The Bs and Cs of Lalbagh

Bougainvilleas and Cannas at the drive into Lalbagh

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Colville's Glory

A little while back Bangalore blogger LotusLeaf @ Garden Tropics had written about Colville's Glory, pictures of which she had taken in Mysore. Like it always happens, soon after reading about it on her blog, I got to see it for myself - in full bloom in Lalbagh. The trees by the parking lot, which i had mistaken for copperpods, were none other than Colvillea raceoma. It was a spectacular sight, with its fiery red buds and orange flowers amidst the green leaves.

Nursery at Lalbagh

The nursery is a wonderful place to pick up seeds of various flowering plants and vegetables. It is also nice to just wander around and look at all the pots.

Coleus i suppose. A cultivar of rex begonia (thank you college gardener for your comment)


Lots of bonsai pots.

Christmas trees looking all cute and festive

September visit to Lalbagh - Hydrangeas

I went to Lalbagh one morning in search of pots and seeds. The picture taking started even before i reached, with the lantanas on the way.

I headed to the nursery and examined the seeds and then the potted plants for sale. There were several lovely hydrangeas. Now the color of hydrangeas depends on the pH of the soil... the blueish ones have more Aluminium in the soil. Isn't that fascinating?!

Rainbow

I seem to have spurred my mother into taking pictures of nature. Here is a rainbow she caught one afternoon.

The neighborhood park

Last August I had posted pictures of the neighborhood park.  - it seems that this time of the year is when the park has a flower display of sorts, perhaps in tune with the one at Lalbagh. This year was no different, one morning in September at my mother's prodding i took a walk to the park to take in the many flowers that were in full bloom. Pink and purple asters, yellow orange marigold, many colored zinnia and balsam, purple gomphrena, blood red salvia, powdery pink hibiscus, rows of canna, coleus, lavender plumbago and rows and rows of leafy plants danced in the sunshine. It was an absolute delight!!

I missed the lavender spider cleomes from last time. There were a few, but not as many as last year.

JP Nagar, Bangalore

A play at Rangashankara took us to JP Nagar. As always, I found it interesting to observe the trees and plants around.


A lovely traveler's palm

The entrance to Rangashankara

The cafe, which had a lovely open and arty feel to it.

The greenery around enhanced by the spectacular paintings on the walls of the neighboring buildings.

Driving through

From the terrace

Our terrace gives an excellent view of the African Tulip tree and the Morinda Tinctoria in the complex.
And of course, of the many coconut trees around.

My Manderley

Sometime around September last year, I set out one morning to the park along CMH/100ft road. As  I walked along the path in the park and admired the lush vegetation, I was struck in one stretch by the overwhelming smell of the morinda tinctoria. The path was lined with trees laden with the flowers and there was a carpet of white along the way as well. It was as if the entire air around was perfumed with the intoxicating scent.

I was reminded of happy valley in Manderley, in the book Rebecca --


We stood on a slope of a wooded hill, and the path wound away before us to a valley, by the side of a running stream. There were no dark trees here, no tangled undergrowth, but on either side of the narrow path stood azaleas and rhododendrons, not blood-coloured like the giants in the drive, but salmon, white, and gold, things of beauty and of grace, drooping their lovely, delicate heads in the soft summer rain.
The air was full of their scent, sweet and heady, and it seemed to me as though their very essence had mingled with the running waters of the stream, and become one with the falling rain and the dank rich moss beneath our feet. There was no sound here but the tumbling of the little stream, and the quiet rain. When Maxim spoke, his voice was hushed too, gentle and low, as if he had no wish to break upon the silence.
'We call it the Happy Valley,' he said.
 
Truely, the spell of Manderley was upon me as well.

Bougainvillea on Double Road

Posts on Oregon & Washington

have been moved ... I thought it more chronologically accurate to move these to the start of this blog..  Click on June 2007 in the archives and you'll find them there.

By the roadside - Indian Shot/ Wild Canna

 

 

Thank you Radha, for looking up Flowers of India and identifying this order. I did look earlier as well, but seem to have missed it. Very interesting that the seeds of this flower are used as beads in natural jewellery.

Sky Watch Friday

View from the Adyar Bridge in Chennai

The Cardinal Creeper