Flowers of Cassia glauca and Crinum amabile

The winter here in lahore is in full swing. Not much perennials you will see in bloom but here are some of the flowers which i am seeing almost daily. The first one is Scrambled Egg Bush with botanic name Cassia glauca. This shrub is almost everywhere in lahore right now. The shrub is everywhere in lahore and also abundant in other subtropical climates. There are many other beautiful cassia shrubs including cassia javanica having pink flowers. Here goes cassia glauca.


The macro is very beautiful. The pollen color contrast with the yellow petal is eye catching.


There are not many crinum blooming right into December but this giant spider lily (Crinum amabile) is still blooming in start of December. A true giant with beautiful flowers. The scent is spicy and fills the air with aroma. Needs a large space to develop.


This post is included in Macro monday by Lisa's Chaos. Do visit her blog for more macro posts.

I have posted this post in the mellow yellow monday as well so do visit Mellow Yellow Monday for more yellow flowers.

Butterflies of Lahore - Denaid Eggfly Butterfly

This is second post in the series of "Butterflies of Lahore" I am covering. Denaid Eggfly Butterfly with technical name Hypolimnas misippus is not a very common butterfly but not rare either. It is mostly found in gardens and you will not frequently see it in the streets. It is present in lahore almost whole summer. Here is the back view of the butterfly.

It is mostly found on ground covers in my experience but i also captured it many times on mums. Very fast mover and not easy to capture but once it stays, it stays for a while and this is the time to capture its beauty. And the side view is much different and more beautiful as well.


These shots were taken in Lawrence gardens lahore in summer of 2011. I could not find this butterfly in any other garden. The side view does imitate plain tiger butterfly though.

Flowers of PC Bhurban - Roses, lavender and Cotoneaster

This is the last post in the "Flowers of PC Bhurban" Series. The first two posts you can find here and here. This post took me a while to identify some flowers in the garden of PC bhurban. For those who do not know, PC bhurban is actually Pearl Continental hotel in the Bhurban area in murree hills of Pakistan. So here are the remaining flowers.
There were many roses in the PC bhurban garden and some i had never seen before. This one is identified as a rose. Very beautiful petals. Here is the closer look at this beauty. Talking of roses, here is another rose, so different from the common red rose we have that i had to ask about the identity of this plant, A rose!!!!
This one is some Hypericum species, most probably St John's wort. This is Cotoneaster salicifolius, Willow-leaved Cotoneaster. A drought tolerant shrub blooming happily in the garden of the hotel.
This one is probably some achillea most probably Achillea filipendulina but it is just a guess. This is Red Valerian, Centranthus ruber. And last but not least is English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia. Butterflies were attracted to lavender flowers like crazy. In our plains, lavandula stoechas or french lavender is more successful than this one. Beauty and fragrance al there with the additional benefit of attracting some wild life. There is still one post remaining regarding the flowers of murree hills and nathia gali and that i will cover in the next post. Till then stay tuned.

For more beautiful flower posts from all around the world, visit Today's Flowers.
For more macro monday posts, visit Lisa's Chaos 

Butterflies of Lahore - Plain tiger butterfly

Starting from this post, i am initiating a series of posts on butterflies of my city Lahore. There is already a post on butterflies of Islamabad here. I have few butterfly posts on butterflies of himalayas as well but right now i am starting with those of my own city lahore. All the shots are taken by me. The first one is Plain tiger butterfly Danaus chrysippus.


Plain tiger is probably the most common butterfly in urban cities like lahore. And it is also one of the easiest to capture because it is a slow mover. Not very fast so camera captures easily. You will find this one on roads, in gardens, everywhere. It is not fond of a specific plant, you will find it mostly on foliage. Here is the side shot of this butterfly. Remember there is not much of difference between the male and the female at least not to naked eye.


This butterfly is common in India, Pakistan and many other countries. One habit of this butterfly is that it spreads its wing so that full sun is at the back absorbing the heat of sun through its fully open wings and that is the time to capture it closely.


The next butterfly post would be on Common lime butterfly, another common butterfly of Lahore - Pakistan. This post is included in Macro Monday by Lisa's Chaos. So visit her blog for more macro shots.

Snail vine, vigna caracalla flowering in my terrace garden

Welcome to another edition of Macro monday. This is what is blooming right now in my garden.
 Snail vine finally in bloom. Very sweet fragrance.

You will find all 3 colors on this vine. White, then purple and last one yellow. Very heat tolerant vine.


I captured this gram blue butterfly on the flower of hyacinth bean vine. Very fast growing vine and a relative of snail vine.


For Macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos

Flowers of PC Bhurban - Lobelia, hosta, fuchsia, gazania and daylily

This is the second post in the series of garden flowers of PC Bhurban, Murree hills Pakistan. You can see the previous post covering delphiniums and roses here. As always, feel free to click on the image for full view.

The first one in this post is gazania. Now this is almost a perennial in lahore which is lot hotter than bhurban. It is a very drought tolerant plant and very suitable for hottest of the places in your garden.


Then comes the fuchsia. These are not suitable for hot climates of karachi and lahore. They prefer a cooler weather or at least a temperate one. They can be grown as spring blooming annuals in our southern plains but they do not tolerate the summer heat.


Here is another view from the balcony of PC Burban.


Lobelia, another spring blooming annual in lahore but not a common sight due to the small flowers. It blooms in summer in hilly areas of bhurban and murree hills. Planted in masses, all blue color looks just exquisite. Here is the macro view

Another view of lobelia flowers.


Hosta or plantain lily, grown rarely in plains at least in lahore. It is a bulbous plant famous for growing in shade. Its foliage is perhaps more pretty than its flowers and the is the main attraction.


There are some species which can be grown in lahore and other subtropical climates. But it is a plant not well explored here in plains. Does not come true from seed and does not flower early from seed, best propagated through division and not easily available as well.


Last in this post is the daylily. There are many cultivars of this beautiful and east to grow plant. If there is one bulbous plant which can well endure the heat of lahore then it is no other than daylily. In Pearl continental hotel Bhurban there are many varieties of daylily are planted. This was my personal favorite.


The last post on the flowers of PC bhurban will take some time because there are lot of un-identified flowers in the post and i am trying hard to get their names. Meanwhile there will be a series of butterflies of Pakistan and that includes a few species i captured in murree hills and one special butterfly i saw in the garden of PC Bhurban. So the butterfly lovers, stay tuned for next few posts!!!

This post is included in Today's flowers  so do visit there to see flowers from around the world.
For macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic monday, visit Mosaic monday

Flowers of PC Bhurban - Delphinium and Roses

This is the third post in the series of hilly area flowers. The first two you can find here and here. If you ever go to murree hills and other gailyat and do not visit the garden of PC Bhurban, you did nothing. One of the most beautiful gardens i ever saw. Very well maintained and well planned. The landscaping is excellent so is the choice of plants. You will find flowering bulbs, shrubs, roses, perennials, annuals etc.

When you enter into PC bhruban, the first row of flower bed, that is all delphinium. And what a sight it is. almost every color of delphinium with full glory. And it is not 6 inches delphinium from a hot climate, this is grandiflora which gets tall to its full extent as this cool climate is ideal for its growth. We, the natives of subtropical climate, are content with its warm weather cousin larkspur though. Here comes the delphiniums, you can click on the image for full view:







If you visit Pearl Continental hotel bhurban chances are you will be seeing one of the best roses display over there. And these are not floribundas or other miniature ones. The giant roses. Bright colors, very large blooms and that too on a single stem.


The white roses are my personal favorite. Roses love temperate climate. Neither too hot not too cold. This is mid May and weather is very pleasant in bhurban. Roses are enjoying it too. What a delight it is, having a cup of coffee among these beautiful roses, looking at the snowy Himalayas. What a treat.  






There will be at least two more posts on flowers of PC Bhruban Murree ahead. So keep visiting for more alpine flowers. There will also be one post exclusively on butterflies of Murree and galiyat. So stay tuned and enjoy these blooms.

This post is included in Today's flowers  so do visit there to see flowers from around the world.
For macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic monday, visit Mosaic monday

Sea daffodil,hyacinth bean vine, solanum shrub flowering

Monsoon rains started few weeks ago and temperature has lowered down with increase in humidity. Plants growth rate accelerate in these rains. Many plants are in flowering right now. Here are some of those:
This is Sea daffodil (pancratium maritimum) started sending blooms. The ones in soil bed just started sprouting. Which means they like pot bound for quick blooming. Bloom lasts just one day but they multiply good for mass effect. Ismene festalis, its cousin is also growing good but no flowers yet.


This blue flowering shrub i am unable to ID, any help? I think it is related to solanum family. Blooming profusely in Lawrence gardens lahore. Flowers are not fragrant but blooms are profuse.


This is bauhinia tomentosa,Yellow Bauhinia blooming in lawrence gardens lahore. Not a very prolific bloomer but pretty blooms.


Strangely the buds are pink colored while flowers are entirely of different color.


This is dolichos lablab, hyacinth bean vine. No fragrance in flowers but pretty blooms in lavender color.


This yellow flowering vine is blooming in lawrence gardens lahore but i am not sure which species it is. Still looking for confirmation of ID though.


To see other flowers from around the world, visit Today's flowers
For Macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic monday, visit Mosaic monday

Flowers of murree hills - aquilegia, chestnut tree and wild flowers

All shots taken in Murree hills and Nathia gali, Pakistan. some flowers are wild while some are grown by home gardeners. The first one is aquilegia or columbine. A passionate gardener in nathiagali is growing these beautiful columbine flowers.



Indian Horse Chestnut tree with botanic name Aesculus indica is a common tree of murree hills. The umbrella shape leaves are beautiful and the flower spikes add to the beauty. 




Another columbine flower planted by a gardener in nathia gali. Columbines grow naturally in hilly areas. They do not tolerate the southern heat of plains thus they are mostly treated as annuals in our southern plains. There are some cultivars though which are perennial in lahore and other subtropical areas.




This pink flowering shurb is a common sight in galiyat in murree. Flowers are from fabacea family (Pea family) and my first guess is Himalayan indigo, Indigofera heterantha. Any confirmation about the ID will be highly appreciated.


This is a wild flower grown in many parts of murree hills. This one i shot in the nathia gali road side. Not sure about the ID though.




For more flowers from around the world, visit Today's Flowers
For macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic monday, visit Dear Little Red House

Flowers of murree hills - Nathia gali

During my recent trip to murree hills and galiyat, i captured lots of flowers, some wild, some naturalized. Here is my first post from this series. These flowers i shot in Nathia gali.

First one is hydrangea which likes to be in cool position. Does not grow well in our subtropical climate of lahore.


These plants were grown by a plant enthusiast and you will not find any wild plants of hydrangea over there. There are two variants available there. The tall one which is common one. The dwarf one is perhaps imported one.


Clematis, queen of flowering vine. This is true wild clematis species in murree and nathia gali and other galiyat region. Native to hilly areas. This one seems to be clematis armandi i guess. Fragrant large flowers in clusters.








Chrysanthemum leucanthemum daisy. Another wild flower.


Murree and nathia gali is full of these honeysuckle shrubs. I thought they might be lonicera japonica but it is a climber not a small tree. So it is some lonicera shrub or small tree with mildly fragrant flowers.


The yellow iris flowers. They are not wild but grown in many home gardeners in murree and nathia gali.




Lupin, another plant which likes cool climate. We do grow them in lahore in our fall for spring flowering but flowers are small and stalks are never as tall. This one was grown by a home gardener in nathia gali.


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

For macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos

Also visit Dear little red house for mosaic monday