in summer in combination with for instance white Pelargoniums. We have grey and wet autumn days now, so it's fun to see spring in other parts of the world. I'm fond of roses and your rose 'Burning Sky' is certainly one to remember.
ReplyDeleteGroeten, Janneke
Plectranthus with white pelargonium is in my pot near Spirulino's now.
DeleteFoliage as your 10th plant! Ingenious! We can have no garden without foliage, and it's the way we arrange that foliage that makes the garden so interesting. Of course, I enjoyed looking at your blooms, too! Congrats on your 400th post!
ReplyDeleteThat is some serious rain, no wonder you started a water garden. We recently got one inch in a single day and that felt overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 400 posts! I really like your choices in your dozen for 2012. Your collage shows how varied and lovely your selections are. My one and only for October? Is that possible? Only one? If I had to say, it would be my Red Banana, because it came back from the dead and is once again gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWe both have vivid blue skies at this time of year -- but, alas, there is no blooming bird of paradise to go with them here. It's a delight to see all your new buds and blooms as the plants are going dormant here. -Jean
ReplyDeleteIt all looks so beautiful Diana. Such stunning gardens.
ReplyDeleteRoses and fruit--the makings of a perfect garden.
ReplyDeleteDiana reading this it seems that spring was sudden...is that true?
ReplyDeleteIf feels like you had just mentioned having winter come to visit, and now the trees have fruit on them. Does it happen that quickly?
And yes, I will mention the housecoat to him, great idea.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Our long season is summer, winter is short, and we think of spring when the wildflowers burst thru after winter rain - end of August which is still technically deep in winter - midday flowers and evening fires. The suddenly spring is the same blog illusion as you selling, moving and buying, just in a few blog posts ;~)
DeleteDiana my choice will be up on Wed. I love the puckered variegated foliage of your choice...and the view now with the pruning done is breathtaking...so nice to see so many flowers and fruits already...so the rain is certainly loved by your garden.
ReplyDeleteWe've had 985.4 mm in Port Elizabeth so far this year making it the second wettest year on record (since 1955) with only 1968 having had about 84mm more and that was a major flood. My whole garden is under water and my pool looks like your pond.
ReplyDeleteHope your home is safe and dry!
DeleteYour garden looks incredible. Knowing the before and after shots and seeing what you've done to it now is just incredible. You must be very proud. I'm just working on the a courtyard fountain right now and plants are taking a break until I can get the water feature in place. The wildlife love you:)
ReplyDeleteDiana, congrats on 400 posts! Your plant picks are great, and of all of them I almost like the plectranthus best, for that wonderful puckered foliage.
ReplyDeleteMy one and only plant for October? Probably some little tomato seedlings that have finally germinated on our Delhi balcony after three previously unsuccessful sowings...
Congratulations on 400 posts - that really is something! I like your choice for your 10th plant. It isn't reliably hardy here over winter so I'll pot some up and put them in the greenhouse and also take cuttings. Chrisitna
ReplyDeleteSix and a half inches of rain!
ReplyDeleteI'm confused by your seasons. Plums and apple blossom at the same time?
You Plectranthus madagascariensis looks exactly like my variegated apple mint so I went looking - and it seems it can also be called mintleaf - which confused me further. Trying to find the Latin name for my apple mint, all I can find is the name for variegated pineapple mint - which it isn't. (They have clearly different smells.) Oh aren't easy things difficult!
Deb wrote about Cuban oregano, which my Plectranthus madagascariensis also IS NOT! My plant is not an edible herb, I checked with the appropriate horticulturalist at Kirstenbosch.
DeletePS but it does slot into the mint family (on the catmint/Nepeta side)
DeleteAnother beautiful choice, Diana -- love the plectranthus! I posted my October choice last evening. As my garden moves from fall into dreary winter, I look forward to enjoying your spring and summer blooms. P. x
ReplyDelete