October 2019

As I write at the end of October we are shivering and the peak of the mountains to the east has a very light dusting of snow. We have had over 50 ml of rain in the past 5 days too, which has helped after the extremely dry early spring. I had been watering everything in the garden, but can hold off now for a week or two.

This month has its beauties in bold shades, but it is also hay fever month. The grass all runs to seed and the syringas flower. Both of these seem to trigger my sneezing. This year we have been lucky to be spared the howling south east wind which often arrives now and we have had some glorious days.

Every Saturday two men who work on the farm next door come to cut grass for me. It is vital that we get it all cut back now as fires are a hazard in summer. It also makes it easier to spot snakes as I wander about watering. Much of the grass is wild oats, but there is also something we call steekgras which has horrible prickly seed-heads which penetrate boots.

Purple glories

October had a dazzling welcome with big bushes of purple pink lampranthus planted by a neighbour flowering down our road. I also have big bush of it on one of the succulent mounds which has survived for about 15 years. There is nothing subtle about this vygie. This is prime time to visit the Karoo Desert Botanical Garden in Worcester as it has an impressive collection of vygies in shades or red, orange, purples and pinks. Take your sunglasses!

Felicia filifolia is also covered with small starry bright mauve purple flowers this month. This is another native plant and occurs widely in South Africa. It also does not need any water in summer. With its fine, light green leaves it is an attractive shrub even when not in flower and can spread to about 2 m x1 m. One has been growing in my garden for about 12 years now and dazzles for about three weeks every spring.

Growing near the Felicia is another stunning shrub, a Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans). With its towering spikes of tiny bright blue flowers and elegant grey leaves this is another joy in October. This shrub also doesn’t need water in summer, but it is fairly short lived and needs replacing every three or four years. Seedling do pop up sometimes when the mother plant dies.

I love poppies and wish I could grow more. The opium poppies self-seed in the veggie garden and open their big purple flowers this month. I like their handsome silver grey leaves and silver pepper pot seed-heads too.

Bougainvilleas also start flowering this month. Growing up the side of my stoep is a bright pink purple bougainvillea which will be a joy all summer long.

Orange and red

I am very fond of pomegranates. They are attractive in almost all seasons and this month they bear their bright orange red flowers which show up brilliantly against their glossy green leaves. Aside from pomegranates which bear fruit, I have two purely decorative forms. One has double bright orange flowers which are fuller than the normal form and the other has striped cream and orange double flowers. I think this form is called ‘Madame Legrelle’ and it is a beauty. I once saw a pomegranate with yellow flowers in a garden in Alice, but unfortunately the cuttings I took did not grow.

The other marvellous combination of red and green this month is the weeping boerboon, (Schotia brachypetala). In my garden this shrub starts its season with beautiful bronze new leaves which turn a fresh light green as the trusses of flowers form close the trunk and branches. My tree is still quite young and small, but is a treat for whole month of October.

Last of the glorious reds is a cactus with large red flowers with almost iridescent purple interiors. I am not sure of the name, but although fleeting this flowering is stunning. A smaller pink and white cactus also flowers now. I must track down the names.

White beauties

As a contrast to the bright colours, Dombeya rotundifolia the wild pear comes covered in trusses of white blossom early in the month. This tree comes from further north in South Africa, but mine has survived for 15 years, with very little summer water. Sadly the flowers turn tan within a week, so the pristine spectacle is short lived, but this little tree has attractive rounded grey green leaves in summer and warrants its place in the garden.

Quite near the Dombeya is a big Leucadendron bush which is also at its best this month. I think it might be L.discolor. It has limey green yellow flowers which last well in the vase

Although they are on the no no list I cannot resist the pink and white orchid-like flowers of Bauhinia variegata and these trees are the glory of the garden now in October. But even more special in my view is the pure white form which has a touch of green to the flowers. These flowers are lightly scented and as beautiful as magnolia blossoms. I planted it near a dense green yellowwood to emphasize the purity and beauty of these exquisite white flowers.

Gardeners are often a little crazy and I have planted 2 fruiting cherries. This climate is too hot for cherries and they are not thriving. If I get 5 cherries it is a lot, but when the little trees bear their pure white flowers, they are beautiful.

Although more cream than white, the olives also flower this month, their small lacy flowers a harbinger of the crop to come.

Scents of October

The garden in early October is pervaded by the scent of syringa, or Persian lilac (Melia azedarach) as it is sometimes called. With trusses of lilac coloured flowers, this is another plant on the no no list and I do diligently remove seedlings, but have left some trees. They are nowhere near as invasive as the wild olives in my garden.

The other gloriously scented plants are the honeysuckles which are especially nice this month. In the rose garden is an enormous bush of European or Belgian honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum) with flowers in shades of cream and pink which looks lovely beside apricot roses. And growing next to our cottage is a huge mass of the climbing cream and white Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). The former only flowers for about a month now, but the other will flower all summer long. I also have a plant which might be a hybrid between the two.

Another glorious scent in October is that of the common mock orange, (Philadelphus coronarius). The bushes in the rose garden come covered in pure white single flowers enhanced by yellow stamens. There is something virginal about this shrub with its sweetly scented flowers and pale green leaves, but is surprisingly tough, surviving with very little water. I also have a mock orange from Mexico which I got from Peter and Barbara Knox- Shaw. It does not flower as well, but it equally strongly scented.

The orchard is redolent with the scent of real orange blossom in October. Now is the time I make my van der Hum liqueur. The old Cape recipe calls for naartjie peel and a handful of orange blossom which one soaks in brandy with other spices for 40 days.

Roses and Irises

I love old fashioned roses and grow quite a few of them. October is the month when they are at their best and the old rose garden was one of the first gardens I planted when I came to KSU 16 years ago. It is a joy to be there now and to drink in their perfume and admire their subtle colours, but it isn’t that easy to capture the essence of their enchantment in photographs.

In mid October we travelled to Barrydale for a weekend to see the gardens in bloom there. It is a charming little town with some lovely and interesting gardens and it was very nice to see lots of old roses still growing along boundary fences, including a glorious bush of an apricot coloured rose I could not identify. I took some cuttings- ever hopeful.

I also love bearded irises and have a large collection, but sadly they do not do well here. The wretched moles disturb them and we just don’t seem to have enough cold, or enough rain for them. This year very few have flowered. I guess I should move them to fresh ground. There is something so special about their elegant flowers that I continue to hope for a better year.

Louisiana irises do much better. A few years ago I made a shallow pond for my collection of about 10 different varieties. Usually they flower in September, but they have been later this year them. For about a month this little pond looks great.

Tasks and treats in October

October is also the month when the pelargoniums are at their best. Often incorrectly called geraniums my mum and I have made quite a collection of species and garden hybrids. I need to take cuttings now after they have flowered as often lovely cultivars will disappear off the market and cannot be replaced if one loses a plant.

This month I planted my dahlia tubers and hope they do better than last year. I also planted more beans and courgettes, watermelons, butternuts, pumpkins and gem squash for the summer. The asparagus plants have shot up now that we are no longer picking spears and make a waving green forest about a metre high. I hope to pick enough Cape gooseberries to make some jam and we have enjoyed a few artichokes.

The fruit season is about to start and we can buy early peaches and nectarines. Summer is definitely on the way. The swifts and hoopoes are about as are my neighbour’s chicks who spend a lot of time scratching in what remains of the old vineyard.

KSU October 2019 gallery

4th September 201929th September 2019

August 2019

Time has sped by since I last wrote this blog and the worst of winter is over. I escaped the coldest and wettest period when I went to the UK for almost three weeks towards the end of July for a family wedding. Here is a description of my trip. While I was away we had a few light snow falls on the mountains and about 100 ml of rain.

Trees to welcome spring

The days are getting longer with the sun rising at 8 am and setting around 6 pm. It feels as if spring is here with the almond trees in full bloom. I hope for a good crop of nuts this summer. I have noticed some bees and midges among the flowers which are an exquisite pale pink in colour. Against a blue sky, the trees in bloom are almost as lovely as a bevy of brides.

From the verandah we admire Erythrina lysistemon , the lucky bean tree, covered in crimson flowers. The malachite sunbirds love it and are always darting in and out, but they are shy and difficult to photograph. This tree is a star of the garden for about two months. It comes from the interior of SA, but does well here and there are splendid specimens in Worcester. I also have Erythrina caffra from the east coast but it flowers a little later. I grew my tree from seed collected from a white form in Port Elizabeth many years ago, but the flowers of mine are the usual orange.

For a fortnight now we have a blaze of yellow in the garden. This is from 2 trees of Acacia cultriformis, the knife leafed wattle, from Australia. The flowers are very fleeting, but the trees are tough and have beautiful grey leaves which look good all summer long. Sadly we can no longer grow other grey leafed Australian wattles such as Acacia baileyana and A. podalyriifolia as they are deemed invasive.

Although flowering cherries do not grow here as it is too hot, flowering plums /prunus and peaches do well. As I write one of the purple leafed plums with pale pink double flowers is in full bloom. I grew it from a slip from a very old tree neglected in the garden at Welgelegen at UCT. This old house had some special plants in the garden but many have been swept away or have died from neglect. I am very pleased to have saved the plum. Nearby I have one with fragrant single white flowers which comes from Fresh woods the beautiful garden of Peter and Barbara Knox Shaw in Elgin. It is called Vesuvius and has very dark purple leaves and little cherry sized plums later in the season. These 2 and the common single pink prunus make a little purple grove when their leaves appear.

Other early spring treats

Nearby is the old rose Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot with soft peach pink and cream flowers. The plan is one day she will scramble up into the prunus, and the purple foliage will enhance her flowers. Such are the hopes of gardeners.

One little cluster that always delights me at this time of year is a combination of Salvia africana-lutea, Buddleja glomerata (Karoo buddleja) and the purple leafed dodonea (Dodonea viscosa ‘Purpurea’). Salvia africana-lutea is the bruin salie or brown sage or salvia, whose flowers are uniquely coloured with dark brown bracts and paler brown/tan orange flowers. These are complemented by grey leaves. It is a tough plant from coastal areas of the Western Cape and does well here in the garden. It looks lovely growing near anything with cream flowers. I have another form too which has paler greeny bracts.

Buddleja glomerata has shiny silver leaves and bright yellow fluffy flowers. Unlike most buddlejas the flowers are unscented , the plant is incredibly tough and looks good all year round. It is growing near the purple dodonea, or sand olive whose foliage is even darker purple in winter and the 2 look stunning together.

The brown sage also grows near a cream lantana and near another buddleja with soft creamy yellow flowers. This is another plant that I grew from a slip from an old garden in Rondebosch. I think it is the cross between B. asiatica with white flowers and B. madagascariensis which I think has brighter yellow flowers. The flowers have a delicious fragrance and come in long spikes. It is quite a big, lax shrub and does not thrive for me as it doesn’t get enough water here.

When I returned from the UK, the garden was scented by Buddleja auriculata with its tawny, biscuit cream flowers in small spikes. It doesn’t look much, but the fragrance carries on the air and it is always a winter delight in the garden.

It is always fun to find a different form of a common plant. For years I have grown the rosemary with bright blue flowers and I was delighted to find a form with pale pink flowers to complement it. I plan to grow them side by side. The purple dodonea mentioned earlier isn’t native to SA, but the green leafed form, is. They are both garden stalwarts in dry areas with sandy soils. They are especially pretty now with their winged seeds which adorn the bushes. The limey green shading to creamy pink colours of the wings of the green sand olive complement a pink flowering buchu close by and they look good in a vase together.

One of the first harbingers of spring and which has been flowering since July is the beautiful tough climber Hardenbergia violacea from Australia. It has scrambled right to the top of the Searsia lanceolata tree and looks gorgeous with its clusters of bright purple flowers amidst the tree’s green leaves. This is a long lived creeper and I keep meaning to grow more from seed as I fear one day it might die. Competition from the Searsia roots must be fierce and I don’t often remember to water it in summer.

The poplars along the boundary have suddenly leafed out and the pomegranates are also looking lovely with their fresh bronze foliage.

Purple beauties

Another star of the garden this month is Magnolia soulangeana. My bush is still small, but this year it has rewarded me with more flowers than ever before – big purple pink goblets that are white within.

The Californian Judas tree is also flowering with tiny bright purple pink flowers clustered on the stems. It is a bit touch and go with this shrub as I never know whether to water it in summer or not. Parts of it have died back but it is still hanging in there.

Continuing in the lilac purple theme this month are the ginger bush (Tetradenia riparia), Geraldton’s wax bushes (Chamaelaucium uncinatum) and a beautiful bushy plant that I think is a tree mallow (Lavatera sp.). The ginger bush which comes from the northern part of SA has catkins of lilac flowers which make its other common name, the misty plume bush most appropriate. Flower colour can vary from white to a darker lavender. I also have a related species from Madagascar given to me by my late friend Gill Scott which I treasure. It has similar flowers, but greyer more lanceolate leaves.

Geraldton’s wax bushes come from Australia. They have tiny leaves which allow them to survive hot summers without water. The small saucer shaped flowers come in a range of purples, pinks and whites. They are exceptionally good as cut flowers lasting for weeks in the vase.

The tree mallow is a big bushy shrub with grey leaves and big hollyhock shaped flowers. I have two forms. One has clear pink flowers and the other lilac flowers with a darker eye. The shrubs flower for weeks now in spring and are great garden plants if one has the space for them.

Bromeliads

I am starting small collection of bromeliads. They grow well in shady places and don’t seem to require too much water. This month one with spiky red and yellow flowers has been flowering for weeks. I also have 2 forms of the one called angel’s tears (Bilbergia nutans). One far more delicate that the other. The hanging flower stalks and bracts are shrimp pink and the flowers which hang like tassels a combination of pink, green, navy and yellow.

Succulent mounds

The succulent mounds are at their best in spring. Over the years I have planted many vygies/ mesembs, but although they flower in the first year, not many survive to flower the next year. One of the mesembs happy here is flat, creeping Jordaaniella dubia. This has bright yellow flowers which make bright patches on the mounds. One of the aloes which we bought in 2017 from the aloe nursery in Swellendam is also flowering with cheerful red and cream bicolour flowers. I think it might be Aloe cryptopoda bicolor.

Growing close by is another vygie, given to me by my friend Tos Zeeman. It is a specially big bright purple pink carpobrotus and I hope the patch will be stunning when it establishes itself. These vygies grow well on sunny banks.

Weeds glorious weeds

In August the whole farm is pale cream, awash with the flowers of a weed I call the wild mustard. This plant grows about 50cm tall and has leaves and flowers a bit like rocket, which is growing like a weed in the veggie garden. Here rocket, Florentine fennel and mustard lettuce all seed themselves each year. Florentine fennel in particular is a delicious vegetable. The other treats from the veggie garden this month are peas and celeriac and the asparagus is also starting to shoot.

My front lawn also has some of the wild mustard, along with Arctotis daisies and small white flowers which might be a type of Cotula. Although many might frown upon this mess, I love the meadow look. It is such a contrast to the dry summer dust bowl. Tiny little purple flowers from a Romula species which has round grassy leaves also brighten empty areas.

The birds are all busy making nests and the garden is alive with bird song. Weavers have selected a bare oak tree and owls have settled in the wild olives. One hears their hooting at night and one owl has decided a cypress is just the spot to set up watch at twilight.

August 2019 Gallery

24th February 201925th February 2019

February 2019

Although February is traditionally regarded as the hottest month at the Cape, it doesn’t seem to be the case here at KSU. I think it may have to do with the shape of the mountain ranges to the east and west of us. The mountains to the east are much closer and can delay sunrise by an hour or more, but they taper away to the south, so the midsummer sun in Nov/ Dec rises comparatively early at about 5:30 am. However the range rises steeply to peaks which delay sunrise as we move towards the equinox. The sun in February is now rising well after 7am.

The same occurs on the west. The gap in the mountains formed by Bainskloof is directly opposite the house and this is where the sun sets in midsummer after 8pm. The range rises gently to the north and now sunset is around 7pm. Thus the mountain profiles shorten the hours the sun beats down in February compared to December.

The days and nights nevertheless are still hot and we have had no rain this month except for 3ml on the 2nd Feb. Plants are starting to look stressed and long for autumn rain. The south-easter has also blown almost all month. Although this cools and makes the heat bearable, it also desiccates. The air is often hazy with dust and smoke, but this is a month of plenty harvest-wise.

Figs & Grapes

Farmers around me grow wine grapes and the harvest has started. When I first came to KSU the grapes were harvested by hand, but within the last 5 years all farmers have acquired tall harvesting machines which straddle the rows – great behemoths with big headlights in the sky, scary to meet on the road before daylight. Roads are busy with tractors dragging trailers full of grapes to the co-ops. The trailers tilt to tip out the grapes once the load has been weighed then back race the tractors for another load.

Grapes

My garden has been developed on an old Hanepoot vineyard. Some of the old vines are still in the garden and the grapes ripen towards the end of the month. First to ripen are the tiny black seedy Jacques grapes. Pronounced Yak-kay locally, Jacques was an old rootstock, no longer used. The grapes I look forward to are the Catawba grapes. This is an American grape which has a particular musky flavour, not admired by everyone, but addictive to those who like it. The skins are firm and the flavour only develops when the grapes are completely ripe. When I lived in Cape Town I had a vine which grew amazingly well, but the 3 vines I grew from cuttings and planted on a pergola here struggle a bit. They bear well though and grapes make delicious jelly which is especially nice mixed into plain Greek yoghurt.

Figs

February is fig time. They ripen faster than we can pick them and the mouse birds are having a great time. First to ripen is the little Cape brown fig, a firm little fig which makes a tasty bite. This year the big purple Adam fig starting ripening at almost the same time. These are luscious figs with a deep red centres. Lastly come the tiger figs, with green and yellow stripes these figs are also red inside and are very sweet making them my mom’s favourite fig. The strong winds blew down and broke a big branch this year just as the fruit was ripening.

Figs don’t keep and are best eaten straight off the tree. One of the rewards for watering the garden is making frequent forays to the figs trees for sustaining snacks! I have friends who enjoy fresh figs too so lots get given away. Some get cut up and covered with brown sugar or honey and port and popped in the oven to bake and then enjoyed either warm or cold with Greek yoghurt- a very easy and delicious dessert. Some get made into jam. I find plain fig jam is not always a success and this year I have mixed them with Kei apples to add a bit of acid and pectin and I think the results are yummy. Best of all is sandkorrel konfyt. Mrs Olive Niewoudt of the Cedarberg shared her recipe with me many years ago. This jam is a mixture of fig, hanepoot grapes and watermelon rind. It is tricky to make, but absolutely delicious when you get it right. The famous green fig preserve is made in spring from young green figs, not now in late summer.

Pomegranates and prickly pears

Pomegranates are also ripening now. It is great to see that this ancient fruit is back in fashion. It is one of my favourite trees as you can see from the banner of this site, and I have one growing just off the stoep. In spring the new leaves are a lovely bronze, then come the bright orange flowers and the bright green leaves. It is lovely to watch the beautifully shaped little fruits swell and ripen and then split to reveal the jewel-like red pips. When the chilly nights come the leaves turn yellow before falling and let the sun through to warm us on winter afternoons. I have also planted some pomegranate hedges. We eat the fruits and some years I try making pomegranate molasses, but it takes lots of pips to get a little bottle.

Prickly pears (Opuntia sp.) take me back to my childhood growing up in the Eastern Cape. My father would peel lots and chill them in the fridge for breakfast. It is still the way we enjoy them. When I bought KSU there were several old plants on the boundaries. Some are massive. The tastiest form has yellow flowers, lots of prickles and orange flesh. The one with less prickles has paler fruit which is less tasty. Safely picking and peeling prickly pears is an art to cultivate as the tiny prickly hairs are fiendish.

Pretty barrier plants

Aside from Kei apples (Dovyalis caffra)which I wrote about last month and prickly pears, two other prickly tough plants which can be grown as barrier shrubs are carissas and durantas. Both are long flowering and are still looking good in February.

Amatungula, num-num or Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) is full of fruit now and still has a few flowers. The fruits are quite tasty and I believe make a good jelly, but I have not tried yet. It is native to the eastern coastal parts of the country and I have been surprised that it grows quite well here but is not as tall as in coastal areas. The large scented single white flowers are followed by bright red, oval fruits about the size of a prune.

Carissa edulis has much smaller black round fruits, and smaller tubular flower which come in clusters like spring jasmine. The shrub has been flowering on and off all summer. The scent is heavenly, the buds and flower tubes are red pink which contrasts beautifully with the starry white flowers. The long spines are vicious. It comes from the bushveld and further north in Africa and does well here.

I have two duranta bushes, but may acquire more as they are tough shrubs requiring very little water when established, real stalwarts for summer. They come from Mexico and South America and are sometimes called golden dewdrops. One of mine has variegated leaves with a silvery gold edging and pale blue flowers. The other is the real beauty with darker violet blue flowers which are edged with white. I think it is the cultivar called Sapphire showers. The flowers are faintly sweetly scented and cover the large shrub all summer. Both shrubs also have golden berries now.

Stars of February

With elegant, pale pink lily like, scented flowers, Crinum moorei has been a treat all month. The flowers remind me of ballerinas in Giselle. Sometimes called the Natal lily, this member of the Amaryllis family has big bulbs and prefers shade. Mine are growing in a big pot under a tree and have survived considerable neglect. Their scent is stronger at night making them a good choice for a shady courtyard.

Another pale pink beauty flowering for weeks from mid to late summer is Barleria greenii. This likes some sun and also comes from KZN and I read that it is also scented at night. It is critically endangered in the wild. A bushy perennial with big (for a barleria) delicate flowers, it has prickly leaves. My single plant has survived in the garden for many years, but I must try to propagate more as it is out of its comfort zone here. I do prune it back a bit each winter and wait anxiously to see if it will shoot in spring. I also water it weekly in summer.

Much tougher and brighter is Crassula perfoliata var. falcata which is also a February star at KSU. This is a succulent from the Eastern Cape with attractive grey stems of grey sickle shaped leaves which complement the big heads of tiny bright red flowers. Easy to propagate from cuttings, I have a few plants in the rockery and have noticed that those which get afternoon shade do best. There seems to be some confusion about the name of this plant.

Even bigger and brighter is the firewheel tree, Stenocarpus sinuatus, from tropical rain forests of Australia. I have been amazed that it has grown and flowered here, but it is a member of the protea family and I think must like the acid soil. The flowers are like bright red, spidery catherine wheels and the seedpods an elegant pale green. It has very handsome glossy dark green leaves too which make it attractive all year round.

And lastly let us not forget the humble petunia, a pot of them have been flowering beside the front steps all summer long, a daily star.