Flowering winter garden and the creatures that live in it

Although it's freezing cold and we're in the middle of the coldest winter in years, it doesn't snow here regularly and most animals don't hibernate so many native plants flower, providing food for the sunbirds and bees and getting their pollination done without competition from many other flowering plants.

Glotiphyllum is a mesemb and the yellow flower colour is especially attractive to bees

Aloe Hedgehog is a hybrid cultivar, that's why it doesn't have a latin name. Aloes are pollinated by birds and the flowers are mostly red, a colour that attracts birds

Aloe vanbalenii or Octopus aloe has gone a deep red in response to the cold, it's green during the warm months. That's Toffee posing in the background, which means that my aloes have a hard time getting pollinated.

More stress colouration, the Cotyledon orbiculata aka Pig's ears are just starting to make flowers. They are also pollinated by birds.

Euphorbia gorgonis, which seems to be pollinated by ants - you can see some on the rim of the pot. This plant definitely doesn't aim to attract the usual pollinators, the flowers smell strongly of urine!

A casualty of winter: this paper wasp is one of a few that were overwintering on their nest. There was a lot of wind one night and their nest was blown down from wherever it had been built and landed in the donkey ear plant. It's so cold, these hibernating wasps cannot fly so they crept in between the leaves to take shelter. The icy night temperatures have been killing them off slowly, I don't think they will survive until spring, the spot is too exposed but I don't want to put them somewhere warm as they will wake up and they are highly aggressive. I'm also highly allergic so nature will just have to take its course

Haworthia cuspidata and a spider-hunting wasp in the corner. These busy little characters are very quick and difficult to photograph. Although they do sting, they aren't aggressive so I'm not bothered by their activity in the pots.

The jade tree is flowering and the leaf tips are also very red from the cold.

Another crassula, the Propeller plant has been blooming for weeks now.

Gardening in winter here can also be very colourful, thanks to the succulent family. I have a few pansies but they aren't appreciating the weather much and are slowly dying off. I sowed spinach and peas in the vegetable garden because they can handle the cold although they are also growing very slowly, I should have sowed them earlier but it was very hot in autumn and then suddenly very cold, so I'll have to see how they do.

Posted for the #gardenjournal challenge. If you'd like to take part, take a look here: https://hive.blog/hive-120078/@riverflows/garden-journal-challenge-early-june