In the second week after the fire grasses and restios are already shooting and a number of spectacular flowers make their appearance in the landscape. Shoots appear from the burnt out bases of the large thatching reed Thamnochortus erectus. The … Continue reading
This photos was taken by Heiner Lutzeyer on Grootbos today. It is the delicate ground orchid, Holothrix schlechteriana. Not much is known about the ecology or pollination biology of this genus but it is characterised by being drought resistant. Holothrix … Continue reading
I was wondering around Cape Nature’s awesome Kogelberg reserve on Friday when I came across this magnificent Nivenia levynsiae in full flower. According to the latest Red Data book of South African plants it is a rare species that is restricted to … Continue reading
One week after the fire and some forty thousand hectares looked like this – a charred, desolate wasteland. Yet already the process of regeneration was well underway. Far from destruction, what we were about to witness was amazing regeneration and … Continue reading
When the smoke cleared the entire Grootbos Reserve, with the exception of a few forest patches, had gone up in smoke. What remained was a smouldering, desolate landscape. The Forest Lodge as well as three of the luxury free standing … Continue reading
Here we are in the middle of summer having barely seen rain in the last three months yet the fynbos is still able to produce some real beauties. TAn example is this Roella incurva, which is brightening up the lower … Continue reading
There are many reasons why people living in the Cape region of South Africa should be planting fynbos in their gardens. Planting fynbos is a great way of helping to conserve and promote the rich and threatened flora of the … Continue reading
This beauty is flowering at the moment on Grootbos. It has bright red-orange flowers that are pollinated by sunbirds. It is most commonly seen after fire as the fire stimulates flowering but it can bloom in mature vegetation providing surrounding … Continue reading
I have just had an interesting week on the farm that has really tested my conservationist heart! I bought Witkrans farm a few years ago primarily because of my love for nature and the fynbos in particular. Witkrans is situated … Continue reading
Horticulturally, the raw genetic materials of the Cape plants have produced countless showy ornamentals that are now prized in gardens throughout the world. Dutch and German plant breeders have created a multi-billion dollar horticultural industry based on fynbos plant species. … Continue reading
