National Gallery of Modern Art

A couple of weekends back I ventured to the National Gallery of Modern Art, on palace road. What drew me to the place was not just the paintings but a recent writeup in the newspaper of the gardens around the gallery and the many trees it housed.

Indeed it lived up to the article - the NGMA is housed in what was previously called the Manikyavelu Mansion - Over 90 years old, the Manikyavelu Mansion was owned by the royal family of Mysore. The mansion later came to be owned by Raja Manikayavalu Mudaliar, a mine owner. It was taken over by the State Government in the late sixties, who then offered it to the Ministry of Culture in July 1989 for setting up of a modern art Museum at Bengaluru by NGMA.

Spread over 3.5 acres the grounds of the mansion have many really old trees - and to help you find your way and name the trees the Gallery has a booklet that is a 'tree map' with the name and location of each tree. All thanks to the efforts of Prashanta Bhat and Behula Shah.

The colors of March

While I have admired the colors around this Spring, I have not taken pictures. So rather than share photographs, I can only write about the delicate pinks and whites of the trumpet tree that bloomed all over Indiranagar and greeted me each morning as I drove over the Domlur flyover; The striking red of the tree that is on the 12th main, the yellows of the carribbean trumpet tree in the park near Old Madras Road and the ethereal lilac/purple of the jacaranda all over the city. It has been an absolute delight looking at these trees and reveling in their midst. The raintree right in front of my house has also bloomed, the picture below though is from the one at the Bhoganandishwara temple that I visited a few days back.

The gulmohars in the city have not started blooming yet, they usually wait until April - but this one a little outside was in a riot of color, thanks due probably to the scorching heat.

And finally, the plumeria (near Bangalore Central Mall), showing off its sweet pink flowers.

Powder puffs

The view from the balcony also include the powdery puff flowers of the raintree.

What else is blooming - March /April

• Raintree 

• Poongamia pinnata

Chennai's prolific bloomers - Raintree and more

A drive to Shakambari (our neighbourhood nursery) and then through Gandhinagar last weekend provided a lot of photo opportunities of the trees that bloom at this time of the year and lend so much color to the city.
The raintree- which, in full bloom, is a really beautiful tree. It's flowers have a powderpuff like appearance, with silky strands that are white at the base and pink on top. The flowers warrant a closer look than is displayed here:


The Spathodia was also in full bloom - painting the city red with its pretty flowers:




Beautiful white bougainvilla hung from gates:

From 090315 Shakambari

There was also a profusion of yellow thanks to the candlebush and chestnut leaf trumpetbushes; light pink/white from the white trumpets, reds and oranges from the roadside bougainvillas and clouds of yellow from the copperpod. More pictures to come! Here's one of the entrance to an apartment complex strewn with white trumpets from the tree near the gate.