Rennies – 16 July 2020
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| Thursday's love. |
With President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the nation on Sunday further
locking down the nation in Level 3 South Africans felt low in spirit but then
Thursday came…
Tracey opened up the day
with a quote at tea stating that “A rolling stone doesn’t carry moss”, and then
the pace slowed and we began to observe what was around us.
There was a cold front with
area’s lying in snow but on the day we botanized it was the most perfect
day. Joyfully we met and soon found
ourselves wandering in the Rennie’s grass land that is in Port Edward on the
lower South Coast at Mat William's farm.
With
every step we took we too paused to look at all that was flowering and that was
going on around our feet and one had to be very careful where one placed one’s
feet.
Gazania krebsiana showed its beautiful head both in slender petals and in thick, in some places
in the grassland it was really trying to look like a daisy.
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| Gazania krebsiana |
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| Gazania krebsiana |
The admired the gentle Nemesia caerulea that
nestled under the Strelizia nicolai.
Gerbera ambigua stood tall. There
were several Helichrysum’s flowering in their various shades of yellow which
always lends oneself to be cheerful.
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| Nemesia caerulea |
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| Strelizia nicolai |
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| Helichrysum natalitium |
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| Helichrysum aureum var monocephalum |
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| Helichrysum pallidum |
In a burnt patch their
where Hypoxis agentea and Hypoxis hermerocallidea flowering. The hairiness and the silver hue on the
Hypoxis agentea left one looking at it a little longer.
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| Hypoxis argentea |
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| Hypoxis hermerocallidea |
Lassiosphyon anthylloides
was gorgeous with its sunny heads, and there was lovely spot
of Berkeya speciosa which caught the eye from afar. It’s always lovely to see the bright hue of
the Cyrthanthus brachyscyphus and Tritonia distica.
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Lasiosiphon kraussianus - Lesser yellow head
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| Berkheya speciosa |
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| Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus |
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| Tritonia disticha |
As we inched further into
the grassland we came to a normally mushy area which we would have sunk into to
our ears but since it season of Winter we could crisply walk straight and
admire the Knifphofia rooperia and Zantedeschia aethiopica.
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| Tracy taking in the beauty. |
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Kniphofia rooperi
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The plants that left us
pondering where the Eriosema dregei, a Polygala and a mystery plant.
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| Eriosema dregei |
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| Polygala refracta |
The Watsonia densiflorus
where over but even in its aging petal’s they are beautiful as they go from
pink to mauve. We saw the first of Watsonia
pillansii, the beginning of many more to come, Spring is on its way. One
is beckoned to return to nature frequently so that nothing is missed.
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| Watsonia densiflorus |
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| Watsonia pillansii |
The plant that drew my
heart and was plant of the day for me was the beautiful Boophane disticha. The colour of this plant was quite
breath-taking.
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| Boophane disticha |
Acalypla penduncularis stood
up like narrow strawberries. We say both
the male and the female species.
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| Acalypha penduncularis (male) |
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| Acalypha penduncularis (female) |
We then in migration
ventured close to the shore and gazed upon the clean ocean where we watched a
large school of dolphin hunt and a whale on the backline, gull’s followed the dolphin’s
and one’s heart felt consoled and privileged to have been able to witness it.
As we reached the end of
the day we split up rallying around plant poachers who were collecting Crassula
and Strelizia nicolai seed. We
confronted them. An African Grass Owl
was disturbed from the Watsonia wetland area and flew up and nestled down a
little further and into safely and from prying eyes.
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| Plant poachers/collectors |
We checked in on the
Euphobia flanaganii and like mother hens counted our chicks and left
protectively back through the grassland, past the flowering Aloe maculata’s and
one dear Albuca setosa that had begun flowering. I love the common name for this plant, it’s
called “Soldier-in-the-box” and it most certainly is when you think how tough
it has to be living on the rocks barely without soil.
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| Albuca setosa - Solider-in-the-box |
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| Aloe maculata |
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| Euphorbia flanaganii |
We left with the gentle sun
on our backs, a cool breeze and hearts full for having been in nature with
like-minded friends.
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| Ipomoea pes-caprae |
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| Wild Coast - calm ocean |
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Mark Getcliff, Dorothy McIntyre , Alf Hayter, Gail Bowers-Winters,
Anne Skelton and Tracy Taylor
“I must have flowers, always, and always.”
― Claude Monet
Sincerest thanks to all who made the blog possible with their knowledge and contributions in every which way.
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