It is an icy, grey day during which winter is stamping its feet in a determined fashion to freeze out any idea of spring unfurling in the wings. What better way of beating the winter blues than focusing on red:
Aloe
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Amethyst Sunbird at nectar feeder
Gazania
Crassula perfoliata
Virginia creeper
During these drab, drought-stricken times we need some cheer in the form of a bright colour. I have looked through my files for examples of cheerful yellow.
How the various varieties of gazanias survive in the dry conditions of the veld – especially during this long period of drought – never ceases to amaze me.
The buds of the canary creeper are already beginning to swell so that I will soon be able to show updated photographs of these delightful yellow flowers that bloom at this time of the year.
The sweet-smelling flowers of the Vachellia (Acacia) karoo are always worth the wait.
Not indigenous, yet fun to have in the garden, are sunflowers.
Flowers that fall under the generic term, ‘daisy’ are members of the largest group of flowering plants consisting of about 23 000 currently accepted species, spread across 1 620 genera. We find them in all sorts of environments, in different colours, and in various sizes and configurations. Despite the apparent delicate nature of their petals, they prove to be tough plants. These daisies have managed to survive the current drought and continue to provide a splash of colour in our garden:
One of the several orange and yellow Namaqualand Daisies grown from seed.
A type of Gazania – note how small its leaves are.
Bought from a nursery a few years ago, this Marguerite is a true survivor.
Van Stadens River Daisy – grown from cuttings taken from my mother’s farm garden.
An unknown survivor from a packet of mixed indigenous seeds planted three years ago.
There is beauty even in the driest veld:
Something Over Tea 