LOOKING OUT OF MY STUDY WINDOW …

Looking out of my study window earlier this morning, I was delighted to see a Cardinal Woodpecker alight on a branch of the large Erythrina caffra growing in my neighbour’s garden.

I was equally pleased to note bunches of bright red seeds in the black seed pods hanging down between the green leaves. Before long the latter will turn yellow and brown, leaving the tree bare so that we can fully appreciate the scarlet blooms. These in turn provide sustenance to a host of birds and insects during the winter.

How could I not be attracted to the bright yellow Canary Creeper blossoms draped all over the bushes and trees in the garden?

The orange Cape Honeysuckle is in bloom too – gratifying to see a Cape Weaver having some breakfast nectar.

Not so pleasing to see are signs of the invasive Madeira Vine – I will need to attack that as soon as my gammy knee improves enough for me to tug at the vines and cut them back.

This is autumn in the Eastern Cape. Our garden is filled with the mellifluous calls of Red-winged Starlings feasting on the fruit of the Natal fig tree that dominates a part of the front garden.

The Crossberries are blooming.

And I can see one of the early aloe flowers opening up.

Life is good.

RATHER SEEDY

Walter de la Mare is among my favourite poets and so he sprang to mind when I thought about illustrating some of the autumnal seeds from around here. His poem about seeds illustrates, I think, what springs to mind when many of us think about seeds when we first hear the word:

The seeds I sowed –
For week unseen –
Have pushed up pygmy
Shoots of green;
So frail you’d think
The tiniest stone
Would never let
A glimpse be shown.
But no; a pebble
Near them lies,
At least a cherry-stone
In size,
Which that mere sprout
Has heaved away,
To bask in sunshine,
See the Day.

It will certainly resonate among my northern hemisphere readers who have already begun planting seeds in the hope of seeing flowers or vegetables before long. Seeds represent the birth of life, a renewal, the promise of something special. What brought this to mind are the many pictures of dandelions I have seen in a number of northern hemisphere posts as being clear signs of the final arrival of spring. Here they have gone to seed:

They will remain dormant for a while as we move into longer periods of colder weather. The poppies went to seed a long time ago, yet I cannot resist showing you their little cage with holes for the seeds to escape from:

What an intricately designed seed case this is! So are the blackjacks: these blackjack seeds have tiny barbs on the end that catch on anything and everything that passes them:

Before you know it, your socks or your slacks will be covered in them – as will the fur of your dog and even the cattle walking past. Wonderful ways for these plants to disperse themselves! I usually photograph the attractive spiky dry seed pods of the common weed Datura but came across the green version of it:

In time this pod will dry out and split open so that the seeds within can disperse in the wind. Here is the delicate tracery of what is left of a Cape Gooseberry husk after the fruit within had dried and the seeds blown about:

What beauty there is in the end of life here! While the picture above might represent the emptiness, the aloe seeds below show anything but: these ripe seeds are the result of good pollination and proudly show the swelling promise of more aloes to come when the time is right:

PORTULACA OLERACEA

Living in the Eastern Cape as I do, I am thoroughly familiar with stands of Portulacaria afra, commonly known as Spekboom, Pork Bush or Elephant Bush. It is a plant that dominates parts of subtropical thickets and is widespread in the Karoo. The latter common name comes about for it forms an important part of the diet of elephants in this part of the country. I have increasing numbers of Spekboom bushes growing in my garden:

Spekboom Portulacaria afra

I also have an abundance of this common weed I was unable to put a name to until Eliza’s sharp eye identified the Common Purslane growing in a pot shown when I was lamenting that I had not planted any flowers or seedlings because of the drought.

I immediately reached for my trusty copy of Common Weeds in South Africa and realised that I had bypassed this one because in the sketch of it, the leaves do not look as fleshy as they are in life. So, I not only have an abundance of Spekboom in my garden, but Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is thriving too. Look at all these tiny seedlings germinating in this pot:

They have deep taproots and the stems are often reddish, as you can see here:

The leaves are thickly fleshy and round tipped.

While these plants originate from Europe, they are now considered a cosmopolitan weed that is mainly found in gardens and wasteland where the soil has been disturbed. It is regarded here as a persistent annual herbaceous weed that is well adapted to warm and moist environments – and clearly does not mind hot and dry weather either! Now that I know that it makes a good ground cover that helps to stop the soil from drying out too much in summer, I will leave it in situ until I need the space for something else.

Eliza mentioned that the leaves are edible – as are those of the Spekboom – and so I looked up this aspect of the plant: apparently both the leaves and stems – whether eaten raw or cooked – are considered to be nutritious. As with the leaves of Spekboom, the leaves of Common Purslane are apparently quite tasty to add to salads. The leaves can also be used to make nutritious soups, where it can also be used in lieu of cornflower as a thickening agent.

The author, C. Louis Leipoldt (1880-1947) writes in his Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery:

Purslane (porseleinblaar) that grows profusely in every Cape garden in late winter and spring was, in the old days, and should be today, a favourite vegetable. Its little succulent leaves were gathered, washed and braised with ginger powder, mace, pepper and salt in fat; a tiny spicule of garlic was added, a wineglassful of wine was stirred in, and the result was an amazingly delicate, luscious and sapid puree that was served with rice and potatoes.

It is not surprising to learn that this plant was introduced to southern Africa as a source of vitamin C for early seafarers!

Dried purslane can apparently also be added to the feed of laying hens to increase egg production and egg weight.

References:

Henderson M and Anderson JG 1966: Common Weeds in South Africa. Department of Agricultural Technical Services. Botanical Survey, Memoir No. 37

Smith GF, Crouch NR, and Figueiredo E 2017: Field Guide to Succulents in Southern Africa. Struik Nature

https://www.kzndard.gov.za/images/Documents/RESOURCE_CENTRE/GUIDELINE_DOCUMENTS/Research_and_Technology_Bulletin/Purslane_A-weed-with-a-potential-for-Human-Consumption-and-Animal-Feed.pdf

https://thegreentimes.co.za/wild-about-weeds-part-4-purslane/

FLAMBOYANT HIBISCUS

One of the previous owners of the house we live in now must have enjoyed a special affection for hibiscus shrubs – all sorely neglected by me. These shrubs prefer warm, relatively frost-free areas and are popular in gardens along the coastal areas of KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape as well as inland all over the country. I was walking through my ‘secret garden’ yesterday afternoon and was struck by this pretty cultivar of a hibiscus we cannot see from the terrace above.

This is another of the flowers that caught the late afternoon sunlight.

Speaking of catching the sunlight – this one is only just highlighted.

I think the blossoms of hibiscus can be quite dramatic. This one grows in a jungle near our swimming pool.

The hibiscus bush that produces this lovely flower is prolific, flowering through much of the year.

I enjoy having these flowers blooming in my garden – even in the drought years – as they tend to attract butterflies, beetles as well as sunbirds. They are amazingly hardy and appear to be able to withstand a variety of different climatic conditions. Lastly, a photograph of our indigenous pink forest hibiscus (Hibiscus pendunculatus) that grows in the shadiest part of my garden.

TECOMA STANS

It is interesting how the gardening wheel turns. Homeowners moving into a newly-built home with no garden to speak of are keen to bring life and colour to their patch as soon as possible. Those who own nurseries are keen to sell plants that will be fast-growing and, in most places in South Africa, are fairly drought-resistant – in the Highveld plants that are tolerant of frost are important too – so that their customers will be pleased enough to return for more plants … the new gardeners and the owners of the nurseries are both happy. When we moved into our first home we also fell ‘victim’ to this kind of ‘win-win’ situation as ignorant gardeners keen to turn our builder’s rubble into what we imagined a ‘proper’ garden would be. It is astonishing to look back – with greater hindsight now, after having learned a whole lot more and gained a better understanding of indigenous plants in particular – and realise just how many plants we accepted for their various properties ‘perfect for a new garden’ that are actually invasive aliens.

Do not only blame the nurseries. Respected authors of gardening books also touted such plants. I quote from one published in 1993 about Tecoma stans, also known as Yellow Bells and Yellow Trumpet-flower – Geelklokkies in Afrikaans. Apart from a scant recognition that this shrub originates from Central and South America, the well-known author assures his readers that It grows very well in warm, frost-free areas, although it will tolerate light frost if grown in a sheltered position …

These proved to be very popular plants in both mature and new gardens when we lived in Mahikeng (as Mafeking is now called). Of course I never thought of photographing them then, so you will have to make do with this glance at one growing next to the pavement on the main road leading into town.

Naturally enough, for the time, because of its beautiful yellow bell-shaped flowers, Tecoma stans was introduced to South Africa as an ornamental plant in about 1858. No-one thought further about it and all were doubtless pleased to have this attractive shrub in their gardens. Well over a century later, however, we now know to our cost that Tecoma stans invades roadsides, riparian areas, waste areas, disturbed sites and rocky sites and in doing so displaces the indigenous fauna and flora. It is only since 2004 that it became illegal to trade or to plant these shrubs.

It is a particular problem in the provinces of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and Limpopo. There are places where it has become so invasive that these shrubs have actually reduced the available grazing for domestic and wild animals.

So the wheel has turned: Tecoma stans remains an attractive plant, but we now know better than to plant it in our gardens.