Hello from South Africa

[Robin Jangle]

Greetings from Cape Town - more specifically the far south of the Cape Peninsula. I live on the north-facing slope of the Roodeberg in the Table Mountain National Park. Across the valley is Chapman's Peak and Silvermine Nature Reserve (quite a few pics in Saunder's gladioli guide were taken there).

After a 17 year hiatus I have taken up growing bulbs again. I had a fantastic collection that was housed at a friend's nursery. Emphasis on had. All the irids were eaten by a porcupine, the Hyacinthaceae contracted virus (he was a heavy smoker) and all my amaryllids and Pelargonium section Hoarea were stolen. Talk about bad luck

I am a retired Botanical/Ecological Specialist - I was a Consultant specialising in botanical surveys for Environmental Impact Assessments as well as designing mitigation measures for projects assessed by other consultants. I was privileged to visit landscapes where people hadn't been in who knows how long. I am lucky to have seen so many gorgeous plants in habitat.

Some of you may remember me from IBSA symposia where I presented on Gethyllis and Pelargonium section Hoarea. Gethyllis is my first love and myself and Bill Liltved are planning to conduct further fieldwork with the view to formally describing all the Mueller-Döblies taxa as well as our recent discoveries.

I look forward to being a valued contributor here.

Cheers

[Diane Whitehead]

I hope you have a safe place to grow your new bulbs.

I took notes on growing Geophytic Pelargoniums from your talk in 2006 and grew one successfully for a number of years before it was overtaken by a rampant Cistus.

Diane

[MarcR]

Hi Robin,

Welcome!  I look forward to learning from you.

Marc

[Itjustismkay]

I'm a new member also. I'm fascinated by South African flora. I've recently learned of Evan Eifler who has done interesting work documenting Geissorhiza varieties and attempting to discover evolutionary links between them. I'm excited to learn more!