cups tipped with black fur, and rising majestic above all there 

 is Protea cynaroides, the king protea, whose giant blooms have 

 been on display for a month or more, and which has several 

 months of blooming yet. 



These are surely some of South Africa's best gifts to the 

 world. Where frosts are severe they will not thrive, but I 

 have seen them doing well in California, and before the war 

 a collection was gradually being built up in the south of France. 



The klapperbossie or Aitonia (Nymania capensis) is now on 

 show, the brilliant pink lanterns shining out on the short 

 stiff branches covered with tiny leaves. This is a grand drought- 

 resister. When travelling through the Karoo I have admired 

 it from afar, the intense pink of the lanterns being accentuated 

 by the drabness of its surroundings where one longs for a spot 

 of colour. However, it does not seem to mind our wet winters ; 

 it does well here, and it even stands up to the dripping rains of 

 the Cape Peninsula and blooms in Cape Town gardens. The 

 trouble is to persuade the seeds to germinate. They should be 

 soaked for 12 hours or more in very hot water ; but even 

 so they will at best take many weeks and may not appear until 

 the following spring. I have tried sowing in spring and autumn, 

 and results are much the same. 



Monsonia specks a, a near relative of the Pelargonium, is now 

 coming into flower and is a real treasure. I grow it on the 

 edge of my terraces, where it is very effective. The leaves, 

 having very fine segments and compact growth, show well 

 there, and when the large blooms appear with the first warm 

 days they are always much admired. Here the flowers are a 

 deep pink, but on poor or sandy soils they are white-veined 

 pink. Collecting the seeds is a great game : each is equipped 

 with a coiled spring, and as soon as it is ripe it is gone. One 

 gets to know the approximate distance to which the springs 

 project them, and fortunately the tip of each large seed is a 

 bright yellow, so that is is possible to find them amongst 

 leaves and weeds. Unfortunately, this plant will not stand 

 even as much frost as they get in Johannesburg, and nothing 

 can be done with cuttings, so it remains a treasure for the frost- 

 free areas. It is a true perennial, though when summers are 



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