My Maruvam Plant Blooms

Hello Friends!

Hope you are all busy preparing for the Christmas, New Year and Pongal. Here it is really cold. Temperatures are down. So me and mom are trying best not to expose ourselves to those chilly winds. Cyclone has passed and sun is out. But still it is cold.

We all keep on learning new things daily either by choice or by chance. Sometime back when I was walking in my garden, I happened to glance at my Maruvam plant-or rather under shrub. It is a small shrub with aromatic leaves. 

Oh and there were such tiny blooms. This is the first time, I saw them or noticed them, though I have been growing it in my garden for the past so many years. These flowers are very tiny and light green in colour. I don't know whether the picture is clear or not. It was difficult to capture such tiny things.

Maruvam

I think I have mentioned Maruvam before in one of my posts. We use these stems with the leaves along with flowers like jasmine, chrysanthemums in making flower garlands or strings to wear in our braids. We also use it in our Puja. Lord Hanuma likes these leaves, hence it is offered to Him.

Today I learnt that it is know as Sweet Marjoram in English and belongs to Oregano family. It has got such sweet smell, relieves stress and has other medicinal properties. Till now, I never knew its name in English.

I dry the stems and add it to bath water sometimes. I also use it for making dry flower and herb sachets to freshen up my cupboards and storing spaces.

This herb is very delicate and cannot tolerate extreme temperatures. Will it survive the cold? I have to wait and watch.

Oh and I have many additions to my garden. I will show them in my next posts.

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Summer Blooms

Hi Friends.

We had a few showers and some rainfall during last month. For the past two-three weeks, it is quite hot and sultry. Though we have some clouds blocking the Sun frequently, it is still very hot and no rainfall.

At the onset of the Monsoons, I decided to start overhauling my garden. In fact I had bought some new plants too. 

My first priority was to remove all broken and damaged planters and repot all those plants and and also those plants which have outgrown their containers.

Last week I just started on it as it was very cloudy and cool. I could do repot a dozen or so plants. But after that the Sun is out and temperatures are like that in summer.

Well here is a small glimpse of the blooms during past few days in my garden.

This is the single petaled Jasmine still flowering as the temperatures are hot and apt for it. Their fragrance is unforgettable.

This the double Jasmine flowers. Still in bloom.

This is the mini Hibiscus. The flowers are small but blooms profusely through out the year if proper care is taken of the plant. My plant is still very small and needs nurturing. 

I will post further updates in the coming posts. That is all for now...

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Summer Garden

Hello Friends. 

You know that Indian Summers are very hot. The temperatures are unbearable sometimes. The peak period in April and May till mid of June are really difficult to manage. 

If you have a small garden with not much big trees for shade, then it it really difficult to manage the smaller plants in pots. I have many causalities during summer in spite of taking proper precautions.

Well this year, I managed to keep the casualty level to bare minimum.

Here are some pics from my garden this summer:

My favorite Bougainvillea. It starts flowering during summer months and continues almost through out the year, since in South India, we have higher temperatures even in winters. I have now left with two colours pink and orange. I want to buy some more colours this year.

A closer look at the blooms here. They flower profusely, if we give them proper food and water.

Here comes the climbing beauty-creeper of bay pink and white roses. They bloom in bunches if allowed to climb properly onto some base. I had them climb my roof at one time and we had so many beautiful bunches of these roses, that many visitors would purposefully visit my house just to look at them. 

As of now, I have them just up on a pole. This season, I will again let them climb onto my roof.

Well this is the summer queen Jasmine. This is the double flower. It has two to three flowers on upon another in a single flower. This flowers less when compared to the ordinary once. But  the size of the flower and its fragrance is really good.

Here is my mudda Nandivardhanam. It flowers profusely and is used for puja. It gives off a very mild sweet fragrance.

Watch on for more on my blog....

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Sham Bonsai

Hi friends, Hope you are all doing well.

I am here after a long long time. I have had a lot of things happening which why I could not be in touch with you.

For the past three months I have been in bed most of the time.  I am slowly recovering but it is not easy-can't sit for long and can't type, can't walk much. So I am mostly at home, doing nothing. What pinches me most is that I cannot pursue  any of my crafts. It is frustrating and boring to just lay in bed and do nothing.

Time seems to be flying. How 2017 turned into 2018 I cannot remember. Already February is approaching. 

Like all New years, this year too I had a long list of resolutions, Dos and Don'ts. One of them being be in touch with you and post frequently. But due to my health conditions, I have to give  priority to getting well as soon as possible. Please pray for me. I know you will and your best wishes are always with me. 

Thanks a lot for your support and motivation. You have always been my strength and my motivation.

Somehow today, I decided I will make a start. Well here I am.

Here is a little experiment of mine, I attempted before I fell ill. I call it as sham bonsai, as the plants are not really bonsai. That is what I think. I don't know whether I am correct or not as I don't know the name of the plants.

These are two plants I picked up long back on one of my visits to nursery. I don't know what their name is. May be they are used as hedge plants. I tried searching on net but was not successful. 

If any one of you know please let me know.

When I saw these plants, I realised that I could with a little effort, I could make them look like bonsai. So I left them in their growth posts for a few weeks and then changed them into bonsai trays.

These plants don't require much care - just water, a little bit of nutrients and a little pruning. I have left them in the open where they can get sunlight at least for one hour  daily. 

Here I placed a figurine of Shirdi Sai Baba. It is completely sealed off in an acrylic dome. So no problem with water.

Here are the two small doll houses I found, while cleaning one of the trunk boxes with my collections of dolls. Some of my collection made of wood or fabric was entirely eaten away by termites. Some were damaged beyond repair.

These houses were also completely covered with mud built by termites. I scraped it off, washed in water. You can see they make a perfect match for the plant.

 Here is one more way I tried with the houses and figurine.

Take a closer look at the house. It is made up of thin Decolam sheets glued together. The sheets were damaged, curled and were beyond repair. So, I took some photo graphs and threw them away. I felt sad but then, we have to make way for some new things.

Hope you like them.

I will try my best to post.

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A Teeny Weeny Grasshopper

Hi Friends!

Hope you are doing well and enjoying . 

I am back after a long time. Was not feeling well and had lot of of other things to attend to. Didn't have the strength  or time for blog.

It is either very hot and humid here or raining heavily- either way it is difficult to cope with. Yesterday, we had a heavy downpour. It was sudden and so much rain accompanied by those ear shattering thunders.

Within no time entire city was heavily flooded. Luckily we got back power after an initial cut of half an hour.  We had to struggle in the rain to clear the drain holes constantly as the rain and winds dumped garden debris chocking the flow of water near drain covers. Oh Boy we just saw it in time or else our house would have been flooded with water. 

It rained steadily and heavily there after for nearly 3-4 hours and thereafter less heavily but still lot of rain.  More rain foretasted today and tomorrow also.

Well enough of my ranting. 

I wanted to share with you this teeny weeny Grasshopper. Just look at it. I caught it on my camera just few days back when I was chatting with my plants early in the morning.

It was just so tiny and so cute. I find all babies cute-human, animals birds or insects. don't you? Look at its eyes. I think it was dozing off. I am not sure whether it was just born or  may be few days old. 

It is first time I saw anything so tiny. 

Do you know what a baby Grasshopper is known as? Well I didn't. So I googled it. It is known as a "

"Nymph".  

Well the word nymph  brings to my mind an image of a beautiful maiden, roaming around the woods and sitting by rivulets or such things. :) Imagine a baby Grasshopper being called Nymph. 

Well it is slightly drizzling here and heavily overcast. we are bracing ourselves for another downpour.

Bye for now. Keep an eye on my blog. Got lot to share; provided there are no power cuts and my net connection works...

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Custard Apple in Bloom

Hi there!. Finally monsoons are here. But not in my garden. There were some showers may be in other areas of the city, but my garden is still waiting for the monsoons. Yesterday and today, it was completely cloudy and there were just a few drops of rain. 

I have a Custard apple tree in my garden. It is also known as Sugar Apple. It is a very hardy tree. Requires very little maintenance and grows in any soil. Pests are almost nil. 

It does not grow into a very big tree with huge trunk like mango.

Its fruit are very sweet but with lots of seeds. It is rich in Vitamin C, B and many minerals. It is also known to be rich in calcium. The fruits are available in winter season.

Just have a look at the fruit.

Once the fruit is ripe enough it is very soft to touch. So we can check the fruit and pluck it. It also break opens on ripening.

This is the bud. I never noticed it before, even though I have this tree in my garden for some years now.

Here is the flower. I could not take a proper photograph of it as it hangs down and it was very difficult for me to photograph it. 

This is specially grown in hilly areas by the tribals. Rather they collect fruits from the jungles where these trees grow in forests of certain regions. Since they are grown naturally with out any human interference like adding of chemical manures etc, they are organic and good for health.

When we are travelling in certain areas, by road we can see the tribals or villagers on the road side selling these fruit. They collect these fruit (unripened) from the nearby forest and put they in bamboo baskets or straw baskets and cover the fruit its leaves. So they ripen slowly and naturally few at a time.  We can buy them in dozens, or 50-100 fruits by count or basket fulls. They sell it at a very cheaper rate when compared to our local markets.

We always buy them basket fulls. All our family members love it, so we have to have enough for every one. Moreover when we are travelling and in a group, snacking on these fruits on the road side is fun. Only annoying thing is there are lots of seeds and less flesh. So it is hard work if you want to eat it. Its also messy. But then who is complaining as it is so delicious.

I also love to talk to these people. The men and women are simple and especially the women are so beautiful. But mind you some of them may cheat you.Usually a few bigger fruits are placed on the top and underneath it there may be very small fruits or  raw fruits plucked before they have fully developed, which cannot be ripened. So we have to check the fruits in the basket and bargain before buying.

Even when we are travelling by train, we can find these people selling them on train. They board the trains, with baskets loaded with the fruits on their heads from nearby small stations when the train stops for signals or crossings. We have lots of time on train journeys, and generally people like to buy fresh fruit and enjoy them during the journey. I always feel hungry on train journeys and love to snack on these fruits and other healthy snacks sold on the trains or at the stations.  

Ice creams, milk shakes, puddings and desserts are made using the flesh of the ripened fruits. I prefer to eat it straight. 

On one of my tours travelling by road in Telangana,  we stopped at road side on the high way to stretch our feet. I saw a small group of children and women, sitting around piles of twigs and roasting something which smelt so yummy. I was curious and asked one of the children what they where doing? They told me that the make a pit in the ground, put some dry leave and twigs in it, then some raw custard apples plucked from near by forests, cover it with leaves and twigs and light it. The fruit gets cooked in the fire/coal slowly. After it cools down - may be in  2-3 hours time, they recover the fruits peel it and eat it. 

The custard apple tree in my garden is in full bloom. In a few days time, we can see tiny fruits on the branches. By Vinayaka Chaturthi (in the months of Aug-Sept) we have small raw fruit. We offer it first to Lord Vinayaka-the Elephant God. Then by winter we have the fruits, ready to eat. 

Waiting for the fruits.......

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Updates from My Garden

Half of June month is over. No rains yet. It is once again hot like in summer. We are again facing water problems. 

A few days back we have had some showers. It was a great relief. Here is a small peek into my garden.

Bougainvillea blooms through out the year if proper care is taken. But its blooms are the best in summer. It is a very hardy plant and requires very little care. I have some in pots for Bonsai. A little pruning and some fertiliser is all it requires. It can with stand hot temperatures. But those in pots require proper watering and semi shade during peak hours of the day. 

They look so beautiful when they are in full bloom. They are also known as paper flowers.

This is one variety of hibiscus. The size of flowers is small. But it blooms profusely and almost daily. It is still a small plant in my garden.

Just a few showers can do wonders to the plant life. No amount of water or fertilisers  we add can bring this green colour to the leaves. God's creation is great and has no competition.

Well I am waiting for the monsoon to begin my work in my garden. I have just weeded it out and just keeping it alive somehow. 

Wish rains would be here soon.......

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Spring Time in my Garden-5

These are the chrysanthemums I have in my garden. Now since day temperatures are quite high, these are not blooming. 

 This is the button or miniateure mum.

I also have purple ones. I forgot to take a pic before cutting the blooms. 

These plants which have bloomed were cut to almost ground level and left in the pots. Now I have put them all under shade till monsoons arrive. The mother plant will give out many shoots which can be replanted to get the blooms. But it is really difficult to save them during summer. No matter how careful I am, I always loose some of these plants.

Have  to see how the summers will be this year. It is already quite hot here...

Watch out my blog....

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Friends in My Garden-Wasps

I like to spend as much time as possible in my garden. No doubt, it requires lot of time and energy, in maintenance. But the result is that we have fresh air, greenery around us, it supplies us with, flowers, fruits and vegetables now and then. 

It is a pleasure sitting in the garden, any time of the day or season. In spring or in summer, monsoon or in winter, lot of activity can be seen. Watching, bugs and bees, birds and butterflies, caterpillars and many other creatures is meditative.

Well here is one of the visitors, who became a resident of my garden:

These are very small wasps, constructing their home with white substance. They make tube like hollow structures, lay their egs and seal it.

 You can see here the sealed ones.

We have so many of these colonies in our garden.

Well their sting is very uncomfortable. It feels like a small shock at first and then you feel as if burnt by the fire in the area where stung. This lasts for two to three days. So even though their size is small their sting is quite something. I have experienced it once.

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Sring Time in my Garden - 4

Here are the Magnolia flowers known as Champka in Sanskrit and Hindi and Sampengi in Telugu.

This is the white coloured one. This gives a very light fragrance. It does not flower profusely; may be my plant is too young.

This is the green one known as Aaku Sampengi meaning leaf Champaka. This blooms frequently and every new shoot will have lots of flowers. The fragrance of this flower is different from the white one. Earlier days this plant used to be there in many homes  and gardens in Andhra. Even today these flowers are sold in the markets and one cannot miss their fragrance. This reminds me of my childhood at my granny's place.

I never knew this plant gave fruits like the one above until recently. 

This is the yellow variety, known as Simhachalam Sampengi, as Lord Narasimha Swami at Simhachalam in Andhra Pradesh is said to be found of these flowers. So these flowers are offered to Him. 

The fragrance of these flowers is different from the above two. I planted this tree twice and both times lost them to termites. I will try my luck again.

Keep an eye on my blog......

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Spring time in my Garden -3

Hibiscus, also known as Rose Mallow, Shoe Flower, China rose is a very beautiful flower and quite common in India, especially in South India. These are grown for their showy and colourful flowers and also as shrubs in the garden. These are evergreen shrubs and flower through out the year. 

They require very less maintenance except for lots of pests and bugs. They also flower abundantly, hence hit with us Indians and other countries, like China, Hawaii and Korea etc....They contain many species which are both annual and perennial varieties. 

These are known as Japakusuma or Japa Pushpa in Sanskrit, Mandaaram in Telugu and GuDDhal in Hindi. These flowers are offered to Lord Ganesha, Kali or Durga, Shiva and Sun God as their favorite flowers. In general used as offering to any gos or goddess in our homes.

I prefer the local varieties to the hybrid ones. The hybrid ones give big flowers in many colours but they don't have the beauty of the local ones.

 This is only one hybrid variety I have as it was gifted to me.

 This is baby pink multi petaled one.

 This is lemon yellow multi petaled one.

This is a different shade of yellow, shade of sandal wood.

 This is lavender coloured multi petaled one.

Below are two varieties of orange colured flowers

  .

 This is tomato red coloured one

The one above is darkest red flower, which is not clear in the pic.
This one below is the single petaled local variety mostly in red, white and light pink colours. But the red one is most popular.

Here is my flower basket for Puja(daily prayers) filled with flowers form my garden.

Hibiscus, is used in ayurveda as it has medicinal properties. Tea made out of these flowers is quite popular in many countries. Paste of these flowers and its leaves, applies to hair make them long, lustrous, healthy and black colour. So women from South India use this as a hair tonic.

Watch out for more.......

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