This is my garden - a week in pictures

It has been weeks and weeks of rain but finally (I wasn't complaining!) the sun has appeared, bringing with it hot and humid temperatures. My chooks have been suffering the heat, hiding in any cool spot they can find and mosquitoes have become a real problem. Despite all my efforts of emptying anything that could possibly contain some water where they could breed, the garden is so damp that they are sheltering in any thick vegetation they can find.

Chi-Chi cooling off amongst the Leopard lilies

The bonus of all the rain is that everything is green, strong and flowering like mad and I also haven't needed to bring out the hosepipe. Isn't it just amazing that, no matter HOW much you water the garden, just a few millimeters of rain and everything doubles in size?

Echeveria glauca in a wheel barrow and Aloe ferox

Nasturtiums long and leggy from all the rain

 Cape Reed Grass in a pot

Pachyveria in a pot

 

 Tree Fuchsia (Halleria lucida) next to Aloe ferox

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My favourite plant in the garden (this week)

A garden of marigolds…. orange, yellow and rust,

Bright, soft and rich, touched with golden dust.

Quiet and regal, sun kissed and fair,

Basil-citrus fragrance that mellows the moist air.

A thousand smiling marigolds, a thousand smiling suns,

Sweet nectar, ambrosia, for natures gentle ones.

- Extract from ‘Marigolds’, Nishu Mathur, India

Wandering around my garden this morning it struck me how perfectly happy my Marigolds seemed. And it reminded me of a quote I once read,

all a morning glory 
needs 
to be happy 
is the sun.
so go ahead, 
tilt your face up!

We’ve had absolutely beautiful rain over the past couple of weeks and my garden is smiling! Nobody shows gratitude like Marigolds do!

My kind-hearted gardener, Chrissie, once strew a couple of seeds somewhere in the garden and since then I’ve had them come up in the most unexpected places! If you grow a vegetable garden, plant Marigolds amongst the vegetables. Marigolds are easy to grow and they help keep away aphids. The relationship between plants and insects is known as ‘companion planting’ and it’s by far the safest, natural way to garden organically.

The Marigolds are all seeding now and some have already died off. It’s one way that I know that the season is slowly shifting and that autumn is on our doorstep. My garden will be devoid of their lovely colour until September when all their seeds will once again pop up in the most unexpected places to honour me with their presence.

These often over-looked beauties are native to North and South America, but some species have become naturalized around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

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Cosmos flowers in South Africa

Every March and November respectively our countryside explodes with colour when pretty pink and white cosmos flowers bloom in early autumn and then again in late summer. They grow easily in the soil at the side of the roads disturbed by the road scrapers widening the verges.

Crawling among the cosmos, taller than me, next to the side of the road to try and get a good shot of these annual flowers was quite an experience. I almost fell in a rabbit hole, got black jacks all over my pants, walked straight through a huge Orb Web Spider’s web before I realised it and even disturbed a family of Partridges, who scared the daylights out of me as they all raucously took to the air!

Cosmos is a genus of about 20-26 species of annual and perennial plants in the famil Asteraceae, native to scrub and meadow areas in Mexico (where the bulk of the species occur), the southern United States (Arizona, Florida), Central America, South America, south toParaquay, and South Africa.

 

Cosmos in Mpumalanga, South Africa

They are herbaceous perennial plants growing 0.3-2 m tall. The leaves are simple, pinnate, or bipinnate, and arranged in opposite pairs.

 

White Cosmos in my garden

The flowers are produced in a capitulum with a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets; flower color is very variable between the different species.

 

Cosmos next to a stream

Cosmos, along with many of our succulent and aloe species, have become regarded as indigenous in South Africa and bloom in various colours - white, pink, cerise and red - no yellow in South Africa. Having them in your garden ensures a wonderful display of colour during early autumn and summer.

It's against the law to pick the flowers next to the side of the road, but Cosmos seeds are now packaged and available at most nurseries. Growing them in the garden is easy and they make a wonderful country-style cut-flower arrangement.

Cosmos flowers is a favourite subject of, and has inspired, artists throughout the years and have been depicted on many a canvas.

 

 

Cosmos in my garden

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Exhausted, hot... and happy!

An African Skink enjoying the summer sun on my garden wall

We're heading towards the end of summer. I know it sounds a bit early, but the Marigolds are all seeding and some have already died off. It’s one way that I know that the season is slowly shifting and that autumn is on our doorstep. My garden will be devoid of their lovely colour until September when all their seeds will once again pop up in the most unexpected places to honour me with their presence.

Mid- and end-of-summer chores always include getting the garden ready for her winter siesta - the last composting is done, the edges and pathways are all neatened up, flowering plants are dead-headed and seeds harvested and collected, ready for use in spring.

The pathway Joseph so painstakingly created is now filled with Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Bulbinella and anything else that saw fit to take root. But soon it will be restored to it's previous glory (below) although I do love the randomness of the flowers all over the pathways ...

 

Borders have been fixed up and fresh crusher stone brought in to try and deter the chickens from destroying all semblence of a border!

 

 Some termites decided that my display log is the best thing since Christmas and soon there won't be much left of it...

 

 My water bottle hanging in the shade of a tree sporting some of the last Nasturtiums

 

It's always a good idea to have a few places to take a rest, cool off and have a nice cup of coffee

 

 This Hen & Chicks (Chlorophytum comosum) has managed to escape the onslaught of the chickens and hopefully I can harvest some chicks to plant in spring.

 

 Given good soil, lots of water during summer and some tender loving care, this succulent (Echeveria elegans) will reward you with beautiful, healthy looking rosettes and an abundance of flowers. Unfortunately they are not frost-hardy and every winter I bring them inside or under some cover for over-wintering.

 

 

 Marigolds everywhere!

 

 The insects are still enjoying the last of the Kniphofias (Red Hot Pokers) and I hope to be blessed with many more of their flowers this coming spring

 Some of my more tender succulent and cactus collection on a plant stand on my patio 

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