Early this morning:
Tag: nature
In case you forgot how we look like
Just an imaginary portrait of Yvonne, me and Rits. Yes; we love plants, including the prickly ones.
The Dragon Rider
A garden is very inspiration; especially ours but that’s because we know it upside-down and the other way around. Well…. that’s what we prefer to think. The truth however is a bit different and I am glad to get my daily surprises. Today’s big surprise is, with a bit of imagination, the dragon with its rider. Do you see them? They are coming your way.
Sometimes a few good wines can help. While strolling through the garden and imagining pictures one of these imaginary pictures went vertical and than reflected itself. Today’s wine was a Chenin Blanc (from our village) and if you zip this wine late Summer afternoon in rural slow pace …….. Wow!!!
Pity; the bottle is empty…. Need a refill.
Having a Summer nap
Looks insignificant on first sight especially during its present Summer dormancy but this Tylecodon specie from Southern Africa is in all its petty details a gem.
Living the Green Life
Alluaudia procera (orig. Madagascar) growing fast in our garden.
Pirate of the Klein Rivier and other things in and around the village
Our village is one of those rural places in South Africa without any tourist traps. That alone makes it an intriguing place for the curious, exploration minded, traveler. And if you are one of those sheep following the mainstream … well we’re fine with it but, please, do visit all those famous attractions. Here we move (or not) in rural pace and take our time for it. A paddle in the Klein Rivier which flows over in one of the most amazing lagoons in this part of the world; watch birds (there are a few hundred different species); take a hike to one of the numerous waterfalls; ride one horseback through the vineyards or in the ‘veld’; enjoy the majestic views all around; chilling a sunset (and for the early birds the sunrise); have lunch or dinner out- or indoors or take a picnic where-ever; enjoy a wine tasting; read a book; etc. etc. Just enjoy Quality of Village Life.
Not everybody sees my beauty
It’s sometimes quite busy with people wondering around in my park along the Klein Rivier in Stanford, South Africa. Only a few notice my beauty. I got terrible struck by a devastating lightning some years ago and since than a little bit disabled but still there is some life in me. But it’s so demotivating to hear some people say every now and than that I have to be removed. Seemingly unaware that I represent the power of nature.
The Grape Harvest
Early Monday morning staff of Springfontein in Stanford, South Africa gathered together at the cellar. From there we all went to the vineyards settled in a great natural landscape. It must be a joy to start the annual harvest in such majestic surroundings in a strip of land between the lagoon and the ocean. The terroir of the Springfontein grapes is unique and the wines end up in private collections and upmarket restaurants in (merely German speaking) Europe.
See for yourself.
Before a long, long weekend….
….. the usual update of our garden in Full Color and BLack & White:
From profession to hobby
Between April 2000 and July 2011 me and Yvonne owned Soekershof in Robertson. We restored and extended this historical botanical garden (with the oldest cactus -Anno 1910- of South Africa) and ended up with one of the world’s largest outdoor collections (>2600 species/subspecies/varieties/etc) of succulent plants including cacti. The garden was globally recognized in botanical/horticultural circles (except seemingly in South Africa). We were very honored when all the VIPs of de Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix (USA) spend a day with us on their tour along all known South African botanical gardens and even more honored when they published about their South Africa tour and unanimously declared Soekershof as “Best Garden Experience” in South Africa. It was hard work; 7 days per week from 6AM to 10PM and all together we had in those 11 years 2 weeks holiday. We even succeeded in maintaining the first blog in South Africa with guidelines about water wise gardening with succulent plants. The blog is still online and still foresees in a need although we stopped submitting new items since the sale of the farm. The new owners (German/Italian couple) are not really gardeners. The garden, still beautiful though, serves now as ‘decoration’ for their guest house and restaurant but the number of different plants has strongly declined. Plants need care; especially water wise plants. Anyway with our removal we took our private collection of (merely) rare plants with us to Stanford. We still love gardening but also a more quiet “Quality of Life”.
Here a visualised update of flowers in our garden (most of our ‘secrets’ are small and hidden….):
Herman van Bon Photography 