Gladiolus liliaceus | The Fynbos Blog

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Christmas, a wedding, and a little contemplation

Posted on December 31, 2014 by fynbosblog One comment

Christmas and a house full of family and friends. Running on the mountain continues with a bride (Peter’s son gets married on 8 Jan and they are staying with us) who is keen to keep her figure elegant through the Christmas indulgence so the running is serious and the opportunities to stop and take pictures infrequent at best. We’ve been running through the pine forest that adjoins the farm; in the warm summer weather the stately silence of the trees and the dappled cool of the forest is a welcome break from the heat and the wind. Because the dogs get protective I tend not to run in the forest except on Sunday mornings and at Christmas when the foresters take a break.

We did a farm run for a change this morning and saw this Tritoniopsis burchellii; the guests were good enough to wait while I snapped it. I’ve been waiting for it to flower – I first saw it last year about this time. They are an incredible shade of scarlet that seems almost surreal on this photo.

Tritoniopsis burchellii

The Salvia africana is also in full bloom on the mountain – it flowers beautifully all year round and I can never resist taking a shot of it when the light is good.

Salvia africana

After I posted the Gladiolus liliaceus before Christmas quite a few more came out above the waterfall and we went back up to take some photos of better flowers. Peter came with me once again, the dogs followed. We spent a happy half an hour finding the best flowers. I took a shot of the same flower in the morning to show how remarkably they open up in the evening light. The dogs of course take great delight in watching our antics.

Gladiolus liliaceus in the evening

Gladiolus liliaceus

Gladiolus liliaceus in the morning when the flowers are closed

Seamus and Maebh watching Peter as he inspects the fynbos flowers

It’s a funny time of year this. We love it, there are great friends who come to stay and family as well. The house is full of noise and this year, Peter’s first grandchild. There is a tinge of sadness as well. Most of the precious people I’ve lost have gone between the middle of December and the end of January. It’s a well known phenomenon that people pass away at Christmas, for many reasons and all of them different. So in the celebration and coming together there is also sadness, regret and reflective moments. Loss. These days are busy and full of treats and fun. As we run on the mountain with the dogs bounding after Ola who bounces along ahead like the resident klipspringers, tiny antelopes with spongy feet that allow them to spring across the rocks, I follow and in the beauty of these mountains I think of those who have departed, and quietly remember them. Not always sadly; there is pleasure in the memories, they are gone but they were wonderful and we were lucky to have known them.

Glorious Gladiolus

Posted on December 15, 2014 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

In winter, usually round about July, I check out a certain patch of land in the hopes of seeing the beautiful Brown Afrikaner, Gladiolus maculata. Now in the early summer it is a spot above the waterfall, where we cleared a lot of alien trees a few years ago and where the fynbos is now thick and healthy. There flourishes the lovely Large Brown Afrikaner Glaiolus liliaceus. The amazing thing about this flower is that it’s quite dull and boring when we run past in the morning, and easy to miss. But towards sunset the flower opens dramatically, develops a mauve tinge and exudes the most divine, delicate spicy scent. Yesterday morning we saw one on the run. Yesterday evening Peter and I went up there together to see its evening display. We are having a gorgeous early summer with balmy days and cool windy nights. The light in the evenings is spectacular and the last rays of the setting sun caught the petals of this elegant flower just as I took these photos. This isn’t the prettiest specimen, one of the flowers is a bit tatty, but it is still an absolute beauty and a treasure to be discovered anew every year.

Gladiolus liliaceus

The large brown Afrikaner

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The Large Brown Afrikaner heralds the New Year

Posted on January 1, 2014 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

We love taking friends for walks on the farm and of course I can’t resist pointing out the fynbos as we go, particularly if we come across something new or interesting. I’ve noticed that while I tend to photograph the flowers, thinking of the blog, friends love to take photos of me getting excited about the flowers. Lots of fun photos of bums in the air as we bend over to view something tiny and exquisite, or jumping up and down as I find something new.

I was jumping up and down the other evening as we walked above the waterfall with Anna and Stefan. If there is one species I love to see it’s the Gladioli. They are all lovely graceful things and we’ve seen five different subspecies in this year of blogging, if you include this one. It has an extraordinary habit: during the day it is quite brown and closed and scentless, and in the evening it transforms, changes colour and issues the most delicious spicey almost clove-like scent. This is Gladiolus liliaceus, known as the Large Brown Afrikaner. The ones growing here on the farm are far lovelier than any photographed in my fynbos books. Identifications is quite easy with the pointed petals, the size and the distinctive change of colour and fragrance.

Gladiolus liliaceus, known as the Large Brown Afrikaner – at sunset

Gladiolus liliaceus during the day

In the same area we also came across these little blue flowers. They look like miniature versions of the purple powderpuff we’ve already seen and though they don’t quite match the descriptions in the book, I’m pretty sure they are also Pseudoselago, possibly sublabra but maybe something else. I’m getting much more confident in my identification of flowers now, understanding the lingo and also the major groupings. If nothing else this project is a wonderful way of getting into the vast botannical world and developing an eye and a little knowledge.

Pseudoselago

With the heat I take great care to make sure the dogs get water along the route, even if we are on a short run. They have long coats and struggle a bit during the hottest months, so we run early and late and stop for watering and to cool down. One of Seamus’s favourite places is the stream that runs beneath the shade of several magnificent Cape Hollies or Ilex mitis. These beautiful trees are nothing like the European holly (or at least not to me), they have huge white trunks and glossy dark leaves and live with their feet in the stream while their spreading canopies create the most wonderful darkly dappled shade on the hottest of days.

Seamus rests in the stream at the foot of the Ilex mitis

Table Mountain has spent the last few days buried under its tablecloth of cloud. Yesterday the wind picked up and swept the cloud away and the year ended with a glorious sunset right behind the mountain. This photograph was taken from our balcony just before we left for dinner last night. A magical end to 2013 on the mountains of the Western Cape.