Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Baobabs
Baobabs are amazing trees and there are much legends about them.
Because when the leaves are gone their branches look like roots reaching into the sky the Bushmen have a legend that said that the god Thora somehow grew to dislike having baobabs growing in his garden and threw them over the wall of Paradise onto Earth below. Even though they landed upside down the baobabs kept on growing.
Some people believe that if you pick the flower of a baobab you will be eaten by a lion, but if you drink water in which baobab seeds have soaked you will be protected from crocodile attacks.
Bushmen's belief is supported by the fact that young baobabs look so different from the grown ones (even the leaf is different) that bushmen believe that there are no baby baobabs, so they have to come from somewhere else.
Here is a picture with a car to give a scale
If you want to see baobabs I would recommend going to Musina (Limpopo Province, South Africa) and along the N1, South of Musina, for at least 30 kilometres the baobabs are plentiful, or along the R572 west of Musina.
I also went to see the Sunland Baobab which is reputed to be the largest baobab.
For scale I am in this picture. See, it is a pretty big tree (47metres in circumference)
And they even have a bar inside the tree.
Because when the leaves are gone their branches look like roots reaching into the sky the Bushmen have a legend that said that the god Thora somehow grew to dislike having baobabs growing in his garden and threw them over the wall of Paradise onto Earth below. Even though they landed upside down the baobabs kept on growing.
Some people believe that if you pick the flower of a baobab you will be eaten by a lion, but if you drink water in which baobab seeds have soaked you will be protected from crocodile attacks.
Bushmen's belief is supported by the fact that young baobabs look so different from the grown ones (even the leaf is different) that bushmen believe that there are no baby baobabs, so they have to come from somewhere else.
Here is a picture with a car to give a scale
If you want to see baobabs I would recommend going to Musina (Limpopo Province, South Africa) and along the N1, South of Musina, for at least 30 kilometres the baobabs are plentiful, or along the R572 west of Musina.
I also went to see the Sunland Baobab which is reputed to be the largest baobab.
For scale I am in this picture. See, it is a pretty big tree (47metres in circumference)
And they even have a bar inside the tree.
Monday, June 08, 2015
Tea Plantations near Tzaneen, Limpopo Province
I am now totally blogging out of sequence, but I am a bit tired of blogging about Kruger.
After Kruger I drove through Tzaneen a town of the Limpopo Province often described as "a large tropical garden town". In fact you could really grow anything at all in Tzaneen. In the hills around the towns I have seen: banana, mango, macadamia, sugar cane plantations and also tea plantations. Unfortunately the tea plantations are not run commercially anymore but luckily they have not been uprooted so here are a few photos.
These are the three leaves picked during harvest.
The tree plant is a camellia plant it is Camellia sinensis.
After Kruger I drove through Tzaneen a town of the Limpopo Province often described as "a large tropical garden town". In fact you could really grow anything at all in Tzaneen. In the hills around the towns I have seen: banana, mango, macadamia, sugar cane plantations and also tea plantations. Unfortunately the tea plantations are not run commercially anymore but luckily they have not been uprooted so here are a few photos.
These are the three leaves picked during harvest.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Random Photos for May 12th
In Johannesburg, and most of South Africa, you can grow pretty much anything you want. And a lot of what we think of as houseplants are grown outside, quite a few because they are actually originally from South Africa (things like geraniums).
Quite common as a ground cover you get spider plants
Today, walking along I came across a garden planted outside the wall of a property, on the sidewalk, which had lemon grass. It looks looking pretty sad right now since it is fall and nearly winter here.
I would love to be able to grow my own lemon grass.
Because of the value of metal which can be sold at scrapyards heavy metal things often get stolen in Johannesburg, things like door of electric boxes (and I have already posted about this a long time ago) but also manhole covers.
When they are on the side walks it is sort of OK.
But when they are on the road they are a real hazard.
Driving in Johannesburg can be a real challenge at times. First drivers are VERY aggressive. Taxi drivers are right out outrageously dangerous, apparently things like red traffic lights do not always apply to them in their own minds. But these missing covers certainly add a new challenge to the all experience.
Today, walking along I came across a garden planted outside the wall of a property, on the sidewalk, which had lemon grass. It looks looking pretty sad right now since it is fall and nearly winter here.
I would love to be able to grow my own lemon grass.
Because of the value of metal which can be sold at scrapyards heavy metal things often get stolen in Johannesburg, things like door of electric boxes (and I have already posted about this a long time ago) but also manhole covers.
When they are on the side walks it is sort of OK.
But when they are on the road they are a real hazard.
Driving in Johannesburg can be a real challenge at times. First drivers are VERY aggressive. Taxi drivers are right out outrageously dangerous, apparently things like red traffic lights do not always apply to them in their own minds. But these missing covers certainly add a new challenge to the all experience.
Saturday, May 09, 2015
Random Photos of May 9th
A nice quiet day today, which is especially nice since I have a pretty nasty cold. This morning I called a friend and my voice was so rough that she didn't recognize me... and with my accent this does not happen very often.
Anyway, here are the photos:
First birds: a cape robin
and a hadeda, which I have shown before.
Then flowers, even though it is fall the climate is so mild here that there are still quite a few flowers.
A tree in bloom. I don't know what kind of tree it is
Here is a closer look at the blooms
Not a flower but nearly... at least a plant
Again the climate is so mild here that it is quite common to see tomato plants growing randomly on garbage or un-weeded gardens. Today I saw some strawberries growing among the weeds in front a house
Nicely fall is the blooming season for aloes. Just this makes me look forward to my coming road trip even more.
Then, people:
Two ladies sitting and enjoying the late afternoon
A young woman lying on the bench. The light was wrong but that was the only way to do it.
And finally one more beaded animal:
Anyway, here are the photos:
First birds: a cape robin
Then flowers, even though it is fall the climate is so mild here that there are still quite a few flowers.
A tree in bloom. I don't know what kind of tree it is
Not a flower but nearly... at least a plant
Again the climate is so mild here that it is quite common to see tomato plants growing randomly on garbage or un-weeded gardens. Today I saw some strawberries growing among the weeds in front a house
Nicely fall is the blooming season for aloes. Just this makes me look forward to my coming road trip even more.
Then, people:
Two ladies sitting and enjoying the late afternoon
And finally one more beaded animal:
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