Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Wine and disas

From mid-January to the end of February it is Disa time in the Cape. Watered by the winter rains and the cool, wet Southeaster wind in early summer, these stunning orchids begin to flower in the late summer as the days get hotter. If you visit La Motte wine estate in the Franschhoek valley (an hour out of Cape Town) you are bound to encounter some of these exquisite blooms - like these Disa hybrids in their wine tasting room. The estate purchased a large private collection of disas that was destined for the Japanese horticultural market, but luckily is now still in South Africa. There are some disas for sale too - so pop along and buy some wine and roses, er, disas.
They also have a fabulous museum - the pride of which is a collection of Pierneef paintings (which is also the name of their restaurant).

3 comments:

  1. Gorgeous orchids. The burnished gold colour is stunning.

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  2. It must really be something to see these beautiful flowers in the mountains on walks.

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  3. Wish we could still walk in the Groot Winterhoek reserve. We have seen some magnificent disas there. The red ones along the stream. And masses of deep shimmering purple ones after the fire.

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