Cape Town - It’s not only about the colour of flowers. And although that may be the main attraction, a trip to see the annual show of wild flowers is about so much more.
The first displays of flowers are beginning now, earlier than usual, and this season is going to be excellent, says Hendrik van Zijl, who lives in Nieuwoudtville and knows the area’s ecology intimately. While there are so many places to see flowers up the West Coast, the Nieuwoudtville area is special because of the diversity you’ll find there, with its three major veld types.
Fynbos meets succulent Karoo here, and there are areas of rare Renosterveld, of which there is only three percent to four percent left countrywide (because of farming). It’s in the Renosterveld particularly that there’s such a diversity of plants.
“I suggest to visitors that they look not only at the flowers but the whole Nieuwoudtville ecological experience,” says Van Zijl.
A good place to begin is the Hantam National Botanical Garden, which used to be called Glenlyon farm. It has the greatest diversity of flora, has easy hiking trails, and is one of the farms that the public has access to.
When flower-gazing, you can look with a book in hand, but I’d suggest you just look. Put away your camera, too, until you’ve gazed for a while and taken it all in.
The question that did come up was why anyone would travel hundreds of kilometres to see flowers. For myself, and I make no apology for waxing lyrical, there’s something awe-inspiring about a vista of flowers. And then, looking closely at the flowering bulbs at my feet, I’m delighted by each flower, its delicacy, the arrangement of bulbs and succulents around the lichen, orange flowers peeping from the rock, and the juxtaposition of deep blues, mauves, yellows and oranges. As a flower lover, this is ecstasy.
The magnificent carpets of orange and yellow are only part of the attraction, I learnt, and guided by Van Zijl, we found many other treasures.
While you hope for a windless, sunny day for the carpets of flowers to be at their best, there’s always something to see, even with wind and cloud cover.
Breathe in the fresh air, and breathe out as you notice the bees, the ants, the birds – and the silence of this sparsely inhabited area.
The secret of flower gazing is to drive off the tar roads: the dirt roads have wide verges, a feature from when people trekked sheep from area to area. The verges are undisturbed veld, and you’ll find many treasures here.
On our first day we headed for the farm Bikoes, the place to go to find bulbs in late September. It’s a few kilometres outside Nieuwoudtville on the Grasberg Road.
Water had gathered in a marshy area and we saw masses of yellow Bulbinella, known as katsterte.
“I encourage people to do roadside botanising,” says Van Zijl, who urges people to see beyond the colour. Van Zijl is always up to date with what’s flowering where.
Every night Van Zijl gives talks to visitors as to what’s flowering where, and it’s well worthwhile getting some guidance on what he calls “the continuous moving show”.
The geophytes (bulbs) we saw include many Romuleas, Lachenalias, Ornithogalums, some Hesperanthas and many more. We were lucky to find the rare Sparaxis elegans (white form).
We saw masses of Sparaxis tricolor, known as the Harlequin flower, which is endemic to the area, the parent of the many hybrids you’ll find around the world. I was delighted by the tiny pink orchids of Satyrium erectum, growing next to the little white buttons of Cotula nudicaulis.
On a rocky outcrop my eyes are drawn down to the lichen in many shades of grey and white, with a variety of tiny flowers growing around the rocks, and in the depressions.
Peach-coloured Moraeas, mauve Babianas and white Hesperanthas are other treasures we found.
The second day was heavy cloud, and so we walked around the ruins at the edge of town.
The ants were busy, dragging the tiny white Lachenalia to their nest, where they eat the protein-rich covering, all part of the fascinating interdependence of plants and insects.
We visited the kokerboom forest, 22km from the town, with around 8 000 trees – a place out of time.
That afternoon we drove through Matjiesfontein, a farm nearby, and in an area of about 1m2 found more than 20 flowering plants, including the deep blue Geissorhiza splendidissima, also endemic to Nieuwoudtville.
Plan to visit for a few days, between early August and late September. It’s a treat you won’t find anywhere else in the world, and a few days will give you a chance to relax into a quieter rhythm – and experience far more than just the carpets of colour. - Cape Argus