Waiting for the rain

Spring in the Southern Hemisphere is generally an unpleasant affair: it's hot and dry and we spend our days wishing the rains would come and wash the world clean. Right now, the natural environment looks like Mordor after the winter fires and believe it or not, this thing is actually alive:

Monkeys tail, Xerophyta retinervis, is one of the so-called resurrection plants which revives as soon as it rains and will start flowering in November

In this barren landscape, the eye is naturally drawn to the spots of colour among the rocks

Lotononis, one of many wild pea species found here. The legume family thrive in very poor soils and that's very necessary out here among the rocks

We even have Wild Carnations, Dianthus mooiensis

Stripped down versions of my grandmother's favourite flowers, they are still recognisable as being related to their garden cousins

These flower throughout spring and summer but many of the flowering plants have already made pods. They flower first and then grow throughout the rainy season, storing nutrients in tubers that allow them to start growing even in the absence of rainfall

Cute little furry seed pods of Eriosema cordatum

Seed pods opened to scatter the seeds, where they will lie around waiting for the rain

All empty

Lots of drama skies, but those clouds are just keeping it all to themselves while we wait and hope