THE COLOUR PINK

We have had enough of green so it is time to move on to a brighter colour: pink. As Christina Rossetti says so elegantly

What is pink? a rose is pink

By a fountain’s brink.

What is red? a poppy’s red

In its barley bed …

There will be no roses for you today – mine died off during the early drought years many moons ago and there will be no red poppy – it is the wrong colour for today’s cheer. Instead, we will start off with a bloom that doesn’t appear to mind drought at all while it is always pleased to receive sustenance from the rain: a hibiscus.

A vigorous – though very attractive – alien is the Lantana camara.

These pelargoniums thrive in my drought-stricken garden.

As does this Pachypodium succulentum, which is even happier since I transplanted it to a large pot.

Self-sown opium poppies (Papaver somniferm) bloom in my back garden during October or November in most years.

While these jasmine blooms scent the summer nights most beautifully.

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FLOWERS UP CLOSE

Every now and then I get the feeling that my blog posts have become dull and need a bit of cheering up. What better way of doing this than taking a close look at some flowers?

The potato bush is covered in these beautiful flowers that brighten up the area next to the pool pump.

These indigenous pelargoniums have a way that make one pause before walking past. They thrive with little help from me.

The number of Gladiolus dalenii have increased significantly in the bed outside our kitchen and so I am looking forward to enjoying ever more of their blooms.

I find it difficult to resist taking a closer look at the hibiscus flowers next to our swimming pool.

This day lily was a part of a bouquet of flowers I received a while ago.

Then there are the nasturtiums that always manage to look cheerful.

PRETTY HIBISCUS

We can all do with some cheering up!

NOVEMBER 2021 GARDEN

I am pleased to report that my garden today is wet. Yes, really: it is wet, wet, wet and although the rain has made way for the sun, leaves are dripping – some are even weighing down the branches with the weight of rain. This is a sight for sore eyes – 28mm of rain!

Rain means mud and mud means that the Lesser-striped Swallows can proceed with their urgent task of constructing their mud nest under the eaves.

A Hadeda Ibis chick balances on the edge of the precarious nest in the back garden.

While a beautiful nest woven by an excited Southern Masked Weaver bobs up and down with no tenants – it was obviously not deemed to be good enough when the female inspected it!

My teeny weeny patch of flowers has got a new lease of life – just when I thought it was soon going to revert to being a bare patch of ground.

A very old hibiscus has come into bloom.

So has the indigenous Plumbago.

A matter of weeks ago I thought I would have to remove the Christ thorns lining the front path.

All over the garden the Crossberries are coming into bloom.

As is the very beautiful Cape Chestnut tree.

A PINK BEAUTY

An immediate attraction on our arrival at the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park was this showy member of the Hibiscus family growing on a bank separating the camping area from the chalets on a level above it.

The Anisodonta cabrosis grows along the coast of the south-western Cape as far as KwaZulu-Natal.

The bush was covered with these beautiful pink flowers.

A true ‘pink beauty’, it is also known as an African Mallow.