Flowers of Sweet pea, linum, anemone and gaillardia

Spring has just started and flowers have started to bloom all around. Weather is still not warm enough to sow morning glory seeds though. Here are some of flowers blooming in my small garden.

This is some hummingbird moth i captured in lawrence garden bagh-e-jinnah lahore. Any identification would be highly appreciated.

Anemone has started blooming in pots as well. The ones in ground are yet to bloom.

Sweet pea also blooming right now. It is called phool matar locally.And what a magnificent fragrance it is. I sowed two types this year. Heirloom miss willmott and second one the fragrant spencer types. Will show you more blooms next week.

Then comes linum grandiflorum. There is another variety of linum with culinary use but with smaller flowers. This one is grandiflora with large flowers. Seeds were gifted to me. Will save seeds for sure.


If there is any plant in lahore which can bloom year round all 12 months, it is none other than gaillardia. Sadly it does not attract much butterflies here.

To see other wonderful flowers from all around the world, visit Today's Flowers.

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California poppy,primula,painted daisy in my garden

Yeah i am late for Garden blogger's bloom day but here it is anyway. And yes don't forget to go to Carol's May Dream Gardens for other bloom day posts.

I love anemone and this blue one is my all time favorite blooming happily in company of chrysanthemum tricolor. This is my first year growing this tricolor pained daisy and what a wonderful colors they provide.

Don't you think anemone and iceland poppy are an excellent duo. Here they go:

What about this pink one? looking so lovely but way behind the blue one above.

And this red one? i grew all of them from tubers/corms. Did you miss my early post on how to grow them? here it goes: Growing flowering bulbs in warm climates - anemone coronaria

What a wonderful yellow daisies these are. But these are not blooming in my garden. I shot them at Lawrence garden lahore. I wish i had that mush space!!!!

California poppy are my favorite as they are heat tolerant which is a must property of a bloomer. I have planted lots of them in a large container but they did not bloom all at once instead one by one.

Chrysanthemum tricolor comes in wide range of combinations. I wish if they could survive our hot summers and become perennial but ah this might not be possible with possible 110F in summer:(

 

Primulas come on various colors. I think this might be primula vulgaris. There is another species of primula with 6 inches height and multiple bracnhes more flowers than his one but small flowers. i grew them in 6 inches plastic pots.

Petunias, okay they are not as heat tolerant as i want them to, but just look at the colors and their elegance.This one growing in a plastic pot on my terrrace.

                                          

This one just rocks na? very lovely color. growing in clay pot in my container stand.

 You know what this is? i know this is a blue star petunia but guess what!! i have under planted it in passion flower vine. To utilize more space and to grow lots of flowers in less space, i under planted them in various large containers such as this one. ahh the dilemma of small space gardeners!!!

 I am still trying to assess whether these two are flowers are from same plant or not. mostly two different plants.

 Now this is interesting. Can you guess where on earth is this container placed? Outside my terrace, 15 feet high in air, just on support of some invisible threads from inside.you can also see the painted daisy plant along side it in a plastic basket. Ah the inventions of small space gardeners.

 Now this is some unknown flower i have seen very first time. blooming happily in lawrence garden lahore. Any help regarding Id will highly be appreciated. Updated: This is sweet sultan / cornflower.

Buttercup oxalis,iceland poppy, calendula in my garden

Anemone which i grew from bulbs, this one is first bloomer.

Shirely poppies, more free flowering but less delicate then ice land ones
Iceland poppies, my favorite.
Calendula, they come in bi-colors too.
Oriental lily, very fragrant. The aroma fills the whole home not just room.
Nasturtiums
I love oxalis and bees love too. Very adaptable to our warm climate.
Bees love this dahlia
This one shot at Lawrence garden lahore, Pretty Gerbera daisy.
For more Macro monday Posts, visit Lisa's Chaos:

Growing Flowering bulbs in warm climates - Anemone

I love flowering bulbs and fall is the best time to plant spring flowering bulbs in warm climates like lahore. I avoid planting bulbs like tulip, puschkinia, fritillaria, scilla, hyacinth etc as they do not grow well in our short and mild winters. We do however force hyacinth bulbs easily.

This is a series of more than 10 flowering bulbs suitable to warm climates having mild winters and tough summers. These are the ones which i bought this November from lahore and planted them in containers. You might notice most of them are south african or australian natives.

First one of the series is anemone coronaria. Price of each tuber is around 20Rs this year.I do not plant all tubers at same time but in regular intervals so that supply of flowers is continuous in spring. Remember that most of the plants in Ranunculus family do well here. Here it goes.

1- Selecting the bulb:
This is the tuber which is very tiny. Remember as in case of choosing a bulbs/tuber/corm, choose the biggest and fattest one. Large one will produce big flowers. This is a must in our climate and i buy at least half a dozen tubers of various colors. We buy these in Start of November.
















2- Bury in a pot full of sand (yes, sand only). Bury the tubers few inches deep in sand. Do not worry up side or downside planting, it will work both ways. Water it thoroughly and keep it in sand for about a week or so. do not let sand dry out and keep it moist.

This is the same tuber after 10 days, swollen and roots sprouted. you can also see the leaves shoots sprouting. Now you also know which side to plant down and which side up.
















3-Now plant it in prepared soil having some leaf mold and compost. And plant them 2 inches deep in soil. Do not worry if the shoots of leaves are visible above soil surface. Water the soil and keep it in partially shaded area. It needs bright indirect sunshine and morning sun would be best for it. I mulch it with fine grade coco peat so that moisture is retained in the soil. I water once every 10 days and i still think i am impatient :)

4- This is the situation after another 15 days. you can see leaves, stems emerging.
















They should start flowering in next month i guess, waiting anxiously. Give them mild liquid fertilizer when buds form. I will update as soon as this happens. Remember you can save the tubers for next year as well, although i am not sure they will perform equally well as young and fresh corms are generally more vigorous. After the flowers fade in march/april, and green color of leaves start to fade, cut the foliage and dry the tubers in shade. Keep in cool and dry place.

And last but not least, anemones are also propagated by seeds and guess what the flowers are larger as compared to the ones from tubers. But they take lot of time to germinate and come to flowering.

Update: These are the flowers after 2.5 months

Blue anemone is probably the prettiest of all and early bloomer than other colors .

What about this pink one? looking so lovely but way behind the blue one above.

Next Bulb: Ranunculus - Persian buttercup Bloomingdale series