Update..
Hi guys,
I've been mostly-offline for a bit, but have caught up with a lot of emails today, but not Flickr or LJ.
Cape Town has been nice, and now I have photos of Dassies and Penguins and lovely landscapes and seascapes.. which I will eventually get around to uploading.
If you visit Cape Town, I can really recommend visiting the Kirstenbosch botanic gardens, as it's very nice.
Oh, and Bouchard Finlayson do a nice Pinot Noir.
In the meantime, here is a little story about a flower photo I posted a while ago:
I took this photo by the side of a small hiking trail in the Drakensberg region, near Cathedral Peak. I think, but I'm not sure, that it is an Erica verticillata.
If so, then it turns out it has quite a story:
It was thought to have become extinct by the 1960s, with the last recorded collection from the wild in 1908. (It survived in cultured botanic gardens for a while longer).
However staff at the Kirstenbosch Gardens were able to track down some seeds and cuttings:
In 1984 the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, received a cutting from a private collection, which they forwarded to South Africa.
In 2001 the Heather Society of Britain found a plant in Southampton, and sent some cuttings to Kirstenbosch.
The plant was re-introduced into the wilds.. where I found it.
Adelaideans: Let me know if you'd like to catch up this Saturday? It's not going to be a big celebration or anything since I'll probably be knackered from a massive flight and jetlagged.. I'll have a party later, once I've got back in touch with more people.
I can do other times instead, too - after all, it's not like I have a job to go to during the week.. So it's in my interest to see people then too :)
I've been mostly-offline for a bit, but have caught up with a lot of emails today, but not Flickr or LJ.
Cape Town has been nice, and now I have photos of Dassies and Penguins and lovely landscapes and seascapes.. which I will eventually get around to uploading.
If you visit Cape Town, I can really recommend visiting the Kirstenbosch botanic gardens, as it's very nice.
Oh, and Bouchard Finlayson do a nice Pinot Noir.
In the meantime, here is a little story about a flower photo I posted a while ago:
I took this photo by the side of a small hiking trail in the Drakensberg region, near Cathedral Peak. I think, but I'm not sure, that it is an Erica verticillata.
If so, then it turns out it has quite a story:
It was thought to have become extinct by the 1960s, with the last recorded collection from the wild in 1908. (It survived in cultured botanic gardens for a while longer).
However staff at the Kirstenbosch Gardens were able to track down some seeds and cuttings:
In 1984 the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, received a cutting from a private collection, which they forwarded to South Africa.
In 2001 the Heather Society of Britain found a plant in Southampton, and sent some cuttings to Kirstenbosch.
The plant was re-introduced into the wilds.. where I found it.
Adelaideans: Let me know if you'd like to catch up this Saturday? It's not going to be a big celebration or anything since I'll probably be knackered from a massive flight and jetlagged.. I'll have a party later, once I've got back in touch with more people.
I can do other times instead, too - after all, it's not like I have a job to go to during the week.. So it's in my interest to see people then too :)