Plumbago auriculata
One of South Africa’s most popular indigenous garden plants – exported in fact the world over – the Plumbago, aka Cape Leadwort, is a shrub and scrambling climbing plant that grows rapidly and is exceptionally hardy and, while it carries the most impressive blooms during the summer months it often flowers year-round under suitable conditions. It is a food plant for the larvae of several kinds of butterflies and moths as well as many other kinds of insects, ensuring these are attracted to gardens anywhere this eye-catching plant is propagated, and shier kinds of birds appreciate the dense cover provided by its foliage.
In traditional medicine the Plumbago is considered a cure for headaches, warts and open wounds, and superstitiously believed to ward off lightning if a stick of it is thatched into the roof of a hut.
The Plumbago occurs naturally in the Western and Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, extending marginally into adjacent provinces and countries.
DeWetsWild 
Its easy to see why they are such a favourite! We have recently discovered a self-seeded one in our “new” garden and it is happily in flower already!
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It is a brilliant plant for someone as horrible at gardening as I am! Yours must be flourishing!
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Is dit nie dieselfde blommetjie wat ek ook onlangs op Aletta se blog gesien het nie? Dis so mooi. Die blaartjies se vorm laat dink my aan daardie “prawn cocktail” skulpie chips wat mens by Woolworths koop.
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Einste blommetjie, Corna. En ek en Aletta het dit nie voor die tyd so beplan nie!
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“…and shier kinds of birds appreciate the dense cover provided by its foliage…” Die manier waarop jy oor die natuur skryf, wys hoe lief jy dit het.
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Baie dankie, Tannie Frannie. Ek is regtig lief vir ons buitelewe.
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I am planning to prune my rampant plumbago today – what a fantastic flower to have growing in our garden!
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So easy to care for, Anne – even for someone with decidedly brown fingers like me…
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A beautiful plant. I’ve always liked that name. This weekend we have a plethora of rugby: the three Six Nations games and the semifinals and finals of the Vancouver 7’s. Unfortunately, we can’t see all the 7’s games anymore but next weekend we’ll be in LA for the whole thing. This year it’s women’s as well as men’s, which will be exciting. Hope you have a good weekend.
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We had a lovely weekend, thanks Janet! I was guiding game-viewing drives all of Saturday and yesterday watched Joubert playing cricket.
Just one more week to go to the LA 7’s!? Amazing how time flies! You must be terribly excited by now!
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Sounds like you had a great weekend. Yes, we’re excited about the tournament but also the chance to have some time with our family. Hopefully the weather will be good. It keeps threatening to have some rain on the weekend and we don’t need that. Last year, it just poured one day and that was not much fun! Not fun for the players either.L
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They are beautiful. We have a similar flower called Sadapushpa, but there is more gap between petals. Thank you for sharing.
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I quickly googled Sadapushpa, Lakshmi, and it is indeed beautiful!
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Daar het jy nou dieselfde blou blommetjie wat Aletta gebruik het en wat Rondomtaliedraai(Tina my suster) se geliefkoosde blommetjie is.
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Wonderlik hoe dinge partykeer saamwerk, ne!?
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Presies!
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I have huge plants of plumbago in my front yard and have had people stop by the house to ask what is that pretty plant. The cold weather kills it but I just cut it back and it blooms again and again. My neighbor on one side of me laughed when she told me she didn’t know to cut it back and yanked up every last plant when hers died. 😮
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They’re amazingly resilient, aren’t they, Lois?
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