Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is one of the great botanic gardens of the world. The Garden covers 36 hectares in a 528 hectare estate set against the eastern slope of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. The protected mountainside supports natural forest and fynbos along with a variety of animals and birds. The garden displays a wide variety of the unique plant life of the Cape Flora as well as plants from the diverse regions of southern Africa. Some of these plants are grown outside and some in the Conservatory. One of the rooms in the Conservatory serves as a display area for bulbs. This area is ever changing with pots rotated in and out when flowers are in bloom. Photos taken of the garden by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller.
Below are images of plants growing at Kirstenbosch, either shown in the bulb room in the Conservatory, planted in the garden or growing in the natural areas.
Agapanthus inapertus subsp. pendulus 'Graskop' is shown flowering in the garden. Photo: Rogan Roth.
Agapanthus spp. flowering in garden, photo by Bob Rutemoeller.
Albuca namaquensis is distributed from Namibia to the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and grows on sandstone slopes. The photo by Bob Rutemoeller was taken of a plant growing in a pot in the bulb room.
Albuca nelsonii photos were taken by Roy Herold of a nice planting in November, 2006.
Aristea capitata is an evergreen rhizomatous species that occurs over a wide range of the Cape growing on mountain slopes. Photos were taken by Mary Sue Ittner January 2010.
Bonatea speciosa is a species from the western Cape growing from 30-60 cm. The two photos were taken in the bulb room by Mary Sue Ittner. In the first the flowers are behind an amaryllid leaf.
Boophone disticha is found both in winter and summer rainfall regions. The photo below was taken in the bulb room by Bob Rutemoeller.
Chasmanthe floribunda grows on sandstone and granite in the northwest and southwest Cape. A variety in cultivation, named var. duckittii, originated from a plant or colony near Darling in the 1920s. The photos below were taken by Mary Sue Ittner September 2006 where it was growing next to the parking lot.
Cliva nobilis is a coastal species from the Eastern Cape. Photo was taken by Mary Sue Ittner in the bulb room January 2010.
Cyanella alba flowers late winter to spring and grows on stony clay and sandstone soils in dry winter rainfall areas. The photo was taken in the bulb house by Bob Rutemoeller.
Cyrtanthus falcatus is from KwaZulu-Natal. The photo from Mary Sue Ittner shows the leaves of plants displayed in the bulb house.
Cyrtanthus herrei is an evergreen plant that occurs in the arid Richtersveld in the far northwestern corner of the Northern Cape. The photo of the leaves was taken by Mary Sue Ittner in the bulb house.
Daubenya aurea, a really beautiful and rare species, has red or yellow flowers and is found growing on dolerite clay flats in the Roggeveld. The photo was taken by Bob Rutemoeller of a pot of red ones blooming in the bulb room in the Conservatory in August 2003.
Dietes bicolor is found on streambanks, often among rocks, in light shade in the Eastern Cape. This plant was flowering January 2010 in the garden. Photo by Mary Sue Ittner.
Disa uniflora is an evergreen species from the western and southwestern Cape of South Africa. The two photos were taken by Rogan Roth in a greenhouse.
Eucomis autumnalis from southeastern southern Africa is found on rocky, grassy slopes and has white to greenish flowers blooming summer into fall. The two photos were taken by Mary Sue Ittner where there was a mass display of flowers in January 2010.
Eucomis vandermerwei grows in grassland in the northern province of South Africa and flowers mid summer. The picture from Mary Sue Ittner shows a pot on display in the bulb room.
Eulophia ensata is found in grassland and open bushveld, often coastal, from the Eastern Cape to the Northern Province. The photo below was taken by Mary Sue Ittner in the bulb room.
Eulophia welwitchii grows in grassland and marshy areas from the Eastern Cape to tropical Africa. The photo below was taken by Mary Sue Ittner in the bulb room.
Gethyllis britteniana grows on sandveld or rocky slopes in the northwest Cape and Namaqualand. The photo from Mary Sue Ittner shows the leaves of the plant growing in a pot in the bulb room.
Haemanthus deformis is an evergreen plant found in shade and on moist rocky banks in the KwaZulu-Natal. The photo from Mary Sue Ittner shows the large leaves of the plant displayed in the bulb room.
Hypoxis colchicifolia Baker grows on sandy or poor soils in grassland from the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal. Photos taken by Mary Sue Ittner January 2010.
Hypoxis hemerocallidea Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall. is found in marshy forest margins and grassland from the southern Cape to the Northern province, South Africa. Photo from Mary Sue Ittner was taken January 2010.
Lachenalia elegans photo was taken by Mary Sue Ittner in the bulb room in the conservatory.
Lachenalia hybrids were in a display pot in front of the Conservatory. Photo by Bob Rutemoeller.
Lachenalia trichophylla Bak. photo was taken by Bob Rutemoeller in the bulb room in the Conservatory in 2001.
Lapeirousia silenoides is found in Namaqualand in coarse granite derived sand and in rocky places often in the crevices of granite outcrops. The photo below was taken in the bulb room by Bob Rutemoeller.
Moraea ochroleuca (syn. Homeria ochroleuca) is found on rocky sandstone slopes in the northwest and the southwest Cape. Photographs were taken September 2006 by Bob Rutemoeller, Mary Sue Ittner, and Rod Saunders near a back trail in the undeveloped part of the garden that had burned previously.
Moraea spathulata occurs at the edge of the winter rainfall area near Port Elizabeth all the way up the eastern parts of South Africa and into Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe. Two photographs were taken by Mary Sue Ittner of plants that were growing well in the garden.
Moraea tricuspidata grows on sandstone, granite, or sometimes clay slopes and is found in quite a few different areas of the Cape. Photos by Bob Rutemoeller of one growing in a wild area of the garden seen September 2006.
Moraea villosa ssp. elandsmontana grows in a very limited area of the Western Cape. This plant was seen growing in the ground August 2006 and was photographed by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller.
Ornithogalum conicum is found in clay or loam flats over a wide area from the Bokkeveld Plateau and western Karoo to the Cape Peninsula and the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken in the bulb room January 2010 by Mary Sue Ittner.
Resnova maxima was being displayed in the bulb room at Kirstenbosch January 2010. Photo by Mary Sue Ittner.
Sparaxis maculosa is found on clay slopes in renosterveld in the southwest Cape. The photo was taken in the bulb room of the Conservatory by Mary Sue Ittner August 2006.
Watsonia pillansii is found from the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal where it is found in sandy soils mostly at low elevations near the coast. Photos were taken January 2010 in the garden by Mary Sue Ittner.
