flowers

Exploring the top of Table Mountain

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Everyone has seen the iconic postcard-perfect view of Table Mountain with its flat top. But did you know that up on top it is not as flat as it seems and there is a whole world up there to discover? When I lived in Cape Town, I used to go hiking often with friends, and I have already explained why Table Mountain is so special here. Recently I was back for a holiday so once again we went up Table Mountain. There are numerous ways you can hike up; often we would go up Skeleton Gorge starting at Kirstenbosch or Cecilia forest. Skeleton Gorge is a lovely shady route in summer and has fun wooden ladders to climb and a few boulders to scramble over.  From there you can take the Smuts track to the highest point of Table Mountain, MacClear’s beacon, and then walk along the edge of the mountain with beautiful views until you reach the cable station. Then we would walk back through Echo valley and past the dams to come down at Constantia Nek (we always left one car there and took one to the start of the hike). Continue reading →

Visit the Tulips! – at Britzer Garten, Berlin

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If you need another reason to visit Berlin in spring, here it is: in April and May you can visit Britzer Garten in the south of Berlin to walk among all the beautiful tulips. I didn’t even know there were so many different types of tulips before visiting this park, but they come in all shapes, sizes and colours! They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so now I’ll keep quiet and post some photos so that you can see for yourself.

PS – the park is huge, so put on your walking shoes! For the elderly and those with kids, there’s even a little train that runs around the park. Continue reading →

South Africa meets Czech Republic: our Protea-themed wedding

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As soon as I knew that I would be getting married away from home (South Africa), I knew there was one thing I definitely wanted at my wedding: Proteas. Proteas are a genus of flowers indigenous to South Africa, and the King Protea (Protea cynaroides) is the national flower of our country. 92% of Protea species grow in the Cape Floristic region. They are big, beautiful, hardy flowers, and you see them growing wild when you hike on the mountains. The first time I found some proteas in Berlin, I inhaled their subtle scent into my lungs and could smell home. Continue reading →

May: Wild Flowers

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May is almost over, so there’s only a short time left to gather together your photos of wild flowers for Jude’s Garden Challenge! I already put some photos up of the bear leek growing on the island of Rügen in north Germany; now I’d like to show some more photos of wild flowers I’ve spotted growing around Europe. I don’t know the names of most of them – I should really buy a book of European plants. If anyone can label any of them, I’d love to hear what they are called. Of course I do recognize poppies, and they are among my favourite flowers. They pop up on many roadsides at this time of year (often around railway tracks for some reason), but you can also see them grown commercially for the seeds (presumably they also grow them somewhere to make codeine and morphine). In Germany, poppyseeds are called Mohn, and they are used in lots of sweet cakes, pastries and dumplings. A piece of Mohnkuchen is delicious, with an almond-like flavour, and if you ever visit Germany i’d recommend popping into a bakery to try a piece.

IMG_20140608_105539 Continue reading →

May: Wild Flowers – Wild garlic in Rügen

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The theme for Jude’s garden challenge this month is wild flowers.

“This month I want to see native wild flowers found in the hedgerows, woodlands, farmland, meadows, by the coast, up a mountain, on the heath and even in your own garden. Basically those plants that haven’t been planted, but occur naturally, although specifically planted wild flower meadows can be included. Wild flowers provide food for humans and wildlife and are usually hardy, resilient and well adapted to the climate and soils, and yes sadly often referred to as weeds.” Continue reading →

April – Macros in the Garden

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This month’s Garden photography theme is “Get a little closer“. Some of these photos I showed before in last month’s theme, Wildlife in the Garden. I have to say a macro lens is on my wishlist. My ancient Sony camera had a surprisingly good macro setting even though it was a 2MP camera (see the bee photo below) and even my Nexus 5 phone does pretty well sometimes. But I’d like to get a little bit closer still! Anyway, enjoy these photos for now 🙂

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