Flowers blooming today - Gaillardia, Allamanda & Cosmos

Cosmos Sulph.


















Allamanda C.


















Gaillardia pulchella

Top Butterfly attracting flowers

Though i would submit a separate post on how to attract butterflies specially in lahore, right now i would focus on only which plants i have found attractive for butterflies.

1- First, butterflies are cold blooded insects so they love sunshine. They tend to prefer area which receives maximum sunshine.
2- Choose flowers rich in nectar. Have you wondered why there is not a lot of butterflies seen on Roses? nectar!!!!! Nectar rich flowers are usually single petal flowers having large seeds visible in the center. See the example of Dahlia below:

Good for butterflies, Nectar Rich










Not butterfly friendly, no nectar









Daisy is another common example. Others good flowers include following:

• scabiosa (pincushion flower)
• Lantana(specially blue flowered)
• buddleia (butterfly bush, white color variety survives in plains while purple one in hills)
• Asclepias curassavica(tropical milkweed)
• lemon/orange/tangerine
• Kniphofia(red hot pocker)
• Allium
• Cosmos
• Single petal dahlia
• Hibiscus
  

And last but not least Senecio confusus vine. In this march i had more than 200 blooms on this vine and every single day it was surrounded by butterflies.






Butterfly on my senecio vine





3-Choose flowers with sweet fragrance. One example is Murraya (Marwa, marwi), i have seen hundreds of butterflies on one single murraya tree near my home.

Note that butterflies usually appear in lahore from February-October. Also, Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.

Swallotail butterfly on cosmos flower

I love butterflies and i cannot resist capturing them sipping from flowers. This is why i like butterfly attracting flowers. During my visit to Punjab University trip to Khanaspur trip, i captured these butterflies sipping from flowers in small botanical garden of Punjab University Khanaspur, NWFP.

Floriculture in india - courtesy of google books

This is a great book which describes in detail about gardening in india and the indopak region. Must read!!

http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=2H4-39ZufiEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=floriculture+in+india

List of plant nurseries of lahore

Being a garden enthusiast, i would like to share with you plants nurseries of lahore. Find below their contact numbers as well. These are without any sorting or rank.

1 Hassan Nursery, Qazzafi Stadium Lhr Mr. Ashfaq 5764446 0300-4309634

2 GEO Nursery, Johar Town, Lhr Mr. Ali Raza 0300-9485713

3 A-One Nursery, Johar Town, Lhr Mr. Javed

4 Malik Nursery, Johar Town, Lhr Mr. Slaeem

5 Pattoki Nizami Nursery, Lala Zar, Lhr Mr. Mudassar 0300-4331247

6 Shakeel Nursery, Lala Zar, Lhr Mr. Jalil Ahsan 0300-4536733

7 Golrha Sharif Nursery, Lala Zar Mr. Shoaib 0300-9434009

8 Data Nursery, Lala Zar, Lhr Mr.Rai Maqsood Ahmad 0300-8856532

9 Brother Nursery, Lala Zar Mr. Aslam 0300-4331352

10 Arain Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Ch. Akbar 0300-4134614

11 Wahab Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Mr. Arif 0300-4287867 5853225

12 Ali Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Mr. Shahid

13 Pak, Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Mr. Mukhtar 5834086

14 New Pak Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Mr. Fahim 0333-4232616

15 Abbass Nursery, Lhr Muhah Din Sb. 0333-4222731

16 Haq Nursery, Kalma Chowk, Lhr Mr. Anwar Sb 5869095

17 Al-Riaz Nursery Township, Lhr Ali Sb 0333-6982275

18 Haji Chirag Din Nursery, Walton Rd, Lhr M. Amin 0321-4076021

19 Karmanwala Nursery, Walton Rd, Lhr Mr. Nazir Ahmad 0300-4132162

20 Amjad Nursery, Qazzafi Stadium, Lhr Rehman Naeem 0300-4716445

21 Nishat Nursery, Kalma Chowk, Lhr Muhammad Muzamil 5833535

22 Ghulam Nabi Nursery, Gazzafi Stadium, Lhr Ghulam Nabi 5764233, 0300-4297756

23 Rich Green Nursery, Model Town, Lhr Habib Ullah Khan 0321-4348269

24 Akram Nursery, Qaddafi Stadium, Lhr Ch. M. Akram 0300-4253571

25 Rahat Nursery, Walton Road, Lhr Mian Khlid Noor 0300-4646676

28 Shaheen Nursery, Hakim Chowk Lhr Ch. Asghar 0300 5544428

29 GEO Nursery, Wapda Town, Lhr Mr. Abbass 0321 4243340

30 Al-Imran Nursery, Pattoki Mr. Shaukat 0300-4253626

31 Golden Nursery, Shalimar Link Rd, Lhr Mr. Ata Muhammad 6846058

32 Mian Ishaq Nursery, Kalma Chowk Lhr Mian Muhammad Ishaq 0300-8464424

33 Lahore Nursery, Kalma Chowk, Lhr Haji Latif Sb.

34 Yasin Nursery Qazzafi Stadium, Lhr Yasin Sb.

35 Islam Nursery Wapda Town, Lhr Sarfraz sb 0300-4575913

36 Zulfiqar Nursery, Civil Hospital DHQ FSD Aslam sb. 0333-6517335

37 Mian Flower Land, FSD Abdul Manan 0300-7637667

38 Lyall pur Gardens, Faisalabad 0320-5453564

39 Evergreen Nursery, Faisalabad Muhammad Tahir 0300-6636815

40 Arain Brothers, Wapda Town, Lhr Mian Tariq 0300-4012210

41 Zain Nursery, Wapda Town, Lhr Zahid Moeen 0300-4307987

42 Pattoki Nursery Farm, Peshawar Morr Islamabad Liaquat Sb. 0300-9546261

43 Ahmad Garden & Cut Flower, Zafar Ali Rd, Lhr Mian Javed Ahmad 0333-4221574

44 Plant Age Nursery, Cantt Lahore Muhammad Ali 0300-9492197

45 Mardan Nursery, Islamabad Hasham Khan 0300-5012568

Top 25 fragrant perennials for lahore

25-Ixora parviflora - white flowers scented

23-Passion flower-- ghari phool-- climber--- late summer bloomer --slightly fragrant

 








22- Brugmansia or angel's trumpet-- late summer bloomer -- fragrant


21- lemon/tangerine/orange-- they all flower almost whole year. Chinese naranji is more fragrant than others













20-Tropical water lily - perennial water plant in lahore/karachi

19- Rose - blooms year round specially in temperate climate













18- Jasminum officinale (desi chambeli) -- climber--blooms in winter months and spring




 






17- Jasmine polyanthum -- climber--winter jasmine-- early spring bloomer





 








16- jasminum fluminense (juhi) - climber--blooms mainly in summer






 




15- Jasmine nitidum -- climber--blooms year round (specially in lahore)











 14- Honeysuckle (lonicera) -- climber-- blooms in summer
 












13- wisteria-- climber-- blooms in spring














12- Gardenia jasminoides -- shrub-- blooms in summer ans sometimes in winter






 






11- Star jasmine -- spring/summer bloomer -- star shaped white flowers. a bit slow growing.






 



10-Plumeria (Chumpa) - blooms in summer - does not like winters





























9- Stephanotis Floribunda -- climber-- very fragrant











8- Artabotrys -- very slow grower -- summer bloomer







 



 7- Brunfelsia -- Francisea -- shrub
6- Buddleia Asiatica -- Butterfly bush-- white flowers
5-Quisqualis indica - Rangoon creeper (jhumka vine)




















4- vallaris glabra - Soniya vine - night scented flowers









  











3- Cestrum Nocturnum -- raat ki rani -- summer/autumn bloomer
 





 



2- Jasmine sambac (motia) -- indian motia or lebanese motia is more fragrant than pakistani motia. While mogra is not fragrant at all.














1- murraya paniculata (chinese marwa) -- shrub-- blooms in rainy season and if its Desi murraya then in spring as well