Seneca Hill Perennials

February 9, 2008

Said farewell to Lovedale at Rhodes this AM, after having the first night’s sleep on the entire trip in which I woke up when my body wanted to (6:30 or so, but on my own, not because I had to).  Felt good. 

So we headed off towards Ladybrand, stopping early on to photograph Kniphofia stricta and Gladiolus saundersii.  I admired the unusually thorough signage at a nearby bridge. Further on we photographed some magnificent Gladiolus dalenii, with wonderfully flared flowers rather than the narrow hoods of the ones I grow.  I *want* it.  Unfortunately, something very dead lay somewhere nearby, and the smell was really revolting.  John looked around to make sure there wasn’t a (human) body – he didn’t find the source, but personally I was quite content not to enquire further.  Kind of made it hard to appreciate the beauty of the gladiolus. (Postscript: Cameron revisited this site on his trip home and found that someone had dug up the entire clump.  Depressing.)

About 45km east of Lady Grey we found masses of Nerine angustifolia  in glorious bloom and some in seed, so we stopped for pics and seed.  This plant likes moist, rich, humusy soil – a good sign for pot and/or garden growing, though I seriously doubt it will survive outside in Oswego.

We then drove across the Transkei, a truly horrible place – nothing about it to give one any hope at all.  It is so completely overgrazed that erosion has carried off vast amounts of soil, leaving deep ravines everywhere; no crops are successfully grown (fields that had been sowed to maize were yielding nothing); thoroughly depressing.  The only light moment, if you can call it that, was when we drove past a funeral parlor (in the middle of a row of three relatively prosperous looking funeral parlors) with the proud motto painted in large letters across the front: “We Bury Africa”.  Probably the only growth industry in the Transkei, and judging by the fresh graves and funerals one sees everywhere, it’s doing very well indeed.

Next came the Free State, which is all farmed, well-managed for the most part but long since nearly devoid of any native flora. I napped some.  Not too long before we arrived at Ladybrand, we spotted a cow pasture with several glorious Brunsvigia radulosa, and in the background, to the east, black storm clouds gathering over the mountains -this made for some lovely photos (1,2).

And on to Ladybrand and our current stop, Cranberry Cottages, an officially 4-star accommodation and spa that has changed hands and gotten a tad seedy.  John gave me the Afrikaaner term for the interior decoration here, which is something along the lines of “Boer Baroque” – African tourist art on the walls, leopard–patterned plush fabric on the sofa, department-store deco metal beds – a little awful.  My first room, however, had a wonderful shower, the stall the size of a bath, where I wallowed for about 20 minutes, using as much hot water as I wanted. Unfortunately the electricity subsequently failed, and I was moved to a room with a tub and no leopard-print sofa, but it’s much more centrally located (the other was out back at the very end of the line) and I feel a lot more comfortable here.

Dawie, who is joining us here for the remainder of the trip, showed up around 5 PM and took me out for a stroll through town, to see some of the lovely old sandstone buildings from the colonial era. 

Dinner was quite good – I actually had a salad, something that is hard to come by here, and because it’s a hotel I did not have to be polite and eat either my mashed squash or my overcooked chard (“spinach” – not).  Suits me, but the rest of the place is a bit odd.

Managed to call Doug twice this PM, as I have a genuine land line right in my room, so can use my Telkom WorldCall card (one of SA travel's great bargains).  Always reassuring to touch base.