Angelwing jasmine,barleria,railway creeper in my garden

This is jasmine nitidum - one of my favorite jasmines because it blooms nonstop from April till november. divine fragrance. i am growing it in a 16 inches clay pot.
















Gomphrena - bachelor's button, pink color - seems out of focus pic.
















Can someone help me Id this butterfly bush?. it has fragrant white blossoms and flowers in late summer from August-October here. its leaves are broad as compared to buddleia davidii.
















some dragon fly on star jasmine stem
















Barleria. not one of my favorite but color is good
















Water hyacinth, the official flower of province sindh in pakistan. gorwing in a round clay pot of 10 inches diameter. it is found abundant and wild not only in sindh but in our province punjab as well. considered a weed here.

































what a shot, isnt' it? both my tropical water lilies in one shot. and both are blooming non stop. they will go dormant in winter. the upper pot is bigger than the other. i just love them. note that the the first one is fully opened but panama pacific below is just starting to open. first one is also viviparous and you can see the viviparous leaf in the picture.
















close up of waterlily in smaller pot
















Tradescantia blooming

































And last but not least, the railway creeper. i am growing this vine in a plastic square container in which i am also growing allamanda and morning glory. and that container is placed 12 feet high on a concrete shade. just parallel to my terrace. now this is what i call urban/small space gardening.

Attracting wild life to your garden

It is not easy to establish a garden which would attract butterflies, bees, sun birds if you are living in an over populated urban city with lots of pollution around. Situation gets worse if you have as little space as i have got. Sure plants can be grown in containers and they will flourish but nothing compared to those which are nourished by sweet mother earth. After all, plants get to know they are in containers, nah? what about a patch full of self seeding bright wild flowers!!!

Although butterflies do visit my garden many times a day but this lemon tree just next to my home is something all the butterflies and bees just adore. Sometimes i think that they come all the way to sip nectar from this tree instead and in the way they also visit my garden. well i don't mind it either. My dwarf murraya tree does compete hard and tries to allure those butterflies back through its intense sweet fragrance. The competition goes on.
















This bee also visited my murraya tree just before coming here but i could not capture it there.
















This butterfly was wandering around these phlox flowers and they were hundreds in a row. something i wish i could ever grow.
















Now this wild flower garden is something i am talking about. Self seeding annuals in a natural way.
















Hope some day i will have a patch full of butterfly bushes with tons of butterflies around. Dreams never die actually.

Thunbergia,rudbeckia, senecio flowers in my garden

August is the month of monsoon. We root cuttings, transplant perennials, prepare beds for fall plantings this month. Those climbers and bushes which are late summer bloomer and those which did not bloom because of intense summer heat are coming back to life. see below the flowers blooming in my garden. Just a treat to see these blooming and blooming.

Rudbeckia - black eyed susan.This is a raised bed as i dont have much space. It is just 4 inches of soil and beneath that just concrete/cement. i will plant crocus bulbs here as soon as 15th september arrives. They flowered well here last year :P

















gomphrena in a small pot

















Senecio confusus (mexican flame vine)my all time favorite vine and butterflies just love it. blooms are fragrant too.

















Thunbergia grandiflora (bangal clock vine) at Lawrence garden Lahore

Rain lilies blooming in lahore

Rain lilies or zaphyr lilies are late summer bloomers specially after rainfall. they are available in many colors including pink, yellow and white. they self sow as well. they need to be pot bound to bloom. i am growing 4 bulbs in a 7 inches pot. botanical name of rain lily is zephyranthes lily. they are native to many other areas including india and pakistan.

strangely local gardeners or mali here call it nargis. although it is not nargis, nargis is botanically called narcissus and it normally treated as annual as compared to this zephyr lilies which are perennial here in lahore. note that these lilies like moist conditions and full sun to bloom. sadly, bulbs are not easily available here in lahore at modern seeds shops or even local nurseries. i got these bulbs as gift from a mali. i have got all the 3 above said colors and all are blooming except white one. note that these lilies need a dry period soon after rain spell. now you must be thinking that why not fool the plant with tap water thinking into rain....he he he.... try it... plants get to know you are trying fooling them :P


















an this is a bit smaller yellow one.