The Flamboyant Colours of the tropical Summer Blossoms

Summer is in full bloom, undoubtedly! Today, I bring to you the fiery colours of the tropical Summer Blossoms. Now, I must move out of my tiny roof top to show you both the fierce and soft summer colours. I will get mixed up with their names, they are so many, flame tree, peacock flower, golden shower, gold dropouts, Krishnachura, Radhachura according to Radha and Krishna, orange to flame red, deep red to scarlet, yellow to burning yellow, then the purple jarul and the soft pink blossoms, they are simply breathtaking beauty. I have the city in frame to proudly display the colours, just take a quick tour, they remain a treasure to the eyes. We have moved in history from Hindu-Buddhists rulers to Moghul-British times to the present. Yes, once planned to be built into a garden city, Dhaka started with open garden spaces, still they remain to be the breathing spaces in today's Dhaka. Then, ofcourse with the British rule as Dacca, the parts of avenues were ornamentally decorated with these summer blossoms such as the Delonix regia or Krishnachura or Cassia fistula, the brilliant yellow, Shonajhuri, the gold droplets, brought in from Madagascar or Mexico, I guess. As Dhaka has walked through it's history so has it carried along it's beauty with pride and in majestic colours. Each year they come with memories of the past, and form newer ones. I write each year about them in different ways still I feel I haven't reached their depths, completely. Everytime they come with a new spirit, new inspiration, and I simply remain amazed by their beauty in golden flames!!

Adding in some of the culinary flavours to the pots

This year both the summer heat and norwester rains hit at the same time, even before summer really set in. Before the norwester hail and rain hit hard to kill the crops, I tried some culinary flavours and Wow, they came up real fast, just have a look. The mint creeper has grown into a thick, dark, fresh green carpet. Mint is one of the oldest herbs and used commonly in most continents. In the Indian subcontinent and the middle east its really popular in fresh yogurt drink or salad dressing. Simply add to your yogurt, some mint paste, green chillis paste made from some freshly plucked ones along with a pinch of salt and sugar. The flavour is great in the summer heat and good for digestion too. In Europe they are added to even soups. Juices and even ice creams are great when they are mint flavoured, sweet and fresh. The green and black chilli, small plants just grew fast and became filled too. Their fragrances and flavours are great appetizers too. The people in our subcontinent use chillis as the most native item on their menu, forgetting historically, how they have travelled a long way from the Americas, where I guess Christopher Columbus, first came across them and later they travelled all around from chilli pepper-to-chilli-to-paprika, with their wide variety from hot-hotter-hottest habanero chilli peppers to the mild vegetable like paprikas. In Goa, it was first introduced and later added to the Indian cuisine where it's popularly known as chilli and used practically in every dish but not as hot as the vindaloo cooked by the initial Portuguese settlers in Goa. Later, I noticed how quickly the curry leave shrub soon became filled with leaves. Freshly plucked ones are great for lentil soups or even as appetizers in the form of paste made with garlic cloves stirred in olive oil. Then, I tired  growing one of the many varieties of spinach and they grew real fast. They can be simply stirred in onion and garlic and served with warm rice. And finally I threw in some fenugreek seeds in the soil that I had at home and I had ended up having both a culinary herb for flavour and a vegetable. They are popular in the Indian subcontinent, also known as methi and Kasuri in Punjab region, which is dried methi leaves, I guess as a friend of mine would say. We have already plucked and relished the first round of fenugreek leaves and we now continue to sow them, grow them and use them fresh again and again throughout the summer. Lest you forget, all of these I mentioned above have great flavouring and medicinal qualities!!

As we continue to move into more whites, here come the fragrance filled "Summer Whites"

Amazing, how nature keeps a strong communication with it's environment from where it breathes, grows and withers away, back to the soil it loves so dearly, the cycle of life. The other day I realized that the temperature was rising and the sun was getting hotter and brighter during the day, the evenings were still cool. But suddenly the transformation came as I realised how warm it was getting even in the evening air, although according to the seasonal calender it was still spring, the maximum temps had far exceeded 30 degrees Celsius!. Then, one evening the rains came, as the clouds were waiting. This time of the year the rains are short and may come in the form of a storm. But it was only mild windy but came with hail too. Even after the rain, the sun continued to become slowly hotter and atmosphere warmer. May be all of this is a result of global warming!!!. The better side was, when I went up to the roof top, although the air was warm and a light breeze was there, one could feel the heat. When I started my regular walking I suddenly felt the fragrance fill air. Yes, it was intoxicating as I past the gardenia bush, orange-scented as I passed the creamy orange-jasmine bush, and of course the maximum sweet scent was felt as I passed the line of jasmine pots filled with the fresh white bloom. Even the plumerias, yellow-white as they stood like tips of icebergs, on the tops of the low trees were nearly in full bloom, although the shrub was yet to get its first fresh leaves. They all know that summer is knocking at our doorstep, their communication is stronger, we have a lot to learn from nature as they appear with their timely beauty and fragrance.

Furthermore, the science too gets more filled with the quest for knowledge. I was just wondering about all the pigments and their disappearance in presence of the bright sunlight as I mentioned early on about the pigments being cleaved by enzymes in the white flowers as shown in the study with the 'mums'. It just made me think deeply about the wonders of nature. As the sun and wamth take over, the white fragrances fill the trees, shrubs and the air. Also, the non-fragrant white ones are competing too. And joining with them are the white bougainvilleas and the lime green bract filled shrubs. The non-fragrant but white jasmines, both single and double ones have filled their tiny shrubs along with the butterfly like delicate white blossoms. So, the take home message is summer is already there in the air, if not on the calender dates, and ALL SUMMER WHITES are blooming strong, even the winter 'mums' becoming 'summer whites' and joining hand in hand with the summer blossoms  Take a look!!!

Basil and/or Tulsi as it travels from east to the west

I am not a herb grower but I love their flavours in my salads, dressings and appetizers. Interestingly, I bumped into growing them by chance.  I always loved the aroma found in coriander and mint from our Indian subcontinent, then got introduced to the 'basil' belonging also to the mint family found and other myriads of herbs used in the mediterranean cuisine from the regions of the Tuscan countryside in Italy and Provence in the south of France, when I visited those places. These wonderful array of herbs mixed with fresh tomatoes, roasted garlic and cheese in olive oil are mouth watering delights and so are similar such appetizers and dressings made of mint, fresh cucumber and yogart  or roasted shrimp, garlic and coriander mixed together in a mortar and pestle with mustard oil from our part of the world, the tropics. Now, I suddenly got some basil from a local gardener and it was wonderful to find them freshly available, pluck them and and have them straight into my pasta sauce or dressings or adding them to the final touches of a just ready chicken. The sweet clove-like or strong pungent aroma are best found in the leaves of the non flowering plants, that's when the leaves should be plucked. Also, deep freezing is a good way to preserve them.


Looking into 'basil' I learnt that this species, Ocimum basilicum has many varieties, as many hybrids are found between species, all of which belong to the Lamiaceae (mint) family, such as the sweet thai basil, lemon basil, african basil and of course the mediterranean basil. Its has actually been grown in the Indian subcontinent for more than few thousand years and travelled to the west. The variety,  Ocimum tenuiflorum, the sacred or holy basil of which both dark or purple and a green variety exits, is what we call the 'tulsi' or the holy Indian basil. It has been common to have a small tulsi plant, so I had them both green and purple varierty, since its been long used as a holy plant in India particularly for its tremendous medicinal values, today known more clearly as great antioxidant properties. Natives simply easily chew their leaves straightaway or use the leaves for preparing the wonder tea. After growing the basil for the first time, I saw they grew fast as a seasonal variety. I am sure that now I will delve more into this interesting area and make few more easy encounters into the world of green culinary herbs. The pictures show the basil I grew on the top and the tulsi/ holy basil, both green and dark purple variety I already had, on the side. The tulsi will grow through out the hot summer months loosing their leaves in the winter. So its available most of the year round.

As Spring moves on to Summer

 I begin the mid spring with pictures of the blossoms that have captured everyones' attention. Yes, they are the mangoe trees filled with their mid spring to early summer blossoms draped in their new green leaves. They seem to tells us this year its going to be tons of mangoes. But I can tell you just wait until the nor'wester winds or the rains hit, much of it will be shed to the ground. Now, the bees are active, transferring the pollen, we can but wait for the soft juicy orange yellow mangoe bites with of the tangy sweet taste after the mangoe fuit ripens lest we decide to make pickles from the green mangoes!

I can already get the fresh smell of mangoes around!!

As the sun comes up now, its has become warmer and the peaceful whites as in the lilies are around, along with leftover chrysanthemums and the lovely large roses, probably the last of this season. They bring an air of soothing harmony alongside the calmness prevailing from the season.

I find a burst of fuchsia, its the plumeria like flower from the woody plant we got from Burma. It has a radiant bloom of fuchsia which couldn't wait for the shrub to gain its leaves. Since the woody stems still remain empty, waiting for the green leaves to appear following the winter. As I check, I notice the fuchsia around in the last roses and of course the spectacular array in the colourful hybrid bougainvillea branch, this simply is  the season's marvel. Does the garden ever stop giving its bright colours as these shades of yellow and fuchsia!! Just then I notice the young purslanes, as they start to come up with their bright sun yellow brightness, their stems are fast at spreading as the warm sun comes up, withstanding all the heat, they spread sturdily. And not forgetting the tiny tan-yellow flowering vines, as they creep up slowly, as if climbing high up in an attempt to reach the sun. I amazes me, how fast all these seasonal changes happen and are accepted by nature. So unique to each season, but so distinct with astounding clarity. Although year round, the summers have become longer, and their heat becoming stronger and drier by each year. It has largely taken over all the other seasons, shrinking the winters and monsoons in this part, the reasons mostly being the effect of "global warming". Yet, the past few years our part  of the world has'nt been hit by the terrible cyclones nor the strong nor'westerly winds which would bring devastation to areas hit them. Last year has been a year with balanced rain and winter and this spring has been totally temperature- controlled sunshine, calm, pleasant with a soft morning and evening breeze, a perfect bliss and an artist's paradise!!