by KBergReserve

The Wednesday Hack

Work continued on the slopes of the Klein Hangklip Mountains between Pringle Bay and Rooi Els. An area was cleared of Rooikrans in Serruria Circle in Betty’s Bay and we did the annual clean-up at Kapensis/Ed’s Valley. During the month 66 man-hack days were thrown at the enemy. This is becoming a really serious threat to the invaders! Hackers were: Tom Dreyer, Frik Potgieter, Jan Joubert, Bernard van Wulven,  Ulli Niemann, Selwyn Botha, Louw Toerien, Chris Geldenhuys, Jane Fearnhead, Mike Robinson, Willem Stiglingh, Chris Cadman, Nils Rottcher, Giel Maree, Barbara Silcock and Gaenor Lees-Rolfe.
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by KBergReserve

Betty’s Bay Hack Report No 665

The battle for Betty's Bay: Report on Hack no 665 Only a few brave souls ignored the threatening weather to fight the enemy, but their enthusiasm made up for the numbers! A large area was cleared of Rooikrans and Port Jacksons. There are more on the verges of both Disa Road and Disa Circle, so we will go back there next hack. The tea was made by Merran Silberbauer, and the sandwiches by Jane Fearnhead. Thank you ladies! Penguin Place again donated the bread, so thank you to them! The troops were: Tom Dreyer, Richard…
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by KBergReserve

Visiting the most threatened habitats on earth

“Hello my name is Robbie and I am a proteaholic. It’s not really helped by the fact that my boyfriend has P.O.C.D. (protea obsessive compulsive disorder) too. I can’t help it. I just can’t get enough of the proteaceae! It all started as a child, as these things often do...” - An excerpt from a blog post by Robbie Blackhall-Miles, a plantsman and conservationist in North Wales, and founder of FossilPlants, a conservation endeavour which he describes as “the home of our prehistoric garden in North Wales”. Most of the plants in the FossilPlants garden…
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by KBergReserve

Gardeners Group Report

23 July 2018 There is so much to learn about fynbos and gardening in the Kogelberg – what to plant, when and where; what to remove, why and how. Newcomers to the area as well as some firmly embedded residents struggle with these and other questions, yet in our midst are those with know-how and success stories to share. This is how the idea came about to arrange regular meetings under the auspices of the Botsoc committee to bring together those in the know with those who would like to know. The intention is to…
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by KBergReserve

Talk Report – Aug 2018

Thunberg and Sparrman: Eighteenth Century Botanical Explorers to the Cape - By Andrea Benn (22 July 2018) On the evening of 22 July 2018, John Rourke took a group of interested members through a talk he had previously offered at the UCT Summer School on two 'apostles' of Carl Linnaeus, the famed Professor of Medicine and Botany at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in the early 1800s. Linnaeus himself never travelled outside of Europe and thus relied on his 'apostles' to discover thousands of species of plant across the globe. Two of these explorers were Carl Peter…
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by KBergReserve

Walk Report – Aug 2018

- In search of Protea mundii (21 July 2018)  The objective was to scout the Plateau Path above Fairy Glen in the Kleinmond Mountain Nature Reserve. The fire of early 2017 and the rains of two winters since then must surely have yielded some profit. Principle quarry included seedlings of Protea mundii and re-growth of Pillansia templemanii, both of which had been burnt to a cinder fifteen months ago. Were they recovering? So it was that a doughty group of nine members and guests set off from the Fairy Glen picnic site in crisply cold,…
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by KBergReserve

Gardeners Group Planning Committee

After a highly successful first gathering of the Gardeners Group, a meeting was held on Monday 6 August to  form a steering committee; clarify the Terms of Reference of the group; and plan the way forward. The following were present:  Merrilee Berrisford, Gwen Coetzee, Andrea Benn, Rea Borcherds, Barbara Jenman,  Ingrid Buchan, Sharon Coleridge, Galia Manicom. Objectives of the Gardeners Group : The aim is to arrange informal and convivial gatherings, centred around garden visits and botanical activities, which will be opportunities to share knowledge,  learn something useful, be inspired and encouraged,  and obtain answers…
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by KBergReserve

Future Events

WALKS PLANNED FOR 2018: 18 AUGUST 2018 09h00 Harold Porter NBG from where we will walk to the start of the trail Can Spring be far away? Perhaps not. Let’s go and see what the spring flowers of the Cape Seashore Vegetation on the Denis Heesom Trail are doing. The trail is along the sea shore from Jock’s Bay to Stony Point so there aren’t any hills to climb. There are a couple of streams to cross and a long walk on a long beach. We will leave a vehicle at the end at Stony…
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by KBergReserve

Botsoc Kogelberg Next Talk

Diarise these dates! 18 August 2018 Topic: Mountain Deserts Presenter: Werner Voigt Time: 17:30 for 18:00 Venue: Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens Werner Voigt, Curator of the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, which cultivates and displays a wide variety of arid and semi-arid plants within 154 hectares at the foot of the Hex River Mountain range, 120 km north of Cape Town, will talk on Mountain Deserts. The most well known mountain desert in South Africa is found in the Richtersveld National Park. Despite being a desert, the Richtersveld has the most extraordinary biodiversity. Around…
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