Wow was today a plant day! I was in heaven!!!! We started off the day visiting one my favorite spots on Earth, the incomparable Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. This garden was established in the early 1900’s and specialized in the Fynbos plants, the local ecology around Cape Town and the Southern Cape made up of what the Dutch derogatorily called “little bushes”. These are my absolute favorite, at least half my garden is made up of these plants and I’m sure many of you have many plants from here as well. Geraniums, Heathers, Proteas, Gladiolas, Pincushions, Bird of Paradise, Freesias, all come from this area. It truly is a plant mecca.
On week days they offer free tours of the garden and we were lucky enough to be the only ones there, so we got a private tour! Our tour guide was a lovely lady named Dot that had been volunteering there for over 35 years. She knew all the history of the garden going back to when it was originally a farm to supply trade ships going between Europe and Asia. Her plant knowledge was astounding so we just had a ball! After a three hour tour we went for lunch and then got back into the gardens by ourselves. The backdrop of the gardens is the awe inspiring Table Mountain, making the whole place feel like you’re in Jurassic Park. The whole area is a buzz with sunbirds, the South African equivalent of a hummingbird, honking Ibis, nannering Guinea Fowl, and Egyptian geese, completely unphased by anything. After exploring all the wonderful plants, Silver Trees, ancient Cycads, and rare Aloes, we called it a day and headed back to hotel. We ended up spending 7 hours hiking around that truly special place.
5/3/21