Late spring 2018

Spring came in late, but came with a bang, atleast the bougainvillia colours lit up like a wild fire, bright and luminescent magenta, pink and yellow. As the winter hadn't had it's seasonal spirit, I was not so sure how the spring will be, and my expectations were low, and Wow, what a burst of colours it has been! The breeze was easily felt but slowly the temperatures became steady to allow the flowers to bloom to the brim. It appears that the flowers do not like the change of temperatures. and they need to get used to one, to bloom at their best. And we were lucky that the air didn't pick up the present heat soon enough, as they got time to reach the peak of their blossom. Their colours were so solid, that they not only shone through the bright sun, they lit up at sunset, they were seen after sunset, under evening sky too. They were like a burst of joy, bringing life and happiness to each soul that caught, even, just a sheer glance!  

Other flowers also joined in the colour race of spring, we can see them in sets. And the diantus, bright and beaming, seemed like a painted picture. And so were the plumerias and orange cosmoses.  All this bloom, also it gave us a chance to light up the stairway too. 

The roof top showed its majestic appeal, as I kept clicking around for more and more colourful displays....

The stunning Dahlias....

As stunning as they are, with stark, awesome colours they came in all sizes giant to small, and they too open slowly and keep surprizing you as they give the feeling, we are here to stay...Wish the temperatures remained steady and not going up and down, which is happening for the last couple of years, then they would remain in bloom fro weeks many be a month or two. Should we blame it to global warming or the blocking of nature's greatest wealth "free flowing atmosphere" providing the space and freshness, by the "high rise" of the crowding ever growing city, that it is loosing its natural sunlight, fresh air and thus it's breathing space. We hope the present and future city-planners will bear it in mind as a priority, that the city too need it's breathing space. Anyway, going back to the Dahlias, hope you enjoy them as much as we did.... 

The winter that came in late and plans already to leave very early, this year 2016......

In this part of the world we wait for some cooler weather whether we call it winter or spring its unimaginably shortlasting, although we designate the months Nov, Dec, Jan for it, this year even before we open the doors to the new Year, we start experiencing temperature shifts, Even the fog, seemed to set it umbrella right and just lift off in a day or two, as quickly as it came....   Previously we would atleast have weeks of fog, yet its the only time we see the lovely shades of the seasonal bliss from pure, breathtaking, deep and light shades of the immaculate Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, Asters and not forgetting the sun bright Marigolds. These are the batches of flowers that as if compete to serve us with their "compact power packed", look!! Absolutely stunning, just have a look!! They are compact, and slowly keep opening up and stay on for days or even weeks. I had to add the fluttering Cosmoses to share their dainty feeling with the mums as their colours matched so well. When you see them at first sight they cheer simply you up, with a true solid spark and remain slowly opening up and bringing you a trail of inspiration that sustains through the time and lingers on in your thoughts.. Wishing all readers, a very Happy New Year 2016 through the lovely colors, offered by nature, our only retreat for breathing in fresh air and getting the fresh energy whenever, we need to regain that extra strength.....

The summer-monsoon colours in and out of the rooftop

The summer comes, each year, with its heat waves, and nature decides how it wants to paint its canvas. Then of course the norwester winds, called "the Kalbaishaki jhor", as they may become cyclonic, they bring the downpours, which may become torrential and strong and then much later on we have the true onset of monsoons. This year, we have been having much more rains from the norwesters before the summer set in and the monsoons arrived. Good for us, as the summer temp haven't been able to hit us that bad, with in between rains from the dark gray-black moisture laden clouds brought in by the strong norwester winds. So much said, the colours of summer-monsoon season are drapjng the city just now, and I can't resist capturing the moments of joy. They are bright fiery, red-orange and bright sun yellow, from the "Radha-Krishnachura" and the flambouyant gold yellow from the "Shorno jhuri" which hangs so elegantly from its tree. And the fiery orange red shades against the green appear as if painted from an artists brush strokes. 

This year some how my roof top garden "Lilies", were stunning too, white, red, pink and in all varieties of shapes and colour they appeared after each pouring of the norwesterly rains. The shapes and shades are unique, as if nature has fine tuned the shades with fine-line- strokes in the pink and white liles. And they do have a fine fresh fragrance. 

Also have a look at the 'tropical birds of paradise', some hanging and slowly opening up their shapes and shades of red and and yellow, and the orange ones sharp stiff, like the true bird's beak, poised, neatly. Have a look and hope you enjoy!!! 

Chrysanthemums adorn the tropical winter gardens

This year I got delayed in planting the seedling and thought the garden looked very empty in December 2014. We had a spell of winter chill, days of no sunlight, in fact we did have even days of persistant heavy fog. So the seedlngs planted didn't seem to grow or thought they didn't have the energy to bloom. After that spell, I gave up. Suddenly, the weather came to our favour, the temperature started rising, and we started getting some sunlight. Then, after that as we crossed over to 2015, suddenly we had this colour burst of “MUMs”. As if suddenly everything woke up. And Wow, look at their spectacular colours and varieties we got this year!! The yellow curly ones, very charismatic, and then alot more yellows in all sizes, then we have the

pink shaded ones, paper-like, then we have the regular white and pink, large variety stuffed with petals and the regular maroon, rows of them. Finally, it was so satisfying. The again to add to the colour of the garden we have the roosteri-cap flowers, all in percing bright colours, yellow, magenta, orange and red!! Now, we wait for the Dahlias to showcase their colours!!