Mother City Magic ~Cape Town

Mother City Magic ~Cape Town
Written and edited by Veronica Clark

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Darling ~ Wild Flowers Reserves

Good morning friends.  It is alarming how the time flies by! There is so much happening in and around Cape Town that I wish there was a few clones of yours truly, racing about with cameras to capture it all !

The Whale Festival, birds, flowers, wine festivals, markets, and...and ..and... But first, let me finish up with the flowers. In my last post on my trip to Darling click here if you missed it, I forgot to mention that the wonderful wine farm Groote Post can be found on the R27 as well as another entrance from the dirt road, called Darling Hills Road that I was on. Well worth a visit and the reds are amazing!! Trust me...





Noddy still had all his wheels and I had made it over the fence, still in one piece, and the tar road was in sight....




The flower reserves are open and no entrance fee is charged. There is a box for donations next to the exit if you feel inclined to contribute...




Do stop and get out to walk in the veld to discover the tiniest of little treasures...




Blue flowers are a magnet for me....




I adore these! The colour is wonderful and I have them popping up in my garden from time to time. Most people view them as weeds here, but to me they are beautiful weeds and I never pull them up!





All along the track folks stop to take a closer look and admire...




The colours are amazing....




...some are very close to the ground....











The weavers have colonised this tree and the beautiful noise was deafening!!!








Insects aplenty!... and I was feeling sticky from the aloe gel by now...and  perspiration... Guess I was not smelling to grand either at this stage...


...but as you can see the insects very very active...



By the way, it is not uncommon to be so engrossed in your photographic efforts, that you stumble upon, or rather over, a fellow photographic enthusiast lying flat on the ground to get the required shot!!!! Um ..well no fine... a good laugh later and  on to some more treasure spotting...




Delicate pink....



I will be joining folks from around the World to show our piece of the Planet on Our World Tuesday...here
and
Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer here


Fences are made to climb?



A weaver colony of some proportions with a sound system second to none!!


The annual flowers are slowly coming to an end but the bulbs are all still blooming profusely in the veld. I reluctantly left the flower reserves to follow all those tourist buses into town. Well, I had to endure some discomfort, (hoards of people)  in order to view the orchids and the wildflower display in town.

Well worth the discomfort, I have to say....sigh...after the music of the veld and farms it was on the the music of the fair!!

Show you next time...

Live the Cape Town vibe, where ever you are...

Veronica

xxx



all images are my own

7 comments:

  1. What heavenly photos. I would adore walking and looking at all of the beautiful flowers in the fields. We do not see fields like these here. They are some nurseries nearby that have lilies in fields but that is about it. This weekend we did see some fields of “cotton puffs” which was a real treat. Beautiful shots. genie

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  2. Hi there - what a wonderful set of pictures. It makes me wonder how much film you would have needed to visit a place like this back in the "good old days" of Kodachrome!

    On the rugby front - don’t feel too bad - I'm English by birth (and Australian by choice) so at least your team did not get beaten by the French!

    Cheers - Stewart M

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  3. Hi Veronica, what stunningly beautiful photos. We were in Darling on 11 Sept but I didn't see any bulblike flowers. Saw arums and many succulents and also fields of "snowdrops" I'm winding down on my eight-part biking trip to the flowers recently. Thanks for sharing these beautiful macro images with me. Kind greetings. Jo

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  4. Veronica, your wildflowers are just divine! Such a great diversity. Many are gazetted weeds here but that does not make them less beautiful. I to love blue flowers and after all, what is a weed but a plant out of place. If you like it at your place, it is a flower in your garden.
    UI have tried to follow your blog but have not been able to link on as yet . . . am still trying.
    Your photo of the fence and hills to start with, could just as well been here.

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  5. Your wildflowers and photo's are gorgeous. What a beauty in your world.

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  6. What an incredible variety of flowers - lovely! And I love the weaver birds and their nests. They are one of my favorite memories from South Africa and Swaziland. Thanks for beautiful reminders.

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