August in the Garden #Springflowers
22 Monday Aug 2016
Tag Archives: nature
Bath gardening with mini worm farms installed
11 Monday May 2015
Posted in earthworms, Garden Creatures
Tags
3 baths, one plastic and the other 2 cast iron were relocated from the old garden. We have decided to grow vegetables in them, as a preventative measure against the porcupines devouring all the vegetables. Here we have Happy installing a mini worm farm.
Holes were punched out the bottom of the bucket as well as the lid
Installation complete, ready for planting.
RELATED ARTICLES : A new twist to a keyhole/ circle garden
Twinkle of the December Full Moon
14 Sunday Dec 2014
Posted in Cape Town, Colours, Eco Tourism
Twinkle of the December Full Moon over the sea
Weekly Photo Challenge theme of Twinkle
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Twinkle.”
Butterfly
23 Tuesday Sep 2014
Spring Equinox
22 Monday Sep 2014
Posted in Cape Town, Eco Tourism, Flowers
Tags
Cape Town, environment, Flowers, nature, photography, plants, quote, Spring
Spring is when life is alive in everything.
Christina Rossetti
Ariston’s “Best of the Best” in Spring
19 Friday Sep 2014
Dog Rose on the fence
Pots at the end of Dunluce Ave supplied by Alan Dawson Gardens
Dog Rose
Bulbs in pots under the Chevron
Lemon tree flowering
Nasturtiums
The Harfielder’s bean are flowering
Workshop garden
the plants in the ZTL garden
Borage growing wild
The pajama bush in full flower (Lobostemon)
Fennel growing wild
Happy in the garden
Pastel pinks and Blues on the mountain
09 Tuesday Sep 2014
Posted in Cape Town, Colours, Eco Tourism, Flowers, South African Endemic
Tags
Cape Town, environment, Erica Baccans, Flowers, Lobostemon, nature, photography, plants, South African endemic plant
Erica Baccans and Lobostemon growing wild on the mountain
Lobostemon
Satynblom
27 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in Bulbs, Colours, Flowers, South African Endemic
Tags
bulb, Clania glenlyonensis, Flowers, Monkey Beetle, Namaqualand, nature, photography, plants, Pollen, pollinator, Romulea Momadelpha, Satynblom, South African endemic plant
The Satynblom is a stemless geophyte occuring in the Hantam Karoo
The lovely large glossy red flowers (hence the common namesatynblom), have black markings on the inside and anther filaments that are fused into a column.
The Monkey Beetle (Clania glenlyonensis) ” is a main pollinator of Romulea monadelpha and within the Hantam National Botanical Garden. It also visits a range of other flowers, and because of its rapid and busy flight, high loads of pollen carried on its hairy body, and large numbers, it is considered a keystone pollinator.
Satyn Flower
Romulea monadelpha
Malachite Sunbird
25 Monday Aug 2014
Posted in Birds, Colours, ecology, Garden Creatures
The malachite sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) is a small nectivorous bird.
The breeding male malachite sunbird, which has very long central tail feathers, is 25 cm long, and the shorter-tailed female 15 cm. The adult male is metallic green when breeding, with blackish-green wings with small yellow pectoral patches.
Most sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. As a fairly large sunbird, the malachite sunbird is no exception. They have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding. Some plant species from which malachite sunbirds feed include many Aloe species, such as Aloe broomii, Aloe ferox and Aloe arborescens, and Protea species, such as Protea roupelliae as well as various other bird-pollinated plants such as Leonotis and Strelitzia.
The call is a loud tseep-tseep, and the male malachite sunbird has a twittering song
Breeding Malachite Sunbird
Mr and Mrs Malachite Sunbird. This species is monogamous
Honey Badger damage
23 Saturday Aug 2014
Posted in ecology, Garden Creatures, Honey Bee
Tags
The Honey Badger is also known as a Ratel. Ratel is an Afrikaans word, possibly derived from the Middle Dutch word for rattle, honeycomb (either because of its cry or its taste for honey). It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities.
Honey badgers favor bee honey, and will often search for beehives to get it, which earns them their name.
Honey Badger damage
these bees have relocated to an old tyre.
Honey Badger
Honey Badger range
