Rain - don't go away!

Disclaimer: This poem below was written by nic Leisure that I found online and so is not mine, so the credit goes only to that person. If the author finds that I do not have the right to use it, please let me know. I was so at loss of words when I woke up on May 1st to find it still raining from the previous evening and I had to borrow this poem to describe my delight and feelings...

Arabian Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Maid of Orleans' - Jâtî

Rain, Rain don’t go away

Arabian Jasmine 'Belle of India' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Belle of India' - Jâtî

Rain, Rain I hope you stay

You make my friends think what they have lost

 Oleander - Nerium oleander - Karavîra

Chinese Ixora - Ixora chinensis

You make my friends happy for the one wish they made

Groundcherry - yet to be identified

 Black Lentil - Vigna mungo

Rain, Rain don’t stop falling

 Cannon Ball Tree - Couroupita guianensis

 So they can feel something one last time

 Asoka - Saraca indica

Rain, Rain I hope you kill the one who put pain in-

Mealy bug on Cape Honeysuckle

my friends of shame

Sugar Melon (scientific name anybody?)

Rain, Rain stop my friends from falling

Green Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris

Rain, Rain.I hoping it’ll put my friends pain in-

Gaura lindheimeri 'The Bride'

someone else's vase before it's too late

 Barbados Lily - Hippeastrum puniceum

Rain, Rain help them out so they will be amazed

Buds of Arabian Jasmine 'Belle of India' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Belle of India' - Jâtî

for there is no pain

Lantana - Lantana camara var. aculeata

 Amaryllis Lily - Hippeastrum hybrid

nic Leisure

Overhaul is coming to an end

Has it ever happened to you that you save your post as a draft and forget to publish it? Well, It did to me. I intended to post the New Year Post and wrote the post down on 31st I had to go to office on both days (Yeah, I know the surprised expression on your faces, well that’s how bad my work is, anyways!); forgot to publish it and never came back, coz I had also mentioned that I wouldn’t be posting until the month end or February! So much for being a computer savvy! And would you believe that I work with computers every other day and help people fix them! Anyways, Belated Happy New Year 2010 to all of you. May be I’ll change that New Year post to something else and post later. I was lagging behind a lot last year and I hope not to be so this year.

(The pair of shoes below is my first project of the year)(The caps and gloves are for my sister and brother in law)(This purse is for a sweet friend from Germany who was generous enough to send me the Strawberry and many other seeds that I'm gonna sow this month)

The first month of January, I was busy crocheting! Yes, I love doing it. I learnt it three years ago and stopped it as my fingers started aching. Recently I realized that it was because I was holding the yarn wrongly and now that I learnt how to hold it right, I was off crocheting gloves, caps, and stuff for my family and friends.

Plantville is almost getting cleaned up and the overhaul is almost done. I finally found that Neem Spray worked really well on mealy bugs that had conquered Plantville. (This is some unknown larvae that seemed to reduce the beautifully flowering Nyctanthes)

Initially I did the mistake of spraying them once a week but observed that the bugs didn’t go away completely. They seemed to hold their stand on the plants.(Can you make out the mealy bugs on the bud on the left)

I later learnt (after a tiresome translation from German to English – of course with the savior, Google Translator) that I should spray it once in two days for two weeks and as the instructions promised, it worked! Thanks to my sis who brought that Spray (CELAFLOR Naturen Schädlingsfrei Neem) from Germany for me a year ago.

(Can you see the aphids?)

Next huge problem was Millipedes! Yeeew! I know you can feel the chill running up your spine when you see them crawling around. They had built mansions in every pot and were eating up some leaves! Thank god I reserved my veggies sowing after the overhaul; if not these crawlers would have eaten them up! Initially I had picked them (Yeeew, I know, but I overcame the fear eventually) and later read somewhere that detergent in water would get rid of them. That seemed to do the trick but not all of them were eliminated. There were still heaps of them around, so I finally got this insecticide which did the magic. I think it was Dichlorvos.

Meanwhile many plants were trimmed, repotted, and cleaned up.

(This is a new addition)(One of the three Oleanders that I planted. This one started flowering soon. The other two are yet to flower - one is a baby pink and other a double/red colored one)

Many started sending forth beautiful blooms as if the clean environment lightened them up!

(After vigorous cutting, and spraying, this hibiscus is now finally healthy and flowering beautifully)

(I wish the Mums bloomed still so beautifully, but its days are over. Though they're blooming even now, the blooms are small)

(It was strange to find this Jasmine flowering in January!)

(I've never seen this Ixora stop flowering... touchwood...)

I’ll soon update you on the veggies and other seeds I’m gonna sow. It’s gonna be an exciting month. Wish me luck!

And yes, I almost forgot, even the parrot population seems to have increased here. Many babies can be seen from my terrace, playing with each other.

Bud(g)s Beauty

I decided to do a Birthday Gift Blog after discovering that it was our fellow garden blogger Greg’s (http://midnightgarden12.wordpress.com/) birthday this month (this also is dedicated to other fellow bloggers whose birthday falls in December. May life bloom ever-beautifully! Here’s a glimpse of what your lives were like before it bloomed this month. Hope you all like this gift. Happy Birthday again Greg and others! May many more happy blooms open in the years to come in your lives!). Wouldn’t it be special for our Garden Blogger friends to see such posts. So it’s my humble request that you all update your Date of Birth in your profiles. Thank you.

No matter how much you speak to your plants, coo to them, serenade to them, or whatnot, they don’t respond as they do to the gentle caress of the bugs. Now, I’m not complaining, but just stating the fact.

No one can ever make the Lantana open its eyes like the butterflies (I couldn’t capture them as they were too quick for my basic camera, for that matter most of the bugs were too quick for me to capture them caressing the buds).

Lantana camara var. aculeata - Lantana

The Chillies might be red hot when ripe but are cool and pleasing when they’re about to bloom.

Capsicum frutescens - Chilli

And the Cockscomb! Man! I was lucky to eavesdrop on these people’s intimate conversation. The bee (I guess that’s what it is) was made over this Cockscomb especially, and was all over it, caressing, cooing, singing, and whispering.

Celosia argentea var. cristata - Cockscomb crested

The bees know time better than humans as they never fail to visit this Four O’ Clock almost every day.

Mirabilis jalapa - Four O'clock - Krishnakeli

Well, I can’t praise this beauty enough… but I don’t want to overdo it at least for some time now…

Hibiscus rosa-sinesis - Hibiscus - Japâ Pushpa

These candies are an ever-favorite of an unknown bee that literally dances around the bud – I’ve never seen it near them when in flower. By the time I clicked my camera, it jumped on to the Ruellia and even there, I manage only a lousy image of it (see if you can spot a light blue body with stripes on lower left-bottom corner amidst the Ruellia blooms)

Tecomaria capensis - Cape Honeysuckle

Well this green-eyed insect-peacock (that’s what I named these flying beauties for their beautiful splash of colors) seems to love Ixoras (Again you might be able to see a black speck on the lower left-bottom corner on the leaf)

Ixora coccinea - Ixora

The Jasmine requires none as she’s too proud to let anyone near.

Jasminum sambac var. 'Belle of India' - Arabian Jasmine 'Belle of India'

Jasminum sambac var. 'Grand Duke Of Tuscany' - Arabian Jasmine 'Grand Duke Of Tuscany'

The lone one in meditation before opening her eyes to the sun.

This fly seems to like my Dwarf Oleander a lot as most of the times I see him lurking around its pot. What’s so special about my Olie?

Nerium oleander - Oleander

Waiting to smile, the canna is in no hurry. She’d openly slowly no matter a human, bird, or insect cooed to her.

Canna spp. - Canna lily 'Orange Delight' (I nicknamed it)

And so is the Hippeastrum

Hippeastrum hybrid - Amaryllis Lily

These are Butterflies’ all-time favorite too.

Ipomoea nil (Convolvulus nil) - Blue Morning Glory - Krishnabijah

And these too…

Zephyranthes candida - Rain Lily White

I almost forgot this beauty on which the insect peacocks sit most of the time.

Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno' - Crape jasmine

(Identification of the insects are appreciated)