Christmas Cactus

Thank you Bernie, for identifying this plant!

Wildflowers to be identified

More from my mother's visit to Geneva. And if you missed it earlier, it is wildflower week over at Clay and Limestone.

Wildflower wednesday

Followers of this blog will know that obtaining a copy of Isaac Kehimkar's Common Indian Wildflowers has long been on the to do list. And thanks to flipkart - the all new Indian version of Amazon, I've been able to strike this off my list with the proverbial click of a button! I ordered on Monday morning and by Tuesday afternoon the book was in my hands! No longer will wildflowers be a mystery. Thank you, Mr Kehimkar.

While on the topic, let me direct you to the delightful collection of wildflower links over at clay and limestone.

Easter flowers

A recent post by blogger college gardener told me that daffodils are the flowers for easter - they are called "Osterglocken" or "Easter bells" in German. Coincidentally around the time of easter I received pictures of lovely yellow daffodils from my mother, who spotted them on a recent visit to Geneva.

Shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet 'Variegata')

From the neighbourhood 'temple' park

The shell ginger has the most interesting looking flowers - white, shell like (!), they remind me of peeled lychees.

May 15th 2011 Update:

From the garden around the pool where i go to swim

Skywatch Friday

Thanks to the skywatch team for all the lovely sights from all over the world.

What else is blooming - March /April

• Raintree 

• Poongamia pinnata

An effort to free the trees in Bangalore

In the March 11 Times of India
BANGALORE:
Thursday turned out to be green-relief day for more than 400 trees on either side of Rajajinagar Main Road nailed with notices, advertisements and posters.
An awareness programme was organized by Public Vigilance Forum to remove nailing of papers, posters, flexes on road-side trees. Students from schools and colleges of Rajajinagar took part in pulling down the ads nailed to the trees, along with volunteers of the NGO. "Most of the ads were on availability of paying guest accommodation, hostels, computer training courses, etc. We removed everything stuck on the trees in a stretch of about 3 km from Rajajinagar 1st Block to Narang theatre," said N L Ravi Shankar, secretary of the forum. BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah and MLA N L Narendra Babu also took part on the awareness programme. The duo were found encouraging students to keep a watch on the trees.

Update: The PWD park at Kotturpuram

While at Chennai I also met up with friends from Nizhal at the PWD park. Work at the park continued thanks due to dedicated Nizhal volunteers, old and new.

 That line of white along the banks is a row of cattle egrets.While at the park, I spotted a very curious wildflower. The plants seemed to me like a herd of miniature dinosaurs because of their curious shape.

There were many other wildflowers as well, all of which made me realize that buying Isaac Kehimkar's Indian Wildflowers was long overdue.

 

 

Beautiful copperpods in bloom across the road.

 

May 2011 update:

Yes!! Kehimkar's book has helped me identify the 'dinosaur' as the Indian Turnsole - Heliotropium indicum. (Nakki poo in Tamil). Some interesting information about this wildflower - it is stated ot be an 'aromatic hairy herb with a woody stem and is attractive to milkweed butterflies. The leaves and seeds are used in traditional indian medicine. The latin name is from the greek word for sun (helios) and to turn (trope).

Too bad i didn't know all this when i spotted it - i missed a chance to see what it smells like! Ah well, the next time!

From Chennai:Grandmother's red canna

From Chennai: Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii)

From my mother's garden

And my grandmother's garden

From Chennai:Growth

From Chennai: Crossandra (kanakambaram in tamil)

Still a hot favorite, along with the jasmine, when it comes to natural hair accessories, the crossandra sells like hot cakes in south india.

Happy tamil new year!

In need of identification

The leaves of this plant are rather aromatic - very herb-like.

Update from Chennai: Flaming Katy

We've had this plant for some three years now - click on the label below and you can see it through the years.

Update from Chennai: Bougainvillea

A recent visit to Chennai gave us much joy - in our absence the bougainvillea had not just grown by leaps and bounds and taken over the wall but was flowering profusely as well.

I learnt just a couple of days back, from fellow blogger Rohrerbot's post that the colourful parts of the bougainvillea is not the flower after all! These are the bracts - the actual flower is the tiny white thing within.

November- Week in Chennai

I was able to spend a short week in Chennai over November. Though we did not stay at home, i got to visit the garden and see how all my mothers plants were doing.

This blog started out, among other reasons, to document the garden that my mother and I started developing in 2008. It is nice to see how the plants have grown over the years.

The bananas remain.

These appear to have sprung up from nowhere next to the caladium leaves.

The palms were tiny when we got them.

The crotons have grown taller and bushier as well.

 
 



This plant that was a gift from my grandmother has certainly grown. Thank you readers for identifying this to be a form of Dieffenbachia.

The champa has delighted us with her growth and flowers. The area around has become a bit wild with the money plant and the weeds in our long absence. Check out the picture from about two years back.

The pink oleander is blooming as always

This variety never flowered though.

The roses have climbed the walls.

These are more recent additions. 

This tropical beauty seems to have liked the rains.

 And finally, the fircracker plant (russelia equisetiformis) that i bought for my mother for diwali 2009.

Spring in Charlotte, NC

At around this time every year, my aunt in Charlotte NC sends across pictures of the spring bloomers in her garden. A true flower-lover, she writes -

"This is the time of year when life is renewed in my yard and my spirits are lifted along with the blooms!"

First on are the hyacinths. Much like the tulips, these plants are of South West Asian origin, but have been grown so widely for commercial purposes in the Netherlands that many assume that is where they are from.

Then come the tulips and the pansies. 

And lastly, the bright beautiful Narcissus Daffodils

Do take a look at the pictures from 2009 and 2010