Designing with Fynbos

(Adapted from https://www.capecontours.co.za/2015/11/13/designing-with-fynbos/ with credit to Contours Landscapes) Now that autumn is underway, it’s time to picture and plan a fynbos garden. The cooler temperatures and reduced soil temperatures provide the ideal conditions for establishing your fynbos garden. A Fynbos garden, using plants indigenous to the winter rainfall areas of the country, is probably one of the most beautiful and rewarding gardens to grow, yet most difficult to maintain over time. Beautiful because of the large diversity of different perennials, annuals, grasses, reeds and succulents that you can use, that allow a rich array of…
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New Life in Fynbos

A photo-essay on fynbos regeneration Fynbos is rich in beauty and diversity – but must be renewed by fire to keep it that way. Fynbos goes through stages of growth between fires, ranging from 4-year intervals (grassy fynbos) to 45-year intervals (arid fynbos), depending on the type of fynbos. In our area, 10 to 15-year intervals are optimal. This hillside in Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos is about one year old. Time to begin again in Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos. Fire lilies – Cyrtanthus ventricosus. In the immediate post fire phase geophytes, such as Amaryllidaceae, are quick to…
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Talk Report – Sept 2018

Plants and light Chris Whitehouse Living and gardening in the fynbos, we are very aware of the impact of the specific soil conditions of our gardens and the need to provide protection from the wind, but we may not give much thought to the amount of light that various plants require. That is unless your home is close to the mountain, where you are in shade for a large part of the day, particularly during the winter months when the sun is low on the horizon.  Sunlight and its effect on plants was the topic of the interesting talk given on Saturday 15 September by Chris Whitehouse, who runs the Philipskop Mountain Reserve, near Stanford.  Chris began by reminding us why the leafy natural world around us is predominantly in harmonious shades of…
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Gardeners Group

The second meeting of the Gardeners Group was on Monday 20 August 2018. Perhaps because we are all so grateful for rain, the prospect of a drippy walkabout on this Monday morning did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of our newly-formed Gardeners Group. There was the promise of weather clearing up later in the morning so 23 of us showed up for an exploration of three gardens – this time located at the Pringle Bay end of Betty's Bay. The gardens again differed greatly as to their terrain, soil conditions and age, and once again…
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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 was to provide environmental education about Fynbos to 200 local school children. Here is the report on the exhibition, sent to our Branch by the WCC. On 19 August, Whale Coast presented an Expo on Fynbos to the Grade 6 and 7 learners from Kleinmond Primêr and to the Siyabolela Pre-Primary School.   The Expo was kindly sponsored by the Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society of South Africa. We, and the children,…
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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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FEBRUARY WALK

Hangklip Ecological Corridor with Allan Heydorn: Saturday 20 February Tim Attwell Conserved by vision, determination and generosity; hallowed by tragedy, tender memory and deep love for the vulnerable splendour of the natural environment, the Hangklip Ecological Corridor, or Hangklip Nature Reserve, is the most recent addition to the core zone of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. The weather forecast had been gloomy, but the clouds made for perfect walking conditions as eleven Botsoc walkers set off on the trail from Clarence Drive, a stone’s throw from the entrance to Pringle Bay, into the pristine fynbos of…
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TALKS PLANNED FOR 2016

Saturday 20 February: Sean Privett of Fynbos Trails will speak on ‘Forests in the fynbos, the southernmost Forests in Africa’. At 18h00 at Nivenia Hall, HPBG. Saturday 19 March: Keir Lynch of the Overberg Lowlands Conservation Trust will speak about Renosterveld and the work of the Trust. (Harold Porter now has a Renosterveld garden.) At 18h00 – Venue: Pringle Bay Community Hall
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BETTY’S BRAND!

Anli Theron Met die brandseisoen op hande gaan ons gedagtes terug na die verwoestende brand in Bettysbaai in Maart vanjaar. Ter herinnering daaraan publiseer ons hiermee deel een van Anli Theron se vertelling wat in drie aflewerings sal verskyn. Fynbos brand. Dit brand flippin maklik en sonder veel omhaal. Die ou Portugese Seevaarders het van die Kaap gepraat as ‘die mooiste Kaap waar die berge brand’. Die ongelooflike blomspesiediversiteit is volkome afhanklik van die veld wat van tyd tot tyd brand en die meeste fynbos verkies brandtussenposes van sewe tot vyftien jaar. Die gewone proteas…
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Jumping the Garden Fence by Ulrike Irlich -18 September 2015

Andrea Benn This was an excellent and inspirational talk about the alien species of plants, not indigenous to the Kogelberg, that spread from gardens into the fynbos and become invasive. Ulrike Irlich is employed at the Cape Town Invasive Species Unit based in the Westlake Conservation Office in Westlake, Ou Kaapse Weg. It is linked to SANBI, WESSA, the Department of Environmental Affairs, the City of Cape Town and others. The aim of the Unit is to protect our natural heritage from alien invader plants. Unfortunately, many home owners are either unaware or uncaring about the plants…
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