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.
















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.
















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.

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.

















Plumbago in my garden. Growing in 12 inches clay pot.


















First ever brugmansia flower in my garden

















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

















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.

















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.

















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


















Another butterfly having a morning walk around this tangerine bush.



















Gotcha!!!!
















Resting on my allamanda vine

















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

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.

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.
















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.

















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!!!!!


























































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 picture
















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.