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

Tips for buying plants from nursery

It was not long ago when i started gardening few years back. It took a lot of mistakes, wasted money and valuable time to understand how and when to buy plants or seedlings from a plant nursery. In initial years excitement always overcame the wisdom and patience. Now things are quite different. Here are some of the tips from my personal experience on how to buy the plants from a plant nursery.
Do not buy a plant in bloom
Remember if you buy an already blooming plant then after transplanting it will not focus its energies on root development instead blooming only. Even if you are buying plants in pots and do not intend to transplant them, still it is better to buy healthy plants with no bud/bloom. If there is a bud or two, remove it before transplanting. As a result the plant will use its energies on root development and after then blooming will be profuse and much better.
Do not buy a plant not meant for your climate
In Spring, i always ask nursery men whether this aquilegia (columbine) is a perennial in my hot climate or not and believe me, although they very well know the correct answer, every time they say it is perennial. Sadly it is not true. Same is the case with delphinium and fuchsia which are annual for my zone 10. This is inversely true for northern gardeners that plants like brugmansia and jasminum sambac do not survive cold weather.Conclusion is, always consult form internet whether a particular plant is annual for your climate or not.Or if you are lucky you might find an honest nursery men.
Buy plants with healthy growth
Here is the trick which some clever nursery men do. They take a healthy plant out from soil bed and put it  i a large pot and sell it by saying it was raised in this pot. You must ensure the plant you are buying has a healthy new growth. Avoid plants with yellow leaves, wilting leaves, spotty leaves,brown or burnt leaves, leaves with bugs or pests on them. If there is not new growth then it can mean few things. Either the plant is dormant or the plant is root bound or there is some problem with this plant. If plant is root bound you will see the roots coming out of the bottom of the pot. Transplant root bound plant as soon as possible although i would discourage buying a root bound plant. Remember there are few perennials which bloom only when root bound. So some exceptions are always there.Purchase a dormant plant only if you very well know the plant.
Do not buy a plant in pot but roots in soil
Sometimes a plant is in a pot but the roots outbreak and reach into the soil searching for water and nutrition. Do not buy such plant as the root damage will shock the plant and it will not recover the shock. I once bought a yellow buddleia whose roots were gone into soil although it was in 6 inches pot. The plant did not show any damage within first 15 minutes. But it was dead in next 2 hours.
Keep cell numbers of sales man in your phonebook
It is very handy. You can always ask the sales man before going to nursery for availability of a plant. I use it for price comparison as well. My cell phone book contains more than 30 numbers confined to seeds shops and plant nurseries.