h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I looked up the conservation status of the Gannets. Most are labeled "L", which means of least concern. However, the Cape Gannet is "V", for vulnerable.

Hello! Thanks for commenting. The Cape Gannet is indeed vulnerable, mainly because there are only a handful of small islands off the South African coast where they can breed … and of course competition for fish from humans and from seals.

You have a lot of beautiful wildlife in your area. I thank you for letting the rest of us see how wonderful these animals are.

I'm more of a plant lover, though I also enjoy butterflies, bees and birds (the three B's ). The more I learn about how all of these interact, the more pleasure I take in setting things up so they can succeed.

I love this time of year. I know this is your winter, but here we have all sorts of lilies and daisies in bloom. Shrubs such as Potentilla have also started blooming, and they'll keep on blooming until the frost. Best of all, my vegetable garden is getting big enough that I can pick enough beet leaves to add to the food I cook. My beans and squashes have not started blooming yet, but it shouldn't be long before they do.

I'm a big plant lover too. I've neglected my own garden for a while now, though … I'll try to really get back into it this spring.

Over here, we now have aloes and other plants in bloom. Food for sunbirds and for some of the surviving butterflies and bees. I also get lots of hoverflies and wasps at my flowers.

Your July would be equivalent to our January- - deep winter. Is your climate mild enough to have plants still growing?

Several of my plants are still growing. I've species that come from the winter rainfall region of South Africa, where this is the main growing season!

I like that!

There's a place for everything. Pants that like consistently moist soil grow along the side of my house, under the eaves where the rainwater drips on them. The fancy word for this is "rain garden." I just like to be able to go outside in the summer and see the kinds of wetland plants that I grew up with. Indeed, some of the plants I have are the exact plants that I transplanted from my parents' land, and they are doing great. .