Travelling when you can't travel.

South Africa has the most incredible diverse flora. From desert succulents to epiphytic orchids hanging from trees in humid forests. Some flowers with tiny blooms of sheer perfection to swathes of colour in an otherwise arid landscape.

Visiting the Cape West Coast when the flowers are in full bloom has always been on my bucket list. We were hoping to go visit this year but alas, it was not to be. While inter provincial travel has opened, our purses remain tightly closed.  Travelling is just not possible with The Fever Tree being closed for a while. The show has been extra special this year  according to reports from family and friends.

https://www.google.com/search?q=namaqualand+flowers+2020&tbm=isch&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif_9mdmrTrAhUN4oUKHVUwAD4QrNwCKAF6BAgBEHI&biw=1349&bih=625

So what to do? Stuck at home and no way to get there to see the spectacular show.

So then it dawned on me. I have some of these flowers in my own garden and they are flowering beautifully at the moment. So, here is my mini tour at home.

Lovely Gazanias. Such bright happy flowers.

Pelargoniums that flower almost all year round in KZN.

All those glorious Gerberas that adorn so many florist shops and bouquets are all decended from this lovely flower. While Gerberas do not grow in the Cape Floral Kingdom, they do spectacularly well in my garden.

Osteospernums and Dimorphotecas have the most amazing variety of colour and form.

Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we will make it to the greatest flower show on earth next year.

Let's do this again...

I am ready to try this blogging thing again after a long absence.. Life tends to run away with me and I get so involved in new projects and new ideas that the days fly past and soon another year (or two) has gone. I always thought that life would slow down as I got older. Wow, was I wrong!

An update is in order with the new beginnings.

Umsinsi Cottage is up and running and has proven to be an absolute winner. It is very popular with families, colleagues on a working trip and groups of friends wanting to chill.

Spring is just beginning and the first of the new shoots on the lawn are just starting.The wall around the property is complete and so is the new parking area.

The new reception area is complete with a lovely veranda and the garden is looking lovely. 

We had to build lots of retaining walls and install drains to cope with the water when we have our summer thunderstorms. It all seems to be working well so hopefully this will will cut down on the mud in the pool we had to deal with in the past.

The retaining walls are a wonderful way to showcase some of our indigenous flowers.

So there we have it. We are ready to welcome back out regulars and our new guests now that we are on Level 2 of the lockdown. Hopefully our international borders will reopen soon and we can welcome guests from all over the world again.