It’s blooming beautiful on Flower Valley Farm right now.

The Proteas are flowering – and that makes it quite simply one of the most beautiful times of the year to visit the farm for a hike.

(Remember: Flower Valley Farm is now open for hiking and mountain biking. However, in order to adhere to COVID-19 regulations, we ask that groups stick to a maximum of 4 people, and that you wear your mask when in any of our buildings and offices, and maintain social distancing when you’re outside).

A little background check on Proteas:

To find out more about the history of Proteas, we checked in with Flower Valley friend, Zoë Poulsen from Notes from a Cape Town Botanist.

According to Zoë, the genus was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus after the Greek God, Proteus. Proteus had the ability to take on different forms – and it’s believed Linnaeus was inspired by the many different forms of Protea flowers.

But Proteas have a much longer history than that. Fossil pollen shows that the Proteaceae family’s origins were on the supercontinent Gondwana, some 140 million years ago. What’s more, according to Zoë, they even once occurred in Antarctica – before the continent was covered in ice.

Proteas today on Flower Valley Farm

There are 112 species of Proteas – and most you’ll only find in the Fynbos Biome. Flower Valley Farm is home to 11 of these species. And if you choose to enjoy the farm’s tranquil hiking routes right now, here’s what you could see:

Protea compacta (Near Threatened)

Protea repens (Least Concern)

Protea cynaroides (Least concern)

Protea longifolia (Vulnerable)

Protea speciosa (Least Concern)