Be(e)having with the Environment!!!

The other day I was reading a report about the effect pesticides have had on the pollination activity. According to the report there has been a drastic fall in pollination because of the reduction of bee population which further was due mainly to indiscriminate pesticide spraying. The Bee count in the apiaries, which leased out there Bees for pollination, has gone down.Commercial considerations have subverted every ethic in the market. We want quick fire solutions for everything without sparing a thought on the long term implications of our act. If this is true then we are surely heading for an environmental disaster. Imagine a world dotted with geometrically crafted gardens, filled with plastic plants in all shades and colors, a blue rose with the smell of touch me nots, laser light illusions, flowers that transform on a mere touch, fragrant blooms whose fragrance can be altered from say that of a lily to lavender at the touch of a button…! Somehow this scenario may sound fantastic to a lover of science, but is most scary for an ordinary mortal like me who wants to bequeath this earth to her children with all its uncontaminated natural beauty. Where a flower is a God’s creation, a gift for the living being’s visual senses, and not some factory crafted, made to order, perfumed stuff created to cater to a market. May be unlike impending fossil fuel shortage, these ‘little’ environmental problems do not compel us to press the panic button…not yet. And that is the reason why no wars are going to be fought over honeybees; no one is playing politics over their possession, and no one is earning Honeybee-dollars.To discuss issues like the ozone layer depletion and global warming have become something of a fad, but hopefully we’ll soon realize the other slow changes as well which have been accruing because of man-made activities, and stop fiddling with nature before it is too late.

Garden Blogger's Blooms Day March 2009

March GBBD is the most interesting mid month bloom display post for me. Unfortunately I missed posting for GBBD last month. But not this time as the garden is in its prime, bustling with blooms, and all other commitments can wait as it is not every month that you can display your blooms with a mixture of pride and satisfaction. Evolution of a home garden is such an apt reflection of our own evolvement as humans with time. There has been a gradual positive change in the character and contents of the garden. The range of plants, their arrangement in the garden, the quality of blooms, everything has shown an improvement from previous years. Spring imparts a Midas touch as almost everything which is supposed to bloom, blooms. And, its thanks to the magic of Spring that there is a veritable feast for eyes which I share here as a part of GBBD started by Carol of Maydreamgardens: Dimorphotheca Gazania Lemon Bloom Begonias Bottle Brush Rose Dahlias Ice Flower A rose bud with Marigolds in background Brachycomes and Kalanchoe Poppies Nasturtium with Verbenas

New colors on my canvas

Garden is like a canvas on which we can paint the beautiful colors of nature; a fresh new painting every season; different colors to regale the eyes with a new fragrance in each bloom. This spring, painting on my canvas got some new colors on it: All collected from various sources; leading the pack is this Marguerite Daisy... Here in my city in addition to the local nurseries we have vendors who go from house to house selling plants. Earlier I used to be in doubt about the range and viability of plants available with them. But these Nemesias which I bought from one such door to door vendor forced me to change my opinion as the plant is doing very well. It also taught me a lesson to not to trust illogical preformed beliefs rather to try and find out things after experiencing them. Camellias, I was made to believe by gardening books, doesn’t like warm temperatures. But as the latest theme at Indigarden was to learn things the hard way i.e. by doing them, I decided to give it a try and brought it home from local nursery. To be fair to the gardening literature this pretty plant did keep lying dormant through the months of March to November, and it was the cold of December which made the beauty feel at home and showed signs of change manifesting in a marvellous bloom in February. . The Cornflowers... ...the purple Salvias...and the Brachycomes, were all passalongs, gifted by the gardener at my workplace. I had planted them with special care befitting the affection with which they were given to me. And, thankfully, they have bloomed gorgeously. I guess it will be sometime before, thanks to modern developments in genetic engineering, that we will be able to grow all existing variety of plants and vegetables in any climate zone. Till then, sadly, I will never be able to grow my own orchids. But, there is this ‘Poor man’s orchid’-Schizanthus which is doing very well here and providing succor to my soul in the absence of the real thing. But I have been definitely able to grow something which till now didn’t belong here and whose first inflorescence I harvested today. This lovely powerhouse of a vegetable is a relatively recent addition to Indian cuisine, and is still not available easily in my city. I think my local nursery man gauged the changing tastes before the vegetable vendors could, and thanks to his foresight I got the seedlings which grew into a healthy looking inflorescence. Planting a new seedling is almost like a cute suspense movie where the final plot is truly revealed only after the bloom, and when these little additions to my floral kitty bloom, they make me jump with a child like joy.

Buds & Blooms

Its spring time! The year has gone by in a jiffy bringing back the lovely season of buds, birds and blooms. It is always wonderful to see a sea of sunshine sweeping the flora which keeps springing everywhere. Plants look happy with the numbing winters behind them. The warriors among the plants, who survived the frigid winters, are standing tall, fully eligible to enjoy the conducive weather, like this fiery red Kalanchoe. And then there are those, like Camelias, which will make their first appearance in my garden this spring. The Annuals which were planted way back in November will now get a chance to show off their blooms. It almost seems like nature’s way of providing delayed gratification to a gardener for having observed restraint throughout the winters. And isn't it gratifying to see the blooming Calendula which appears to radiate a gorgeous glow from inside... Spring has traditionally been represented with the color yellow, and the nausturtium along with the calendula is an apt representation of the season. I was gifted the seeds by a patient which was her way of showing gratitude. But as I see it bloom I feel more grateful to her, than she would have, for this lovely gift. Within a fortnight the theme of the garden has changed from the monochrome of Winters to a riot of spring colors. But everything is not as hunky dory as it appears, on closer look,I found the Hibiscus to be teeming with mealy bugs and it gave me jitters.Spring also brings some problems along with it! Well, a few bugs cannot dilute the sweetness of spring and a good season has to be naturally loved by all life forms; be it bugs or mosquitoes. So they are welcome here provided they do not mess around much with my spring blooms. That seems to be the sentiment of these pansies lost pensively in deep thought The buds and the blooms, together on plants, offer a lovely present and promise an even better future. Spring won’t last forever. And thankfully so. All good things loose their charm when they become a routine and we don’t want the charm of our precious spring season diluted…do we?

Memories

Life in third week of January is cool, cozy, comforting and leisurely. Already the air is pregnant with expectation of the coming spring season. In fact, 31st January is observed in North India as Basant Panchami, loosely translated it means the fifth day of Spring. This Spring is going to be special as the cutest bloom of my life completes the first year of her schooling and moves to next class. Surfing through her photographs of last year I felt a wave of nostalgia sweeping over. These were clicked when she was participating in various cultural events in her school: When she was blushing in blue for a group dance and then, all dressed for a 'Hawaiian' theme party in the school. Call it the upside of globalization that you can have Hawaiian theme party for little kids in a School in India! She was required to dress up as a Clown for a 'Clown Party'; I put several rags at my disposal to try to give the effect; the result - she did make me laugh:-D There is my little Cinderella, all dressed up for the play...waiting for the fairy godmother and the pumpkin coach...to unite with her prince charming,,,, Life is all about counting one’s blessings, and to be a part of growing up process of such little saplings is a huge blessing. One fine day, all grown up, she’ll leave my nest to face destiny. But, in the process, will leave me with some wonderful memories of her childhood to delve on….