Kate's One Word Scavenger Photo Hunt 5/03/2021

This week's choice is Signs of spring/Signs of Autumn.  I had it all sorted, just need captions when this morning, as I lay in bed thinking I should get up, it suddenly came to me.....a photograph I had taken of the gorgeous trees that had come into flower one year while we were working at Thabamoopoo Hospital in Mpumulunga, South Africa.  So I gave up all ideas of daffodils, snowdrops etc and searched for my photograph.  

Spring in Central and Southern Africa where we had always lived has a different sort of feeling to it compared to the UK.  Here it has been cold and dreary and we can't wait for signs of snowdrops and daffodils to cheer us up and give hope of soon to be arriving Spring.  In Africa we have just had a very dry and (for Africa) cold few months.  The grass is brown and dead looking,  the trees bare and everywhere is very dry.  It does not have rain all year round but for only a few months, usually October or November to April.   Then after the first rains all the wild flowers just appear and the trees burst into bloom.

In this photographs the bougainvillea  is climbing up a Jacaranda tree which is just starting to come into blossom.  The lighter purple tree in the background is different shade of Jacaranda  and the yellow tree nearer the office is a Tipuana Tipu just coming into flower.  I unfortunately can't remember the name of the yellow one.

The bougainvillea in the picture below was an enormous old one and helped make a background and cover for the outdoor stage we built for the concerts put on for the patients.  I have used this picture before so some may remember it.  The ladies in it are staff, either nurses or cleaners, dancing wearing their traditional dress.    Many tribes were represented here,   Xhosa, Pedi, Shangaan, Sotho, Tswana, Zulu and Venda.  My favourite is the Shangaan, second lady from the right.  

Looking at these pictures set me on a search for other spring flowering trees though these pictures are curtesy of Google.  So forgive me for cheating. 

The first is of Jacaranda in bloom in Pretoria, administrative capital of South Africa. **** The city is famous for nearly all its streets being lined with the beautiful Jacaranda.  It is an amazing sight in October but it has many problems, not least being the mess it  makes when the flowers drop.  It causes Jacaranda Eye, itchy eyes for sufferers (B being one of them) for as long as the flowers are out.

                     

Another favourite  is the gorgeous Flamboyant  with its tulip like flowers.   It has very long seed pods,  up to 30 cms long, that can be shaken like rattles.  They are also used in street planting and  are a wonderful sight when in flower.

North of Cape Town, on the way to Namibia, each year the arid desert bursts into bloom as soon as the rains start to fall in Spring.  Tourists come from  all over the world  to see the acres and acres of wild flowers,

Below is a selection of pictures taken from the Namaqualand web pages.  The first being of an Oryx posing in the gorgeous flowers, then there were so many pictures to choose from I just selected a variety of different coloured flowers.

. 

Yellow  Namaqualand daisies and  purple vygies or mesembryanthemums 

Acres and acres of different coloured and variety of daisies 

I could not show pictures of African spring flowers without including the Flame Lily or Gloriosa Lily.

It comes into flower as the rainy season starts and was always special to us, not only as it is a beautiful flower, lasts well in the garden and vase but is the national flower of Rhodesia and now of Zimbabwe. 

****  If you, like me, are keen on quizzes and like to know  unusual facts you may have noticed I said Pretoria was the administrative capital.  Well South Africa  has THREE capitals, Pretoria as I have already mentioned, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and finally Capetown is the legislative capital. 

Now off to see what others have posted about Spring/Autumn.