The Fynbos Blog

It has been a gorgeous week on the mountain, with new flowers popping up all over the place.  We had a damp start and one morning when it was too wet to run but the dogs and I have had several stunning runs all over the farm and this morning’s weather is glorious so as soon as this blog is finished we’ll be out there again.  Next week we are expecting a big storm and our running might be curtailed, so this weekend we are keen to do as much as possible.  Poor Jemima Chew is limping and on anti-inflammatories so she can’t come and howls in outrage when we leave.  They would go in any weather; for my part I don’t mind the damp mist at all but the pouring rain is not my thing.

Talking of being rained under I’m deluged with work at the moment so haven’t had much time for research.  Luckily some things just jump out of the book – instantly and clearly recognisable and this is one of them.   Oftia africana, widely dispersed throughout the Cape and apparently flowers all year round though seems to prefer the spring flowering here on the mountain.  it is coming out all over the place.

Pelargoniums and Babinias are also everywhere, the latter flowering decorously in groups under trees and the former peeping out from thick undergrowth along the roads.

 

As we climbed up the mountain we saw this Erica with tiny white bells on it, despite my best efforts you can only just see them in this picture.  The same variety seems to come with pink bells as well and sometimes they grow side by side

I can’t find this shrub with a yellow flower in the book so its gone to the unknown album and I’m hoping to get to Kirstenbosch Botannical Gardens this week or next to get some help with these and possibly some additional reference books in preparation for the continued spring explosion.

There is no difficulty recognising the Microloma tenuifolium, it’s tiny bright coral flowers jump out of the tangled thickets at you.  Normally you see them like this one curling and creeping around a wild helichrysum.

But yesterday we saw this unusual sight, the Microloma has gone and wound itself round and round this bit of bush and is flowering as a massive head of colour.  Amazing!

The Lobostemum continues to blossom all over the mountain, often they are pink, or pinky-blue.  In this particular area at the top of the farm they are all blue.

Finally as we ran down the mountain we came across this magnificent Lucodendrum.  Later in the spring these yellow flowers will turn the most beautiful shade of coral.  There are masses of them and we look forward to their arrival at the height of spring.