MORE GARDEN FLOWERS

The chill of winter here is offset by the warm colours of indigenous flowers. The aloes in my garden have almost past their best blooming period.

This is a clump of aloes growing next to our driveway. The trunks in the background belong to one of the tall Erythrina caffra trees that, having lost most of their leaves, are already putting on a show of dark spikes that will soon open to reveal scarlet blossoms.

As you come down the steps leading to the kitchen door, you need to shift aside a little to make way for these cotyledons spilling over the edge. This one is being visited by a Greater Double-collared Sunbird:

Walk around the side of the house and you are met by this array of aloes edging one side of the swimming pool:

Growing in-between the aloes are the green leaves of plumbago – soon to cheer us up with their bright blue flowers. The leaves cascading down from the tree behind belong to a golden shower creeper that in time will produce pretty orange trumpets. The tree on the right is a cabbage tree (Cussonia spp.) and in the shady background are two hanging feeders containing seeds for the birds as well as a nectar feeder.