Our winter garden for the year 2007 .

The winter garden in bloom with aloes and an enchanting lily endemic to South Africa.

This photo was taken slightly more to the front and in the opposite direction than the photo of the previous winter. All the daisies are not in bloom yet, which is good as they tend to dominate everything.

It is a wet winter this year with few sunny days. The disadvantage is that the pollen is wet and pollination is difficult. We had so many new hybrid aloe seeds in mind, but that is life... sigh. The aloes that bloom in winter are from the summer rainfall area where there will be no problem with pollination in winter. Most South African aloes ( 90%+ ) are from the summer rainfall - which is logical as only the western cape has winter rainfall.

I exchanged some lily bulbs and these two lilies were first to bloom. Lovely!!
Ignore the leaves in the background. That is a wild geranium a.o.

Note that the two lilies do not have exactly the same flowers ? I never saw so much difference in flowers before. Could be it is two different species of the same genus?

I am not a botanist - if you have not noticed.

Anybody know what lilies this might be? Clue - they are endemic to South Africa.

Most lilies are so quick to bloom and disappear, but it is exciting to find the blooms
every year, if only they would remain a little longer.