Friday, September 25, 2009

Blotanical 2009 Awards – Thank You!

My mouth was open wide when i saw my blog nominated in the 2009 blotanical awards in the category of best container gardening blog. I mean its just over a month over blotanical and with the limited space i have for growing, i was just amazed to have my blog nominated.

I would like to extend my thanks to blotanical and other fellow bloggers who visit my blog and pay such nice and encouraging comments and send messages. i mean its all because of you guys that i have reached here, no doubt in that. Best of luck to all my fellow bloggers in this year's awards.

And last but not least, i feel so proud to be the only blogger from Pakistan( love to have some one join me, birdie!!!, mars!!!!, mania!!!, zahra!!! are you fellas reading this?).

So head over to blotanical 2009 voting page and vote as much as you can. here is the link to vote.

Update: Got 5th position, Hurray!!!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Lensing moon flowers at night

Ipomoea alba also known as moonflowers bloom in my garden in september. This time i bought the seeds and sowed myself. These are large seeds and i love sowing large ones as they germinate more readily and easily then the smaller ones. I planted them along with morning glory seeds. Although they have just started blooming but they are still not in full rhythm. When they come to their own, their speed of bloom opening is so fast you can make a video of around 40 seconds from start till end.

Until october arrives, they do not open fully till dark. so i had to capture them in dark as well. now this is not easy lensing them after dusk but i did manage to get few pics worth posting.
moon flower ipomoea alba















In above picture you can see buds of morning glory along with moon flowers. In morning i enjoy morning glory blooms and at dask, fragrance of moon flowers fill the air. although my datura wins the competition of fragrance but still moonflowers have their own subtle citrus fragrance.
white morning glory night blooming fragrant















This last picture paid my efforts. this is one of macro shots and i had not thought a night macro shot would come so good. and this is not all, capturing a flower 15 feet high in the air while i was almost hanging in the air with trembling hands going for a macro shot, that was pure fun. I really enjoyed this pic.
ipomoea alba moon flower lahore

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Allamanda, brugmansia, plumbago flowering

Here goes some images for Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

White hibiscus, not in my garden, but the shot taken at road side near my home.
white hibiscus lahore
















Plumbago in my garden. Growing in 12 inches clay pot.Plumbago auriculata Cape Leadwort Skyflower


















First ever brugmansia flower in my garden
brugmansia fragrant flower angel trumpet
















Blooming only in 10 inches pot while its neighbour in 16 inches pot is yet to bloom And fragrance is just awesome.
brugmansia pot plant inverted flower
















Gmelina philippensis, parrot's beak, ching chai is native to Philippine, Malaysia, India and pakistan. Not growing in my garden but at a roadside near canal bank. Gmelina philippensis parrot beak

















I tried so hard to capture this little butterfly still but it was not resting at all. so i had to take a moving pic and i am not at all good at that.
butterfly on flowers lahore
















Another shot. Really pretty butterfly but picture is blur because i am no expert in handling shutter speed and exposure.
butterfly urban area lahore

















Another butterfly having a morning walk around this tangerine bush.
butterfly on tangerine flower

butterfly on lemon tree
















Gotcha!!!!
butterfly on citrus flower















Resting on my allamanda vine
butterfly on allamanda golden trumpet
















Dragon fly shot in the evening. It was pretty hard picture to take.dragonfly lahore















Saturday, September 12, 2009

Meme award

Dot over at A Faerie's Garden has been kind enough to pass a Meme Award on to me She has small space like me and ripe tomatoes on her site is just a sight to watch. so thank you dot, for the award. I am really amazed that its not even one month ago i had joined blotanical and i got an award. That also makes me proud that i seem to be the first pakistani on blotanical to have that.

The requirement of the award is that you reveal 7 things about yourself, so here they go.

1. I started gardening 2 years ago. nobody can believe it that i progressed so much in this short time. I had no soil bed at that time. it was covered with thick layer of concrete and i had to dig it deep so that i could utilize the mother nature earth.
2. I love eating!!!!! yap i can cook as well but the point is, i can eat better. i like everything which puts on weight :P and i try various baking recipes as well.
3. Books are my another passion. mostly i read books in my native language urdu but that does not apply to gardening books. Right now on my bed side table is lying "The essesntial flower gardening encyclopaedia" by Fog City Press. I also have "The Gardener" by master gardener of pakistan Mr A.K.Khan.

4. I love traveling. Specially northern region mountains. i have been there a lot and had some dangerous routes like that to lake saif-ul-malook lake, aansoo lake, dudi-pat-sar lake. I enjoyed the calmness there and not to mention those wild flowers which i can only think of growing in my subtropical climate.

5. My spiritual aspect. Being a muslim i am into this thing really deep. My favorite exercise is meditation which reduces the stress and keeps your mind fresh.

6. Poetry. I have written almost 25+ poems and most of them are romantic ones :P but i am not interested in showing them on a website cause they are personal. They are however published on poetry.com

7. There is one person in my home more passionate about gardening and that is my wife. when i got married last year i had no idea that how much does it matter if your spouse has similar hobby. but now i know it matters really big. I wonder what would have happened if otherwise.

Now for passing the award on. These are the blogs i am fond of, and they deserve it as well. i am not sure whether they all are on blotanical or not. but even if they are not, they will join it after the award. cool, isn't it.

Sunita at The urban gardener , Zindagi at lost in dreams , Mars at Mars on earth , Birdie at Amateur Photography| Nature Pictures, Green thumb at India Garden, Urban green at The urban balcony and paula at Singapore plants lover

The Meme award guidelines:

1. Link back to the person who gave you the award
2. Reveal the 7 things about yourself
3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and link to them
4. Let each blogger know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Let the tagger know when your post is up.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Growing in pots? you have to see this!!!!!

Now this is something very encouraging for those who have no space like me and are restricted to pot culture. Folks, this railway creeper is at least 15 feet and the plastic container is only 4 inches deep. and i have placed it on a concrete shade which is further 8 feet high from the ground. Now don't ask me how did i manage to put this clay filled container on this shade!!!. The pic is taken from roof top.
railway creeper ipomoea palmata















Allamanda in same container, almost 10 feet high.
Acutally there is another vine in the middle, morning glory. But i think she is over taken by these two and hardly nourishing. But she will bloom too, for sure, just wait a while. This pic taken at 4x optical zoom of canon powershot.
allamanda cathartica golden trumpet vine
















Who says you cannot attract butterflies and bees with container gardening? well i surely think otherwise. now i am not good at bees and i think this is a carpenter bee. sorry for not capturing this bee closer, actually i am afraid of their sting!!!!!
bee pot plant












carpenter bee lahore pakistan















carpenter bee on flower













carpenter bee urban area














I captured this butterfly when thick black clouds had taken over and rain was just coming by. This cutie took shelter on my jasmine nitidum leaf. It was very low light and you can see some grains in the picturesulphur butterfly on leaves
















Isn't it strange that this mushroom sprouted, oops i think we can use this word sprout with fungi as well, right? in this D shaped pot instead of my soil bed. They grow almost every year during monsoon rains.
mashroom lahore

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The giggling morning glories

The affair was going on for several weeks but not disclosed until today morning. Rain drops hugging the gorgeous blooms of morning glory. MG blooms were looking so happy and went on blooming and blooming with pleasure. Even those stubborn blooms which had no intention to open up and always showed as they were spent but actually not, also participated in the carnival. They did not stop as i caught them in the "act", in fact they cheered and giggled.
blue morning glory lahore















Now these vines are covering my front wall of about 15 feet at least. As they reached the top of wall, you can see they sort of had a get together, a junction. i am trying to cover my first floor terrace with these. now they have reached the top, i am guiding them to upper top, makes total of 35 feet.
ipmoea tricolor flying saucer















Now this is interesting. She is trying to elbow her neighbour, C'mon sleepy head, wake up. but she is sort of dozing. Maybe trying to gather the energy to open up and join the party. i hope you enjoyed the show as well. cheers.
morning glory ipomoea tricolor

Winner of best photo blogger