At the recent meeting of the Committee of the Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society of South Africa, it was decided to rename the Friends of the Kogelberg Branch to Supporters of the Kogelberg Branch. The motivation for renaming our voluntary group is that with the Friends of the Harold Porter Gardens, it was confusing having two ‘Friends’ of groups under the umbrella of the Kogelberg Branch and thus it was decided to keep the name Friends of the Harold Porter Gardens (the people who do sterling work in the Gardens weekly) and rename our group to Supporters of the Kogelberg Branch. The name change is nothing, we are still very appreciative of all your support of the Kogelberg Branch.
It has been a very dry summer to date up to 9 March 2025, only 64mm of rain being recorded and only two days in this period that we had recorded rainfall of more than 10mm. The long-term average for January and February is 92mm so we have had just over half of what is normal for the long-term average. I have seen Keurbooms dying in our neighbourhood. Keurbooms also died in the 2017/2018 drought, but that is the last time that I saw this happening.
The Fynbos is magnificent because many of the Fynbos plants flower in the Autumn. What I have noticed this year particularly, is the early blooming of Cynaroides and some of the other early proteas. The colour of the Leucadendrons has been stunning this year. Anthocyanins are the hormone responsible for most of the colour development and they are found in the cell vacuole, mostly in flowers and fruit but also in leaves and stems and roots.
Anthocyanins are stimulated by cold nights and bright sunshine days and this year the weather conditions have been particularly good to stimulate the anthocyanin production in the fynbos.
It has been an extremely busy month and what is planned for the month ahead is going to be even busier. Happy reading.
MONTHLY TALK
The monthly talk took place on Saturday 15 March at 18h00. Our guest speaker, Cherise Viljoen, gave us a talk entitled, “Beauties and Beasts”. Every plant has its own character. She explained why she characterizes indigenous plants according to her own experience on their looks, behaviour in our gardens and their attitude to being cultivated. Cherise’s talk again proved to be very entertaining and stimulating.
GARDEN CIRCLE
The March meeting of the Garden Circle was held on Friday 21 March in the Harold Porter Gardens. It was led by mother and daughter Thea and Margriet Brink, who explained to us the wonders of I Naturalist, after which we ventured into the Gardens to practice what we had been taught.
TIM ATTWELL’S SATURDAY WALK
Tim led another well-attended walk along the Silversands and Doringbaai beaches to the coastal path in front of Sea Farm to see the glorious Haemanthus coccinea (Paintbrush lily) and Brunsvigia orientalis (Candelabra lily) in bloom. Both are in the family Amaryllidaceae and bloom in March. They were plentiful, but clearly stressed by the dry, hot summer weather.
(Tim Attwell). Photos by Willem Stiglingh.
HACK
As mentioned in the previous newsletter, the Hangklip Hardcore Hackers are now hacking every Monday and Wednesday of the week. In Chris Geldenhuys’ own words:
“A decision last month to do something about the invading pines had some serious after effects! In the first place it is taking a toll on the hackers’ physical ability, the saws are giving problems and are taking strain, and the funds are also taking a hammering! We foresaw that it would have repercussions but what I did not foresee was the way that our beloved hackers and the wonderful Kogelberg Branch are embracing the challenge! We ended up with a record-breaking attendance this month that was never experienced before! On the shortest month of the year, we had 262-man day performances! We also had the highest expenditure for the month, but Peter gave us the assurance that we can go for it. Let us not misunderstand this reality. The situation is not sustainable for a long period but remember that the aim of this strategy is to contain this current pine infestations. Within a month or two we will have made a break-through and then we will revert back to normal. I just want to appeal to everyone to take your own capability into consideration, so that you do not burn out or damage your own health. We must also save every cent possible, so that we have mercy on the funds of the Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society”.
While they are doing outstanding work, so is the Betty’s Bay Hack who hack on the first Saturday of the month, ably led by Rob Boyd, and the Pringle Bay Hack who hack on the last Saturday of the month, ably led by Chris Geldenhuys. It is amiss of me to have not mentioned the Rooi Els Hack, which is on the second Saturday of the month, ably let by Mike Christelis. It is so wonderful to have these unbelievable community spirited undertakings to preserve our fynbos.
HAROLD PORTER BOOK AND CRAFT SHOP
The Harold Porter Book and Craft Shop goes from strength to strength, and we have a few very exciting announcements to make.
The book shop is expanding. We have been given permission to occupy the next-door building to the Book Shop and a team of volunteers are hard at work building a link between the old treasurer’s office and our book shop. Hopefully by April we will be in the expanded room where we hope to give Galia more space for the secondhand books and to broaden our children’s book display and presentation. Harry von der Heyden is leading the work party that is erecting this link between the two buildings. A big “Thank You” to Harry!
A new exciting venture for the bookshop is our very tentative venture into the sale of Fynbos plants together with the Harold Porter National Gardens on the Easter Weekend commencing 08h30 on Friday 18 April 2025. We will be stocking up with almost 1000 plants of mainly Proteas, Leucodendrons, Leucospermums, Buchus and Ericas. This will be additional to what the Harold Porter Gardens are offering. At this stage the thought is seeing how well this goes; we could possibly repeat it on the Friday of the Kogelberg Branch BotSoc weekend (monthly). I believe we are going to have some exciting specimens to offer on the 18 April. We will be buying all the plants from Arnelia and will be offering them at good prices. We will also be giving out leaflets of how to care for your plants because there is a lot of criticism that Arnelia’s plants do not last, and I think this is mainly because of plant shock, of transplanting a big plant in a pot into our gardens. If diligently done, I have had over 90% success rate with Arnelia plants and I will be giving out a leaflet on how to care for Arnelia’s plants in the first three months, as the first three months are critical.
Book Launches: On Saturday 29 March 2025 we launched “South African Indigenous Garden Plants, the Gardeners guide”, presented by all three authors – lsa Pooley, Geoff Nichols and Andrew Hankey. This is surely a book that every Fynbos gardener in Hangklip should have. The book is available from our bookshop.
The launch in April will be John Manning’s long-awaited book “Proteas of the Fynbos”. We are still to finalize the date but as soon as I have a date, I will let you know.
We are very excited about the way the shop is progressing and believe that, if one day we can sort out the problem with having to pay an entrance fee before you shop, the shop will be a great asset to the Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society.
Remember the first Tuesday of the month is free entry for South African Citizens over the age of 60 years.
We ask you to please support the shop as all the profits of the shop go towards the Conservation Projects undertaken by the Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society.
FRIENDS OF THE HAROLD PORTER GARDENS
This initiative also goes from strength to strength and one can see the difference to the flowerbeds in the gardens. To Viv von der Heyden and her team, a big thank you for all you do, once a week alternating between a Tuesday and a Thursday.
We desperately need more volunteers, so please do not hesitate to put up your hand and come and join the merry band of gardeners in Harold Porter Gardens.
SUPPORTERS OF THE KOGELBERG BRANCH OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA
Once again, thank you to everyone for supporting this initiative. The fact that when the Hangklip Hardcore Hackers (Chris Geldenhuys) said they wanted to hack twice a week and asked me if we would be able to fund the extra costs, I had no hesitation in saying ‘yes’. It is because of the support from all the members of the Supporters of the Kogelberg Branch and some other sources that we can fund this additional hacking initiative.
As we approach the Autumnal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere, this officially marks the beginning of winter and end of summer. We know Autumn in our part of the world can deliver the best weather months of the year as we have less wind and balmy Autumn days. Enjoy the weather and enjoy wandering in the fynbos.
Peter Dall 082 784 4326 Email: peter@pdconsult.co.za