Fridays flowers: Crepe Jasmine

Merry Christmas

Traditionally, the christmas tree is an evergreen conifer.

Fridays Flowers: Hibiscus a.k.a ShoeFlower

Dec update from Chennai: Flourishing caladium leaves

Another one that has benefited from the recent rains in Chennai.. big ears caladium!

This fern appears to have liked the rains as well.

Dec update from Chennai: Tradescanthia spathacea

Thanks due to my blogging friend, the college gardner at Journey and Jonquils, for giving me the name of one of the two of my 'purple plants'. The recent rains have done it a lot of good... time for a bigger pot, or on a more adventurous note .. the ground! 

Dec update from Chennai: Coleus

December update from Chennai: Transformation

A chrysalis, possibly of a common indian crow butterfly

December update from Chennai: Pin Stripes

I was amazed at the variety in the colors of the stripes on the calathea ornata.

Participation

Head on over to this month's magical edition of the Festival of the Trees, get your monthly dose of 'the creepy-crawlies, the squishy-slimies, the fliers and jumpers and swimmers; the other 97%' at Wandering' Weeta's Circus of the Spineless, or simply tune in to 'NBR' - National Birding Radio for the latest installment of I and the Bird. For the first time I've participated in all three in the same month! yay!

Go on, click... they don't bite.

Snake climber.

Snakes that wind their way upward?

The tree on the right is a ficus, the ficus glomerata to be precise. And growing along iwth it is a snake climber, the bauhinia anguina.

The bark and the fruits of the ficus are rather interesting as well