Well hello, stranger
A warm welcome to everyone, from adventurers to the people just going for walks for mental health and a little bit of sun! We are in the month of April, which means it's getting cold here in South Africa! My home town has insane cold winters and I always wonder when my fingers will decide they had enough and turn purple. Spoiler alert, they started turning purple at the end of March... So no, I'm not a fan of winter. My hands don't work, my nose gets red, my ears want to run away and most plants around the town die... leaving us with nothing but cold icy days.
So before this happens I decided to take the opportunity of this Wednesday walk and go find the last bits and pieces of colour! By the end of this month, the greenery and happy vibes in the garden will be gone, and then I'll miss all these beautiful pops of colour and life in the outside world.
I took a break from my writing this morning and ventured around our campus in search of anything that sparks joy before winter finally falls. So let's get into it!
Green Droplets
My first find of joy was on the side of a building. This giant creeper plant has been around since I started my studies (which was 7 years ago 😅). I never really pay close attention to it, since it's visible from a distance. But today I made my way and said hello to the giant green wall.
And to my surprise I found water droplets! Not sure if it was from dew droplets or if the sprinklers were on before I got there, but it was magical nevertheless. If you look closely you can see the darker older leaves in the back, with the new bright green leaves in the front. The contrast between the dark green and bright green got my attention.
The water droplets look like bright green gummy sweets clinging to the leave. I couldn't help but notice how bright the vines of the leave were as if it's trying to tell the droplets where they should go. You know like a road map. This is my absolute favourite picture of the day.
I found it amusing that the one droplet was chilling in the middle of the point. He clearly had enough of this leave 😂.
I wanted to focus on one droplet here (the one centre of the middle leave). I tried to create a blurring effect by focusing on it, fading all the other droplets. The reason is that water is life, and even just one droplet is precious.
A POP of colour
Nature may be made up of 80% greenery, but we can't forget about all the bright flowers that bless us with their presence. After I ran up and down the green wall looking at the water droplets I continued with my walk. I decided to visit the Red Square since this is seen as the centre of our campus. During covid, the gardeners had the opportunity to redo the square, and let me tell you the work they did was such a blessing to the students after being locked inside for so long.
The Plumbago auriculata flowers are in full bloom. I find these flowers fascinating. They form these small clusters almost like Helleborus niger, but they produce a sticky liquid and will stick to you if you get to close to them. They are still gorgeous and the perfect colour of baby blue.
Aa fake mini strawberries, also known as mock Indian strawberries or scientifically as Potentilla indica. We had these in our garden when I was a kid. I remember my mother telling us on many occasions "They are poisonous, don't eat them". Turns out they are used as traditional medicine and keep away pests. They do however attract a LOT of bees. So if you're allergic don't plant them.
Greater periwinkle. What can I say about them? They are perfect in every way. Colour, check. Green, check. Quick grower, check. the perfect pop of colour before winter, CHECK! I take it back, this might be my favourite photo find of the day.
These vibrant red flowers grow along some of the pathways on campus. They just popped up everywhere. The gardeners will remove them only for them to return a few weeks later. So they have just started to accept these little wild Peruvian zinnias. I think it adds a nice "natural" touch to all the man-made gardens and pathways.
Can you spot the tiny friend? I think it's best if we leave him and the Carpobrotus acinaciformis alone... 🌸
The sun illuminated this flower and made it look almost neon pink. Maybe there was a side quest that I somehow missed 🤔.
I found these tiny Tulbaghia Violacea flowers amongst all the greenery. These plants smell like garlic so try not to touch them! Your hands will smell like garlic for weeks (speaking from experience 🤣). They also repel various insects and even snakes!
Winter got us all like...
I made my way back to my office and decided to enjoy the warm sun for a bit before going back to my cold office. As I was gazing at all the leaves falling my eye caught this tiny insect. And by tiny I do mean tiny tiny. My camera didn't even want to focus on him. You can see he's about the size of the gravel in a brick. If you zoom in you can see the groves on his body, almost like a mmm well I can't place my finger on it. What do you think?
This stray cat has made our department his home. We have a lot of stray cats on campus, each has chosen a department and well the staff just take care of them. They won't let you pet them, but they do add joy to our daily lives. This guy was chilling on the warm pavement, and damn I wish I could have joined him for a cat nap.
While he was not part of my daily walking adventures, I just had to share him! It's our neighbour's dog. He got a bath today and was enjoying the last bit of sun and heat before evening fell. I hope he made your day a bit brighter.
Thank you for joining me on my search for some colour at the start of winter. Soon all the happy bright colours will be gone. Then I'll just have to enjoy the orange sunsets we get! Just a disclaimer for those who follow both me and @technicalside, we somehow had the same post idea in mind without discussing it at all 😂. Great minds think alike?
