Spring is a miraculous experience

My Clivias were already flowering in late-winter and putting up a spectacular show

The whole world comes alive after the winter in which it seemed that everything was dead. The world comes filled with colour and the scent of delicious greenery. The world that seemed so dull and cold has come alive once again. Little did we know that beneath the cold hard ground the plants and trees were preparing for rebirth. Spring gives us hope for rejuvenation in our own lives as well. Spring is a time to renew the excitement and zest for life that lives inside.
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The Geraniums responded to the warmer weather by all flowering at the same time

It Must Be Spring
Hush, Can you hear it?

The rustling in the grass,

Bringing you the welcome news

Winter's day is past.

Soft, Can you feel it?

The warm caressing breeze,

Telling you the sticky buds

Are bursting on the trees.

Look, Can you see them?
T
he primrose in the lane,

Now you must believe it
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Spring is here again!

Normally, by early September, we've had our early spring rains, but now, by early October, nothing yet, so Chrissie has to resort to watering the garden from the pond, which delivers strong water through the .75Kw pump. The normal garden hose relies on water tank pressure and is very weak.

My Aloes (A. ferox) flowered throughout winter until late spring, supplying much-needed sustenance to the nectar-feeding birds. Here Chrissie is neatening up the crusher stone edging which the chickens have spread far and wide!

5am on a spring morning is the best time to water the garden before the temperatures begin to rise. This gives the plants a good supply of water to face the heat of the day. Early morning also tends to be a time of lower winds and thus reduced evaporation. If watering cannot be done in the early morning, very late afternoon is also satisfactory. It is important to water early enough so that the leaves have time to dry before nightfall to avoid development of fungal diseases. If possible, choose watering methods that will not wet the leaves (such as soaker hoses) and thus allow for late evening watering.

In spring and summer I also let the girls out much earlier than usual and here they're enjoying some early-morning insect hunting.

My Arum lilies and the Phormiums did well over the winter. Phormiums are not tender greenhouse plants and they are especially good plants for cold and windswept gardens. They can easily tolerate minus 5°C and even minus 10°C, which has never really happened here. Phormiums require full sun in a moist but well drained soil. They will however grow well in poorer soils providing they are given regular granular feeds of a nitrogen based fertiliser. Phormiums are greedy plants which grow quickly if they are well fed. It is because Phormiums provide such a quick and colourful foliage display that so many councils use them on city roundabouts and roadside plantings.

Phormiums are pretty much pest free and most animals seem to ignore them. They are easy plants to grow and make lovely fillers in the garden. The range of coloured leaves between different varieties is enormous. Anyone who has experienced a failure after last winter should try again but remember to mulch heavily before the onset of a hard frost.

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Arum lilies after the winter

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.”
- Georgia O’Keeffe

Wit varkoor (Afrikaans); intebe (Xhosa) ihlukwe (Zulu)
Family: Araceae (Arums, Anthurium, Caladium and Philodendron)

What could be more beautiful than a creamy white arum lily – whether in your garden, a pot, or the wild? Arum lilies (Zantedeschia) are native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi and grow well in full sun near water, but prefer a semi-shaded environment when there’s no permanent water nearby.

The faintly scented flowers attract a multitude of crawling insects and bees, which pollinate the flowers in exchange for food, each one in its own way. The white crab spider, for instance, visits the flower to eat the insects. It does not spin webs, but makes good use of its paleness as an effective camouflage in the spathe.

Porcupines are crazy about the large rhizomes and will savagely destroy whole colonies of arum lilies. The good thing is that thanks to this brutal pruning, the plants regenerate fresher than ever with the most amazing flowers. If I had porcupines, it would be worth the massacre!

My Arums look like the porcupines have been at it, but it's only the chickens!

Zantedeschia is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi. The Zantedeschia species are poisonous due to the presence of calcium oxalate. All parts of the plant are toxic, and produce irritation and swelling of the mouth and throat, acute vomiting and diarrhoea. However leaves are sometimes cooked and eaten. Who would believe that these beauties carry a deadly secret?

In the South-West of Western Australia, Z. aethiopica was introduced for horticulture. It has become a widespread and conspicuous weed of watercourses, heath, and wetter pastures. The so-called white calla is derived from Z. aethiopica. All varieties with flowers with shades of yellow, orange, red, purple are mainly derived from Z. albomaculata, Z. pentlandii and Z. rehmanni.

Did you know that the striking arum lily “flower” is actually many tiny flowers arranged in a complex spiral pattern on the central column (spadix)? The tiny flowers are arranged in male and female zones on the spadix. The top 7 cm are male flowers and the lower 1.8 cm are female. If you look through a hand-lens you may see the stringy pollen emerging from the male flowers which consist largely of anthers. The female flowers have an ovary with a short stalk above it, which is the style (where the pollen is received). The spadix is surrounded by the white or coloured spathe. According to Marloth, the whiteness of the spathe is not caused by pigmentation, but is an optical effect produced by numerous airspaces beneath the epidermis.

The common arum is found from the Western Cape through the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and into Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is evergreen or deciduous depending on the habitat and rainfall regime. In the Western Cape it is dormant in summer and in the summer rainfall areas it is dormant in winter. It will remain evergreen in both areas if growing in marshy conditions which remain wet all year around.

Although called the arum lily, it is neither an arum (the genus Arum) nor a lily (genus Lilium). But it is associated with the lily as a symbol of purity and these elegant flowers have graced many bridal bouquets.

 Arum lilies in my garden done in watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree©

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