Most of the books I own which show pictures of South African flowers restrict themselves to the Cape. Many seeds offered by seed exchanges and Silverhill do not come from the Cape, so I have been out of luck seeing pictures unless there are some online. I was at the bookstore of the University of California at Santa Cruz Botanic Garden recently, and found a collection of South African Wild Flower Guides written by John Manning and Peter Goldblatt and published by the Botanical Society of South Africa. I bought the 9th in the series: Nieuwoudtville, Bokkeveld Plateau and Hantam. It is the most recently published, 2nd amended edition in 2002. I chose this one because the first chapter describes the geology and climate of the area, and a couple of parts of it seem similar to where I live - with cold winter rainfall. I will concentrate my efforts on growing plants from this area. (except for others whose pictures I can't resist). Other books in the series are Namaqualand, Karoo, Cape Peninsula, West Coast, Southern Overberg, Outeniqua, Tsitsikama and Eastern Little Karoo, Transvaal Lowveld and Escarpment, Hottentots Holland to Hermanus -- Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada maritime zone 8 cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually) sandy soil