It is quite surreal seeing the devastation in Turkey, and the tragedies unfolding, while life goes on as normal elsewhere.
We've had our fair share of natural disasters, but nothing on that scale, so my heart goes out to the thousands affected!
I will show you around the garden of a friend of my son's. They spent their last couple of days there before leaving for the Netherlands. They have been best friends from around the age of 10; both computer geeks and into gaming from the days of Commodore64 and Atari; and both ended up eventually working for the same software development company which has branches in several parts of the world.
The city of Johannesburg surprises me each time we visit; it really is not the concrete jungle I always envisioned. Something noticeable is that the city fathers had the foresight many years ago to plant trees alongside many roads. There are many residential cluster developments around the suburbs, but there still are many tranquil suburbs as well.
The friend is a real honey, but has a slight tendency to ocd; is very house-pride so the garden is well-manicured, and everything is always in its place.
His two babies have free reign of the garden and are just the cutest little Yorkies, able to twist him around their little fingers paws, so they get away with a whole lot, they're very fussy diners as they only get the best food to keep them in tip-top shape!
Having a pool a couple of steps from the back door is a real bonus in the hot dry summers of Johannesburg, especially when a heat wave hits, as it did while we were there. The reflection in the pool of the garden and my two sons contemplating the changes that lie ahead. Everyone eventually jumped into the pool to cool down.
If you've been observant, you will notice electric fencing all around the perimeter of the garden, sadly something that many are forced to do here in our country with crime escalating, but we will not go onto that very touchy subject!
I enjoyed walking around the garden with the friend telling me about the various plants.
Lily of the Incas grow very happily here.
A gorgeous peachy Hibisucs shyly peering out from behind a spiky plant that almost looks like a Cycad.
It was lovely and cool in this section of the garden where the remains of tree stumps that was cut down look like something one would find in a forest.
Canna Lilies do really well up here, must have looked gorgeous when the flowers had just opened up; they were starting to wane.
An Australian Palm looks very happy right here in SA, very pretty with its red fruit that attracts garden birds.
A giant Conifer that looks really impressive under the African sun.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into this Highveld garden.
Johannesburg is situated on the Highveld (see veld), the broad, grassy plateau that sweeps across the South African interior. The city bestrides the Witwatersrand, or Rand, a string of low, rocky ridges that constitutes the watershed between the drainages into the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
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I will show you our subtropical garden very soon!
Original Content by @lizelle
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Oh dear, I guess calling a community 'hive Gardening' and us being 'Hive gArden' is bound to cause confusion. I hope you don't think I'm too pedantic for not including you in the prize pool for this cross posting error dear @lizelle, but I've added you to the wrap up post. I really do enjoy visits to gardens, and am amazed by ones so lovely and neat. Perhaps I should catch some OCD, garden style.
Of course I fully understand @riverflows, this is the 2nd time I'm doing it, just cross-posted as I wanted to share it with your community.
My very first boss told me it's ok to make a mistake, but if you make the same mistake twice, you're a fool! I was a learner draftswoman back then and mistakes when drawing maps by hand was time wasted🧐
Hope your Thursday has been a good one 🌻🌻🌻
Haha poor love, that's so frustrating. I bet you won't do it the third time!
My Dad was a draftsman all his life. I still remember his pens and the slanted desk and paper.
Well I'm now a fool aint I, hahaha😅
Those ink pens weren't easy for a left-hander like me, but I quickly learned how not to smudge, and still have a steady hand. Then along came CAD, quite a revolution back then😉
Johannesburg is reputed to be the world's largest urban forest. I did love living there and there are some really beautiful garden suburbs.
I never knew that and now understand why my late uncle was so fond of Joburg, the vibe is catchy as well! I'm sure you enjoyed living there Fiona, there are some lovely places to visit.
I loved living in Joburg. And I loved my business trips there. Great energy and wonderful people. SA's New York. Every young person should experience it. More so than Cape Town.
What a beautiful garden. The way they manicure the flowers is wonderful. I feel like i should not remove my eyes on it. It is really wonderful.
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@lizelle! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ijelady. (9/10)
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Glad you enjoyed it @ijelady, it really is so well-kept, a lovely garden right in the city!
Wow, it's great
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Go green follow green . Keep it up .
I totally agree @vinayj :)