See the following post for a summary of Alice's informative talk.
Garden plants that grow naturally on sandy flats
See the following post for a summary of Alice's informative talk.
Waterwise indigenous gardening on the sandy flats
Alice Notten, Chief Interpretive Officer at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, gave an entertaining and informative talk on Waterwise indigenous gardening on the sandy flats. The talk was hosted by the Friends of Meadowridge Common, and took place in the Meadowridge Library - one of several interesting talks hosted by the Friends over the years. Alice Notten is a botanist and horticulturist who has worked at Kirstenbosch for many years, and is known by many for her interesting articles on gardening with indigenous plants on the website PlantZafrica as well as those in Veld & Flora. This is a summary of her talk, with links to the PlantZafrica site, where you can obtain more information on gardening with specific plant mentioned. 
When Alice bought a house in Plumstead, she was a bit shocked at the windy, sandy conditions she faced as she had only had experience gardening in the rich, loamy soils of Johannesburg, and then the rich loamy soils of Kirstenbosch where she had lived up to this point. Anyone who has gardened in this area knows the type of soil that she was confronted with: sandy, oily soil that repels water. Alice started off by planting a windbreak around the perimeter, finding Searsia (Rhus) pendulina to be the most successful fast-growing, bushy hedge, 
as well as the pioneer Keruboom (Virgilia divaricata and V. oroboides). This is an excellent pioneer tree that will act as a "nursery species" by providing protection for slower growing, more sensitive plants that you can plant around it. Being a pioneer species, the Keurboom will die in about ten to fifteen years by which time the slower growing species will be well established. 
Another good hedge plant is Tecoma capensis. It is hardy and colourful and fast growing. A summer stroll
Take a stroll on the Common and although it looks hot and dry, you will be amazed at what you find. One of the storyboards has a display of the flowers you might come across ...
Erica subdivaricata is just starting to flower ... 
and the Sour Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) flowers are opening too. 
These butterfly flowers are definitely not indignous. They are Gaura lindheimeri and hail from Texas and Louisiana. 
You will notice lots of snails in the low shrubs on the Common. These are introduced snails - snailiens - that have become a bit of a pest in the Cape. More about them here.
Erica subdivaricata is just starting to flower ... and the Sour Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) flowers are opening too. This beautiful little aristea, Aristea dichotoma, was flowering resolutely in the hot sun. It was identified by Fiona Watson and she observes that it seems to prefer to grow where it gets some shade. The leaves are tough, narrow and point vertically upwards to avoid direct sunlight. 
In this photo you can see the three-winged fruit. 
The Common Sugarbush (Protea repens) was flowering too, and was covered in honeybees. Strictly speaking, this particular bush was planted here, but it might well have occurred here naturally in days gone by. Come along to the AGM on Monday 28 February, to find out more about the flowers of Meadowridge Common and the fascination of bees. In this photo you can see the three-winged fruit. These butterfly flowers are definitely not indignous. They are Gaura lindheimeri and hail from Texas and Louisiana. Snailiens on the Common
Theba pisanaCommon names: White Garden Snail - Sandhill Snail - Vine Snail - Dune Snail - White Italian Snail - Duineslak
Theba pisana was introduced by humans to South Africa sometime before 1881. It comes from the Mediterranean area – hence its name "White Italian Snail" - and has also spread to Australia, California and western Europe, as well as parts so South America and Bermuda, the Azores and Madeira. This snail lives mostly in the winter- and all-year-round-rainfall regions of the western and southern Cape from the Orange River mouth to East London. It seems to prefer to live near the coast, and is found in gardens, on road verges, in pastures, grainlands and vineyards, as well as in pristine coastal fynbos.
Is it a pest?
Yes – it is an agricultural and garden pest in the Cape where its population densities can be extremely high, but not enough is known about it to say exactly how pestiferous it is.
Life cycle
The snails in the photos above are aestivating (sitting out the summer) on Meadowridge Common. They are well adapted to survive the hot dry summer as they can drop their body temperature to well below 44 °C during the hottest time of the day. The reason you see them in bushes is because the temperature on the ground in summer is frequently higher than the snail’s body temperature, so they climb upward and aestivate above the ground where temperatures are lower.
The breeding season starts in late summer and autumn when mating occurs when their aestivation is broken after the onset of the first heavy rains of the season.
Egg-laying extends until late winter and spring. The bulk of the snails die after laying eggs, although not always – some have been known to live for 4 years.
The eggs hatch in later winter and spring.
What does that mean?
Aestivate Spend the summer in a state of torpor, a “summer sleep” rather like hibernating during the heat of summer.
Most of the information here comes from the book by Dai Herbert, The introduced terrestrial Mollusca of South Africa. It is available from SANBI and the Kirstenbosch Bookshop.
Spring walks on the Common
Stuart Hall holding up the metre-long leaf of Moraea fugax. 
Roger Graham (right) - the Chairman of the Friends of Meadowridge Common.
Fiona Watson handing over a CD of her description of the species that occur on Meadowridge Common to Stuart Hall at the end of the walk.
Fiona Watson - Botanical Officer, The Friends of Meadowridge Common.
"Don't stand on the Lampranthus reptans!"The Friends of the Meadowridge Common hosted two spring walks on the Common recently. Stuart Hall, a botanist studying at UCT, led the first walk on Saturday 11 September and Olwen Gibson the second one on 18 September.
Meadowridge Common, a remnant of critically endangered lowlands fynbos, has been included in the booklet City of Cape Town Nature Reserves, a network of amazing urban biodiversity, and indeed, over 140 species of indigenous flowering plants have been identified by Fiona Watson on this small 7 ha open space - four of them in danger of extinction.
Meadowridge Common, a remnant of critically endangered lowlands fynbos, has been included in the booklet City of Cape Town Nature Reserves, a network of amazing urban biodiversity, and indeed, over 140 species of indigenous flowering plants have been identified by Fiona Watson on this small 7 ha open space - four of them in danger of extinction.
Flowers that were seen included Oxalis species and Lampranthus reptans flowers as well as species of Romulea in red, mauve and orange. Dainty white trachyandras that were just opening as were the sky-blue Heliophila africana. White botterblom (Sparaxis bulbifera) and yellow Senecio littoreus were also flowering, as was Pelargonium triste. The walks were well attended, with over 50 arriving for the first walk, and just less than half that for the second walk.
Lunate ladybirds and blister beetles
Cape Autumn Widow
Cape Autumn Widow butterflies fly slowly just above grass, often settling on bare patches of ground. The females scatter eggs in flight. The larvae are well camouflaged and feed on various grasses. Their preferred habitat is grassy areas on mountain slopes and lower ground.
Information from Field guide to insects of South Africa by Mike Picker, Charles Griffiths and Alan Weaving, Struik.
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