Flower power - Jacaranda

One of the exotic trees that South Africans love is the jacaranda with its magnificent display of mauve flowes and the mauve carpet it puts down.

The few jacarandas of Richmond Hill have just past their peak, but if you want to see a really spectacular display, Pretoria is the place to be.

Flower power - Zantedeschia

Zantedeschia, or the arum lily as it is known in South Africa is neither a lily nor an arum. If you use them as cut flowers just remember that beneath the outer veneer of beauty they are poisonous, because of the presence of calcium oxalate.

My one field guide says that it does have medicinal uses. The leaves are warmed as a poultice for sores and boils and warmed leaves are placed on the forehead for headaches. Not being into traditional medicines, I have never tried it and don't recommend that anyone does.

Flower power - Gazania

Gazanias occur naturally throughout the Eastern Cape and put on a glorious show at this time of the year - when the sun is shining.

Flower power - Morning glory

I arrived at the conclusion a while back that I needed to change the way I photographed flowers, because I felt I was missing something. Flower pictures are good and I will still capture them in the conventional way, when I want a botanical record. But what do you have to do to capture the essence or soul of a flower?  How do you bring in the wow factor - this is what I will be exploring in my latest series "Flower power."