After the Cape Autumn Storm

The first thing to do after the Cape Autumn Storm was a round through my garden, here in Noordhoek, South Africa, to see the extent of the damage. Camera in hand, of course!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Stone Pine by Bianca Gubalke Photography

Luckily, the trees and plants were more flexible due to the heavy rains and, accordingly, we had to spend the day merely to get back some ‘order’ – as far as that is possible and desirable in a wild garden like mine! Nature in the so-called “richest floral kingdom in the world’ is diverse and astonishing enough without too much of our interference, however, regular clean-ups are a must as ‘normally’ fynbos and proteas just burn down every 15 or so years – that’s normal. And then life starts all new again, rising like phoenix from the ashes.

One fire like the one we went through is enough for a life time – so the alternative is to regularly control what’s coming down in the storms or what’s coming up in terms of alien vegetation, especially Port Jackson, rooikrans, myrtle and hakea. Pines and blue gums are also known to suck up a lot of water; hence the need to control their growth and distribution.

The massive stone pine above has already gone through the historic fires that swept through the Cape Peninsula in the year 2000, where everything you see on this picture went up in 30 m high flames! One can still see the marks on the bark. It’s a serene place to simply sit and spend some quiet time, leaning against the stem.

This is where I discovered the plane tree leaf below, all glistening in magnificent autumn colours. Ideal for some digital photography – another exercise!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Plane Leaf in Autumn by Bianca Gubalke Photography