April 2021

Perhaps the last rain of the season, last night we received a gentle shower of 8mm! Everything was definitely feeling the heat over the last couple of weeks, and leaves have begun to wither and dry on many of the indigenous plants. Vernonias and Hibiscus are flowering and keeping all the butterflies happy, and the pond plants are still flowering. However we are definitely at the end of that glorious wet summer, and green is gradually being replaced with brown.

In the Indigenous garden, baobabs are losing their leaves, the Chinese lantern tree (Dichrostachys) is producing its wonderfully curious pods, and the Grewia shrubs are full of fruit. Crotalarias have finished flowering and are left with pods, and most of the grasses are turning brown. Xerophyta retinervis leaves have turned purple again now that the rains are almost done.

In the Garden, the Pachypodiums are just coming in to flower, the Golden shower vine has also started to flower earlier in the year than usual, and the Clerodendrum vine is flowering too.

In the Vegetable garden the fennel is still flowering. Spinach, lettuce, chard and rocket seedlings are sprouting. New Zealand spinach is still producing lush new leaves, and the Sorrel has had a bit of fertilizer scattered around it and continues to grow well.

In the Fruit garden, the Azanza garckeana fruit are ripening but still not brown yet, all the Pomegranates have turned pink and are ready for picking. Luffas are still green. Granadillas are still flowering and making new fruit, and Cape gooseberries have a huge crop drying on their branches at the moment. The coffee berries are still ripening and are green at the moment, while the lemon tree is full of fruit, the smaller ones have already dropped, however the larger ones are still greenish and will be a good dose of vitamin c for this coming winter. The Silver caneberries haven’t started to flower yet.