Summer in the gardens and homes of Cape Town's suburbs will always have these associations for me ...
Red, pink and white bougainvillea against white-washed, sun-faded walls; the iconic flat-topped Table Mountain as a backdrop
The lushness of my mother's cottage garden, planted only with indigenous shrubs and flowers that thrive with little water, with concealed places to sit and enjoy ...
... grape-vines frame the stable-door entrance to the house and a collection of succulents thrives beneath the green window shutters.
The sound of water; unstructured, informal gardens with love and care in the nurturing of them
(a not so polite injunction to dogs)
deep blue agapanthus
Europe meets Africa everywhere ...
a pair of French garden urns stand beneath a vase of bright pink proteas, indigenous to the Cape
Ex-colonies also meet: at India House, a typical Cape Victorian style semi-detached cottage with covered porch and shuttered windows, stands a colon (typical colonial African wooden sculpture popularised in Ghana and the Ivory Coast).
Near a French-style table and chairs for outdoor eating, a wire bokkie lurks in the foliage (this one seemingly a not-so-African reindeer!).
