moonvoice: (calm - sunset)
moonvoice ([personal profile] moonvoice) wrote2013-01-03 09:48 am

[PotD] Grevillea from the garden.

I actually really love this grevillea,
mostly because - so far - it provides blossoms all year round,
and is extraordinarily robust.
I'll have to find out what cultivar it is,
because out of all of the shrubbing grevilleas I've gotten, this is both hardy,
and satisfyingly beautiful.

*


Grevillea from the garden.


needled_ink_1975: A snarling cougar; colored pencil on paper (Default)

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[personal profile] needled_ink_1975 2013-01-03 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
My neighbor has one with flowers that look just like that. It seems to like S. Africa– flowers like crazy. Hers is a candelabria. Perhaps the same?

–Nici
needled_ink_1975: A snarling cougar; colored pencil on paper (Default)

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[personal profile] needled_ink_1975 2013-01-03 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for looking it up.

And about proteas: I had a very amusing argument with a little Aussie lad who insisted that proteas were from Australia, and we'd 'stolen' them (he knew about proteas, because his grannie loved them). So I foolishly decided to try adult logic on him. Our cricket team is called the Proteas, and I asked him what our team is called. "Bastards!" was his answer. I declared him the winner.
needled_ink_1975: A snarling cougar; colored pencil on paper (Default)

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[personal profile] needled_ink_1975 2013-01-03 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
They're unfortunately not as popular here as they used to be, because they've become astronomically expensive. We pay about the same for cut proteas as someone does in London, including shipping and import duties. The most expensive are, of course, the most lovely: King and Pincushion. But more people in the Western Cape are growing them in their own gardens instead of buying them cut, and ecologically that's brilliant– benefits various bird, bug, and small mammal species. I live in KwaZulu-Natal, on the East coast, and most protea species really don't like our climate. W. Cape has a Mediterranean climate, with winter rains and dry summers; we have summer rains. Our former garden had a protea bush that was beautifully green but it never flowered.
needled_ink_1975: A snarling cougar; colored pencil on paper (Default)

Re: Off the Latest Things page

[personal profile] needled_ink_1975 2013-01-07 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey. Sorry this is late.

We have laws here about exotics. Sometimes they're brilliant laws, and sometimes they're... stupid. Nurseries, by law, have to stock indigenous species, and that's brilliant.

The stupid– blanket laws regarding exotic trees that result in them being felled. One example. Camphor trees really don't spread like weeds, and they provide shade, and secure nesting places and food for many species of birds and small mammals. Owls, in particular, love camphor trees. We've noticed that the number of Scops and Cape Eagle owls have dropped in our area since a bunch of people chose to fell the camphor trees in their yards rather than face a possible fine for having them. The wording of that law is bad. It reads like *everyone* WILL be fined for having a camphor tree or several, but when a lawyer reads it they interpret it thus: you'll get a fine if you allow the uncontrolled spread of camphor trees. Now, who has a camphor tree forest in their quarter/half-acre yard? This law also applies to bottlebrush, English willow, English/American oaks, walnut, NZ wattle, pines and firs, eucalyptus, and even central African mahoganny. Ugh. WTF? So there's been a lot of 'panic felling' of trees over the last 11 years.

Back to nurseries. Our nearest nursery doesn't only sell plants and trees. They breed several species of chameleons and you can buy chameleons to go with your indigenous shrub—but only if you buy indigineous plants. The whole idea is to get several chameleon species off the at-risk/endangered lists, and it's working (in this area, anyway).
calissa: Macro of a jonquil (Spring)

[personal profile] calissa 2013-01-03 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
I've not seen a white grevillea before. It really is quite lovely! And a very nice shot, too.

I have a prostrate grevillea with some very nice red flowers in our garden.
vanillamagick: (Phone Box)

[personal profile] vanillamagick 2013-01-03 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
I'm completely unknowledgeable about gardening related matters, so I'm just dropping by with a very helpful "oooh pretty"