It’s not like me to hone in on the flowers and disregard the plant, but it happens. It certainly did the other day when I took this picture of beautiful bell-like flowers on a tour of a local community greenhouse (a post with photos is forthcoming). I could have sworn they belonged to a succulent in the genus kalanchoe, yet when I brought the photo up on my screen I knew my memory had failed me.
It took some time to search my subconscious, flipping through the hundreds, if not thousands of plants I had seen in a glance that afternoon. Finally it was the fuzzy, green leaf in the corner (top image) that provided the clue: Veltheimia, a flowering bulb from South Africa. I have one that I purchased cheaply at a plant sale 2 years ago — just this morning I had moved it to a warmer location in the house!
No matter. The sun, the colour, and even just the thought of someplace warm like South Africa warms my chilly bones on what has been the coldest day of winter so far.
South Africa isn’t the only place sweltering and shimmering in heat at the moment. We live in Northern Tasmania and it is HOT here! We have lots of South African imports living in our gardens thanks to our incredibly similar climactic conditions to Africa and many of them have turned feral. We have many Africans living here as well…we should start a mutual swap system ;).