hi roy, i've never been to ZA in november. i'm not sure your timing is very good for most flowers, but in the summer rainfall areas, like the drakensberg, you might see something. in vanrhynsdorp there is a succulent nursery, but not a bulb nursery per se. at least go to kirstenbosch. contact rhoda and cameron mcmaster! i documented our last trip there in blog: http://shieldsgardens.com/Blogs/SouthAfrica/… have a great trip. jim shields At 10:40 PM 11/14/2006 -0500, you wrote: >Hallo Group, > >On Thursday we're off to South Africa for our bi-annual trip to visit >relatives (my wife is from ZA) and do some sightseeing, with a bit of >botanizing thrown in for good measure. > >Do any of you experienced travellers and/or ZA residents have >recommendations for interesting plant spots? I know it's getting a >little late for some of our favorite winter bulbs, but there should be >plenty of others. We are flying into Joburg, then fly to George, drive >to Plett, make a loop through the Little Karoo via Oudtshoorn, drive to >Cape Town, fly to Durban, drive to the Drakensberg for a couple of days, >back to Joburg and home. I'm exhausted already... > >Everything we've seen in previous trips has been fantastic, with a wider >range of plant material that I ever imagined was possible to find in a >relatively small area. Some of my favorite bulbs have ranged from a tiny >ledebouria from the Drakensberg to a huge haemanthus (deformis?) with >leaves the size of a toilet seat (pardon my comparison) in the Silver >Mine Nature Reserve south of Cape Town. And everything in between. > >I'm also looking for recommendations for good nurseries to visit, as >they have been very hard to come by in earlier trips. Most seem to be >carbon copies of American nurseries, and not at all interesting. I'm >guessing the better ones are off the beaten track. > >Feel free to reply directly to me if you think your advice isn't >sufficiently bulbous.... > >Thanks in advance, > >--Roy > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA