Reflect on the past humbly - Welcome the future with Enthusiasm
Closing the door ending off what started as a positive year, swift change out of ones control leaves you seeking a way to adjust.
Prior to rain arriving in my garden the pretty little rain lily (Zephyranthes grandiflora) will start showing signs then you know rain is on it's way. Hardy little plant, origin South America, has found a way to spread and thrive bringing sign of rain.
New beginnings, rejuvenation a signal of brighter days ahead, perhaps the storm has passed, last two months of 2024 I will say no more!
Natal forest tree frog (Leptopelis natalensis) endemic to KwaZulu-Natal end up during or after rains in Summer months indoors, then a chase is on to try assist them outdoors where they belong.
No tree frogs in South Africa are poisonous, treat them gently, they need damp spaces taking them into the garden, normally put them in the bromeliads. This lovely little animal can live up to ten years in vegetation, so when it rains tread carefully in the home we have set free just shy of a dozen this wet season alone.
Unfurling into a new year we watch in wonder as the cycas starts new growth, held tight within soft velvet covering slowly open into bright green. In time the leaves harden taking on leathery shape.
Cycas is a genus of cycad, this particular one has produced a cone, at the moment spreading two new plants either side of the original. One of four in the garden one day more research into finding actual names on each.
With a Zerenopsis leopardina, otherwise known as the Leopard Magpie Moth, Pied Leopard Moth or, in Afrikaans, Luiperdmot, day-flight moth that tends to wreck havoc on cycas or cycads, never using poisons in the garden I have had damage to some plants, they still survived.
Heralding in the New Year with Aechmea bromeliad plants, boasting banded leaves of silver grey, bright pink flower that will last for awhile. Another planted in my 'wild garden' with ferns, under a large tree, thrives in nature with no interference on my part.
With beauty all around, my surprise today was a bird, on researching a juvenile Cape Rock-Thrush which I will be sure to double check with the birding groups. A first in my garden!
Happy New Year - As Christopher Hitchens said - "Take the risk of thinking for yourself - much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."
Thought for Today: "Time lost is lost forever." - African Proverb
