We took photos on the way back from Harry Goemans Garden Centre of the beautiful flora along the roadside. The drive is a very picturesque stretch that takes us over the Ou Kaapse weg (The Old Cape Road) over the Steenberg Mountain Plateau where the Silvermine Nature Reserve is situated. Harry Goemans Garden Centre is situated in the Noordhoek Valley near Fishoek – so this was a special outing for the two of us! Below you can see the flora near the Silvermine Nature Reserve and the view of the Constantia Valley from where we came.
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Just a bit of geographical history: The Noordhoek Valley is bounded in the north by Chapman’s Peak, Noordhoek Ridge and the sweep of mountains which make up the Steenberg Plateau towards Muizenberg, all of which form a magnificent natural amphitheatre. For many years Noordhoek was a fairly remote and inaccessible corner of the southern peninsular. Until the Ou Kaapse Weg was completed in 1960s, the only access for nearly 300 years was via the main road that follows the railway line along the False Bay shore from Muizenberg via St James, Kalk Bay and Fishoek to Simons Town.
We passed the most beautiful protea and indigenous flowers – none of which we could identify. I hope our African friends can help us name the many flowers we encountered! Maybe some of our South African visitors can identify these plants……….. Thanks for sharing with us xxx
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7 replies on “Indigenous Roadside Flora”
Don’t we live in an amazingly beautiful Country? Stunning!
Hehe, I thought Diana was the one most likely to know what these were and I was right! GDiana is a walking Plant Guru for South Africa’s Plantlife!
You are so right – on both counts! Thanks my friend that we could share that day together! It was a great outing! 🙂
There’s my sweetpea bush. The tiny white papery flowers are Metalasia. Yellow pincushion, probably Leucospermum conocarpodendron. Sunshine bush, Leucadendron, and I gave up in despair trying to ID the species for my blog post!
Oh wow – such a great help! Thank you!! 🙂
A picturesque drive indeed! Thanks for sharing these beautiful flowers. I wish I could help identify them.
How I love the view of the beautiful surroundings of the Silvermines!!! It reminds me of a long walk we once took on Mother’s Day, and I am sure Chris will remember it, too! Thanks for showing us all these beautiful photos! LOVE them, and: See you soon! 🙂
Oh how I do remember the many picnics we had with our young children at Silvermines. We do live in a beautiful part of the world – it is breathtaking! Can’t wait to see you 🙂