Showing posts with label heat tolerant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heat tolerant. Show all posts

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Purple Buddleja and Cassia nodosa

There are very few plants which grow well in summer heat of lahore. Our summers are constantly over 40C. But there are some flowering plants which take the heat very well. Here are some of the flowers showing their grace in our hot summers in June. This is purple dwarf buddleja. Probably a variant of buddleja followiana and davidii. It is fragrant and heat tolerant. Not all purple buddleja plants are heat tolerant but this one is. It tolerates our monsoon rains too. It is planted in my soil bed.





This is cassia nodosa, a tropical summer flowering tree. It flowers in our summers when there are very few trees in bloom. Ofcourse cassia fistula is another summer flowering tree. Cassia nodosa is loaded with flowers in summer. Young plants need protection from winter.
 


For more macro shots, please visit Lisa's Chaos
For more Floral friday pictures, please visit Floral Friday

Sunday, September 11, 2011

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

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Plants which love heat

Here are some heat tolerant plans which are flowering even in this extreme summer heat of more than 100F. Cassia fistula, amaltas.




This is society garlic, tulbaghia violacea, a south african bulb. Very heat tolerant. Strong scent in the morning.


Chinese trumpet vine, campsis radicans. Another heat tolerant vine from bignonia family.


Zephyranthes drummondi, being a native of new mexico and texas, blooms in this high summer heat.


For more flowers, visit Today's Flowers
For macro monday, visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic monday, visit Dear little red house

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Free tomato seeds give away

I am glad to announce this tomato seeds give away on my blog. Sherilou is a generous gardener from New south mexico, USA. And i received freshly harvested heirloom tomato seeds from the mountains of Zuni courtesy to Sherilou. I also got some other cultivars of tomato which are extra. So Any one who is interested in these seeds, just reply in this thread and send me your address at muhammad dot khabbab at gmail dot com and i will send the seeds. I will send seeds wrapped in bubble wrap to those who are overseas. For overseas gardeners, i will send through airmail but may not be able to send first class.

Remember, maximum 2 packets per person. And one packet of seeds will contain around 10 seeds. This offer is only for amateur gardeners !!!!. I will add more tomato seeds in coming few days.

Porter dark cherry tomato - from sherilou
These are some tough heirloom tomatoes. Very heat tolerant. Indeterminate type.
Packet 1 - M. Subzwari, Karachi  - SENT
Packet 2 - Jahanzaib, Islamabad - SENT
Packet 3-  F, Irum. Rawalpindi - SENT
Packet 4 - S, Shahid Karachi - SENT
Packet 5 - Waqas, Lahore - SENT
Packet 6 -  
Packet 7 -  
Packet 8 - 
Packet 9 -     
Packet 10 -         
Packet 11 - 
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Packet 13-  
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Packet 15 - 

Tomato pole beefsteak
Packet 1 - M. Subzwari, Karachi  - SENT
Packet 2 - S, Anis, Karachi - SENT
Packet 3-

Tomato hillbilly
Packet 1 -
Packet 2 -

Tomato golden jubilee
Packet 1 - S, Anis, Karachi - SENT
Packet 2 -  
Packet 3-  
Packet 4 -  
Packet 5 - 


Tomato rio grande
Packet 1 - 
Packet 2 -  
Packet 3-  
Packet 4 -  
Packet 5 -

Friday, February 25, 2011

Summer flowering annual plants for lahore, karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad

Seeds for summer flowering plants are sown in spring and plants bloom in summer. This time is specific for subtropical climates as that of lahore, karachi, peshawar, Rawalpindi and to an extent Islamabad as well. Morning glory vines is probably the one plant sown frequently for its colorful blooms in the summer. Zinnia is another one. so here goes the list.
  • Amaranthus. Local name laal saag
  • Balsam. Local name Gul-e-mehndi. Cultivars include Tom thumb with many colors
  • Capsicum, Ornamental pepper. Local name Araishi Mirch. Cultivars include Solanum Joker round, Dwarf early pylon red, Fips, Gion and hot mix. Then there is F1- Hybird with cultivar Treasure red F1
  • Catananche. Called cupid's dart. Most common species is catananche caerulea. Native to south africa a very beautiful flower. There is a white color variety called catananche caerulea alba. Seeds are not available here. The ones i grew from seeds will flower in summer of 2011. Will post pictures soon.
  •  Cosmos Sulphureus, sulfur cosmos. Comes in color ranges of orange, yellow and red. No white and no blue. The other variety of cosmos is cosmos bipinnatus which is tall cosmos sown in fall for spring flowering. Cultivars of sulfur cosmos include dwarf ladybird ans sunset orange. It blooms from May to october.
  • Coleus. Mostly grown for its foliage. Cultivars  include Rainbow mixture, superfine rainbow mixture and extra dwarf fairway mixture
  • Celosia. One variety is known as Cockscomb. Local name kalgha. Cultivars include Amigo, prestige, celosia plumosa century, dwarf kewpie, dwarf kimono, gloria mix and dwarf coral garden mixed. 
  • Coreopsis. Also called tickseed. Many cultivars but none of them is available here. It has long blooming season. Mostly in shades of yellow. There is a rare pink color variety named coreopsis rosea. Another cultivar having pinkish color is Sweet dreams and there is another one called american dreams having pinkish color. Coreopsis bicolor is also called calliopsis with flowers in two tone.
  •  Dahlia. Although it is included in winter plants but its seeds is sown in August and September for flowering in December till May. The ones grown from seeds are mostly Pakistani dahlia. While the ones grown from tubers are fully double flowers are called indian dahlia. Seeds cultivars include Garden pride mixed and figoro mixed
  • Datura. It is also called devil's trumpet. A toxic plant not suitable for growing in homes. Very fragrant flowers. Seeds easy to germinate. Some varieties are gone wild. Mostly in doubles and some triples. Blue and purple colors are most common. It is relative of Brugmansia which also has fragrant flowers and is also grown in lahore for evening fragrance. Both these plants might need protection in winters.
  • Echinacea. Another plant worth of being a perennial. Most popular species is Echinacea purpurea. It is also called purple cone flower which has purple cone shape flowers. There is another variety with white flowers and fragrant ones called echinacea purpurea white swan. One cultivar with very large flowers is called echinacea magus. There is also a double flowering variety in which another flower formed on the top of first flower. This is called echinacea double decker. No seeds of any variety are available here. My plants are due to bloom in summer of 2011 and will post pictures soon.
  • Egg Plant.Solanum melongena. Local name numaishi bengan. Ornamental squash. Cultivars include golden eggs.
  • Gaillardia. If there is one plant in lahore which can bloom whole year that is gaillardia. Blooming year round in lahore it is naturalized as perennial and not annual. Consider it as a permanent plant. It self sows easily and it is very easy to collect its seeds to grow more plants.Cultivars include double gaillardia, bicolor and lorenziana
  • Gerbera. Also called African Daisy. Grows in partial shade in lahore. Direct sun is not good for this plant. Many beautiful color combination exists with single and semi double and double flowers. Florist gerbera is the most beautiful of all and ideal as house plants. They grow well in pots. The plant does not like over watering and crown of the plant should be a little above soil so that water does not stay for long time.    
  • Gomphrena. Local name gul-e-makhmal or gul-e-tukhma. Colors include white red and purple. Cultivars include extra dwarf gnome
  • Ipomoea. Very fast growing vines. All are grown from seeds very easily. The variety most common is Ipomoea purpurea called morning glory. It is mostly in the shades of blue. If there is any climber which has so many color combination of flower then it is morning glory.It does not care about soil requirements, all it wants is full sun and water in hot summers, that's all. Another cultivar not common is milky way. Another variety is Ipomoea lobata also known as mina lobata.
    • Another variety which is very common is Ipomoea cairica called mile a minute. Another name is railway creeper. Its Local name is Ishq Pechan.
    • Only some of the varieties of ipomoea are fragrant. One of them is ipomoea alba called moon flower. It has fragrant white flowers very large which open in evening and close by dusk.      
  • Kochia. Local name Jawari. Grown for foliage which turns red in winter. Cultivars include summer cypress.
  • Marigold. Local name genda. It is sown first from February to July then again July to November. Flowers are mostly in shades of yellow with mostly double flowers. Two kinds are very famous. First is african marigold and second is french marigold. Bonanza series is most common of all. There is also an off white color variety but it flowers late and flower size is not very large as well.
  • Mimosa. Local name choi moi. Another local name is Lajwanti. Flowers are mostly pink or purple color. Cultivars include pudica.
  • Mirabilis.Most common is mirabilis jalapa. Called marvel of peru. Local name is Gul-e-abbasi. Flowers are fragrant in evening. It is a medicinal plant. It does not like water retention so it is grown in soil just above soil surface.
  • Portulaca. Portulaca grandiflora also known as moss rose has largest flowers in the genus. Local name is Gul-e-dupeher. Its flowers open only in sunlight and close in shade. There are two types, the native portulaca also known as dupeher boti which is actually a perennial and is not removed easily, you can think of it as a weed. Flowers of this one are opened in afternoon and close by evening. Color is mostly pink in this kind. The second one are the modern hybirds which are annual. Most common is F1 sundial mixed. Colors are in all shades. They are single, semi double or full double. Flowers remain open for most of the day hence called full day portulaca. It is very heat tolerant plant and can be grown with little or no water.
  • Passiflora. These are vines from warm climates. The most common is passiflora caerulea. It is also called passion flower. Flowers are very beautiful. Other varities grown include passiflora edulis, passiflora foetida and passiflora incarnata which is also called Maypop. These vines do not like fertilizer else they will promote leaf growth but no flowers. They love full sun. Young plants need protection in winter. Another cultivar of passion flower is called 'Incense' which has very fragrant flowers. They are famous for late flowering hence potassium should be given to the plants. One method of doing it is to bury banana peel under the soil.
  • Rudbeckia. Also called black eyed susan. Although there are many varieties of this plant including the one with red colors, it is only available here in the common yellow color. Recently there has been some seeds of bicolor as well but not common. There is a magnus type with extra large flowers of rudbeckia.
  • Salvia. It is also included in spring and winter flowers. The most common color is red which is most heat tolerant. Red color is more suitable to southern plains. Seed is sown from july to november.
  • Sun flower. Local name Suraj mukhi. Although a wild plant here but some cultivars are worth growing. specially the dwarf teddy bear and the one with chocolate color. There is a red color variety as well and then there is a white color variety called moonwalker. The bicolor variety is called florenza red. Seeds are large and easy to germinate.
  • Sterilitzia. Bird of paradise. Its plants are widely grown in lawrence gardens lahore. Very large flowers not suitable for growing in pots.
  • Vinca. Also called periwinkle. Another plant gone wild. Local name sada bahar. It is also called ratan jot here. It is a medicinal plant as well. It flowers almost year round and one of the toughest plants i have come across. It is difficult to remove this plant. Newly introduced cultivars include vinca victory and then there is a hanging mix suitable for growing in hanging baskets. There is vine from this family Vinca major not common here.
  • Venidium. It is relative of arctotis. South african native plant so very heat tolerant. Flowers are daisy type and very pretty. It is a low growing plant. Seeds are easy to germinate.It does not grow well if sown in spring. Its best time is sown in fall but it flowers into the summer as well.
  • Zinnia. Most popular summer flowering plant. Famous cultivars include super yoga, elegans, F dreamland, F1 profusion, Magellan F1, swizzle bicolors, lilliput and persian carpet. My personal favorite is the one i am unable to get seeds of. It is called zahara starlight rose.Zinnia cactus are also very beautiful having cactus type flowers.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Lagerstroemia, crape myrtle and ixora flowers

Welcome to another edition of Macro monday. Thanks to Lisa for hosting this wonderful event every monday. Ixora is still blooming profusely in this extreme heat. Butterflies and bee specially bumble bees love its blooms. I also saw in morning some hummingbirds but could not capture them.

Lagerstroemia with common name crape myrtle is the only tough beauty in this heat of june. Not only blooming profusely in as many colors as white, purple, pink, blue and many others but butterflies love it too. A typical plant of subcontinent very heat tolerant.

Lilac color flowers were just beautiful. The contrast of lilac with yellow pollens was awesome

The flower has actually very unique shape. They surround the pollens in such a different way. From a distance the flower shape is not very prominent. Only when you go near the flower and look closely then you see the real beauty.

Bees adore it. They reach deep into the flower in search of pollen. This one was a busy worker probably drunk in the pollen.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Sparaxis, Freesia, gazania in my garden

It is a pleasure to be part of another Booming friday hosted by Katarina at roses and stuff. There are lots of blooms in my garden, Spring at the peak. First comes this beautiful freesia. I planted lots of freesias this year as they are sure to bloom in our weather and adapt very well to our hot climate. I have never seen such lovely color before. And do i need to tell you the fragrance is just outstanding.

I also planted sparaxis bulbs but not all of them showed the blooms. This one did send up some awesome blossoms. A treat to watch if you have planted them in masses. Another warm climate bulb from south africa. so here goes the Harlequin Flower.

Here comes another heat tolerant dazzling bloomer, gazania. Even in this 90F temperature, they will endure drought. What a tough plant it is. And what a splash of colors they provide.

Pink ranunculus blooming in clay container. I grew them from the corms/tubers.


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