Beehives and Blomme!

My last blog was about weather, so it seemed logical to follow on with the seasons, well, Spring anyway. Towards the end of August and into September, our countryside literally explodes with colour. Our wild flowers are well known almost world wide, and we often see tourists hung about with cameras, bending over a perfect "blom" (flower). Sometimes we see a wife or husband, sitting in a field of daisies, squinting into the sun, swatting bees and sneezing, while the spouse fiddles with the camera and implores the partner to 'say cheese!'

Rain Daisies on the side of a road

We love to wander the back routes, find little dirt roads that lead to farms and villages, because there we usually find areas that are naturally wild and unspoilt, litter and tourist free! Yesterday we decided to go on a ramble, so we gathered the camera and water and Alfie and set off just before noon. It is useless to go too early as the flowers do not open until the sun is fully up. You also have to plan to travel with the sun behind you, so the flowers are open towards you (and the sun!), otherwise you end up either stopping and craning your neck behind you, or doing a sort of zig-zag to stop the car in the right position!

Along the way, dotted everywhere in fields and under trees, were bee hives. Some of these are shiny and new, and are moved from place to place as the flowers open, but others have seen better days and are permanently placed. We watched as the bees flew in and out, doing the dance that shows the others where to go. It was good to see that we still have populations of bees here.

Busy bees!

I must admit that the flowers this season have been mostly disappointing so far. We have not had much rain this year, and although some flowers appreciate that, most of the swathes of orange or white or yellow are just not there. Yet.

Natures garden!

However, we did see a vast array of Onixotis Stricta or Greater Waterphlox, (Rysblommetjie in Afrikaans), when we came to a large marshy area near a little stream.

Beautiful Waterphlox en masse, en marsh!!

As you can imagine, by this time we were a little hungry, so we headed to Veldrif and a welcome take-away of fish and chips that we shared with Alfie and a mob of grey headed gulls!

As we arrived home we drove past a field of yellow Scenecio Littoreus or Coastal Ragwort (Geelhongerblom), and realised that we had just as much beauty on our own doorstep!

Geelhongerblom right on our doorstep!

But it was a lovely outing, nonetheless!