Held on the first Saturday of the month, from 08:30 to 10:30. Tools and refreshments provided. Contact Anuta Scholtz on anuta@omail.co.za or tel 083 388 8239, or Evette on tel 028 273 8483. read more
The editor reserves the right to edit contributions. Deadline for the next newsletter is around the end of December 2016. Please address all mail to: Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society, PO Box 85, Betty’s Bay 7141 read more
If you change your address, wish to resign or change your status, please notify the Botanical Society Head Office on (021) 797-2090. To receive this newsletter via e-mail (and save the Branch the costs of printing, packaging and postage) send your address to b.attwell@mweb.co.za. read more
Thank you to Peter Berrisford for sending us this link to an excellent video about berg adders. Many Botsoc folk are involved in hacking which inevitably promotes encounters with snakes, and in particular berg adders! CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO read more
- Thamsanqa Makade The annual Biodiversity Careers Expo was organised and hosted by the local Biodiversity Education and Empowerment (BEE) team from HPNBG on 11 August, in collaboration with the WC Education Department (WCED). Exhibitors included Fernkloof Nature Reserve, Iziko Museum (Cape Town), CapeNature, Iimbovane Outreach Programme (Stellenbosch University), HIK Abalone, and SANBI Scientists (Compton Herbarium and Horticulturists). Participating were all grade 10s from all Overberg schools, including Qhayiya, Hermanus, Umyezo Wama Apile Combined, Gansbaai, Swellendam, Swartberg, Groenberg, Villiersdorp, Albert Myburgh, Bredasdorp and De Villiers Graaf high schools. Learners were exposed to careers in horticulture,… read more
- Tim Attwell Botsoc Kogelberg Walk Report November 2016 It’s one thing to go for a walk in the garden, it’s quite another to really look and see what is going on there and begin to understand. Enthusiastic communicator and passionate about fynbos, Harold Porter National Botanical Garden guide Etienne Smith, welcomed upward of twenty members and guests into his world. In a slow ramble along pathways already well known to many in the party, Etienne revealed secrets they didn’t know. More than the names of plants, it was the stories that captivated; stories about… read more
- Merrilee Berrisford The New Zealand Christmas trees are now in bud. For the festive season Betty’s Bay’s public enemy number one will be cheerfully bright red and green and earn the title of Christmas Tree of the southern hemisphere. BUT what about all the seeds waiting to be blown off by the southeaster into our fertile wetlands? Already there are packed stands of NZXT’s in wet areas, especially in Sunny Seas and above the rocks beyond Jock’s Bay in the direction of Kleinmond. We have to stop and think if we want parts of… read more
- Merrilee Berrisford - Tim Attwell Your committee has always felt that it would be very important to publish Tim Attwell’s Your Place in the Kogelberg in Afrikaans. A large part of the population in the area is Afrikaans speaking and as the main object of the book is education, we really should make it available in that language.A year ago we were astonished to hear that member, Louise du Toit, then of Rooi Els, had translated our book into Afrikaans. We were planning to have it translated, so were absolutely delighted that this had… read more