Months before, as some of you know, I tried what people said was impossible – germinating strawberries in my area. I got doubtful glances that said, “C’mon! Why waste time?”
But I was determined. My theory was, “Strawberries do well in Sun and don’t need a cold dormant period.” So why can’t I grow them? I told myself that I can and did sow some months ago only to watch weeds growing in that pot – no sign of strawberries.
I took a break and again sowed some two week before when the temperature cooled down. One week – the pot remained dormant. The second week was welcomed by Varsha’s delightful rain. Did that kill the unprotected seeds? [sigh]
Why wouldn’t you come to me, ye’ strawberries?
“I’m here with full of blooms!” replied the Jasmine, but my mind was preoccupied with the images of reddish berries.
“Oh, I can cheer you up with my orange blooms!” said Mexican Sunflower but I simply turned away.
“Look at me! Your favorite blue! I’ve regrown for you!” said the Butterfly Peas but my eyes yearned to see the yellow blooms.
“Here you go! I have yellow blooms too!” said the anonymous visitor, but I wanted to taste the juicy pulp of the ‘berries.
“Here I am, your favorite berry like grapes! I’ve recovered and am healthy now!”
[sigh] I simply poured a mug of water and turned away, disheartened that the strawberries haven’t germinated.
I am still waiting. “Why wouldn’t you come to me, ye’ strawberries?” With that plea to the bare pot, I descended downstairs. So anyone know the trick to get them come to me?
It's the same with my future African Grey too. Seems an AG would never own me, but against all hopes, I keep praying everyday and dreaming of cuddly grey in my hands.
One of my budgies would circle around me as if to say, "I'm here for you," but my ears wanted to hear those words from a parrot.Moments later, Shuka jumped onto my fingers saying, "Who could be more cuter than me?" but my eyes wanted to see a bigger grey bird.Oh, well, you could always own an Indian Ringneck! It'd be cool too. Told my twin inside me, but I couldn't just accept it.
Okay, how about the Cockatiel that can whistle and sing to you on your birthday! "Nah!" I dismissed.
Why wouldn't you come to me, AG?
Okay, I think it’s time to break the silence. I owe an apology to all my blogger friends for going dumb without notice. I don’t know what triggered it, but I guess my second trip did it, or my plants giving up on me, or my camera giving up on me… I don’t know, which but something did and I suddenly lost the thing to blog. I guess that’s a Gemini thing, may be? I don’t know. The same happened to my writing. Yes, for those who don’t know, I’m a yet-to-become-fiction-writer. Of course, I completed only one novel and my failed attempts to get it published for almost a year and me getting my first job in another state than my home and many other factors stopped my writing and it shocks me that I no more write. The second novel is sleeping somewhere in a forgotten folder in my harddisk, waiting to be opened again and continued – god knows when that day would come.
Today, suddenly, that thought came to me – Am I gonna stop blogging like writing (of course I’ll resume writing fiction may be 5 or 6 years down the line)? That was a scary thought and only then did I realize that I even stopped visiting other friends’ blogs! Of course, I didn’t stop gardening – which I’m sure I wouldn’t, but the thing to write posts was suddenly forgotten, despite few people’s questions as to whether I’d come back. I know that was so mean of me, but again, all I can say is, “I’m sorry, very sorry for going uninformed.” Well, I’m back now and I hope this post makes me start the seed sowing mania again.
Okay, this summer wasn’t as exciting as last year, mainly because my plants were dying on me. Spider mites almost killed them and organic means couldn’t stop them. I finally had to resort to the chemicals. I can hear some of you gasp but hey, I wanted to save my babies and couldn’t watch them fight in vain and so I did it.
After what seemed like an eon, they gave out sprouts and now are doing well [touchwood]. As I said, my camera suddenly went black two weeks ago and is yet to go see a doc. I hope my cammie would be fine by next week. Until then, I’m gonna get myself busy sowing. I’m back again and see you all at your blogs. Ciao!
Hop in everyone. Make sure you have everything packed and you’re refreshed, as we have a long thirteen plus hours of journey ahead. It’s early in the morning, I know, so I’ll let you all sleep in the van and wake you up in the afternoon…
C’mon, sleepyheads, wake up, up! You wouldn’t want to miss these mountains! Look at how gorgeous they look! The ranges of Western Ghats! Isn’t that cool! All wild trees and plants! Of course, we haven’t reached Sringeri (our destination yet), but the roads are pretty smooth, so we expect to reach there by night…
It’s lunch time, guys! Let’s go out and satiate out hungry bellies.Ah! Look! It’s an oriental restaurant with all huts and lo! We have ducks here! And, what more could be welcoming than these Verbenas?
Are you all well-fed now? Good, as we have a very long way to go still…
Here, we’ve arrived at our destination.Sringeri – one of the four sacred institutions established by great Âdi Sankara, centuries ago, to promote the growth of Sanâtana Dharma (Eternal Virtue of Hinduism). Its main temple is that of Siva who’s called Candramoulîsvara (after whom I was named) and also has a temple for Goddess Sarasvatî who’s called Sâradâ.
Okay then, you all must be tired after the long journey. Here, take the keys to your rooms and get yourself some sleep as we have great vistas to gawk at tomorrow.
Cock-a-doodle-doooo! Okay Okay! I know it’s not a cock but it was close wasn’t it? There’re no cocks here to wake you up. Get up! It’s five in the morning. Get refreshed and come out. I have something beautiful to show to you…
All ready? Here, behold this beautiful mountain!
(You can click on the photo to see the really big version)
Fog is still hovering over the summits, not wanting to part with the mounts.
Here, look at the view from the balcony…
Wonderful crotons, aren’t they!
Do you see the small hut-like structure amidst the mountains? That’s the place we’re heading to.
Look at the Mynah!
This is the ancient shrine of Candramoulîsvara,
And the beautiful river Tungâ! She houses really huge fishes but not to worry, you can wash your feet without fear. Don’t be fooled by the fog and think it’d be cold. It’s running water and it’s warm! Don’t go too deep as it’d suck you in…
Sprinkle some over yourselves as it’s one of the most sacred rivers in India. You see the bridge at the top? That’d lead us to the forest – Narasimha Vana.
My mom’s very eager to see the trees is hurrying in the front…
Views from the bridge…
My mom and eldest sister
Here, my BIL joins them…
My dad…
Here, we’re welcomed into the forest by this beautiful sight!
Ah! Look at the hibiscus! I’ve never seen so many in a shrub! Have you?
The lofty Betel Palm, hugged by the betel creepers!
My mom, wondering what this tree could be…
Bunches of Ixora buds waiting to burst open in few days…
Me and my mom…
Common Leucas, which is difficult to find here, grows wild in this forest with extra huge blooms.
Some croton creeper hugging the coconut tree.
Dwarf Canna…
Look at the size of the butterfly pea!
Do you smell that? Isn’t it strong? Inviting? Hurry on, let’s see what it is…
Ah! It’s the Spider lilies!
And this beauty dots the walkways with its beautiful white blooms. Any idea as to what this is?
The Fig! Yummy yummm….
Again, betel vine hugging another anonymous tree,
I thought this Allamanda ‘Silver Jenny’ grew like creepers, but look at how beautiful they are when grown as shrubs!
The lil’ yellow beauties…
Those Rangoon Creeper blooms are so darned huge!
Fig again…
Few anonymous, eminent trees...
These flame trees seem to reach the sky! They’re so darned lofty that I had to zoom the lens to get these tiny shots of the blooms!
Oops! It’s started raining, come in everyone, gather inside this hut before you’re all drenched.
Don’t worry, rain wouldn’t spoil the fun, as we have plenty to look around this altar (hut). These tiny roses! They bloom in small clumps!
Another huge patch of Allamanda ‘Silver Jenny’! This is the way to the cow and elephant shed, unfortunately, we’re not allowed any further…
And the Spider lilies again…
Ah! These betel vines seem to leaves none, not even this mango tree!
The Crape Jasmines…
Hydrangeas!
And my most favorite, Canon ball tree!
That’s my dad, BIL, and me (in front of the altar; men are not allowed to wear shirts and are supposed to wear only traditional wear – women too, here when visiting the priest who pays homage to the idols inside this altar – again cameras not allowed inside) This is the same altar that we saw initially – the hut amidst the mountains. I was shocked to see that it was not a small hut but a huge altar that can houses hundreds of crowd!
So, how did you like it? I enjoyed it and had fun watching all the trees, flowers, vines, shrubs, and birds. Okay, it’s time to leave… Goodbye for now. Here are some shots on the way back…
Hello, Everyone! I should first of all thank you all for all the support, wishes, and regards that you showered on me. I was again out on a trip with my family and my Brother-in-law to a place called Sringeri – which is a beautiful mountainous town and one of the four sacred institutions that was established by Adi Shankara many centuries ago, to promote the growth of the Eternal Virtue (of Hinduism).
All my worries that I ranted on about seems silly now. Now I feel that I have gained a new relationship with another beautiful family.
It was a great trip and it being a mountain, I went crazy with my camera, clicking every flower and tree that I laid my eyes on. Again, I have plans of going to yet another trip next week for three days around few more temples in cities around Chennai (the City I live in).
But before that, I’ll post the photos that I shot during my recent trip here. Yes, my plants suffered again while we were gone. One of the Gaillardias gave up [stifling a sob], but others just wilted and are now a lot better now. See you all later in my next post. Thank you once again for all your support! You guys are great!
Hello, everyone! I’m back again to the blogging world. I know I took extra long to come back, the reason being I couldn’t write anything. I’d sit down in front of my computer to start this post, but my mind was blank. As most of you know, I was busy the week before last week on my Sister’s Marriage. It was a grand function! I was happy for my sister that she’s getting married to someone until the day she got married and suddenly I realized that she’s moving out of our family! Yes, she’s been living in Germany for past two years and before that she lived in hostel for four years as her doctorate demanded that she be near her lab, but still she was MY sister and would always be there to watch midnight movies. She was always there for me to make fun of her, to fight with her… to call her MY SISTER! And suddenly the fact that she’ll have a family of her own and that when in India she can no more spend all of her time over at my place sounds scary.
For some of you this might be strange as your sisters and brothers might move out once they’re twenty-plus but in almost all of the Indian families we live together and the sudden moving out comes as a shock. I was difficult for me to accept the fact – the reality… I read somewhere that Marriage is an introduction to reality! Now I realize how true it is…
Well, while I was over at the marriage hall for about two and half days, we trusted our building’s caretaker to water out plants but I don’t know if she didn’t water our plants well of my plants started missing our presence, some of them died! After the marriage, bidding her goodbye to her in-laws (which was so damned painful), I return back home and ran up to the terrace to check my babies out. It only added to my grief! I saw this all around the garden…
Did they miss our (my mom/mine) presence? They seemed to reflect my state of mind, as if joining in my grief. The Rangoon Creeper was completely yellow and the next day, it looked a wee better but nothing promising. I realized that it was time to do major jobs on all my babies. It was especially sad to see the Common Leucas all dried up – it used to give me at least a hundred flowers every day! Yes, you heard me right – hundred is the number! The Jasmines were attacked by spider mites (I couldn’t bear to photograph it)! It was as if they were crying up on looking at me.
The Gaillardias added to the fuel and a lump rose up to my throat. I couldn’t stand there helplessly, as it was scorching hot and I couldn’t water the babies. I ran back down and tried to get my mind off all the thoughts – the thoughts of missing my sister and my hurting plants!
It was a painful night, but the next day when I watered them all amply, one of the plants surprised me with this.
It was as if saying, “Your sister found her match in life like we did!”
A smile curved my lips lightly and I continued on with watering…
I had to pull out certain plants like this unknown mystery. Some had to be heavily pruned and some needed cleanup. While cutting down the Butterfly Pea, I saw this –
This was the culprit that reduced this Vines flowers. Out came soap water spray and that seems to have done the trick. The vine looks a lot healthy now.
Though almost every pot had some sadness in it, this one particular pot totally surprise me. I had initially planted the Wood Apple tree in it which didn’t seem to grow well at all and stopped growing after months of pruning, fertilizing, etc., so before the dewy season, I cut it down to the root. I tried to pull it out, but it was disturbing my Passion Flower Vine that shared the pot with Wood Apple. So I left it as such thinking Wood Apple would never make it, but now look at it! It looks sooo fresh – much better than when I bought it. Now it needs a separate pot, but is that possible? Will I be able to separate the vine and the tree without hurting the other? Let’s see.
Now after a week, after going over many wonderful blogs, with my work keeping my mind busy, with the cleaning up of every pot and plant, I’ve gotten over my emotions, of course not completely, but I feel better enough to write this post. I know this all sounds stupid – my emotions about my sister being separated and all that. I’d have laughed at my dad or my uncle if they’d told me they had similar feeling about their sisters. I’d have thought they were being silly, but now I realize how difficult it is! [sigh]
Note to my sis: Hi, I wish you hadn’t read this post, as I don’t want you thinking that I’m sad. If you have, yes, I am a bit, but I am more than happy that you have a family of your own now and I’ll still be there for you.
Born during the Spring and ruled by Venus the Taurians are romantic by nature.
They usually have a hunky or built physique and usually workout to keep in shape.
Being the romantic romeos, ...Taurians have a beautiful voice that’s a common factor drawing attention towards them (this is so true, as I’ve found this in my friends too)
Loving outdoor activities, you can find these bulls strolling in parks, gardens, picnics, etc.
Though they love activities, they’re bulls by nature and can be lazy at times to the point that they irk you :D
They sometimes tend to be stubborn and possessive.
Flowers for Taurus: Red Rose, Lily, Daisy, Daffodil – try gifting one of these to the Taurians and see how their faces bloom!
When Vasanta (Spring) arrived, a few of the resident’s of Plantville welcomed him with bouquets but Vasanta was a person who wanted all his babies to cheer up and to encourage them, he announced a Spring Contest and said he’d choose the best bloomer as Mr or Ms Spring.
Now, he’s confused as to whom to choose and needs your help in deciding who the winner is. Can you please help him?
Is it this Allamanda who seems to bloom almost every Friday or Tuesday?
Isn’t that a cute shot? His flower peeking out of his foliage…
Purple Allamanda - Allamanda blanchetii
The Basil, with her tiny flowers and spicy fragrance of her foliage?
Holy Basil - Ocimum tenuiflorum Linn. - Tulasî
Would you say, the butterfly pea, that dot the vine with their tiny blooms?
Butterfly Pea - Clitoria ternatea - Aparâjita
The short-lived Crossandra? She was pulled out after her pictures were taken as they get really weedy even in pots! But she signed in second, so I couldn’t rule her out.
Turquoise Crossandra - Ecbolium ligustrinum
Of course, if she's selected, the crown would go to her roommate Adenium.
Desert Rose - Adenium obesum
I know you might be biased towards these riotous Gaillardias, but try to be fair. Look at them all and then decide.
Gaillardia (not sure which cultivars these belong to. Can anyone help?)
Is it this Oleander that seems to have inexhaustible energy?
Oleander - Nerium oleander - Karavîra
Arabian Jasmine 'Grand Duke Of Tuscany' who can pass for a tiny white rose?
Or her sister, who has lesser number of petals?
Arabian Jasmine 'Grand Duke Of Tuscany' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Grand Duke Of Tuscany' - Jâtî
You don’t have to be partial towards Arabian Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans' just because this butterfly is!
Arabian Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Maid of Orleans' - Jâtî
You’d definitely want to look at this Lana. You can call her Tana too… Or Lantana?
She responds to everything.
Lantana - Lantana camara var. aculeata
I know it’s difficult to take your eyes off this wonderful bloomer,
who sports different shades from white to Deep Red.
Rangoon Creeper - Quisqualis indica
If you thought White means Jasmine, you need to change your mind and turn around to look at this beauty who blooms in eighties and nineties these days.
Common Leucas - Leucas aspera - Dronapushpî
Were you wondering what that sweet fragrance was? Well walk a few steps behind, try not to bump against the Mums pot. Turn around and open your eyes. Tada!
Purple Passion Flower - Passiflora incarnata
Yes, beauty and fragrance is a great combination and it works well with this rose too.
Rose - Rosa - Satapattra
Here, to your left is the Flame. No, It wouldn’t hurt you,
and no, this isn’t a candy.
Mexican Flame Vine - Senecio confusus
Try not to pop it into your mouth. :D
This dwarf is a real sweetheart, isn’t he? How nice of him to gift you this wonderful bouquet!
Dwarf Ixora - Ixora coccinea
And this Orange One?
Ixora 'Orange' - Ixora coccinea
Please… Pretty Please, try not to be unfair to these Tropical beauties! [sigh] I know it’s difficult.
Here’s the Elegant Yellow,
the Flamboyant Rose,
Arresting Orange,
Riotous Red,
and the Rackety Red.
Hibiscus - Hibiscus rosa-sinesis - Japâ
I know after that exuberant show, your eyes need a cooling effect of this ‘Bago!
Plumbago - Plumbago auriculata - Nîlacitraka
I did try to speak to this Pome and tell her that she doesn’t have a flower yet so she couldn’t join the contest yet, but she had a pouty face, which forced me to show her to you. [whispering: she doesn’t qualify]
Pomegranate - Punica granatum - Dâdima
She’s the first one who signed up when Vasanta announced the contest.
Belated Wishes ye' Horny ones! (Now, don't go wild with your imaginations)
How many times have I told you that I’ve been busy and that I’m lagging behind? Well here, plus one now :D
My sister’s wedding arrangements are keeping me busy and from blogging and reading others’ blogs, but I try my best. So if I haven’t visited your blogs or haven’t replied back immediately here, know that I’m not ignoring ye’all but I’m just busy. I’ll be back with boring and torturing [chuckle] more-frequent posts by June. :P
I know I’m late but hey, better late than never, they say. So, belated birthday wishes to all Arians. Hope it was a great start to you this year.
When you say Aries, no-nonsense approach is the first thing that pops to my mind
Plumbago - Plumbago auriculata - Nîlacitraka
and I know quite a few Arians and they so fit this description.
Hibiscus - Hibiscus rosa-sinesis - Japâ
Arians expect devotion in friendships and give you a strong support in return.
In a crowd, you’d find that the Arians are lively participants every day.
They’re frank!
Rangoon Creeper - Quisqualis indica
That makes them a great person to know and of course this trait doesn’t help all the time with them as they’d be frank even during the wrong times. [chuckling]
Purple Allamanda - Allamanda blanchetii
Found this beautiful advice while googling and couldn’t help copy-paste it here –
Much as you are the Ram, there is still the little lamb in you, which means that at times you would attain your goals more easily by gently giving in without resistance to the demands of a given social situation, rather than getting your horns entangled in something larger and more powerful than yourself.
Ixora - Ixora coccinea
I wish this year brings you loads of happiness and you find the real you in yourself. Keep searching…
Has it ever happened to you that you sow one seed and an entire different plant grows out of it? I’m sure that’s happened to us all at least one. Well, to me it seems to be happening continuously. A blue-flower maniac that I am, I planned to sow cornflower when I saw its brilliant blue blooms on the cover. I had sowed them before, only to lose at least 30 seedlings to the harsh rains last year. I kept records of how soon each seedling germinated and I saw from my database that the cornflower germinated within two days!
With the guarantee that Haemanta (Dewy Season) would bring in no rains, I sowed them wasting no time. Two days rolled by and the third too. There was no sign of life in the pot other than the Zinnia that seemed to be giving it up. I waited nevertheless.
It was the fourth day that I got two seedlings.
I was excited and the seedlings did look like Cornflower, but days later, they looked like this.
Now, that doesn’t look like a cornflower! I wondered and waited and as it grew on, I realized that it definitely doesn’t look like cornflower.
Meanwhile the gaillardias that I sowed in another pot a week after I did the cornflower grew pretty fast.
Since I didn’t get 100% germination last time, I sowed extra seeds in the pot and this time all the five seeds germinated! Due to my laziness and procrastination, I kept postponing the transplantation.
That pot was big yes, but not big enough to accommodate 5 members! One of the seedlings was picked out by mistake and the four remained in the pot and in no time, they grew too big for me to pull them out. I decided to let them be – the inseparable quadruplets!
By now I realized that the Gaillardia seedlings looked similar to the Cornflower seedlings! Could this be Gaillardia, but how can a cat give birth to a pup? Are such mistakes possible? Soon, one of the Cornflower twins decided to treat me with her first bloom
and four days later I realized that it was after all Gaillardia!
Isn’t that strange! I wasn’t disappointed but not getting a cornflower did upset me a bit. I’d have loved to see a blue bloom. It turned out to be red blues.
The twins are Gaillardia Fanfare!
As I was enjoying their show, the quadruplets put out quite a show of their foliage. Look at how cool they look! Don’t they look like a fern?
With the arrival of Vasanta (Spring), twins went crazy and they started giving out twin
and triplet flowers!
(The triplets might not be obvious in the above photo, but can you make out the seed head to the right, below?)
Not inches away, the quadruplets were inspired and began giving out buds, inspired by their cousins. I was still wondering about the Twins. Where did they come from?
Meanwhile one of the fanfare quadruplets turned out to be a Burgunder-cousin (or is he a Burgunder?
I thought Burgunder didn’t have such tubular petals or did they? Besides, the variety that I bought was supposed to contain only fanfare, not the burgunder-kind.
Now, as I was wondering about the burgunder, I one day realized that after the loss of my initial set of gaillardia seedlings, I tried them in the same pot that cornflower is in now and the hurricane showers didn’t let it germinate. Later, I sowed cornflower, thinking the rains must have wasted the gaillardia seedlings. So, the cat didn’t beget a pup after all! But where did my cornflower seeds go? Is it possible that the seeds survived that harsh attack of showers? Didn’t the showers of watery arrows pierce their hearts and slay them?
The Burgunder still remains a mystery. I love its deep wine-red color! I sure am gonna save the seeds as I’d want them in my garden again next year.
Meanwhile the Fanfare twins became pregnant
and in a matter of days gave out seeds that were ready to be incubated in the ground back again,
but I intend to collect one from those seed heads and
I hope the rest would delight these unknown warblers or wrens, who’re still shy to visit Plantville.
This site was, initally, intended to be an outlet for the artist in me, but later on I chose to become partial towards Plantville (my garden world). I intend to attract wildlife to my garden and also grow plants from our ancient lores and rare plants. I'm glad I began this journey... Come, join me.
“Oh, I can cheer you up with my orange blooms!” said Mexican Sunflower but I simply turned away.
“Here you go! I have yellow blooms too!” said the anonymous visitor, but I wanted to taste the juicy pulp of the ‘berries.
“Here I am, your favorite berry like grapes! I’ve recovered and am healthy now!”
Moments later, Shuka jumped onto my fingers saying, "Who could be more cuter than me?" but my eyes wanted to see a bigger grey bird.
Oh, well, you could always own an Indian Ringneck! It'd be cool too. Told my twin inside me, but I couldn't just accept it.
