Keep wandering

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Keep wandering, it doesn’t matter when you get there…

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It was still winter

W & N Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – no preliminary sketching 

It was still winter – freezing in Tarlton (South Africa) and it had actually just started drizzling. At first I thought it was sleet, but at closer inspection found it was a solid drizzle, and everything was going to be set for a very cold and frosty night! The winter of 2011 seemed to be the coldest we’ve experienced for some years, but you know what they say about a long winter,

’Sunshine’s smile does come my friends,
and a cruel callous winter makes for a balmier summer!’

Enjoying summer

 W&N watercolour on Bockingfo9rd 300gsm 

At this time of year I really enjoy the silhouettes of the trees and hedges against the summer sky.

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The colour of Winter is in the imagination

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

A winter scene in South Africa.

Clear blue skies and trees scorched by veld fires is a familiar sight here in South Africa in winter. With just a few more weeks of cold, we’re looking forward to the August winds which will quickly blow in Spring, bringing everything to life again.

The colour of springtime is in the flowers, the colour of winter is in the imagination.
~Terri Guillemets

Geranium or Pelargonium?

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Geraniums originated from South Africa, as well as Reunion, Madagascar, Egypt and Morocco and were introduced to European countries such as Italy, Spain and France in the 17th century.

Actually, the plants that gardeners have grown under the geranium name for several hundred years is not a geranium, but a pelargonium. Both plants, as well as a few others, are all members of the geraniaceae family. The problem arose when the plants were first brought from their native home of South Africa into Europe. All the early imports were labeled “geraniums” and continued under that blanket name for many years. When some observant botanists finally started a closer examination of these lovely new plants, they discovered many differences and then decided that the imports were not all the same plant type, but there were differences so were then moved into different named classifications.

One group of plants was given the original name of geraniums. A second group was classified as pelargoniums, then there were erodiums and sarcocaulons/monsonias. The plant we label “geranium” was put into the pelargonium category, however, it had become a well loved plant of gardeners in Europe under the old “geranium” label so although the botanists told them that the lovely pot or bedding plant they grew in such numbers was a pelargonium, they persisted in using the old name.

I’m now more confused than ever!