A long, hot summer

  It's been a long, hot summer. We have had the driest year in 35 years here in Cape Town and it's starting to show. The well has dried up and the lawn is non-existent. Even the trees are distressed and are folding their leaves to conserve every drop of moisture. The restios which grow in the swamp at the top of the garden have all but died as even the underground spring which feeds them has dried up.
  My hardy milkwood has dropped leaves like never before, trying to mulch itself and limit its thirst. And yet it has produced its most abundant crop of berries ever. The coprosma bore fruit twice this year and the fiddlewood has bloomed twice.
  I see this as the trees' instinct for survival. They know they are struggling and so are putting out as many chances for continuation of their species as possible.
  Easter has brought the first rains of winter and within days we have seen the lawn turn green again and the leaves have stopped falling. The garden is soaking up water in a way that can never be achieved with a hosepipe. It is almost as though the water is thinner and can sink in more easily. It seems nature prefers its water to come from a cloud rather than a plastic pipe, perhaps sensing that it isn't the purest source. At least we now know what plants can withstand the drought and not waste precious resources trying to grow plants that need constant nurturing to survive in an area that is not their natural habitat.
  It is becoming more and more evident that we should treasure our indigenous flora rather than bringing in 'aliens', particularly in the Western Cape, whose floral kingdom has been declared by UNESCO to be "of outstanding value to humanity". We'd better look after it.