When we think of Spring in Hogsback, many of us immediately think of the vibrant splashes of azaleas lining our roads and in our gardens. Yet, here in Hogsback, Nature produces the most incredible colours and flowers on our indigenous trees. Do you recognise these two trees? Both are excellent forest edge and pioneer trees and are ideal for the restoration of forest patches in Hogsback.
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Sagewood Buddleja salviifolia
Picture courtesy www.kumbulanursery.co.za
Saliehout, ewanci, igwangi, chipambati, lelothwane, umbataewepe, mupambati
SA Tree No: 637: Small semi-evergreen tree/large shrub; member of the wild elder family.
Leaves: dark green, sage-like; conspicuously wrinkled and puckered above; densely covered with silvery whitish hairs below.
Picture courtesy www.newplant.co.za
Flowers: Large, drooping flower panicles appear from August to October, varying from white to lilac and purple. The fruits are hairy capsules, full of nectar with sweet honey-like perfume, attracting butterflies, bees, and insect-eating birds.
Tree Fuchsia Halleria lucida
Picture courtesy of Paul Latham Visit his flickr photostream
Witolyf, Kinderbessi, Notsung, umBinza
SA Tree No 670: evergreen tree/large shrub
Leaves: multi-stemmed; dense, spreading crown of bright green, glossy leaves on drooping branches.
Flowers: clusters of tubular, fuchsia-like flowers produced in axils of the leaves, on short shoots, old wood and main trunk; varying in colour from dark orange to brick-red and yellow; rich in nectar, attracting sunbirds and butterflies; berries, edible but sickly sweet, relished by fruit-eating birds.
Picture courtesy of Michelle Griffith, ARI
Thanks to Michelle Griffith of the Amathole Regenerative Institute (ARI) for her advice. Any inaccuracies in the content are all mine.
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