letting nature back in

After having relocated over 1000 km (750 miles) to a different climate zone, I have learned that though there are many aspects to moving that I thought I anticipated, it takes time to understand that in some senses one becomes unmoored. Although we relocated within the same country—we semigrated as it is dubbed locally—why should it feel quite so disorientating?

Remains of burnt vegetation on the dunes overlooking nearby Walker Bay in the Overberg.

Before relocating, I took certain things I knew for granted, but have found that much of this knowledge no longer fits. There is a lot to learn, questions to be asked, but it can be inordinately difficult to find the right questions, and even more so to find the answers. The flipside is that when first in a new place, one is almost relentlessly asked: why did you come here?

Having to abandon much that is familiar happens simultaneously with needing to assimilate the unfamiliar. Even though we are in the same country where much overlaps and there are commonalities, I nevertheless still find speech patterns, accents and even languages that are unfamiliar, the climate is different, the landscape and flora are different. I miss familiar birds and their calls, I miss the rain in summer, I miss the smells of a lusher landscape and the fertile soils. I miss our former garden.

Nearby farmlands after the fires.

All these things are small potatoes I know, which is why for over three years since relocating I have completely dismissed them as having any significance. I have been getting on with it. But recently I have started to concede that these small differences all add up to changing profoundly the narrative of one’s daily life. I started dealing more in learning factual and knowable things, and set aside feelings and assumptions. So, I decided in this blog post to revert to a more personal style.

And yet, despite this decision, I find I still can only negotiate through this new space by leaning on and learning new knowledge. In the aftermath of the wildfires in this part of the Western Cape, I saw obvious change, loss and destruction, but I have learnt that in the context of the region’s natural fynbos (shrubby heathland) botanists see renewal.

First signs of new shoots after the fires.

When so many have lost so much to fire how can fire be seen as a source of renewal? Is this an appropriate question to ask even in the context of fire-adapted fynbos?

Here is a link to what Grootbos Private Nature Reserve had to say about fire as renewal in its update on the fires of late 2025. It is worth noting that during the most recent series of wildfires, Grootbos had to evacuate its tourist lodges twice due to fire. In a massive fire in 2006, most of Grootbos Nature Reserve was burnt, and a newly built lodge was completely destroyed by the fire. Reflecting back on 2006 and other fires in an earlier post, Grootbos botanist and Conservation Manager, Sean Privett, reflects that preparation not prevention of fire is key.

The fynbos is no ordinary ecosystem. Since the region slipped into its Mediterranean climate millions of years ago, fire has been part of its DNA. Plants and animals haven’t just adapted to burning; they thrive because of it. Without fire, the ecological clock stalls, species falter, and diversity fades. (Privett, 2025)

When we occupy a fire-prone land where the flora is not only adapted to fire but dependent on fire, Privett observes that it is essential to plan properly and learn how to co-exist with fire.

In the aftermath of the fires

In the first weeks after the fires, we went out and saw the devastation in the farmlands. We also we saw the first signs of tuberous plants flowering or sprouting, we saw the resprouting shrubs sending up green shoots, and we saw that plants in the Proteaceae family released their seeds in response to fire to enable a new cycle of regeneration.

Resprouting bulbs

Among the first naturally occurring plants to sprout after fire are tuberous plants. Many sprout during the end of summer/early autumn after rain. But they regenerate with particular vigour after fire. Not only do they respond to the increased light as the overhead vegetation has been burnt away and they have little or no competition, but they also benefit from the ash-enriched soil.

These bulbs survived the fire to sprout their first leaves.

The Haemanthus sanguineus (smooth blood lily) sends up its flower stalk and flowers before sprouting any leaves. This first (and at that time only) flower to appear after rain in a recently scorched area attracted the attention of our dog Amy.

Long stemmed flower-heads of the Amaryllis belladonna, which is also known as the “naked lady” as the plant flowers in the absence of leaves that appear only after flowering. These lilies emerged along with bracken in a dampish seepage on the side of a ridge.

Resprouting herbaceous plants and shrubs

Some plants survive the fires to sprout from rootstock.

Amongst the first plants we found sprouting after the fire was the fast-growing redstem asparagus (Asparagus rubicundus), showing its small white flowers in the above photo.

We found low growing Cape hibiscus (Hibiscus aethiopicus) flowering in abundance. It is a small prostrate to semi-erect herbaceous perennial in the family Malvaceae, indigenous to eastern and southern Africa. It resprouts from its woody rootstock after fire.

Not all resprouters are a cause for celebration. Along with the native fynbos shrubs that resprout are invasive and alien wattles that are also fire adapted. I am not sure, but possibly in the photo above is a Port Jackson willow (Acacia saligna) or a Rooikranz (Acacia cyclops) emerging after the fires with renewed vigour. Both species are prominent among alien plants in the region that flourish after fire to form thickets that displace native vegetation and also burn hotter in subsequent fires with devastating effect.

Reseeders releasing their seeds in fire

Some fynbos plants, referred to as serotinous reseeders, hold onto their seeds in hard cones or flowerheads to release them only when triggered by fire, specifically by the heat and/or by chemical cues in the smoke. Although some species in the Proteaceae family are resprouters, most are serotinous reseeders, with the old and often woody parent plant dying in the fire as they are “cued” to release their seeds for the next generation.

Fire also stimulates the germination of older seeds that may have been buried in the ground for quite some time, even for years. For some Leucospermum species, the seeds have been transported by ants underground where the seeds remain until stimulated by fire.

Just as there are invasive alien plants that resprout after fire, there are also invasive alien plants, such as species of Banksia and Hakea, that are serotinous reseeders that are a threat to native plants, with the ability to outgrow and displace them.

These plants were scorched by the intense heat of the fire that triggered the woody shells of the inflorescences, which had been retaining the seeds, to open and release the fluffy seeds to be dispersed by the wind. I think these plants are the broadleaf featherhead (Aulax umbellata), a member of the Proteaceae family.

The seeds from these opened Aulax umbellata woody shells have almost entirely dispersed. Serotinous reseeders are vulnerable to local extinction if fires occur too frequently and plants are killed before they are old enough to reproduce.

On this ridge and in the aftermath of the fire, these common sugarbush (suikerbos) proteas (Protea repens) have given up their remaining seeds in the fire. The mature plants die in the fire and their remains add nutrients back to the nutrient-poor soil.

A close up of a seedhead after the fire with only a few fluffy seeds remaining. Mature Protea repens plants produce seeds throughout their lifetime, some distributed and stored in the soil, and others stored in the old seedheads that are stimulated to open and release the seeds when the plant dies or is killed by fire.

A drift of seeds from Protea repens plants after the fires. Natural fires mostly occur just ahead of the winter rains, so the rains that follow help any seedlings to grow well ahead of the dry summer ahead.

On another ridge heavy rains had washed a lot of seedlings downhill but some get stuck in a small depressions where, hopefully, they will be able to germinate during subsequent winter rain.

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A scorched fence post stands within the burnt vegetation as testimony to the infrastructure that was lost and that won’t be regenerating after the fires.

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“Life After Fire”

South African exhibit wins gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

South Africa’s fire-driven fynbos eco-system was the subject of this year’s exhibit designed by Leon Kluge and Tristan Woudberg. Titled “Life After Fire”, the exhibit won the South African team its 40^th Gold Medal and the Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 in London, UK. Click on this link to watch Leon Kluge do a final walkthrough of the exhibit.

As in the two previous years, the South African Chelsea Flower Show exhibit will be recreated for display in the village of Stanford in the Western Cape, South Africa and is scheduled to take place 12 to 27 September 2026.

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Sources:

Attwell, Tim. 2019. New Life in Fynbos. A photo-essay on fynbos regeneration. Kogelberg Botanical Society. https://kogelberg-botsoc.co.za/Blog/index.php/2019/03/20/new-life-in-fynbos/#lightbox[2395]/19/

Cape Nature. [n.d.] What a landowner needs to know about Fire Management. Factsheet. https://www.capenature.co.za/uploads/files/Engage-Nature/Fire-Prevention-images/Landowners-Guide-to-Fire-Management-Fact-Sheet-English-1.pdf

Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. 2026. Fire season 2025: An update on the recent fires that affected Grootbos. https://www.grootbos.com/en/blog/general/grootbos-fire-season-2025-update

Jamieson, H.G. 2002. Protea repens.  SA National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). https://pza.sanbi.org/protea-repens

Kluge, Leon. 2026. A final walkthrough “Life After Fire” Our South African display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. May 23^rd. https://www.facebook.com/leonklugegardendesign/videos/a-final-walkthrough-life-after-fire-our-south-african-display-at-rhs-chelsea-flo/1460746918627258/

Makhoba, Hope. 2026. South Africa wins best exhibit award at RHS Chelsea Flower show. Cape-inspired ‘Life After Fire‘ garden wins top international honour in London. Cape Town ETC, May 20^th. https://www.capetownetc.com/lifestyle/south-africa-wins-best-exhibit-award-at-rhs-chelsea-flower-show/

Privett, Sean. 2025. The takeaway: Fire isn’t the enemy. It’s forgetting that is. https://www.grootbos.com/en/blog/foundation/fynbos-on-fire-sean-privett

Posted by Carol