First Aloe ferox flowers for the season!

I am so excited! Early already this winter has been freezing and I've been afraid that I won't have any Aloes flowering this season. And yet, here it is! My first flowers for the season! This fairly young Aloe (about 4 years old) is just outside my garden gate and is in full sun, maybe that's the secret. This area also gets very little water as it consists mostly of Aloes and the Coco splumosa trees are big enough to not need all that much water, rain only suffices.

I'm holding thumbs that my other older and bigger Aloes will follow suit with their lovely display of oranges.

Planning a garden

Ink sketch and colour wash - A corner in my garden

How do you go about planning a new garden or adding something new to your existing garden?

When I started my garden way back in 2004, the first thing I did was to measure the area I intended to plant and then drew up a scale plan of the area. I included intended pathways, trees, rocks and indigenous plants. I rigorously stuck to the map and the completed lay-out was (almost) perfect. Of course the garden has changed plenty over the years with new pathways added, trees that were too close to one another have been removed and new areas like a succulent garden added.

Now, when planning something new in my garden, I often do some quick sketches with notes in my Moleskine Gardening Journal, adding colour just to see what it will look like.

Notes
Put large terracotta pot lying on its side under Tree Fuchsia (Haleria lucida), Plant Echeverias in front, add stepping stones and pebbles.