A foot inboth camps.

IMY WILD GARDEN

Senecio flower throughout theyear as do the little buttons ofPentzia. Eberlanzia ferox, withiridescent purple faces, glory inthe heat.

There are no large trees onthese slopes but theleucospermums give shade to theAsclepias and provide a cheerfulyellow splash. There are many

pelargoniums of the mostwonderful variety and masses offelicias. Then there are thestalwarts, which don't even askfor water. Apricot-lipped oxalispeep from under the hot rocks andthe little yellow and orangehermannias nod approvingly atthe fierce sun. Arctotis, white andyellow, and the buttercup-hued

YOU can't get muchwilder than mygarden. We live in a

stony little kloof in the leeof the OuteniquaMountains, which appearsto have more sand, snakesand scorpions thanvegetation. However, it isa treasure trove of unusualand very beautiful plants.Like many people new tothe area, I first attemptedto fill the garden with theindigenous plants that Ihad brought with me,thinking that being wildthey would flourish. Notso - even the hardymilkwoods curled up theirleaves as if to shy awayfrom this unremittingheat. So, mourning theloss of some old favouritesI ventured out to see whatoccurs here naturally.

Our property ispredominantly fynbos onthe south-facing krantzes andsucculent Karoo on the northernones with a spill-over in between.After the tiniest smattering of rainin spring the fynbos slopes comealive with royal blue lobostemons,coral trumpets of ericas, heavyheaded Brunsvigia, dainty whiteScabiosa, delicate lobelias,

Text and illustrations byJill Reid, Oudtshoorn

82 Veld &- Flora June 2000

So too are the brave suteras, which ask for nothing and givesuch a glorious mauve show. Among the krantzes, selagos ofmany varieties are often strangled by the creeping species ofCucumis. Although it is unpalatable when the berries aregreen, one of my greatest loves is the Solanum which puts outits potato-like flowers and bright fruit, even in the harshesttimes. I was excited to discover hundreds of Lapeirousiapyramidalis, with their stacked leaves and dainty white andpurple flowers poking out of the bracts. Delicate moraeas sticktheir heads out from under any stone as do the prolificstapelias and duvalias. It is a great joy to catch them flowering.

Pratea nitida shrubs with their whorled trunks, Osyris compressa andsome species of Rhus. Then there are special finds, such as the Ferrariacrispa which I discovered nestling among some rocks on the floodplainof the spruit (stream) which courses through our land, and theHaemanthus coccineus which sprang up in hundreds after a burn.There are ferns and orchids too, but I am unable to identify them all.

A hundred metre walk brings one into another wonderful world:the Karoo biome. Here, among the rocks, the giant bulb ofPachypodium succulentum puts out its delicate star shapedcrimson and white flowers. Bunches of Crassula rupestriscascade over the cliffs and fall unceremoniously over theapricot trumpets of the cotyledons. Here and there the flakybulb of a Boophane puts up a wavy hand of leaves,which is followed by its spiky .flower. One of the mostexciting finds was a smallAnacampseros lanceolatawhich had tucked itself underone of the sand olives thatoccur prolifically on this side.Its gorgeous pink flowersmade it an immediatefavourite.

Anacampseros lanceolata,found on the northern slopes ofour wild garden and transplantedinto the tended garden after it hadbeen painted, now flowers moreoften than its bush cousins.

Ferraria crispa, found on thefloodplain of our little spruit,was re-planted (after being painted)into my tended garden andproduces a regular mass of flowerseach year.

Veld & Flora June 2000 83

PROFILE OF THE ARTIST

*The newly formed Botanical Artists' Association of Southern Africaensures that botanical artists stay in touch and informs its members ofvarious exhibitions, activities and courses. It is open to anyone interestedin botanical illustration, even non-artists, Further details can be obtainedfrom BAASA, 1 Marcella Crescent, Newlands 7700, or via e-mail at<bulbin@iafTica.com>.

On the Karoo krantzes there isnot much colour so a brightnessarrives with the fruiting oftheparasitic Viscum and Moquinellarubra which seem to favourshrubs of the Rhus species. Thereare many aloes here: the mostspectacular of which is Aloe ferox.They proudly send up red flareseach July and, judging by theirsize, must be very old. I havecarefully nurtured a few of thelovely Nymania capensis thatoccur sparingly in the rocks andthey reward me with their dropletpuce flowers and puffy seedheads.

My untended garden extends tothe boundaries of our property butwhat is tended are those plantswhich I am forced, as a botanicalartist, to dig up in order to recordthe bulbs and root systems. Theseare painted as quickly as possibleand then returned to the earthunder my care. I get untoldpleasure from seeing theAnacampseros lanceolata throwup a gorgeous pink head everyday while its bush cousins arereluctant to show. The Ferrariacrispa has a regular mass offlowers each year and delights mewith its strange brown and yellowtwists of petals. The succulentshave also enjoyed a bit of tenderloving care and the Gasteriadistich a lolls in the shade of theDeinbollia to shoot out its snake­like head of red bells once a year.This was an interesting lesson tome for it would not flower untilsomeone suggested that I put itunder the protection of anotherplant as it would occur in nature.Clearly every day is a school dayif one wants to garden success­fully here.

I am happy to have a few oldfriends surviving among theirKaroo and fynbos residents. Thepurple Tulbaghia thrusts its lovelycrown among the spikes of yellowBulbine, while gazanias of allcolours fall over the pathways.A new blue Plumbago is fightingaway but I'm sure it will surviveto feed the butterflies that love itslittle flowers.

It's a hodge-podge, old and newwild garden that I have had theprivilege of creating and nurturingin these very unkind conditions. ®

I can't say whether it's born inyou, or whether it's acquired. AllI can say is that it is a compulsion.Since I was a little girl I felt adeep kindred with the earth andthe things that spring from it. Iwould depart from home at 7 amwith nothing to eat or drink andonly the companionship of mydog and spend the day lookingand watching and thinking aboutthe nature around me. Perhapsthat early solitude and concen­trated observation laid thefoundation of what was tobecome my life, my passion.At the age of five or six I startedto draw crude flowers and littlegoggas attending them. And, likeflowers, I grew and grew through­out my life, often having to doother things because that was thecurrent demand, but alwayspainting.

I had no formal training apartfrom school art, and so was ableto develop naturally without thestays of style in mode. As ayoung adult I branched out, awayfrom my first love, nature. I triednudes in pastel, portraits inpenci~ caricatures in ink, andalthough I was happy iJ}. thediscovery, I never felt quite atpeace. Fina1ly, at the age of forty,in Sodwana, Zululand, I camehome. Surrounded by theimmense wj'l,alth of flora aroundme I;~as compelled to record theloveliness. Water-colour is anappropriate medium for thedelicacy of plants, so I set out tomaster it. Perhaps this soundslike a monumental task for one asunschooled as I, yet I had thegreatest tutor of all: love. Loveand dedication to what I wasdoing. In clumsy attempts grassesand trees and butterflies felldown on paper. I started growingthen as the flowers I had pluckedwithered and died. But the mostpertinent growth was the artisticphilosophy that budded. I beganto understand that it is not

merely the accurate represen­tation of the plant that isimportant, but the ability tocommunicate, on paper, itsessence. In order to achieve thisquality, I would spend a longtime studying the subject:in light, in shadow, from the backand front and upside down.I got to know the plant so wellthat I could have closed my eyesand painted it blind. I had inter­nalized its botanical form, itscolour, its suggested hues, butmost of all, its character. Toexplain what I mean by 'character',some flowers like Dietes lookdense when one takes a firstimpression. But hold the petals tothe light and not only is there themost delicate venation, but also atransparency and iridescence too.I spent many hours and manypoor attempts trying to capture,on a flat piece of paper, thosecontradictory characters, andsometimes, in a whole compo­sition I would get one, just onesmall aspect, right.

Today, at fifty-one I am still onmy rock-strewn journey. Workingyet to get it right. My mentors arethe botanical artists who havebeen acclaimed for theirbrilliance and dedication: AuriolBatten, Thalia Lincoln, CythnaLetty, Ellaphie Ward-Hillhorstand many others. I study theirtechniques endlessly and whileadopting that which I relate to,continue to stamp ME upon whatI translate. It is a sadness to methat botanical artists* are few inthis country and are largelyunacclaimed. My naturalisticardour fears that much of ourheritage will go unrecordedunder the relentless march ofurbanization. I dedicate myself tothis art and will spend my timeattempting to be a stepping stone:a translator of the wild.

Jill Reid,Oudtshoorn

84 Veld &- Flora June 2000