The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell someone else where to dig!
~ Texas Bix Bender
2008 was the year when I started setting up my websites, with the result that I never spent much time in the garden - entrusted the whole shebang to the trusty gardener and spent a sinful amount of time indoors. Managed to venture outside for a couple of photographs in the middle of June, hurriedly scurrying inside to get away from the cold - lots of frost and a freezing wind...
June 2008: Early morning and the lawn covered in frost, but the aloes make a stunning show of orange against the bleakness of winter.
Never saw this tiny praying mantis clinging to one of the flower pods when I took the picture!
Bleak and grey outlook from the patio on a rainy day
The indigenous grasses showing signs of the Winter,
but the Sword Ferns were protected under the Black Karee
Leafless trees and the lawn white with frost
No birds venturing near the bird bath on this cold and rainy day
in the middle of June! Rain this time of the year is very unusual
as we here near Johannesburg live in a Summer rain-fall area -
this is real Cape Town weather!
As usual, the cacti flowered through-out the winter, seemingly unaware of frost and freezing winds and offering rich nectar to all the insects.
September 2008 - Spring is in the air and the Euphorbia managed
to survive the winter, even though I forgot to bring him inside - again!
The Sword ferns needed a major cut-back after the winter, leaving large, open patches.
October 2008 - the grasses next to the deck are still a bit meager after this cold winter.
November 2008 - lush greenery reigns everywhere (this is the front door of my house)
The ferns have fully recovered and are spreading at an amazing pace.
Above and below: the Pennisentum had their first flower show this year.
November 2008: The indigenous Tree Fuchsia (Halleria Lucida) on the right, which is deciduous, next to the wooden sculpture, is beautiful and lush after the rains we've had. It gets these Fuchsia-like flowers, hence its name.
The flowers of the Tree Fuchsia
The White Karees next to the patio are also sporting their full summer greenery.
This is their fifth year and they are about 10m tall.
December 2008: The garden path is now fully established, with the entrance
area being flanked with these beautiful grasses and a log I dragged from the
bush across the road.
The end of another year and how time flies!
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A fond farewell to an excellent 2008 and hoping that 2009 will be topping it!