While much of South Africa is covered in grassland, pockets of natural forest survive, such as this one clinging to the steep sides of a gorge.
Succulents such as this Haworthia reinwardtii are rewarding to come across whilst walking in the veld.
Patches of pink brighten up indigenous forests – and our garden – when the Dais cotonifolia are in bloom.
The Cape Honeysuckle is coming into bloom now.
Aloes are also coming into bloom and will brighten up the autumn and winter landscape before long.
The Eastern Cape is home to the Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra), a hardy succulent favoured by elephants and a wonderful garden plant.
Something Over Tea 
An interesting post, especially because South Africa is mostly grassland. It seems that succulents can cope with the aridity best
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Much of our country is semi-arid to arid and so it is not surprising that this part of the world can lay claim to having the richest and most diverse succulent flora in the world – much of it sadly overlooked by gardeners keen to emulate the lush ‘English’ gardens magazines make so much of.
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Most woodland here is on the steep sides of valleys because those are places where farm machinery cannot go. And they tend to be the wetter places.
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The same applies here 🙂
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That’s just what I was thinking when looking at the forested gorge photo. The Downs, here in Sussex are similar. Grass on the rolling hills, but woodland in the gorges.
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I once had large pots of Cape Honeysuckle of my own! I had no idea what it was for several years, but finally I identified it. The bees and hummingbirds loved it, and it was a prolific bloomer. It would go into dormancy around November or so, and then in February I’d give it a heavy pruning and it would take off again. I finally (and with many tears — some real) gave it away to a friend with a real yard, and it thrived for her, too. The terrible freeze of 2021 finally did in most of it, but she dug up a bit of it and brought it indoors, and that bit is now growing in one of her pots.
Such fun to see the plant on its home territory!
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What a lovely tale of a Cape Honeysuckle thriving so very far away from home!
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Lots of beauties, but the first picture is the one that amazes me. Maine is 80 percent forested, but I have never seen trees clinging to the side of a gorge like that. Perhaps I just haven’t been in the right places.
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We have a number of ‘hidden’ forests like this or tucked into the folds of mountains.
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So striking!
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I love honeysuckles, but the smell drives me mad 🙂
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This indigenous honeysuckle does not exude much of a smell, fortunately.
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A lovely range of plants, Anne. You’re fortunate to have things blooming even through your cool season, esp. those beautiful aloes.
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Given your winter temperatures, you might actually feel over warm during our winter 🙂 I revel in the warm colours of the winter flowers.
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The gorge vegetation is very spectacular.
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I am fascinated by the ability of such tall mature trees to cling onto the steep sides of the gorge.
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It must be so nice to see all that wonderful colour in the cooler months!
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You might get an over supply of aloe pictures once our winter sets in 🙂 🙂
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Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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The honeysuckles are stunning and I didn’t know aloe plants bloomed, so I learned something.
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I am surprised you have not seen an aloe blooming and will be sure to show photographs of them blooming in the wild once the flowering season really gets underway.
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Thank you, I will look forward to seeing them Anne. I even had Aloe house plants, but maybe that is the key … houseplant versus outside plant?
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It might be so.
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