Moving slowly into the New Year

Last Friday marked 3 months into our time living in South Africa.



We continue to have interesting animal experiences. The most recent was finding an injured juvenile wood owl lying in a heap by our sauna. Michael rescued it and I called a raptor centre in Stellenbosch to find out how we could try to help it. It could not lift its head and seemed extremely weak. Jeni and Hyme's son Nik helped me feed it. It survived overnight but it died the next morning. It had some kind of severe spinal injury and it simply could not survive. We were quite distressed but hope we made it more comfortable. Owls are amazing birds and we had naive hopes that we could save this wild creature.





We are still searching for a used car but have been fortunate that friends have loaned us vehicles thus far. We have found that even in the one year we have been away the general prices for goods has increased. We expect to figure it out by the end of the month so we have something to take friends around in when they arrive for visits.

On a more positive note, I can report that the chameleon continues to live on the lavender and tolerates my occasional visits.

Garden Surprise

All the time I spend in the garden is reaping some unexpected surprises -


like spying a little chameleon on the lavender plant next to the swimming pool Sunday morning. He has been much photographed and watched since then. Michael realized this morning that he is molting -wow.
While the photos make him look large - it is about 1 1/2 inches in body length with an equal length of skinny tail. He moves very slowly and deliberately and today I held a branch for him to move onto with those amazing prehensile feet -note close-up of same! I hope he stays for awhile.



Otherwise life continues much the same - lots of gardening, dog walks, swimming and enjoying life. We are attending another Rotary meeting this evening and hope soon to get involved in one of their on-going community projects. It is the first meeting of the year.

We are dog sitting for our friends the Scheids - their sweet old dog Buster is a lovely little companion. Buster is 14 and a bit deaf but a very happy fella who is not bothered by Emma's non-sociability because he simply cannot hear her give him a growl!

New Year and Plant Miracles

Happy New Year all - there are so many possible updates but today is devoted to the miracle of the recovering Lemon verbena plant.

About a month ago as part of the garden improvements Michael headed out in the heat of the morning and dug up a lemon verbena tree that had been pruned badly and was growing on a corner edge of a bed where it looked odd. We had discussed ideas about what should happen with it that morning and to my surprise Michael dug it out. This was great but perhaps not the best thing as the poor plant sat out for a bit in the sun while its new garden home was cleared and prepared.

The following few days pronounced a very disturbed plant - branches of leaves withered, browned and just plain died all over. Being anxious about the plant's ability to cope - I responded with some heavy pruning. Not sure that was such a great idea either but I did it and as every gardener knows, once it's gone it's gone. Michael cautioned me to stop and just wait so I did. We watched it anxiously for at least two weeks and then realized that there was nothing to do but wait and see. Fortunately that time coincided with the holiday weeks so we were often distracted. The occasional check of the tree's status showed no change, just more withered and browning leaves. A few bends of the branches and a light tug at the trunk suggested it was solidly in the ground but, again, no visible external change.

Meanwhile the newer lemon verbena planted (below it in the longer shot photo) from last January was also looking a bit sad but fortunately for it, we had not tried to move it. And the third plant looking very green and full in is the newest Lemon verbena to join the garden.

So December came to a close with a sad looking almost dead plant. Now some of you may be wondering why the big deal but you would not should you ever smell this lovely shrub with its yellowy-green leaves and amazing gentle scent. The leaves can be used for teas and I'm sure lots of other wonderful things which I shall need to research.

The end of this story is obvious but thrilling nonetheless. Yesterday morning when I went out to the patio to sit and drink my coffee I saw to my amazement baby green leaves are sprouting all over the lemon verbena. I could not believe it. Every dead node has come to life. There must be over 100 new leaves all working to provide food for the plant. It is a New Year and this tree has decided to grow and thrive. I think it is a miracle and I think it is a foretelling of a prosperous year for all.

Watching this plant survive despite a rude uprooting and replanting is also a great metaphor for my own experience developing a new life in South Africa. Admittedly my uprooting was far from rude but it has been more change than I realized and the adjustments are big. But like the lemon verbena, I am committed to thrive.

The garden is a great learning place - watching how the sun moves through one's property so one can determine the best locations for plants - mulling over the myriad possibilities and then choosing a direction to go - finding out who's eating what (bugs I mean) -creating spaces for growing different things -noticing how the plants respond. There are many lessons if you pay attention and I learned one from the lemon verbena. Take hold, hold on and things will improve!

Now that I've got you all interested in this tree/shrub I'll take photos regularly so that we can enjoy its blossoming.