memorablemeanders.blogspot.com

Thursday, February 11, 2010

My Garden in South Africa

Our grandchildren enjoyed my garden when they lived in my home for six months last year
Acacia karoo, one of the three sweet thorn trees in my garden has fluffy round yellow balls which smell divine

A garden should have many "rooms" to make it interesting. Here we are walking between two of the rooms in my garden on the way to several more up ahead
Late afternoon sun plays across the lawn towards the bench at the main pond
(pictured below)
Soft evening reflections across the water surface calms the soul

I'm not too clued up on exotics so to me this is merely a daisy which grows very well in our area
Above is one of my alltime favourite indigenous shrubs: Euryops spp. It flowers (displaying these bright yellow flowers) for nine months of the year

Gaura lindheimeri (butterfly bush) is also not indigenous but as a perennial it retoons year after year, creating a splash of colour
while attracting a myriad of butterflies
Another non-indigenous perennial in my garden: the day lily


Solanum spp (potato bush) non-indigenous but endemic to our area in the Free State

Pride of India (Lagerstromia indica) another non-indigenous shrub in my garden

Although the above creeper is seen all over town, no-one has ever been able to tell me what it is called. A golden trumpet flower? It is non-invasive, dies down in winter and returns to bloom profusely during the summer

A close up of the "golden trumpet flower"
Climbing roses on the wall facing the street


Six-year-old granddaughter loves the outdoors and spends hours in the garden looking for bugs and other interesting creepy-crawlies

My dry rock garden which contains primarily Barbeton daisies (gerbera spp) Aloe spp, Cotelydon obeculata, portulacaria and Cussonia spicata (Cabbage tree-rear centre)

A walk down through two rooms towards the dry rock garden (pictured above)

Another view of the garden from the ponds
One of my three [interlinked] garden ponds

The view up the driveway toward the motor gate.Pudding, my dear old lady cat rests in the evening shade

12 comments:

  1. Oh Jo----your garden is fabulous!!!! Love those big trumpet flower. Wow!!!! Everything is truly incredible... I can understand why you miss it so much... Glad the grandchildren enjoy it!!!

    Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  2. wow, I love that... that is absolutely beautiful!

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  3. Thanks Betsy;) it has been raining for the past month (and these photos were taken in November) so the garden is apparently looking really lovely now. Bless you. (((Hugs))) Jo

    Hi Grant;) thanks for that. This garden took three years from bare ground (an open plot next to our house) to this. I do miss it while here in North Africa. It's good to see you again.

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  4. Jo, I love your garden(s). So much diversity and colors. I'll bet you're missing those flowers about now. Sure glad you have photos to remind you, and us.

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  5. Fabulous garden. I would love to amble around it in the soft evening light and smell the fragrance.

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  6. Lovely garden,very beautiful flowers :)

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  7. Thanks Gaelyn;) I took many photos before I came up last August, and then again while I was home most of the spring and summer (four months) I knew I could browse through them and even do a post on the garden.

    Hi diane;) I'd love you to wander through my garden and enjoy it all. A few dogs, cats and grandchildren would accompany us...

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  8. Jo: It is wonderful to see your garden with all the flowers blooming. All I see is snow.

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  9. Your garden is absolutely beautiful! I see some plants I know but some are new to me. I love the water gardens.

    The trumpet flower looks like what we call a cow itch vine. If it is the same, do not plant near a foundation. It grows quite quickly underground. If it is not the same plant, it is a close cousin.

    Beautiful, I can see lots of thought and hard work was put into this garden. Although, in a garden, the work is never hard.

    A masterpiece!

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  10. I'm dazzled that you built this garden from bare ground. Wow is right!

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  11. The photo of the golden trumpet flower is my very favorite. Your "garden" looks like a park. You must miss it terribly.

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo