by KBergReserve

YOUR ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME

The editor reserves the right to edit contributions. Deadline for the next newsletter is around 20 August 2016. (Please note the new Newsletter schedule – we need articles in the third week of each month for the following month’s newsletter.) Please address all mail to: Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society, PO Box 85, Betty’s Bay 7141 E-mail: peterb5424@gmail.com Editor’s e-mail:  b.attwell@mweb.co.za
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by KBergReserve

HERMANUS FLOWER FESTIVAL

The Hermanus Flower Festival will take place in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 September. Our theme for this year is “Fynbos and Fire”. Join us to enjoy this flower spectacular, including fun, activities, teas and meals. Open from 9 am to 5 pm. Entry R20, children under 12 free. Contact Hermanus Botanical Society at botsochermanus@telkomsa.net.
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by KBergReserve

IRMA STERN MUSEUM BOTANICAL ART EXHIBITION

The UCT Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town will celebrate the arrival of spring with a botanical art exhibition, titled “Flora Old and New”, bringing together artwork from established artists of Cape flora with new artwork that has been commissioned for the exhibition. This is a collaborative event with contemporary botanical paintings by members of the Western Cape branch of the Botanical Artists’ Association of Southern Africa (BAASA) and older works, dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries, on loan from UCT’s Manuscripts Department and Bolus Herbarium Collections. A selection of superb botanical artworks…
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by KBergReserve

JULY WALK REPORT

- Tim Attwell Saturday 16 July It often happens. Cold rain and wind in the lead-up to the monthly walk makes the prospect daunting, then, as we set off, the clouds part, the sun comes out and we feel smug that we braved the weather and won. This time was no exception. The route took us from the lagoon parking area at Kleinmond beach to the Frank Robb walkway along the coast, to the Kleinmond harbour. Calling it a ‘walkway’ doesn’t really do justice to this delightful trail. It winds its way just above the…
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by KBergReserve

JULY TALK REPORT

- Andrea Benn Saturday 16 July, our AGM: David Davidson, designer of the SA stand at the Chelsea Flower Show, spoke about his experience at the Show. The annual Chelsea Flower Show, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), was held in May this year in the lovely grounds of the Chelsea Pensioners Hospital. These attractive brick buildings were designed by Christopher Wren and this year were enhanced by many thousands of individually knitted red poppies displayed on both sides of the road leading to the Hospital. The poppies were knitted and crocheted by people…
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by KBergReserve

KLEINMOND FYNBOS EXPO

Earlier this year, our branch donated R5000 to Whale Coast Conservation (WCC) towards the Kleinmond Fynbos Expo. The aim of the project is to provide environmental education about Fynbos to 200 local school children. Past experience has shown that knowledge of learners in the Overstrand about fynbos is extremely low, which is a matter of concern. If the next generation is not fully informed about the importance of fynbos and the real threats it faces, there will be little will to protect it. The Expo will consist of 5 exhibits, each illustrating different aspects of…
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by KBergReserve

WALKS PLANNED FOR 2016

Next walk: Saturday 20 August 2016 Famed cartographer and writer Peter Slingsby says Betty’s Bay’s Denys Heesom Trail ‘knocks [the Hermanus Cliff Path] sideways for wilderness and wildlife’. (See Peter Slingsby’s book, Walks with a Fat Dog, page 130.) It may be in our back yard, but have you done it all in one go? The trail starts at Jock’s Bay and end four kilometres later at Stony Point. On the way we’ll see the Milkwoods at Dawid’s Kraal, traverse the length of main Beach, get among the Cape seashore vegetation early spring flower display…
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by KBergReserve

TALKS PLANNED FOR 2016

Saturday 20 August: Dr Christopher Whitehouse of Phillipskop Mountain Reserve near Stanford, on “The complete guide to pokers” i.e. the Kniphofia (red-hot pokers). Christopher has just published a book on the genus Kniphofia (copies will be available at R950!). At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG. Saturday 17 September: Dr Peter Ryan, ornithologist, on “Oceans of plastic - impacts, sources and solutions to plastic pollution in marine ecosystems”. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG.   Saturday 15 October: Dr John Rourke on “Jan Smuts the Botanist”. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG.   Saturday 19 November:…
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