Guilt-free gardening

Cherise Viljoen’s suggestions on how to garden in the drought and how to recognize a plant that is designed by nature to survive our long hot summer climate (wind, lack of water, harsh sun)

Choose slower growing, more long lived, hardier evergreens and try avoid soft, thirsty annuals & perennials

Select those plants naturally geared to survive drought:
 - silver, grey foliage: reflects the heat
 - upright, narrow, small leaves or no leaves at all: all if which reduces contact with the hot sun and so stay cooler- reducing their water-loss though evaporation
 - hairy, waxy, firm-structured, aromatic: all designed to also reduce water-loss from the plant
 - succulent: have their own reservoirs of water supply
 - have more underground plant parts and storage organs- like bulbs: Hide from the sun and wind and so reduce water-loss
 - deciduous in summer: grow when the weather is cooler and wetter, sleep when conditions are unfavourable

Talk on Drought Gardening

Cherise Viljoen, Senior Horticulturist at Kirstenbosch and Manager of the Kirstenbosch Wholesale Nursery, will be giving a talk on Drought Gardening at the AGM of the Friends of Meadowridge Common. Well-known for her gardening advice show on Cape Talk radio, a talk by Cherise is not to be missed! Join the Friends to find out how to make a fabulous waterwise garden.

The AGM is on Monday 25 February at 19h30 in the Meadowridge Library, Howard Drive, Meadowridge. Everyone is welcome – and Cherise is willing to answer drought-related gardening queries. There is secure parking, and tea and cake is served afterwards. For more information, please contact Roger Graham, Chairperson of the Friends on 021 715 9206, or visit their webpage at http://meadowridgecommon.blogspot.com/.

Request for volunteers in an Urban Pollinator Research Project.

PhD candidate, Peta Blom, is recruiting volunteers to make observations of beetles in gardens in Meadowridge. She is gathering data on all flower-visiting beetles, but she is particularly interested in monkey beetles, which are an important family of pollinators with rich diversity in the Cape Floristic Region. Recently she trapped some really interesting monkey beetles in Molinera Way, Meadowridge (you might have seen her blue, yellow and white dishes hiding in the grass when you took your dog out). Peta wants to know which beetles are using gardens (why) and how far they are travelling from where I trapped them. The data you collect will be used in her Ph.D. and she hopes to be able to provide insight into landscaping and urban design for diversity.

 

"The United Nations have declared Cape Town as the most biodiverse city in the world. Normally this is described in terms of the amazing flora in our region, but it is also diverse in other creatures including, mammals and insects. The Western Cape has the highest diversity of monkey beetles in the world and many of our most prized flower species (in particular the Iridaceae) have co-evolved alongside the rich monkey beetle diversity and rely on them for seed production. This project seeks to understand to what extent private gardens are  providing habitat and foraging ground for monkey beetles – particularly those gardens around fragments of natural vegetation as can be found on Meadowridge Common. The beetles are in the adult stage of their lifecycle in spring and climb into flowers to find and compete for a mate. The project will conduct observations over two spring seasons in 2018 and 2019, with the pilot starting in October 2018. I am calling for volunteers in Meadowridge to participate in making weekly observations of the flowers in their gardens over a period of 6-8 weeks during spring. Each observation should take about 15 min and will include documenting the beetles in flowers in a 16 m² area in the garden along with variables such as the weather conditions of the day and garden orientation. This study is the first truly urban study of monkey beetle populations to be conducted anywhere in the world."

To sign up, or just to find out more, please write to Peta Brom at brompeta@gmail.com. 

Peta Blom, B. Phil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management), (Stel) cum laude; M.Phil EGS (UCT), PhD Candidate (UCT)

Save the date ...

 

For the love of Wild Bees is the subject of our next talk on Monday 29 October 2018 at 7h30 pm  in the Meadowridge Library, Howard Drive, Meadowridge (click here for Google map directions). Our speaker is Jenny Cullinan of the Wild Bee Research Group (see their web page here, as well as their Facebook Page). Jenny will speak about the important role bees play as a keystone species in the fynbos region and why we need to protect all of our wild bees. She will show the amazing world of bees and, of course, their beautiful fit with flowers. Jenny has just returned from a conference in the The Netherlands and as this will be her first talk since returning, we will hear all about what is happening in this field oversees.

For more information, please contact Roger Graham, Chairman of the Friends, at 021 715 9206 or email us at Meadowridgefriend@gmail.com.

Entry is free, everyone is welcome, and safe parking is provided. Tea, coffee and cakes will be provided.

New poster for the Common

Recent clearing operations on Meadowridge Common were brought to a halt when the workers discovered a wild honeybee colony. Although this colony was known to some of the locals, it was an exciting find for many conservationists. One of the visitors drew our attention to the colony as she was concerned that it had now become exposed as half the bush it was in had been cut away. The Friends of Meadowridge Common were directed to Jenny Cullinan of the Wild Bee Research Group and with her help, and input from The City of Cape Town, we decided to make a poster to put up on the Common. If you would like to download a PDF of the poster, click here.
Visit the Wild Bee Research Group web page here, as well as their Facebook Page.

Drought survivors

At the recent AGM, Fiona Watson, Botanical Officer of the Friends of Meadowridge Common Committee, gave a talk on the Meadowridge Common plants which have survived the drought that is gripping Cape Town. She presented a slideshow of her photographs of these plants, many of which are available from nurseries. Fiona recommended that gardeners in the area try to change from water-needy plants to these hardy indigenous plants that are suited to hot dry summers. A link to SANBI’s PlantZAfrica website with its wealth of information about our indigenous plants and how to grow them is provided where possible. Just click on the plant name for the link.

Carpobrotus edulis.



Ruschia geminiflora is Redlisted as Vulnerable.



Dimorphotheca pluvialis grows very well on the common in the spring, even though historically it didn't occur here until someone sprinkled some seeds.




Ursinia anthemoides

Heliophila africana

Erica subdivaricata

Salvia africana-lutea

Salvia chamelaeagnea

Oxalis obtusa





Oxalis pes-caprae



Oxalis purpurea



Diastella proteoides is Redlisted as Critically Endangered



Lecuadendron salginum



Struthiola ciliata

Struthiola dodecandra



 Serruria glomerata is Redlisted as Vulnerable.

Pelargonium cucullatum

Further information can be obtained from your local nursery, and many of Cape Town's specialist indigenous nurseries like Good Hope Gardens Nursery, Dr Boomslang Indigenous Nursery and the Kirstenbosch Garden Centre tel: 021 797 1305).  Possibly the best source of local Cape Flats Sand Fynbos plants is from Caitlin von Witt who works with the City of Cape Town amongst other organizations involved with the rehabilitation of Cape Peninsula fynbos. Contact her to set up a visit to her nursery here. I highly recommend Caitlin’s Facebook page too. Specialists at Kirstenbosch are also willing to give you information about growing indigenous plants. Click here for contacts.

Meadowridge Common AGM

The AGM of the Friends of Meadowridge Common was held on Monday 26 February 2018 in the Meadowridge Common Library.
The Chairman, Roger Graham welcomed members and guests and gave an overview of the year - including news of the new fence enclosing the sports fields and thus cutting off access to the Common and the dramatic decrease in the 80 year old pine trees eleven of which succumbed to the drought and fell down. This has necessitated the preventative felling of several others with the trucks and workers causing some damage to the Common's plants. The Friends have laid woodchip paths in the exposed, sandy areas and we hope that the drought will soon break. Fiona Watson, the Botanical Officer, is very concerned about the state of the Common as the number of plants has decreased dramatically in the last few years.
Other noteworthy happenings during the year included the incorporation of two new storyboards on the Common, one on the Garden Cities development scheme of which Meadowridge is one, and the other on William Purcell. The successful and enjoyable Spring Walk had been held on a September afternoon, a change from the usual morning walk, led by botanist Stuart Hall who is about to receive his PhD. Congratulations Stuart. The Friends also held a winter cake sale which gave a little boost to the finances.
Longstanding Committee member, Gordon Evans, has stepped down from the Committee and a round of applause followed the announcement that it was his 90th birthday.
Fiona Watson, the Botanical Officer, presented a very interesting slideshow on Survivors of the Drought, (see next post) and after the usual presentation and adoption of the finances of the Society by Neville Postings, Roger handed the floor to our guest speaker, Alex Lansdowne. (Click here for a summary of the talk).
Alex Lansdowne was born and raised in Cape Town and his relationship with plants started at an early age. He grew up in the southern suburbs, vegetable gardening with his grandfather - who grew enough fresh produce to feed the family every day. That evolved into an appreciation for wild plants with the encouragement of environmental educator Wendy Hitchcock (of Meadowridge) whilst in school. Alex studied Public Policy at the University of Cape Town. After a short career in politics and marketing he grew frustrated with working inside and started his business as a Restoration Horticulture Conservationist. He then spent 2 years part time with Geert Sprangers, restoration horticulturist at The City of Cape Town Biodiversity Management branch. 
Alex now consults independently to landowners on plant conservation projects, with a particular focus on restoration and habitat rehabilitation. He has a particular passion for threatened habitat restoration and species conservation plans. One of his flagship projects is working with the City of Cape Town and the Friends of Rondebosch Common on the Rondebosch Common Restoration Project & the introduction of the beautiful Peacock Moraea (Moraea aristata).