Dhara...The Earth...An Indian gardening blog

Mums!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:24:00 +0000

The Chrysanthemums are blooming now. All of them have been grown from cuttings taken from last years Chrysanthemums. My balcony currently has pots of Maroon, White, Mauve and Yellow Mums.
The cuttings are mostly planted in pots on my terrace which gets lots of sunshine. Once the flowers start blooming the pots are taken to my balcony one floor below. A picture of my terrace below.
Some more Mums lining my garden on the ground floor.Thanks to the team at Todays Flowers-Santilli, Denise, Pupo,and Sandy Carlson.

Poinsettias!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:28:00 +0000

I think Poinsettias are instant mood uplifters. As I mentioned in a recent post, recently I bought some Poinsettias for my balcony and now my little balcony garden looks so cheerful with Chrysanthemums, Coleus and Poinsettias.
There are also some in a planter adjacent to my balcony.
Poinsettias(Euphorbia Pulcherrima) are native to Mexico and Central America. They are named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first ambassador of US to Mexico, who introduced them to the USA in 1825. Poinsettias are the number one potted plant sold in the United States which is pretty amazing considering they are mainly sold during the Christmas holiday season. They are also called Christmas flower.

In their native habitat they grow as perennial flowering shrubs upto ten feet tall. Contrary to general belief they are not poisonous though their milky white sap can be irritating to people with sensitive skin.

The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people think are the flowers are actually colored bracts (modified leaves).In the middle of the colored bracts are the actual flowers. When you buy the Poinsettias be sure these are definitely still looking yellowish-green and unopened. It should look like they are just burgeoning. A fresh poinsettia is one on which little or no yellow pollen is showing on the flower clusters in the center of the bracts. Plants that have shed their pollen will also soon drop their colorful bracts.
Poinsettia plants are extremely brittle and should be handled with care to not snap branches. They should be placed in a bright area and kept on the dry side.
Another picture of Poinsettias on my balcony in 2009.

Ornamental foliage..time for a change!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:13:00 +0000

All summer my garden and my balcony have been mostly devoid of flowers. My attempts at growing Sunflowers and Zinnias failed miserably. I needed to see some color and soon! So I went to a nursery and treated myself to some bright red Poinsettias and some brightly colored Coleus.

With foliage colored as brightly as that, who needs flowers?!

The Crysanthemums are peeping!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:49:00 +0000

The Crysanthemums are beginning to bloom and I am getting to see the colors finally! Most of the cuttings were taken from my last years plants. Since I had not marked the cuttings I will only know the colors when they bloom. I think I should have a couple of more colors coming up soon! Count so far - Maroon, Plum, White and Yellow.

Looking forward to a flower filled winter

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:20:00 +0000

Its been a long time since I posted. I have been lurking around the blogosphere but feeling plain lazy to post mainly because nothing much was happening in my garden. But now winters are here and I am looking forward to lots of pots filled with flowers!
Last week I bought Dahlia seedlings which are now in their pots.
I am planning to use some cuttings (below) from last years Dahlias too.
The Chrysanthemum pots are coming along nicely and have lots of buds.
The shallow saucer shaped pots are waiting for Pansy and Petunia seedlings. Need to go and get some!
The Amaryllis needs to be trimmed and fertilised soon. I just love the show they put up when in bloom. Last year was a particularly good year and almost all my pots bloomed. I have nearly 50 of them now! Quite a few need repotting coz the pots have broken.

The monkey raid

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sat, 14 May 2011 15:07:00 +0000

On the morning of the 14th, as I admired the Asiatic Lillies blooming around me I felt so happy.
These were from bulbs bought last year and I wasn't sure they would bloom. The shoots had shown up very late and I expected the Delhi heat to get them before they would bloom. The ones from fresh bulbs bought this year had bloomed and faded away more than a month ago.
Every morning I would look at the buds expectantly. And then, they bloomed and I was sooo happy!
They were exquisite and I was thrilled...
But my happiness was shortlived. That evening a group of monkeys raided my balcony and pulled off each and every bloom. They did not spare even a single Lilly. There were so many buds waiting to bloom but they snapped off the top of each stem mercilessly. I was aghast at the way they targeted the Lillies. It made no sense to me.
I tried desperately to scare them away from inside the glass door of the balcony. But they were aggressive and charged towards us, leaping at the glass and hitting it. There were three of them running up and down the balcony and the adjoining planter. The monkeys were not in the least bit scared of us. So I just gave up and watched them helplessly while they mauled my Lillies.

It was just horrible. I took these pictures when it was all over. Not what I had envisaged for the GBBD post.

I think I have killed it!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sun, 08 May 2011 04:15:00 +0000

About a month ago I bought this beautiful coleus from a nursery. Its leaves were ruffled with serrated edges and a beautiful bright yellow green color. I loved it immediately and kept it on the sunny edge of my balcony. I thought it loved it there...
Until one day last week when I noticed that its leaves had burned. Delhi in summers gets very hot and the temperatures here are already touching 42 C/108 F and the tiled floor of my balcony gets very hot too. I guess it got too hot for it. I am surprised it happened so fast that I did not notice it . I wish I had kept it in the shade.
And this is what it is looking like now. Though the little leaves at the bottom give me hope I am not sure it will survive...

Wordless Wedenesday

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 04 May 2011 03:26:00 +0000

The Oriental Lilies are blooming..
Thanks to the team at Wordless Wednesday!

Today's flowers-Portulacas

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:49:00 +0000

The Portulacas are blooming vigorously and I now have a whole row of pots lining my balcony.
Their brilliant colors are enough to brighten one's day!

My thanks to the team at Today's Flowers for hosting this wonderful event.

Until we meet again..

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Its time to bid goodbye to the Dahlias and these are the last blooms of this season.

Isnt this one just beautiful?

Nature's color combinations are perfect aren't they?
It seems so long before I'll get to see them again...

Summer color

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:22:00 +0000

The Portulacas have begun to bloom and are spreading fast.
The seedlings below, in the beginning of April.
Love the bright colors!

They have self seeded in the ipomea pots. I am looking forward to seeing that interesting mix once they bloom.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day April 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:40:00 +0000

This is the first time I am participating in GBBD hosted by Carol over at May Dreams Gardens. Here are a few pictures from my home and garden. They are taken with my phone so I'm afraid the quality is not great.
The Amaryllis bulbs are blooming their heads off in the garden. I am so glad that the Amaryllis has decided to put on a great show this year. Last year I was very dissapointed as very few of the bulbs had flowerd. Here they are lining the garden wall.
In a planter adjoining the balcony. (There are many more pics in the Amaryllis post below).
Oriental Lilies...
Pansies, Amaryllis and Carnations on the balcony..
A closeup of the Pansies..lover their speckled faces!
Ruellias in the garden..
A Ladybug on the Ruellia bush...
Kalanchoes..
Carnations..
The Bougainvilleas on the terrace...
Dahlias..
Sadly, this seems to be the end of the Dahlias for this season..
But I see promises of things to come...The Asiatic Lilies should be blooming soon.
The Petunias that have self seeded in the Lily pots. I don't have the heart to pull them out.
Even the Lily leaves are so pretty..
Thank you Carol for GBBD!

Lilies, Lilies everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 06:36:00 +0000

I love Lilies and this year I have been very lucky! Most of my Amaryllis pots are putting forth a beautiful show of blooms unlike last year when very few of the Amaryllis bulbs had flowered. After last years poor show I had just left the bulbs in their pots and done absolutely nothing. Despite that most of the bulbs have flowered and the blooms are bigger than ever before! I am so happy and proudly display them all over my house!
My balcony where I love to sip my morning cup of tea.

On the wall lining my garden.
As I never label my pots some blooms bring special joy-I didnt remember having this one below. Maybe its the first time this bulb flowered.

And the show goes on!
Another corner of my garden...
And the floral display in my planter outside which I love to change as often as I can!

And now for some real beauties!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:02:00 +0000

I just happen to love Dahlias as you must have gathered from my recent posts. On my visit to the Garden Festival at the Garden of Five Senses, in February, I got to see some really beautiful ones. Some like this spidery beauty below were completely unusual..never seen anything like them before.
Another unusual one was a pretty little miniature specimen with beautifully folded tiny petals.
The one below was such a beautiful and bright crimson that it took your breath away. Notice the delicately shaped petals and the yellow centre!
Ofcourse there was no dearth of giant Dahlias in multi colored hues.

Last year's Dahlias

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:35:00 +0000

These are some of the Dahlias from last year. They were big and beautiful!

My balcony garden

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:53:00 +0000

I have a small balcony garden and I just love to sit out there and enjoy all the flowers that are blooming all around me!

The Dahlias this year though were not as huge as the ones last year and of the 30 plus pots I planted only about half of them flowered. The plants looked healthy along but bore no flowers and I have no idea why that happened.
Some of the plants that seem to have no plans of flowering.

Garden Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the 24rth annual Garden tourism festival at the Garden of Five Senses and it was a treat for the senses! The Bonsai exhibits especially were breathtakingly beautiful. One just marvels at the devotion required and patience involved in nurturing these Bonsai beauties...

Mauled by monkeys!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:51:00 +0000

Recently, one morning when I woke up and went outside on my balcony, I was dismayed to find that the beautiful Plumeria tree, outside the boundary of my house had been badly damaged by monkeys. They had broken off many of the branches and there were leaves and branches strewn all over. The tree looks very sad and bare now. I hope it recovers soon.

Where have all the flowers gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:10:00 +0000

My garden is looking pretty colorless these days. The temperature is hovering around 44-45 degrees celsius and the heat is unbearable. And in case you are wondering, this was a rare day when it wasn't sunny because there was a dusty haze all over the city.
The only flowers blooming are the Portulacas on my balcony. And though the pots are too big for the planters, I decided I didn't mind them standing on them rather than in them.

And while we are on the subject of planters, these were made from wooden pallets, by a carpenter working at my home. And I quite like the way they have turned out though they have yet to be painted/polished. And that's because I'm basically not sure what to do! Any advice on the same, is welcome.

Lilies on my balcony...

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:07:00 +0000

I just love Lilies. These Asiatic lilies were grown from bulbs which I planted in October. They were blooming in Feb-March.

Succulents and Cacti

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:59:00 +0000

Some more pictures from the Garden festival. There were beautiful succulents and cacti on display, some very unusual looking ones which i had never seen before!

Garden of Five Senses

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:15:00 +0000

Recently, I had the immense pleasure of visiting the garden festival at the garden of Five Senses in my city. The flowers were just too amazingly beautiful! The size of the Dahlias was truly unbelievable! One can't just help but marvel at the beauty in nature.

Dahlias!

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:22:00 +0000

I think i'm more of a 'blogee' than a blogger! So i'm always lurking even if i'm not posting. However, my Dahlias have forced me out of my hibernation and I'm feeling extremely proud!

So here are a few pics..

Star shaped Mums

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:58:00 +0000

These white star shaped Mums at the Chrysanthemum show I recently visited were really beautiful and eyecatching.

One particular arrangement that grabbed everyones's attention was one the one above in which the Mums were planted in such a manner that they formed flat carpet like surface ! It was really fascinating.

Unusual looking plant

noreply@blogger.com (Sujata) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:39:00 +0000

At the flower show I attended recently I saw two very unusual plants. One was a foliage plant (above)with leaves that looked like butterfly wings. The stem was very thin and black like a string. At the leaf edges there were tiny black dots (can be seen at the upper left of the photo).I have no idea what plant it is as it wasn't tagged except for a prize it had won. But it was really beautiful and delicate looking. Never seen anything like it.

The other was this beautiful Chrysanthemum. The thing unusual about it was its color. It's the first time I have seen a greenish colored flower! It was really sooo beautiful.