Macro monday - Waterlily magic

It is a pleasure participating another edition of macro monday hosted by Lisa's Chaos. You will find some excellent macro images out there. Here are my pics for this week's macro monday.

This blue water lily survived our mild winters and popped up blooms in june. It will continue blooming till october. I am growing it in a round clay pot not very large.

And here is the close up. My favorite blooms of all. And guess what it is fragrant as well.

Magnolia grandiflora - Southern Magnolia

Here i am again with another edition of macro monday. In this post i would like to share with you some macros of my favorite tree, magnolia grandiflora. This tree is native to southern america and state flower of Mississippi. It is widely cultivated in india and pakistan for its beautiful and fragrant flowers. There are many species, some are dwarf, almost all bloom very late specially if grown from seed.
These magnolias are shot in lawrence gardens lahore. It has very large flowers and the scent is very sweet and delicate. Here is how looks the bud unopened.
Bees love it although i am yet to see any butterfly on it. Remember growing magnolia from seed takes a lot of time to reach blooming sometimes 15 years and minimum 3 years. So mostly it is grown from cutting or layring. It has common name bull bay or southern magnolia as well. A true subtropical tree.
It produces seed mostly after 8 or 10 years. There is another close relative Magnolia champaca or michelia champaca also grown for fragrant flowers as well but it blooms in february here in my zone 10 while magnolia grandiflora blooms in March-April here.


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Catesbaea spinosa, frangipani and egg fried tree flowers

Welcome to blooming friday.The intense heat of 110F is not allowing plants to settle right now but some tough beauties are still hanging out there. Here are some of those.

Plumeria rubra also known as frangipani and local name gul-e-cheen is a subtropical fragrant plant. It comes in lots of color with white one the most common. This color is not so common but most beautiful of all.
Water lilies are another tough beauty blooming profusely. These white water lilies are shot at botanical garden of the Government College University lahore.They do not appear to be tropical ones but hardy tropical lilies.They bloom when temperature rises above 70F. Growing inside a large pond.
This flower is what we commonly call fried egg tree. The name implies the appearance of fried egg. Bees love its blooms. It was shot at lawrence gardens lahore. Botanical name Oncoba Spinosa,this one has small spines over the trunk of the tree but not too hard.
And last but not least is Lily thorn having botanical name catesbaea spinosa. I had thought that only fuchsia and brugmansias having inverted flowers but the list has gone one more step now. These are also shot at Lawrence gardens lahore.

Amaltas,Gul mohr, neelam and fragrant ixora

In this edition i will share with you the flowers which are currently blooming in lawrence garden (bagh-e-jinnah) lahore. Remember this is garden bloggers bloom day post and for others gbbd posts go to May Dream Gardens and check out other beautiful blogs showing some marvelous blooms from all around the world.
The first one is cassia fistula or amaltas. Very drought tolerant tree and blooms freely in this heat of over 110F. A common street tree with masses of yellow blooms.
At this time when not a lot of trees are blooming, cassia fistula gives eyes a treat to watch. You will lots of these trees in india and pakistan. In lahore a lot of specimens are planted on mall road.
Day lily is another common sight in lahore these days. There are mainly three varieties availabel here commercially. The yellow one which is cheapest, the orange one which is most common and the red one which is most expensive and slightly fragrant as well. Botanical name is Hemerocallis. And there are tons of cultivars and colors but here only these three are common. Some nurseries do sell other colors but at high rates. This is a perennial plant in our climate although flowers only in late spring and summer.
The tree is probably one of world's most beautiful trees. Having botanical name delonix regia but more famous with common name Gulmohar and flame tree. It is indeed a sight to watch when in bloom as it produces hundreds of flowers and looks like the tree is on fire.
If you look closely at the bloom it has very interesting shape like that of a claw.It changes its color with the passage of time. Remember this tree belongs to the pea family.
Here is what i would call the remnants of jacaranda and i belongs to the famous bignonia family.Remember tecoma?, yap same family.It was in full bloom in spring and whole tree was covered with blue flowers but now only some are left on the tree.
This fragrant ixora having botanical name ixora parviflora is also at the end of blooming in lawrence garden. What a scent!!!!
And now some blooms from my terrace a well. This morning glory the hardiest of all, blooms much earlier than other varities. I planted 3 various colors and will share with you as soon as other colors bloom but right now be content with this one only. And yes its botanical name is ipomoea purpurea.

Tropical milkweed and murraya on my terrace garden

Here i am again with another edition of macro monday. Hot summers are in full swing and i am busy mulching all my plants to save them from scorching sun. I will start with this beautiful butterfly hanging over my murraya plant on my balcony.And she is a frequent visitor here.
Another butterfly i captured but not at my terrace, in an open space instead. She is way faster to capture and i spent hours to get her.
This is Tropical milkweed. Botanical name Asclepias curassavica. This is first ever bloom of this plant in my garden. Initially i planted it just fro sake of attracting butterflies but the blooms changed my mind. I grew it from seeds last year. As the name implies it is more suited to tropics than its cousin butterfly milkweed asclepias tuberosa. It likes moist climate specially in hot summers. It is a bit drought tolerant as well. I am growing it in a 14 inches container on my terrace.
I captured this bee busy in a sunflower bloom. This species has gone wild in open areas of punjab. Not many bees are attracted but bees just love it. Could not resist few close ups.
For more macro monday posts, visit Lisa's Chaos

Sparaxis, Freesia, gazania in my garden

It is a pleasure to be part of another Booming friday hosted by Katarina at roses and stuff. There are lots of blooms in my garden, Spring at the peak. First comes this beautiful freesia. I planted lots of freesias this year as they are sure to bloom in our weather and adapt very well to our hot climate. I have never seen such lovely color before. And do i need to tell you the fragrance is just outstanding.

I also planted sparaxis bulbs but not all of them showed the blooms. This one did send up some awesome blossoms. A treat to watch if you have planted them in masses. Another warm climate bulb from south africa. so here goes the Harlequin Flower.

Here comes another heat tolerant dazzling bloomer, gazania. Even in this 90F temperature, they will endure drought. What a tough plant it is. And what a splash of colors they provide.

Pink ranunculus blooming in clay container. I grew them from the corms/tubers.

Dahlia Delight

Dahlias are among the first ones to bloom along with cosmos this spring. There are mainly two types available. The single ones, grown from seed and double ones, grown from tubers. cuttings are also available for double ones at cheap price. Tubers were available at around Rs 100-150 each. Double flower is also called indian dahlia while single ones is locally called Pakistani dahlia.

I always prefer single ones not because they are cheap but because they attract lots of bees and butterflies because of their nectar power. There is also a sense of adventure in single ones as they are hybird with mixed parentage, no one knows which type of flower will be produced. Also, you may find more than one types of flowers on a single plant. They are also more adaptable to our conditions and are more heat tolerant than double ones.
All the below shots were taken from dahlias i grew from seedlings in containers on my terrace.