Amaryllis(hippeastrum) forced blooms

Amaryllis(hippeastrum) naturally bloom in spring here and these flowers shown below are forced blooms. These are not grown by me, but an expert gardener of lahore, Dr. Amir yar khan. These shots are taken from his lawn. Enjoy the flowers.

This post is part of Garden bloggers bloom day at May dreams gardens

This post is also included in today's flowers at Flowers from today

Spring flowers of aquilegia, beaumontia, gardenia and thunbergia

I am pleased to be part of Garden Bloggers bloom day once again, a monthly event hosted by none other than Carol from May Dreams Garden . Gardeners from around the world showcase their gardens and show the lovely blooms. Here goes mine. And don't forget to visit my previous post of free tomato seeds away. It will only last till last day of April.

I caught this butterfly at these paper flowers on the flower exhibition in the Canntt lahore. There were two more butterflies which i captures there but these will be posted separate.


My favorite aquilegia. Blooming happily in my soil bed. Not a perennial in my hot climate but blooms long enough.

This is gardenia coronaria. Not much fragrant but the flowers are very pretty. A relative of gardenia florida but it blooms in spring instead of late summer. This one shot at the lawrence gardens lahore.

And this one is the favorite creeper of gardeners of Islamabad. This is beaumontia grandiflora also called nepal trumpet vine. Not as fragrant flowers as famed for but still very pretty blooms.

Gram blue butterfly captured on flower of erythrina suberosa. Will post pictures of Erythrina suberosa and cristagali in next post hopefully.

This is an uncommon gardenia. Gardenia lucida. Very fragrant flowers, a small tree. Blooming happily in lawrence gardens lahore. A plant must have.

You all will be familiar with thunbergia alta and perhaps thunbergia grandiflora (bengal clock vine) but not this one. This is thunbergia erecta. Dark blue flowers. Blooms almost whole summer once established.

And last but not least, this flower also shot at Flower exhibition held at polo ground lahore canntt.

Kachnar,Candytuft,gladiolus flowers

Here are some of the flowers blooming in my garden and some of the shots are taken from lawrence gardens lahore.
This one is a small tree, having white flowers in the spring. Not sure about the ID yet. Photo taken in lawrence gardens lahore.




Candytuft with botanic name Iberis blooming in lawrence garden. Planted in masses, stunning flowers.


Bauhinia purpurea with local name kachnar. A street tree in lahore, pakistan. Blooms not only in spring but also in fall sometimes. There are many other bauhinia species growing in lahore including some vines. Perhaps a post specific to Bauhinia is due on me.


The enchanting fragrance and exquisite blooms of freesia. Although these are modern freesia hybird, fragrance is still intense. Watch for my next post of growing freesia in hot climates. Blooming. happily on my terrace in clay pots. They naturalize here in lahore


Chrysanthemum tricolor with synonym Ismelia carinata and common name painted daisy. Local name desi gendi. Comes in many shades of tricolor.


Another beautiful tree from lawrence garden. Will update the ID soon.


This is some variant of jasmine. Not fragrant though. The masses of flowers put a brilliant show in many months of the year.


Gladiolus, grown from bulbs in fall. It has potential to be a perennial in warm climate as ours. Comes in many shades. Top bouquet flower.


This is some jasmine shrub blooming happily in model town park lahore. Not fragrant though.


For other GBBD posts, visit May dream gardens by Carol

Blooms from Tulip flower show lahore

Tulip flower show was dull although flowers were so pretty i almost got lost. The beauty of blooms was just exceptional. I think the bulbs were pre-chilled. Most of them were darwin hybird tulips.
After seeing the beautiful flowers there, i changed my mind that they can not be grown in lahore. Now i will give tulips bulbs a try this fall. Although i prefer growing ornithogalum, oxalis, freesia and paperwhites but tulips has its own place in flowering bulbs. No wonder my next post will be about growing tulips in very mild winters like ours. Here are the tulips displayed at the flower show.

City of vacouver

Red Parade

Golden Parade

Purple Prince

Leen van der mark Tulip - similar to banja luka

This post is part of Garden Bloggers bloom day, a monthly event hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

Don't forget to visit http://www.tootsietime.com/ for this week's fertilizer friday.

This post is also part of Blooming Friday hosted by Katarina. So do visit her website http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/ for other blooming friday posts.

Runner up in Dave's garden photo contest 2010

It is of immense pleasure to me to announce that i got the runner up position in the annual photo contest 2010 at dave's garden, the largest online community of gardeners around the world. The category was "Macro" and this picture of water lily got 54 points. You can click on the picture for full view.



Thanks to all who voted for my photo. Although voting and photos were anonymous so nobody knew whose picture this was. It was my first time participating in the event and it was a wonderful experience. I would participate next year as well and encourage all the readers to do so.

I could not participate in Carol's GBBD this month due to EID holidays but i hope this post would qualify for bloom day as it does contain a wonderful bloom and there is nothing else blooming in my garden right now apart from this waterlily. Don't forget to see other bloom posts on Carol's website May Dreams Gardens

Sweet almond verbena, gram blue butterfly and skipper butterfly

Welcome to another edition of garden bloggers bloom day. This is a monthly event hosted by Carol at May Dream Gardens. Visit her website for some intriguing flowers blooming all around the gardens.
This is my second year growing sweet almond verbena, botanic name aloysia virgata. This year i pruned it hard in the last december and the results showed in form of more blooms. I deadheaded every bloom and it kept blooming and blooming.
Every butterfly of the area and every bee visited these blooms having strong almond fragrance.

The first one is plain tiger butterfly with common name african monarch and biological name danaus chrysippus. A very common butterfly from asia and africa found abundant in lahore pakistan.


This is Small branded Swift Skipper with biological name Pelopidas mathias. No other insect is so fond of sweet almond verbena but this skipper butterfly. There were more than 15 beauties luring over the blooms at one time.


Another bee but i am not sure which one it is. She is the one which stays still in air for a long time.


This is gram blue butterfly with biological name (Euchrysops cnejus).She is mostly after pea related flowers but this time she could not resist the fragrance and nectar of these sweet blooms.


Another common bee of our area. She loves murraya and any sweet smelling plant. She is the last one to leave the flowers of this sweet almond bush.


And last but not least, this sweet smelling flowers are no other than cestrum diurnum also known as Din ka raja. Unlike its cousin cestrum nocturnum it releases its scent in daytime.


And this post is also included in the Blooming Friday hosted by Katarina at Roses
and Stuff. Do visit her blog for some enchanting blooms.

For Fertilizer Friday visit Tootsie Time