The devil's in my garden!

And I find it irressistable - just look at that wicked colour!

Leucadendron Saglignon (Red Devil)

One of the survivors who made it through the last year of neglect is blazing with delicious colour at the moment. It's autumn in the Cape and the fynbos is looking good! This has to be my favourite time plantwise. The drab browns of a south easter summer are replaced by rich, dusty, green greys and silvers with blazing bits of colour inbetween. Yum.

Vertical Sundials

The sun came out this weekend! Yes, for the whole one (I don't count a spot of rain at night) after all what you can't see can't hurt you. So we celebrated birthdays, swam and sat with our faces turned to the sun.

14H20 sharp

I have always wanted a wall sundial and look who volunteered! Sweet hermaphrodite, for once doing something useful.


When I went to research the actual thing I found some wonderful pics. This one is found in Cornwall on the South west decliner of St Buryan in Cornwall England. 50°4′30″N, 5°37′15″W
Find out more about vertical sundials here and for some amazing pics here.

........was here

Evidence of the passing of a familiar ghost. In Cape Town the wind is our summer signature and there are hints of it's immanent arrival everywhere.

Have a quiet one.

Sunshine on my shoulder

Today the sun really came out.

Have a great weekend!

Perception vs. Reality

Like the famous Rollingstones campaign, things at the tip of Africa aren't always what they seem. Take for instance Springday - 1 September.
This would be the perception:

This is a little repeat I designed last year - never quite finished it but maybe I should.

This would be the reality!


That is the most I've seen of Table Mountain since monday! (Lionshead by the way) Rain rain and more rain.

Saturday the weather gave us a small break...

And someone, somewhere else in the world has the rest of our beach! Global warming doesn't seem so intangible anymore.

Never mind the weather, lets stick together.

Mother nature seems to be throwing her toys out around the globe. She doesn't seem to need a particular season either.


Here in the Cape of Storms this is what it looked like when I actually ventured out (after checking the roof) Trust there to be snow on the mountains on Spring Day!
My thoughts lie with those in New Orleans and other places similarly affected.


On a much happier note go here to see Barb's post on her PIF.
And that really is my final word :)

Midweek weekend

A final word on my PIF's ~ Barb from Pannifers Food based in Canada has also received hers safe and sound, which I'm really pleased about.



This weekend it rained plenty with small patches of sunshine peeping through.



Up in Namakwa Land the flowers are apparently in full swing and down here farther south we're getting hints of spring.

The Lord giveth and He taketh away.

Basil Pods

As my basil finally fades away...



the confetti bushes come out to play.

Have a great weekend!

Weather for Ducks

I've been away for what seems to be a life time. Some of it because of computer gremlins but happily also the winter holidays - which not surprisingly started and ended the same way...WET.

For all the water we've had some great times. First up to the West Coast and then the Citrusdal area. One of the best treats when you get to Lambertsbaai is a meal and the at the Muisbosskerm. Find out more here. An open air restaurant that specialises in local seafood and homemade breads, jams and coffee on the fire. Everything is baked, grilled and simmered out in the open, under your nose and right on the beach and it is truly a 'wow' experience - even in the rain.

After that; this was the brightest thing I saw on my walks.

On to Citrusdal and the mountains, where the rain just kept on coming.

This road collapsed the night we left (this picture was frontpage news of Die Burger). Close call!

And back to Cape Town - more of the same. This is the Rietvlei, a bird sanctuary across the road from me. Note the windsock for the local model plane enthusiasts:)

My gardens week in short

The last week in my garden started with rain.

And lots of it. 4 out of my 5 newly planted proteas have gone over to the dark side and joined the dead plant society. They clearly just don't dig my garden unless it's six feet under

I'm also saying a final goodbye to my little tomatoes - these are the last of them I think.

There are things, however, that do like these conditions!

And much to my astonishment the sweetpeas are at it again in a different bed?! Not to be left behind the gooseberries are clearly not going to be the wall flowers - they've just taken over all the other bald spots. I'm even potting them for the ceramics class!

The only colour in my garden at the moment.

And the week ended, yes, in more rain. Winter is truly apon us.

'Tis not the season

This weekend we had the pleasure of a visit from Ireland. I wanted to put some flowers in the guest room but after having a look at the predictable shop versions I decided to try my garden - ambitious for this time of year! As it turns out, even more so than I thought.

So I decided to make it a 'spent-season' bouquet. A gathering of garlic chive seed heads, spent rose heads, butterfly bush stalks, berries and basil pods with some green in between.

Ok, and I admit to stealing the honeysuckle from my neighbours, but it's growing through my wall!

Some people might only see the spent but I find it quite pleasing on the eye.

A Perfect Weekend

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. It's meant to be winter, but Saturday turned out beautifully at 24 degrees Centigrade and yesterday at a very humid 30 degrees. The only fire was the braai (barbeque) and this was how the day ended ~ a spectacular sunset (I got there at the last gasp) with big plump rain drops falling to the ground.

Things do get better with age after all.

Winter

It's finally arrived in all it's beautiful muted stormy colours. In Cape Town the North Wester brings rain and storms and gardens become soggy bogs but...

there is always an upside and in this case it means time spent indoors, soups, stews, puzzelling and planning. This is a sketch I did over the weekend. I know it's an alien invader but I love the soft green and delicate pods.

Read more about the Eucalypts and Myrtles here.

The other upside is that our indigenous plants thrive, streams throw themselves of Table mountain with abandon in tall waterfalls everywhere and the Cape is at it's most beautiful.

Tu-tu Dainty

I've come back to a garden that is largely bedding down for winter but to my delight I have another flush of roses and Dainty Bess is one of my absolute favourites. An old fashioned rose, it was also my gran's favourite. She was a ballet dancer and you can see the resemblance can't you.

P.S. on my delightfull holiday I learnt quite a few things about the plants on the east coast, which I will share during the course of the next few weeks. I have to do some research to fill in the gaps. See ya.

The Uninvited Guest

The Cape Doctor needs no invitation and comes and goes as it pleases - with abandon.

All my plants are wearing brown skirts this month

I recently met an Englishman who resides here for part of the year, and he made an enlightening statement.
"One doesn't garden in January in Cape Town." He is right but this year he should include February.
Why? you might ask. Well,
because it's Cape Town (we're surrounded two oceans - double the helping of salt & sun)
it's February behaving badly (like January the windiest month)
and it's pointless because it all gets undone.

I've been feeling guilty and frustrated about all the undone jobs but everytime I stick my nose out I get a free exfoliation. So I'm settling for a good watering regularly and lets see what's left at the end of this month.
May the wind be always at your back.

Chinese torture

As we hit the thirties today with no aircon, the Northern Hemisphere is cooling down. My brother, who lives in Connecticut, has a garden tap that's been

dripping,

slowly,

for a while,

feast your eyes.

Have a good

one.

Strange goings on

We've had 3 days of torrential rain in November and...

I saw a snail crossing the road yesterday ~ what was he thinking!

Then I had a photojournalist moment. Do I take a pic or save it? or do I do both? In the end I would've stopped to take the pic & save it, but I was worried I would get run over.

I never did find out if he made it.

On a more expected note: The garden service told me it wasn't worth the time or money putting top soil around the side of the house (always the optimist I subconsiously think of it as the 'Sea of Thorns') It sounds much more prosaic. Places like that are cool in The Lord of The Rings.

See ya monday.

The Cape Doctor

I woke up feeling like this.

That is what we call the South Easter here and it's arrived in style. Starting early summer (October) and lasting until Feb/March it howls around every corner, lifting skirts Marilyn style, hanging plastic bags from fences, making birds fly backwards, painting Cape Town in dusty colours and generally ruffling everyones feathers. My poor garden is fried.

(By the way if you are into colour have a look at ColourLovers a site I found through Viva.)

Location, location, location

My garden is a coastal garden and being 300m from the beach it's more coast than garden. In summer we're battered by the South Easter and in winter the North Westerly pulls out all the stops. Add some salt and place in the sun for best results. It's a miracle I have roses at all.

The South Easter gives Table Mountain it's cloth.

The North Westerly brings out the moody side.

However we're also fortunate enough to live smack in the middle of the Western Cape fynbos kingdom and like many South African gardeners I'm discovering the benefits of using what belongs here.

Here is one of my projects.

Someone recently gave me a bouquet that had Rose Scented Geranium (Pelargonium) leaves in. Bar the real thing I have never smelt anything like it. So, I stuck it in some hormone powder and then in the ground. It might not look like much now but hey it's got new growth!