My Little Princess and the Boy

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Bush Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum)

(Edit: Added few photos that I forgot earlier)

While waiting impatiently for the 'Matoes to fruit, Groundcherries to ripe, Sugar Melon to grow, Passion flower and many other seeds to germinate, Allamanda to settle in its new home, and my Coco peat to arrive to repot the plants, there are two weeds that are growing vigorously. One was supposed to house eggplants and other, my cherished Strawberries.

As usual, Vasanta (Spring) gave me more surprises. This year it was the Groundcherries and these two others till now.

I was so ashamed that my Eggplants (Brinjals/Aubergines) didn't germinate. I thought they were the easiest. I guess it's because of the irregular watering.
(Purple Allamanda - Allamanda blanchetii >>)
I sometimes let the soil dry out and then water them. Of course, I sowed them again in two paper cups yesterday.

Anyways talking about the sans-Eggplant pot, it gave me a beautiful weed (or so I think) that looked pretty even without any blooms. The seedling looked like pretty princess with her gown spread about. Her leaves looked like a palm with the five fingers spread out.

Meanwhile the sans-Strawberry pot mocked me with a groundcover weed, not as pretty as the princess. His leaves painfully resembled a single strawberry leaf that was thicker - almost succulent.

The Princess at some point of time was almost killed due to her foster parent's carelessness. Sudden increase in temperature during the day and no watering in the evening made her wilt badly. The next morning she was found with her usually-erect spine slopped over the ground and her hands and fingers went limp. The careless parent fed her immediately some water and prayed that she wouldn't give up on him.

Luckily his prayers were answered and she came of age soon. Filled with modesty, she smiled shyly up at me with her first blossom. Tears filled my eyes as I looked down at my pretty girl.

I bent down closely to get a better look at her bloom and good lord! Did she look exquisite!

I fed her with more fertilizer and she began blooming profusely.

Meanwhile the boy was growing slowly but steadily, holding onto Mother Earth whenever he touched her, growing and spreading slightly faster. I wonder what land he comes from and what his lineage is...

Now, what is a Princess without her valor, you ask? Well, she would definitely pass for a Princess - not just another princess, but my little girl is a valorous one - a Warrior!

Yes, my dear friends, she's a Warrior. My little girl soon grew up to a fine woman who could wield a sword and brandish it when you threaten her!

I wish I knew what clan she belonged to. Which land does she come from? What is her royal name? Have you seen her royal relations anywhere? If so, kindly let me know, for a Queen deserves to be named properly, isn't it?

This is my entry for Words That Inspire - An April Challenge - a meme started by Noel, A Plant Fanatic Blog. Head over to his wonderful blog to read more.

Green Lanterns and their Distant Cousins

Vasanta (Spring) brings magic with him which seems to make the plants grow faster. I wish he did the same to my seeds too [SIGH]!

I've been talking about my mystery plants in my past two posts which has grown really well now. the pots occupied by them were intended to be populated by the most eagerly expected Columbine and Lavender, but I ended up with these.

Thanks to my instincts that I didn't decide to pull these out. Their flowers weren't so catchy at first sight

unless you look close to appreciate its beauty.

I waited not for too long to see these tiny lanterns hanging on the leaf axils.

Soon the entire branch seemed dotted by tiny lanterns.

The other two species were slow to flower but grew very fast. 

For an Urban-bred guy like me, identifying a plant was really difficult and I had to browse through pages in the Internet with my lame keywords like five petaled,

pear-shaped fruits, 

yellow flower,

and so on, to find so many flowers and plants, but as my luck would have it, I found the identity really soon.

The so-called weeds belonged to Physalis family! Three cheers to Tyra for identifying it!

This one below I think is Physalis minima.

And one among these twins seems like Physalis peruviana

and other could be Physalis pubescens or Physalis viscosa

or may be I am wrong about IDying all the three's exact species, because all the species in the Genus Physalis look almost the same but for few minute differences. May be the experienced gardeners out there should be able to help me :)

To my dismay last week three fruits dropped down from the plant.

Thinking they were ripe I ignored the first two instances, but the berries were green inside. The third drop alarmed me 'coz it's fruit was smaller than the first two!

The ants seem to love whatever their flowers are offering and thankfully I saved them from the mealybugs and aphids as I found it initially and I'll definitely be on the lookout for possible future attacks, as I don't want to lose these precious guests who seem to have settled in Plantville.

Physalis minima seems like vigorous plant than the other two as the lanterns soon turned bigger making the plant a fantastic sight. In the evenings I touched these hanging lanterns, almost expecting them to light up. I know, I know, it's the aftereffect of watching Avatar thrice! :D

One thing that I learnt from my reading about these is that the plants would grow more berries if fertilized! I was shocked to learn the fact! I did fertilize it once in the beginning before knowing this and I hope the plants don't curse me for nourishing them a bit extra!

So when do I ever harvest these lanterns? Some seem really big but the husk is still green... Would they change color? If so how long should a poor impatient gardener wait?

While these lanterns are growing well, there's their cousin sitting in two other pots nearby.

I was so excited about these soon-to-be-bulbs! (I mean bulb as in bulb bulb and not the bulb bulb like the bulbs from which plants grow :D)

One of the bush tomato seedlings as mentioned in my previous posts has given out many small bulbs but now its leaves have curled upwards.

I was scared ****less! That's my first veggie and I can't afford to lose them! I looked under the leaves for aphids or mealybugs - none.

There weren't any coloration on the back of leaves to suggest viral infection.

Is it just a physiological curl? Oh god! Let it be just that. The other two seedlings seem normal though!

But the new growth from the bigger seedling is slightly curled too. Am I to worry about this? Should I scream HELP!? What say you?