Dede Sophie

It’s the small things that make you feel good or bad about a car, writes Brian Byrne. I recently wrote about how difficult it was on one model to disconnect driver assistance features that annoy me. If you have to do it by navigating a touch-screen, it’s no good. But there are carmakers who get it right. That was a thought when I got into a Peugeot 308 SW estate for another take on a car I have liked since it was launched here last year. While the driver assists, including the dratted lane-keeping, are default from start, there’s a button on the steering wheel to disconnect-reconnect them. It’s even labelled ‘Assist’. Simple. Thoughtful. Designed by drivers instead of screen-time addicts. Any carmaker who doesn’t do it this way should look at the current Peugeot, Citroen, DS, and Opel compact models. And learn. This latest 308 is the third generation of that car. The style details are right on message with the latest overall Peugeot look. A sharp-looking front end with deep-set slim he

Stapelia schinzii (otherwise known as the Carrion Flower) is a wonderful looking specimen and native to SW. Angola to Namibia. It is a succulent subshrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrublands often under the light cover of larger plants. It was first discovered for western science in 1908, its findings published in the German publication Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zürich 53: 491 by A.Berger & Schltr. It is the largest flowering Stapelia in the Namibia (but not within the entire genus) with a bloom reaching upwards of 20cm. The  size is important as it is fly pollinated and required the surface area to produce the pungent carrion-like odour to attract them. As an ornamental specimen it can be grown as a glass house specimen or outside during mild weather as either groundcover or as a hanging basket plant. Careful watering is required over the summer months but keep them dry over the winter with a minimum temperature of around 10 degrees.