Kitchen Gardening Training (Dada pota show)

Dear All,

It is a pleasure for me to let you know that PAMCO (http://www.pamco.bz/) is organizing a series of Kitchen gardening workshops with a collaboration from Data pota show website . You need to register yourself at http://doyourownbusiness.com/?page_id=76  and then you will be contacted to participate in the training.

Training will be held every Saturday by Mr Imran (Horticulture officer at PAMCO) and this Saturday its venue is railway station, lahore.

For more details, keep listening to data pota show and dada pota website. I will keep updating you in this regard.

Amaryllis spp (Hippeastrum spp)

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Bee pollinating waterlily

I had always thought how waterlilies are propagated in the wild. There are tons of wild water lilies in our province Punjab specially the white water lily. They are all tropical i guess. Finally i captured a bee doing this little work. I think she is trying to pollinate. Well, even if she is not, after all the hard work capturing these shots, believe me she is doing nothing but trying to steal the pollen. I wish someday i will see a butterfly on these waterlily blooms if butterflies do that.

Update: As indicated by "Dont bug me", it is a hoverfly and not a bee.
First she grabbed it.


Then she picked it and there she go.


This is blue tropical water lily i am growing on my terrace. It survived last winter without protection but got very weak. I am going to protect this waterlily with bubble polythene this winter for first time and see how good it is.

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White cabbage Butterfly

Welcome to another edition of macro monday.. It is difficult to attract butteflies if you are growing plants in containers. But planting the right plants at right places is the key. It appears to be a trifle task to capture a butterfly but it is not. This is probably some white cabbage butterfly. Still trying to confirm the identification. Sipping nector from my murraya plant on terrace.

Sometimes it takes hours capturing a butterfly. And the viewers are oblivious of the effort it is spent on the shot. Sometimes continuous shots are taken if butterfly is moving fast. Shutter speed matters a lot in this case. This one is another common butterfly of lahore. Just before rain she took shelter in the leaves.

For Macro monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
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For Flowers from today, visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Protecting Container Plants from Summer Heat

Protecting container plants in extreme summer heat is a challenge many gardeners face. Note that the plants in soil bed do not feel that much heat as compared to the ones in containers. In my case, i have got majority of my container plants on my terrace, the floor heats up in summers and the roots of plants at bottom of container are stressed. I had to water every second day to protect them. Last year i lost some of my plants because of that. Here is what i am doing this summer and this is going good so far.

Mulch: The best mulch components are leaf mold, coco peat and some organic matter or humus. You can also include, shredded newspapers and card boards. Remember, leaf mold cools the soil more than anything else. See the following arabian jasmine, though in soil bed, i have mulched it with leaf mold and coco peat around 2 inches depth.

This is how it will look closely. Don't forget to keep the mulch away from the main stem. Mulch will protect the plant from outside heat but not the bottom heat which is coming from the floor and stressing the roots.

Humidity: If your containers are at your terrace, the bottom heat will stress the roots of the plants. To handle this, place your container in a tray of pebbles soaked in water. But don't forget, your pot should not be standing in water, just the pebbles should be soaked and not the lower portion of your container. It is also useful for those plants which like humidity e.g. Arabian Jasmine etc.

Type of container: If you see below, this is my murraya exotica plant in an 18 inches clay pots. If you use terracotta pots, the terracotta color will protect the plants from heat however plastic pots heat up in direct sun. I like clay pots and they provide better protection from heat as well. The mulch of leaf mold and coco peat is 2 inches deep.
And last but not least container gardeners should try to plant drought tolerant plants as much as possible. The plants which are native to south africa, brazil, australia and mexico are very suitable to our sub tropical hot climate. The temperature outside temperature on my terrace right now is 110F which is quite challenging. But the mulch and pebbles tray are doing a great job till now.

blue petunia,oriental lily and tricolor daisy in my garden

Katarina at Roses and stuff hosts blooming friday every week, i am glad to be a part of it. Right now the spring is at peak in lahore and we are all waiting impatiently for the annual spring flower show although i did held in karachi but not in lahore yet. here goes some pictures from my garden and some from others i captured.

This is my first bee of spring i got in my terrace. She drank from almost every single flower blooming on my terrace including this iceland poppy.

This oriental lily i grew from bulb in winter and what a pretty flower it is. The fragrance fills my whole terrace. you can see my post on how did i grow it here

I love these pink petunias,  grew lots of them in pots. They are not as heat tolerant as gazanias or california poppies but beat them by the color range.

Can you believe that i am growing this tricolor chrysanthemum, painted daisy in raised beds? well i have very limited space and even there is a patch with no soil beneath, i make it a raised bed. .This one is only 1 feet deep and then it is all concrete. I hope they will survive our harsh summer heat. I have mulched them with leaf mold.

I love freesia for their toughness, ability to bloom in diverse conditions and of course the enchanting fragrance. of course i will do a separate post on them but here goes the one in my soil bed the yellow fragrant ones.

I love iceland poppies, they are have the most delicate flowers after aquilegia. this is one is neither orange nor pink nor white but some yellowish touch. a touch of elegance. growing in another raised bed too. It is just 6 inches soil above the cement slabs.

What about these blue petunias? they are happily blooming in the lawn of my office building the aiwan-e-iqbal complex. what a splendid view it is.

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!!!!