02 Tuesday Sep 2014
Posted in Gardens
Kirstenbosch, our National Botanical gardens in Cape Town, South Africa, is being sprayed with Round Up.
Round Up is a product of Monsanto, a broad spectrum herbicide with the active ingredient glysphosphate
15 Saturday Feb 2014
Posted in Art Gift, Cape Town, Colours, Photography, Quotes
Tags
art gift, art print, cape town south africa, deviantart, environment, False Bay, nature, photography, quotes, South Africa
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit if magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.
J.B. Priestley
Location : False Bay South Africa
Buy this print (free download)
23 Thursday Jan 2014
Posted in Art Gift, Flowers, Organic, Photography, Quotes
Tags
deviantart, environment, Flowers, gardening, home grown, organic, plants, protea, South Africa
Have a strong mind and a soft heart
Anthony D’Angelo
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18 Wednesday Dec 2013
Tags
African Daisy, art gift, art gifts, art print, deviantart, dryness, Flowers, Gazania, photography, plants, poor soil, South Africa, South African endemic plant
Posted by Brigid Jackson | Filed under Art Gift, Colours, Flowers, Photography, South African Endemic
15 Sunday Dec 2013
Posted in Art Gift, Colours, Photography, Quotes
Tags
art gift, art gifts, art print, deviantart, environment, M. Forster, nature, Photo, photography, quotes, South Africa, Windmill
What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?
E. M. Forster
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28 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in compost, Flowers, Succulents
Tags
Africa, Cape Town, Epiphyllum, Flowers, garden, green cathedral, Kitty Hawk, orchid cactus, South Africa, Stanford, succulent, The Green Cathedral, Western Cape
Kitty Hawk
I purchased this Orchid Cactus Kitty Hawk from The Green Cathedral some years ago. She has rewarded me every year with a stunning display.
The name ‘Green Cathedral of South Africa’ is derived from a media publication and, until August 1 2011, used as an alias for ‘Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa’; located in the tranquil Klaas Voogds area near the small town of Robertson. Since August 2011 Green Cathedral of South Africa resides in Stanford, Western Cape as does a precious collection of plants.
I dedicated this post to Herman Van Bron who is the custodian of the Green Cathedral.
Kitty Hawk
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Orchid Cactus http://aristonorganic.com/2013/11/18/orchid-cactus/
27 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in Bulbs, Colours, Gardens, Perennials
Tags
Africa, Bee, Cape Town, environment, flower, Flowers, Malva, Mesembranthemum, Mesembryanthemum, nature, organic, Pelargonium, plants, South Africa, South African endemic plant, Western Cape
A short distance from my home up the mountain can be found this wonderful eye-catching colour of endemic plants growing wild, surviving sandy soils and harsh wind and full sun.
The Wild Malva (Pelargonium cucullatum) is growing profusely. When crushed the leaves of some forms emit a strong, sweet scent. The flowers are faintly scented. Sunbirds, butterflies, long-beaked flies and moths have all been observed visiting the flowers.
Traditionally this pelargonium was used medicinally to cure colic, kidney ailments, diarrhoea, coughs and fevers. The leaves were used as a poultice for bruises, stings and abscesses. In the nineteenth century it was used as a hedge-row ornamental in Cape Town. It is also useful as a cut flower as the branches last for many weeks in water.
Vygies – Mesembryanthemum (meaning “midday flowering”) is a genus of flowering plants native to southern Africa. Thriving in hot conditions, Mesembryanthemum creates a ‘Magic Carpet’ and simply loves poor, dry soils where most other plants would fail.
Brass Buttons (Cotula). Annual herb growing up to 30 cm high, with finely divided leaves, with white or yellow rays and a yellow disc. Native to South Africa (Western Cape and Eastern Cape) where it is found in sandy and disturbed places.
Watsonia borbonica is magnificent will tall spikes of “Pink” flowers. Watsonia borbonica is pollinated by large, solitary bees, mainly of the family Apidae: subfamily Anthophorinae. The bees visit the flowers in the early morning, seeking nectar and collecting pollen from flowers that have just opened. The styles of the flowers only unfurl later on their second day and become receptive, and at the same time the nectar levels rise. The bees visiting for the nectar transfer some of the pollen collected earlier from the freshly opened flowers. By noon there is no more nectar or pollen and the bees move away. Goldlatt 1989 and John Manning (pers.comm)
16 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted in Birds, Cape Town, Colours, Garden Creatures
Tags
Animalia, Biology, birds, Erica, Flora and Fauna, fynbos, Orange breasted Sunbird, South Africa, Species
Every early Summer these little Orange Breasted Sunbirds come down from the Mountain to find easier foraging in suburban gardens.
Obviously due to its restricted range within fynbos this sunbird is associated with Ericas, from which it takes nectar, insects (often taken in flight) and spiders. It breeds when the heath flowers, typically in May. The male defends its territory aggressively, attacking and chasing intruders.
This tame species is a common breeder across its limited range, and is an altitudinal migrant, moving to higher altitudes during the southern summer in search of flowers. It is gregarious when not breeding, forming flocks of up to 100 birds.
31 Thursday Oct 2013
Posted in ecology
Tags
Africa, Angola, Avaaz, Brown fur seal, Cape, Cape fur seals, environment, Fur seal, July, Namibia, South Africa, South African fur seals
In the Republic of South Africa, the Cape fur seals (also known as South African fur seals) are considered “res nullius,” meaning they have no owner, and therefore, they have no animal rights protection as they are not considered sentient beings.
Along the eastern coastline of South Africa, around the tip of Africa, and up along the west coast of South Africa, Namibia, and Angola a very productive fishing industry exists in a range of over 4,000 kilometers (approximately 2,500 miles). It is here also where Cape fur seals breed, and for decades fishermen have waged a war on these warm and loving creatures.
The Cape fur seal has been a protected species in South Africa since 1973 under the Sea Bird and Seal Protection Act (Act 46 of 1973) but, ironically, this act was never written to protect them, instead its purpose was to control who could kill them commercially. South Africa only suspended “culling” and clubbing of the seals in 1990.
Despite vast protests, Namibia has continued annually to club baby seals and shoot bulls. Here, seal pups are killed for their luxurious fur, and males (bulls) for their genitalia which is exported to the East as aphrodisiacs.
Between July and November each year some 85,000+ seal pups and 6,000+ male adults are killed in a process the Namibian authorities refer to as an annual “cull” – we call it execution because the animals have no chance to escape. Animals are herded in to a group after which pups are killed with crude wooden clubs and bulls die from a bullet to the head. Pups that are still nursing are killed – their fur is soft and luxurious.
Sea Shepherd Cape Fur seal facts
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Seals_Of_Nam_End_the_seal_hunt_in_Namibia/
24 Thursday Oct 2013
Posted in GMO
Tags
ACB, Africa, Genetically modified crops, Genetically modified food, Genetically modified organism, GM, GM maize, GMO, Maize, Mariam Mayet, monsanto, South Africa
| Wednesday, 23 October 2013 18:56 |
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has released a new report ‘Africa bullied to grow defective Bt Maize: the failure of Monsanto‘s MON810 maize in South Africa,’ showing how Monsanto’s GM maize which utterly failed in SA, is now being foisted on the rest of the continent, through ‘sleight of hand.’ |
Read more about it here : African Center for biosafety
Contact:
Haidee Swanby 082 459 8548
Mariam Mayet 083 269 4309
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