I would like to purchase white Hibiscus with the red centre.  where will I find it in Pretoria or Johannesburg?

Kind regards

Christine

Valerie Birdsall

We are tying the proverbial knot in December next year on the West Coast in the Cape. We’d like to use Proteas and other local flowers (though I have a weakness for these non-indigenous Craspedia Billy’s balls – oh dear). Anyone have suggestions for flowers to include in arrangements around this time of the year and recommendations of florists?

Any help welcome!

Kim

I have a wedding on the 28th April in Zululand (KZN). I’m wondering what flowers are in bloom during that time of the month? We are having the wedding on the farm so we can start planting flowers and plants that will be able to be used on the day.

Kind regards,

Nikki

Jonathan

The kindly folks at Consol have given us two vouchers to hand out worth R500 each, for their shops in Woodmead (Gauteng) and Stellenbosch in the Western Cape (sorry Durbanites and others, I’m sure you have friends and relatives in these parts?). So, now you can personally test-drive the apparent health benefits of glass…

I couldn’t decide on how to hand these out so at my sister’s suggestion, if you would like to win one of these vouchers, please comment below on what you think the best way to use a glass jar is. To store pasta or raisins, make gifts, to use as a pot plant… Winners will be selected using a random number generator and the competition will end next Tuesday, 4th October…

We went camping at Thaba Monate near Warmbaths when we saw this round wooden flowery growth on a thorny tree with silver green velvety leaves. My brother in law climbed into the tree, pick it and then cleaned it with his pocket knife and a brush, painted some veneer on and mounted it.

You get different shapes and sizes. This one is open but the one at home as more closed (with the claws/points.,,,, almost touching)

Can you please find out from which tree this is? My husband believes the growth is due to a virus or bacterial infection on the tree.

Thanks,

Marika

A new species from the iris family found near Worcester, is to be named Moraea vuvuzela by SANBI botanist Dr John Manning to commemorate South Africa’s hosting of the first Soccer World Cup on the African continent.

This pretty little bulb is currently known from just two localities between Rawsonville and Villiersdorp in the heart of the Cape Floral Region. Both known populations are threatened by agriculture and development, especially the enlargement of the Brandvlei Dam, and probably the species has disappeared already from parts of its range through the flooding of the Theewaterskloof Dam.

The epithet vuvuzela derives from the raucous air horn, approximately one metre in length, that commonly is blown by fans at soccer matches in South Africa. It commemorates the country’s hosting of the first Soccer World Cup on the African continent in June 2010. The colourful, flared flowers and their massed, synchronous appearance are appropriate associations with the name.

Moraea vuvuzela is severely threatened by agriculture, and this dedication is linked to a conservation programme initiated by the non-profit association BIOPAT-Patrons for Biodiversity, and sponsored by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarnbeit (GTZ), the German Technical Development Cooperation Agency, which supported the South African Government in the preparations of the FIFA World Cup 2010 on behalf of the German Government.

Says Dr Manning, “The species was brought to our attention by Rawsonville resident and conservationist Anso le Roux, who encountered scattered flowering plants of an unknown Moraea in unburned veld near Rawsonville in August 2006. But it was only after a controlled burn in February 2009 that the species appeared in flower in any number. In July of that year she alerted us to the appearance of hundreds of flowering individuals and we were then able to gather material for description and illustration. Shortly thereafter, conservationist Rupert Koopman and members of the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) located a second flowering population of the species near Villiersdorp. “Subsequently, we have associated the species with at least two earlier, unnamed collections from Franschoek Forest Reserve gathered in 1937 and 1940.”

Source: SANBI