Winter and Spring flowering annuals

Fall is the real gardening season in all climates where winters are mild. Southern plains of Pakistan are no exception either. This is the reason that major gardening activity is in winter in lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and other lowers plains areas. The plants which grow in summer in cool climates of UK and Europe grows in winter of lahore. This is the reason many winter annuals grown in lahore are actually summer flowering in cool climates. There are 3 main tips for these annuals
1- Feed DAP every 2 weeks in low quantity
2- Remove early buds to get healthy plant and then allow it to flower
3- Remove spent flowers to increase flowering

Do visit this link for all the spring flowering plants http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/spring flowers . For sake of simplicity here i am listing most easiest to grow annuals only.

• Petunia

Easiest and longest blooming flower. Single type is very famous. Comes in various shapes like star, picotee etc.
 
Flowering: December - May
Growth Ease: Very easy
Germination: Moderate to difficult
Sun required: Full sun
Famous series: Falcon F1 is winner. Ultra series (blue star, red star etc.) is good too .
You can see other petunia flowers on this blog here http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/petunia

• Pansy

 Pansy grows in semi shade too. Flowers even for a child too. Long blooming period.Grows good  in pots too. Urdu name is banafsha.

Flowering: January - May
Growth Ease: Very easy
Germination: Moderate to difficult
Sun required: Full sun - Semi shade
Famous series: Magestic giants is good. Swiss giants comes on second number. My personal favorite is Mammoth.

• Gazania

 
 A very beautiful annual from south africa. Very heat tolerant. Flowers till June and more.    

Flowering: February- June
Growth Ease: Very easy
Germination: Moderate
Sun required: Full sun
Famous series: Daybreak mix is good. Daybreak 2 is also good.
You can see other gazania flowers on this blog here http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/gazania

• Dahlia

Both indian and pakistani dahlia are available. Pakistani is grown from seed and flower is single or semi-double. Indian one is grown from cuttings and  flowers are double and very large. Stacking is required.  Indian one needs more care than pakistani one specially in severe winter. you can buy cheap cuttings in october/november or buy small plants early in season. you can save tuber for next month while keeping it in soil. Not grown good from tubers in my experience.

Flowering: December- June
Growth Ease: Easy - Moderate
Germination: Easy
Sun required: Full sun
Famous series: In Pakistani dahlia, figoro and diablo are good. Indian ones, buy a plant with lots of side shoots.
You can see other dahlia flowers on this blog here http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/dahlia

• Freesia

 Freesia is super easy to grow from bulb and it is fragrant too. Check this post of mine for details http://www.lahoregardening.com/2011/03/growing-freesia-in-warm-climates.html

• Ranunculus

Ranunculus grows from both seeds and corms. Plants grown from seeds have larger flowers than corms so i prefer to buy seed grown seedling from nurseries which is cheap. For growing it from corm check this post of minehttp://www.lahoregardening.com/2009/12/growing-flowering-bulbs-in-warm_04.html Remember not to deep  plant the seedling of ranunculus in soil bed. The seedlings grow new shoots from much above the soil level. Also it needs to be protected from march rains.
 
Flowering: February- May
Growth Ease: Easy
Germination: From corm easy, From seed moderate to difficult
Sun required: Full sun
Famous series: The seed grown is asiaticus bloomingdale. Corm is probably different variety.
You can see other ranunculus flowers on this blog here http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/ranunculus

• Aquilegia

Although a cool climate plant, it grows very good in semi shade and shade and flower is the most beautiful flower you will ever ever ever see. It is mostly germinated in murree and brought to lahore in winters. You can get seedlings easily at cheap price in start of season in October - November.

Flowering: February- May
Growth Ease: Easy
Germination: Difficult
Sun required:Shade - Semi shade
Famous series: N/A
You can see other aquilegia flowers on this blog here http://www.lahoregardening.com/search/label/aquilegia

• Anemone

Another easy to grow from corm. Although it is grown from seed too but i never tried it from seed. Very easy to grow and flower. Check this post of mine for details http://www.lahoregardening.com/2009/12/growing-flowering-bulbs-in-warm.html

• Hyacinth 

Hyacinth is another fragrant plant for cool climates so an annual here. You must try hyacinth in glass jar which is super easy to flower. Check this post of mine for details  http://www.lahoregardening.com/2009/12/growing-flowering-bulbs-in-warm_22.html

Other easy  to grow winter annuals include Cineraria (Good for shade), Dianthus, carnation, Salvia(Red is good for our climate), Verbena, alyssum, hollyhock, calendula, phlox etc. 

Tulip Flower show Lahore

First Tulip flower show is held in lahore at Royal Palm Golf and country club, Lahore on 9, 10, 11 February 2011. They are claiming to display 14,000 tulips there.

Greenworks is providing them the bulbs. Will share the pics with you although i do not like the idea of tulip flower show as tulips are not ideally suited to lahore climate. Probably species tulips have better chances of growing in lahore as compared to the modern hybrid tulips.

Tulips displayed in the flower show will include Parade tulips, Purple Prince, Banja Luka, Golden Parade, City of Vancouver and Lee Van Der Mark. More information can be acquired from these phone numbers. +92-300-8503884, +92-321-577535 for registration. tulipshow@greenworks.com.pk

LahoreGardening.com has always been advocating to grow and display native plants and those plants which are suited to climate of lahore. For more information on growing those flowering bulbs which are suited to hot climate like lahore, see the flowering bulbs section.

Aloe Vera blooms

Flowers of Aloe vera. It's local name is Kawar Gandal. Shot in Model Town Park, Lahore. Famous for its medicinal properties, it also has culinary uses. There are many plants growing wild in lahore. Some of them are outside the barni garden in lahore near Governor house.

There are many other flowers blooming all around the world. To see them visit Today's flowers.

For Macro Monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic Monday Visit Mosaic Monday

Blooms of hibiscus and Cherry tomato

Hibiscus


Flower of Cherry tomato


Visit Flowers from today for other flowers around the world

Dombeya Magic

Dombeya closeup






Visit Flowers from today for other flowers around the world
For Macro Monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic Monday Visit Mosaic Monday

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

Floss Silk tree - budha

One of the few trees blooming in Lahore right now is floss silk tree also called as budha tree locally. One of the most beautiful tree, it blooms in September to November here in Lahore, Pakistan. Its botanical name is Ceiba speciosa previously Chorisia speciosa.

In Hindi it is called resham rui. The large spikes protect the trunk. Native to Brazil and Argentina it is drought tolerant here and starts blooming as soon as monsoon finishes.



For Macro Monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic Monday Visit Mosaic Monday
For Flowers from today, visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

White Angled-Sulphur and tropical water lily

Here are some of the shots i managed to capture for this monday.
This one seems to be White Angled-Sulphur (Anteos clorinde). A sulphur butterfly for sure. They are almost everywhere in lahore these days. A bit fast though.


This is my tropical blue waterlily. It is blooming continuously from june and will go till november when it will become dormant. Will survive winters though.


For Macro monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic Monday Visit Mosaic Monday
For Flowers from today, visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Tuberose (polianthus tubersoa)

Finally monsoon hit and rains started. Compared to last year when it was almost drought this year it has been raining good, in fact very good.So those plants which were waiting for high humidity to send blooms started to wake up. For this monday here are these two beauties.
This butterfly treated my soil bed as her guest house probably and sent whole night clinging to this jasmine leaves. I captured her at night with auto flash and macro. She seemed drunk to me as the flash and macro both did not make her embarrassed at all. In fact, i was almost thinking she is here for the photo shoot. This photo is also included in the Gardening gone wild Picture this photo contest

The second photo for this Monday is the tube rose flowers. I almost forgot murraya and my arabian jasmine when these started to flower. I planted around 50 bulbs in pots and this is the first one to flower. Would surely post separate on these warm climate flowering bulbs continuing the series.

For Macro monday Visit Lisa's Chaos
For Mosaic Monday Visit Mosaic Monday
For Flowers from today, visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Allamanda, Murrarya and rain lily flowers

Welcome to another edition of macro monday, a weekly event hosted by Lisa at Lisa's Chaos.You will find some magnificent macro shots out there. All pictures are thumbnails and you can view the full image by clicking on them.
I would start by macro of crinum lily. Very fragrant and large blooms.

Murraya exotica is blooming profusely as monsoon has started here. No aroma can compete that of murraya's.

And when we talk of rains and monsoon, rain lilies come into mind and into bloom as well.

Allamanda is another climber growing right now. Many colors are available of this beautiful climber but the toughest one is the yellow one.

Crinum, giant potato tree and spider lily

It is a pleasure to be part of Garden bloggers bloom day once again. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this wonderful event every month. These are all thumbnail images and you can click on each one to view full image.

The first bloom, and because fragrance is my first preference, is crinum lily. They are growing wild in the Lawrence gardens. They bloom in july-October here in lahore. wonderful fragrance.

With botanical name crinum latifolium and common name milk and wine lily they are easiest of perennial bulbs to grow. Two colors are common. The white one below and there is another one bicolor, pink and white crinum.

Another crinum having very interesting buds is Crinum asiaticum with common names spider lily, grand crinum lily. It has the largest bulbs i have ever seen. the fragrance is not very sweet and flowers not very showy but buds are worth capturing.

This is some unknown flower to me blooming profusely in lawrence gardens lahore. any help with the ID will be appreciated.

This is giant potato tree with botanical name Solanum macranthum . Like many other solanum plants, the color of flower changes and you will find many colors blooms on same plant at once. Flowers are very mildly fragrant. A close relative is Solanum seaforthianum with common name italian jasmine, more fragrant than this one, and which i intend to grow from seed very soon.

And last but not least, here comes murraya exotica orange jasmine. The fragrance is divine and unbeatable. Blooming on my terrace in a large clay pot. They bloom extensively in monsoon rains.

Gaillardia aristata

Welcome to another episode of macro monday, a weekly event hosted by Lisa.Visit her blog for more stunning macro shots. Gaillardia is very tough perennial here standing in the extreme summer heat of lahore. This plant is not common for sale in nurseries, may be because it has committed the sin of being COMMON.

Can you believe these species are not available at nurseries, seeds are available though with the name 'bicolor'.

The parent of all these species is probably gaillardia grandiflora. Various varieties are sold in other countries but the ones in this post have gone wild and self sow easily.

Growing Flowering bulbs in warm climates - Rain lily (zephyranthes)

This is 6th article in this series of growing warm climate bulbs. zephyranthes lily with synonyms rain lily, fairy lily, zephyr lily are very tough plants yet very aasy to flower warm climate bulbs. Not a true lily though,they are from amaryllis familly. Their flowering period is not confined, although they bloom after rains hence called rain lily. In my zone 10b, these bloom almost yer round but heavy blooming is in monsoon rains.Its local name is gul-e-nargis.

This is how the bulbs of pink rain lily looks like. It has the largest bulb as compared to the bulbs of white and yellow rain lilies.


Now they are mostly not available as bulbs but plants. And 1 plant includes many bulbs. They are best planted in groups. Sadly the flowers last just few days.

Growing conditions
Plant them in well drained soil so that they are just under the soil. Even the tip few centimeters above the soil is fine.
Give them full sun. Although they will benefit from shade in very hot afternoons like mine of 120 F.
They like being wet and then dry, then again wet and then dry again. This is how their blooming is triggered.
Give them some fertilizer off and on. I do not fertilize them at all and they bloom fine but this season i i will try some light fertilizer.

Winter protection
As long as temperature is over 4C they will do fine. Below that they might get damaged. Mine loose some of their leaves in winter (ours is mild around 4C) but most of foliage is retained.

Propagation
They are mostly grown from bulbs as bulbs keep producing offsets. For new varieties they are grown from seeds.

Varieties
 There are 3 common species. The most common and famous is pink rain lily, zephyranthes grandiflora. It blooms more easily and frequently as compared to other two. It has the largest flower of all species.
 
Then comes the white rain lily, zephyranthes candida. 

And the last one is yellow rain lily, Zephyranthes citrina or Zephyranthes sulphurea They are very common in lawrence gardens, self sow and pop up at odd places in summers.


There are some hybrids grown from seeds with some different colors including some bi colors but i am yet to find their seeds.

Update: Some varieties of rain lily i tried are following:
Zephyranthes labuffarosa:

Zephyranthes drummondii:

And last but not least here is a wonderful article on rain lilies by Zahrah Nasir. http://archives.dawn.com/archives/69398