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16°C
August 31st, 2012
As you know, September is clivia month at Babylonstoren. These famous indigenous lilies flower during September, with the first blooms starting to show now. A shaded walk has recently been created at Babylonstoren for a recently-acquired collection of clivias.
The walk – named ‘The Puff Adder’ for its shape – meanders for 70 metres along a stream emanating in the Simonsberg, and slithers through the wild olives and blue gum trees in our gardens.
The structure of balau slats on steel frames, designed by Patrice Taravella and engineered by Terry de Waal, eliminates about 40% of sunlight but allows a free flow of air, creating ideal conditions in which clivias can thrive.
The bulge in the slatted structure is known as “the mouse”, as it resembles a rodent in the belly of a snake.
The clivia collection edges our formal vegetable and fruit garden, which supplies the farm hotel and Babel restaurant with fresh produce daily.
[…] more recent addition, and these clivias in pots are displayed in an undulating shade house known as the Puff Adder, which is a 70 meter tunnel curving through and around a grove of huge eucalyptus […]
I visited Babylonstoren on Saturday and came home with, what I think, are some of my very best images this year! May I post my face book link to them as I would love to share these with people who also love Babylons’ gardens, and esp. the clivias, which I will look at in a whole new light from now on!
Frenske
Hi Frenske. We’d love to see your images! Please let us know when they’re up on Facebook.
[…] it’s the history of its Cape Dutch architecture, its shaded walk “The Puff Adder” or the gorgeous Delft Blue China plate framing its trees in the garden, I can’t seem to stop […]
[…] mountain bikes, swim in the renovated reservoir, paddle on the farm dam or take a stroll in the Puff Adder. There are even human-sized nests for reading and birding. Look out for the formidable flock of […]