More unpublished beauties.

First up is a young Cape Poker flower with a story.

Flowers are expensive here and that's why we always visit the "bargain boxes" at our local nurseries.

We found this beauty in one of the bargain boxes. It was small and had no flower and looked rather bedraggled, nothing like what it looks like now. It is obviously very happy to receive love and attention, and we are happy with its growth. As I stated above, it is a Cape Poker (Kniphofia uvaria) and it is of the Aloe family.

This is a red Portulaca, and it is from Mexico. The little yellow stigma reminds me of the 24 hour Echinopsis flower, which I also have in here, and you will see the same little shaped stigma also in yellow.

Talking about yellow things, here's another Portulaca bed, and we hope that the little red ones will also start to expand like this, as then we will have beautiful yellows and reds covering the entire flower bed.

A small Echinopsis from the back of the row, decided to produce a single flower. Can you see the protruding stigma? Similar to the little red flower up above?

A pity that these beauties only last for 24 hours. They bloom overnight, and by late morning they start to wilt.

Something else below.

My wife called, as she was busy in the back garden, and just look what she found.

This is a lovely copper/gold-tinged bug by the funny name of Peaceful giant ground beetle (Boeomimetes ephippium).

A touch of the weather to end the post.

Dry and very hot here. So hot that the red and yellow burn can be seen on the leaves of the grapevine at the front of our neighbor's house. Looks almost like autumn, but the green leaves in-between show you that it is summer.

We have had a few rain warnings like the sun halo below, and the ants scurry all over to prepare for rain. But then they are just as surprised as us, due to not a drop of rain falling.

It is what it is with the weather here, and nothing we can do about it. The dam levels keep on dropping and worry about drought is sticking its head out. Far away inland towards the north of the country there are severe storms, and recently lightning strikes have killed some people. My parents-in-law live up there and they keep us informed about the weather up there. A hailstorm has also recently covered their big gardens, but here by us not a drop.

Now I am not complaining, as I said it is what it is, and we just have to live with it. The heat is severe here and we are drinking many liters of water in order to stay hydrated. Care must also be taken against heat stroke, from the high UV rays, and so it's hats and shade that are at the order of the day. I don't want to say too much about this situation, otherwise it's going to look like I am complaining, which I definitely am not.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting this post.