March 2021

After all the rains, March has started to a beautiful cool spell of overcast weather with spells of sunshine, and a light drizzle the other morning. You can almost feel winter in the air, the mornings are cooler and with all the greenery everywhere I find this month magical.

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In the Indigenous garden, almost everything has finished fruiting, and remaining Mmilos are drying on the branches. All except for the Grewias, Morojwas and Bridelia mollis. They are about to come into their own now, and will bring a deluge of barbets, bulbuls, mousebirds and a variety of others too. This morning a lovely White Breasted Robin Chat sang from in the branches of an African wattle and its moments like these that really transform the garden into a place of delight and discovery. Commelinas, Tephrosias, Hibiscus, Hermbstaedtias, Chamaecrista, Grasses, Waltherias, Oxalis and Lantana are all flowering at the moment. Weavers have put their nest for the first time in a Weeping Boer Bean, and most trees are doing really well, although they have to fend off a deluge of grasshoppers and locusts this year.

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  Commelina

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  Hermbstaedtia

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  Combretum pods

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  Chamaecrista

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  Grewia berries

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  Bridelia fruit

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  Snot Apple/Morojwa

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  Hibiscus engleri

In the Garden, some new Phalaenopsis orchids are flowering, Verbena, Impatiens, Canna, Clerodendron, Odontonema strictum, Dutchman’s pipe, Aloes and Ruellia brittoniana.

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  Hibiscus

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  Hydrangea

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  Penstemon

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  Ruellia brittoniana

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  Polygala

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  Clerodendron

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  Dutchman’s pipe

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  Odontonema strictum

In the Veg garden the sweet potatoes are doing well, Sorrel, Fennel, Peanuts, Maize, Sunflower, and wild Okra are all doing well.

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  Sweet Potato

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  Wild Okra

In the Fruit garden, the Custard apples have fully recovered from the frost setback last winter, all prunus – plums peach etc are doing really well, the White Sapote trees, Mulberries, Elderberry, Natal plum, Kei Apple, and Pachira nuts have all grown inches higher in the wet weather. Mangos and Avos too. The lemon tree has about 20 lemons ripening on it at the moment, and the Pepinos have fended off the spider mites and mealybugs that had started in the drier weather. Marulas are ripe and causing a frenzy around the neighbourhood. When I have time I make a bunch into jelly – it’s really easy and tastes delicious!

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  Pepino

In the Herb garden the feverfew is flowering, the oregano, gotu kola, nasturtiums are all still thriving.

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  Feverfew

September 2020

Well this month began with a startling cold spell, and a few raindrops too. It didn’t register any mms in my rain guage but it did fill a bucket from the gutters. Wow. And while the plot is expectedly brown and bare for this time of year, a few flowers have already started off the season, and are sending the insects and birds a bit crazy with delight.

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In the Indigenous garden a few aloes are still flowering like Aloe vera and Aloe excelsa, and Albucas too with their long graceful stems of white and yellow flowers. Acacia mellifera, Boscia and Combretum trees are also flowering, I find Boscia foetida starts a bit before Boscia albitrunca, and the bees are really loving all of them. Wild pomegranate, Rhigozum brevispinosum is also flowering, the yellow flowers dazzling in the mix of greys and browns.

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  Lewisia

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  Fuchsia

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  Schizanthus

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  Begonia

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  Kalanchoe

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  Viola

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  Hyacinth

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  Oxalis

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  Ctenanthe burle-marxii

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  Billbergia nutans

In the Garden, the Narcissus leaves have finally died all the way down, so now I’m putting them in my potting shed in a dark protected area until next Winter. I was given a beautiful Hyacinth bulb which is in flower right now, and looking and smelling spectacular. My dad bought it from Woolworths in a lovely tiny clay pot with moss. The Clematis, Poor man’s Orchid, and Lewisia that I wrote about last month are still doing really well, full of flowers. I got a Fuchsia set of 4 from Spar and after repotting and putting in the garden, they are also flowering and very happy. The Spathyphyllum (Peace lily) and Begonias are still flowering so beautifully and provide such a lovely contrast to the brown indigenous garden at the moment. While visiting a small garden nursery in Extension 16, I found a couple of plants that I have been wanting for a while: Ctenanthe burle-marxii and Ctenanthe lubbersiana. So I have added them to my jungle garden, and will see how they do. I’ve also planted a Pineapple lily, Eucomis, which I’ve never grown before, and right now it looks very happy, so will wait and see how it does. Oxalis triangularis with its gorgeous purple clover leaves is also flowering, large pink clusters that really look so pretty. While most of the other Bromeliads have finished flowering, it is now the turn of Billbergia nutans, Queen’s tears to have a go at brightening up the garden.

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  Peach

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  Kei Apple

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  Plum

In the Fruit garden the Plum and Nectarine trees have started flowering, while the Peach is way ahead and already has quite a few peaches growing. All the Citrus are busy flowering, together with Buddha’s hand which I recently planted from Sanitas. The Kei Apple tree is also flowering, but as I only have one, and it needs both male and female plants to be fertilized, I’m not sure if it will bear any fruits. Fingers crossed another one is growing nearby. The Cape gooseberries are dropping their ripened fruit by the bucket load, and are getting made into fruit salads, jams and I’ll be drying a few too.

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In the Herb garden the lavenders, rosemary, nasturtium, calendula, violas, pipiche and basil are flowering, and in this very moderate weather they are all doing really well.

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In the Vegetable garden, Cherry tomatoes are ripening, the Fennel is doing really well, Giant mustard spinach is ready to harvest, as is the Celery. And rocket is flowering prolifically at the moment.

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Creatures: The indigenous African Weeping Wattle trees have been home to lots of moths eggs which have hatched into caterpillars and this in turn has attracted the Green Wood Hoopoe to the garden, so every day I get to see this beautiful bird and hear his rather odd cackle. I saw my first Citrus Swallowtail butterfly today, and so I know that I only have a few more weeks to help all my citrus trees grow as much as possible before their leaves get munched by those fat green butterfly caterpillars. While visiting Phomolong last week, I saw a Blue headed tree Agama floating in one of its fountains. I rescued it from the water and saw it was still breathing, and was about to set him on a wall to recover when the administrators asked me if I could take it away. I know many people are scared of these lizards, and I have heard their bite is painful, but I have handled quite a few without ever being bitten so far, and they are not poisonous contrary to popular belief. So I agreed, and carried the lizard back home with me, and set him into one of the trees in the garden, and after an hour he had changed from blue to a yellowish brown, and then soon after made his way up the tree and disappeared. These creatures are truly beautiful and I do hope more people can come to see that they are not to be feared but admired instead.