Monsoon in my Garden

The onset of rains has revived my garden. My plants are slowly recovering from the harsh summer heat. here are the signs.

This is the yellow Hibiscus. It flowers very rarely and the plant also does not grow fast like others of its family. After the first rains, it flowered. My joy knew no bounds. Just the other day I scolded her saying she is not flowering properly :).

 Here are the Cherry flowers. 

I have two Cherry plants both in pots. Hope they fruit this year. Last year too they flowered but no fruits. But these flowers look different from those I checked up on net. I hope they turn out to be cherries. Any way I am training them for BONSAI.

Cane Products

Cane belongs to grass family like Bamboo. It is tall grass, perennial with woody but flexible stalks and grows in wet soils. The word Cane is supposed to have derived from Hebrew"qanah" meaning reed. 

Cane has been in use since ancient times. It is used for making furniture, walking sticks, boats, roofing and baskets.Cane is natural product, light weight, comfortable, aesthetic. It is strong yet easily bends. That is why cane furniture and baskets are so popular. 


I have come across some lovely trays and picnic baskets. But they were quite costly. I have bought some trays and some containers for flower arrangements from time to time. However in this post I am showing you a very unique container made of cane. I bought it just yesterday. This is so lovely, in the shape of a Swan. I could not resist it.

 This is how it looks.

See its beak and its tail.

See the weave.

There is a lid. See the space inside.

You can fasten the lid.

This is the base to give it balance.


I think this can be used to store small jewellery, cosmetics or as a bread basket or for any such thing. What do you say? Any ideas how this can be used?

Embroidered Sari from Bengal

I wanted to share with you this sari, which was bought for me by my friend. She is from a village in West Bengal. So when ever she visits her native place, she visits Kolkata (earlier known as Calcutta) where some of her relatives stay. She usually brings many saris, dress materials and accessories etc from there for all of us and I bought this from her.

I love cotton saris. This one is baby pink coloured  fine cotton sari embroidered with blue and green cotton threads. The fabric looks like organza. The threads are coarse and looks like dyed ones. All through Satin stitch has been used. You can see how beautifully the artisans from Bengal have embroidered the sari. Mind you, the embroidery is not perfectly done, yet it is beautiful.

 This the border of the sari. Simple vine with blue and green threads.

  

Another view of the border. The sari has borders both at the top (only the portion where it is visible) and at the bottom.

The small flowers  known as booties cover the entire sari.

This is the pallu heavily embroidered.

The vines have been embroidered accross the pallu.

A closer look.

In the corners of the pallu this design has been embroidered.

I love this sari because of its baby pink colour and good combination of the colours used.  It is simple yet attractive. But it is a bit difficult to maintain, because one has to starch it and then ironing requires more heat. This may result in fading of the colours with repeated washing and ironing.