Plants

You remember that plant as somewhere in this blog ... If you know the name, you can use the search box at the top of this blog. Here I have pulled together a list, with the very briefest description - to help you find that elusive plant again. A few plants are still on my original Elephant's Eye blog for our garden in Porterville.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXOTIC plants - That is NOT South African, but mostly common-or-garden.
Delighted to find an established lemon tree waiting for us.
Marble Chips. Coprosma repens from New Zealand's sea breezes. Mirror leaf.
Carob tree from the Mediterranean discovered in our False Bay garden Ceratonia siliqua Graceful umbrella with round leaves.
Dusty Miller from the Mediterranean basin. Centaurea cineraria. My original signature plant. Feathery grey leaves. A striking focal point. A silver fountain.
Rhizomes and a flesh-eating pink flower on  Alstroemeria Inca lilies

Invasive Aliens - SEEK AND DESTROY
Mare's Tails - a story of grass. Mexican feather grass. (If I Google pony tail, get to Mexican Feather Grass ... comes from Argentina. An invasive alien, in the USA, Australia and South Africa - which I bought at the nursery in all innocence!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SOUTH AFRICAN plants 
Some from the mediterranean climate fynbos region. Fynbos is the South African version of what California calls chaparral, the Mediterranean basin calls maquis or garrigue, Australia calls mallee scrub (Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Acacia and Hakea), and Chile calls matorral.

Trees and shrubs
Brachylaena discolor, coastal silver leaf silvery grey tree.
Buddleja salviifolia sagewood sage leaves and honey-scented flowers.
Dombeya burgessiae chocolate-cocoa-and-Dombeya luscious velvety leaves, and trusses of pink flowers.
Grewia occidentalis lavender star or cross-berry.
Hibiscus tiliaceus sea hibiscus in buttery yellow with heart-shaped autumn glory leaves.
Melianthus major honey-flower with its huge toothed blueish leaves, and aubergine flowers.
Osteospermum moniliferum bietou yellow daisy bush with delusions of becoming a tree.
Plectranthus ecklonii with spikes of violet flowers.
Polygala myrtifolia Septemberbossie has purple and white flowers year round.
Rotheca myricoides 'Ugandense' Oxford and Cambridge. Blue cat's whiskers.
Ruttyruspolia Phyllis van Heerden with pink flowers.
Salvia africana-lutea  beach salvia strandsalie with burnt orange nectar filled flowers.
Salvia chamelaeagnea Blue sage My new signature plant  proudly South African.
Searsia, formerly Rhus, related to Sumac. In South Africa we call it karee Rest-and-Be-Thankful.
Tarchonanthus camphoratus, silvery grey camphor bush.
Tecoma capensis trumpets of nectar for the sunbirds.
Trimeria apple green, roundish leaves.

Herbaceous perennials
Agathosma apiculata garlic buchu knoffel buchu
Artemisia afra wild wormwood wildeals ethereal blue-grey leaves and licorice smell
Pelargoniums with a huge range of scented leaves. Pink Pelargonium in Porterville
Restios our Cape reeds. Thatched roofs on Cape Dutch gabled houses are part of the tourist picture, the Wine Route.

Bulbs
Amaryllis belladonna March lilies flowers first, then the leaves follow in 2014
Ammocharis longifolia Malgas lilies near Moutonshoek in April 2012
Cyrtanthus mackenii in singing-canary yellow Inspired-by-Ifafa-lilies
Freesia alba light-and-dark the original, fragrant, white species, from which the hybrids came
Hypoxis hemerocallidea yellow star flowers and 3 sheaves of leaves
Lachenalia come in almost any colour you can think of, and then some you hadn't thought of! More-precious-than-rubiesLachenalia bulbifera
Candy pink Nerine
Ornithogalum thyrsoides chincherinchees dense heads of white flowers
Veltheimia capensis dusty pink flowers, glossy leaves with ruffled edges
Wachendorfia paniculata fire-flowers rich buttery yellow
Vlei-lilies-in-Plum-Creek Wurmbea stricta
Zantedeschia aethiopica Arum to us, calla to you, lilies

Succulents
Karoo-koppie our succulent garden in Porterville
Aloe with snowcapped mountains on a Karoo koppie
Aloe ciliaris scandent-scarlet delicate flame flowers on a climbing aloe
Bulbine Flowers can be tangerine or yellow. 
Cotyledon orbiculata large round leaves, and flaming salmony flowers on pig's ears.
Portulacaria afra spekboom Is elephant food growing in your garden? Now I learn to start with a pioneer  spekboom, Portulacaria afra Perfect plant for Cape Town's drought!

Groundcover
Coleus neochilus (was Plectranthus neochilus)  Purple spires around the pond tough, with flowers.
Dimorphotheca jucunda
 daisy. Formerly known as Osteospermum Purple daisies
Coleus madagascariensis (was Plectranthus) water-wise, with green and white variegated leaves.
Plectranthus saccatus or stoep jacaranda

Pond plants
Blue African water lily Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea
Juncus grows in-the-pond
Dwarf papyrus Cyperus prolifer tall green accent


Orchid
Bastertrewwa or Common Monkshood Orchid Corycium orobanchoides

By Diana Studer  
of  Elephant's Eye on False Bay 

(Teal blue text is my links.
To read or leave comments, either click the word Comments below,
or click this post's title)

Comments