The first Adenium bloom of the year. I'd noticed the buds
earlier and had forgotten about them. Normally I wouldn't
have, but with all the different butterflies that I'm after,
even blooms have taken a backseat!
A wispy, spidery bloom lands on the coleus.
The tomatoes that I grew from seeds are ready to be picked now.
The first small batch is in the basket. There were too many
plants for me from that packet. So I gave a whole pot of
tomato plants to my neighbour who in turn gave half of them to
her neighbour! One packet of seeds and three families! Not to mention the friends and relatives that the tomatoes will go to!
Yesterday's pickings. The cherry tomatoes re-seed every year.
It's a yearly staple here!
A pair of bulbuls are nesting in my garden. Initially, I thought
they were in this birdhouse. But I found out they're in the palm
trees growing next to this Ashoka tree.
Part of the palm trees can be seen here.
Through the thick foliage, only a bit of the nest can be seen.
I'll have to be extremely careful if I need to remove dead leaves--
I wouldn't want to scare them in any way.
Here are photos of the nesting pair. I'd been working in this
area,re-arranging pots, and watering the plants-it's looking messy--
when the bulbuls landed. Luckily I had the camera ready. I managed
a shot before they sensed that somebody was around.
The pair on the blackberry tree.
The Common Palm Fly butterfly is always around. Just like the Cabbage
Whites. Look who else is there in the photo?! Sometimes, something else
other than the subject you were concentrating on, shows up in the photos.
Here, I wasn't even aware that I'd shot this strange looking insect too.
Thought I'd take another shot when I saw movement and I clicked.
And I'm glad I did because when I realized I'd just shot an
insect I did not recognize, I kept looking for it but it'd
disappeared in the midst of all that foliage.
A frog I've never seen before was on this recently transplanted
shrub. I noticed it as I watered the plants this afternoon.
Throughout the photo-shoot, it sat there, still, unmoving...
Now, if only a hummingbird moth would also pose like that......!!!
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16 comments:
So much wildlife in your garden, Kanak! Love those bulbuls, their profile is kind of like our jays, with that interesting crest. Your tomatoes, what a bounty! Neat that they reseed every year, they must be an "heirloom" instead of a hybrid.
It is neat to see what is growing across the oceans in India. What a nice post. I am jealous of the tomatos. What a neat looking frog. The frogs we have look different. I didn't know of any tomatos that reseed. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Always such a pleasure to visit in your garden Kanak! What unusual plants and insects, and birds. The tomatoes look so good. After a long winter, I look forward to fresh tomatoes this Summer.
It's interesting what the lens find that we don't even see! I can tell you are having a blast with you camera as you should.
The birds remind me of a cross between a Blue jay and a mocking bird.
Lucky you to have such nice looking tomatoes! And to share one packet with 3 families. How nice!
Loved your photos. You do have a lot of "visitors" in your gardens. I always enjoy coming here.
Wonderful post...Is the frog a native to your garden? Or did it move in with the shrub? I am intrigued by the birds and think I might have to google them! Gail
What a fun post! It has critters, flowers, and more!
I love the tomato story. Since I'm gardening at the neighbor's I bought some more tomato and pepper seeds to plant. I have cherry or grape tomatoes that come up each year, too. They have time to produce, but if we planted larger varieties in the ground, they probably wouldn't mature in time.
Happy gardening!
You got some good shots. I like that frog shot for sure. I enlarged the picture of the birdhouse and found it to be way cool. Those tomatoes are very yummy?:)
There is so much activity in your garden, it sure feels like spring.
The cherry tomatoes are gorgeous. I have never tried growing them at my place, hope I can do that.
You do tend to miss the bystanders when focusing on the main subject, but that insect is beautifully evident in the next photograph.
Hi Kanak, way to be ready with the camera at hand while working in the garden. A lesson for all of us bloggers in that. :-) Your respect for the birds and insects is an inspiration, way to take care of the earth! Seeing the tomato harvest is mouthwatering. Those tomato seeds can feed many people, so easy to grow and so delicious!
Frances
Karen, thanks. It's the cherry tomatoes that re-seed every year. And they come up in the unlikeliest places. Not that I mind:)
As for the wildlife, I'm very happy. There's always someone new out there.
The bulbuls have a red patch near the tails and that's pretty striking.
Hi Becca, thank you for your visit. The frogs here are not vividly coloured but they're cute!! Glads to read your comment.
Thanks Mildred. I hope you have a tomato bounty too...this summer.
Oh I am Susie! Always walking around to see if there's something I've missed!
Wendy, thanks. So happy to read your comment.
Gail, yes that's native to the region. I was surprised because I'd never seen it in the daytime. The shrub, a sorry-looking one at the moment had outgrown its container. Glad to read your comment on the birds...and thank you so much for stopping by.
Thanks Sue, I didn't know they were called grape tomatoes too. And so glad to read what you've written. Happy gardening to you too!
Tina, ah yes, yummy when fully ripe. Birdhouses aren't common here and this is what I came up with after seeing all the birdhouses on your blog as well as others'. None of the houses--I've got three-- are occupied as yet! Maybe, later....
Green Thumb, so true! And it's a lovely surprise to find that someone else has joined the party:)
I hope the cherry tomatoes do well, when you plant them. And thanks for stopping by.
Frances, thanks a ton! For all your words! There's a hornet which stops by my water container. I've never managed to capture it. Every time I run to get the camera it's gone! If only...I'm left to ponder...but on many other occasions I've been lucky.
About the tomatoes... so easy to grow...so true. Flowers and ornamentals require so much more, by way of time/effort.
Thank you for stopping by.
Kanak,
Those tomatoes look so good. Only if we could get fresh ones here. It'll be late June here before the good local tomatoes show up.]
Yummmm! I'd luv to taste the cherry tomatoes right from the plant! I'm gonna start my first tomatoes this year after being inspired by so many blogging gardeners, especially Prue - The Tomato Queen at totally inept balcony gardener (http://totallyineptbalconygardener.blogspot.com/).
How great to have bulbuls living in your garden! You're lucky kanak! Love your Asoka blooms. Just curious, how long did it take to flower? The woman at hort. society said it'd take years (but I learnt that the people over there have less experience with plants/trees - not being harsh but experience taught me that).
Randy, great! That won't be too long.
Chandramouli, I hope your tomatoes do really well! About the Ashoka, I can't remember exactly but it didn't take all that long...maybe 6years...It stopped blooming in between due to all the heavy flooding that we're subjected to, every summer. This year's the best--so far.
Hi Kanak!
Great Photos! Terrific colour.
I'm from the other end of India - The western side - Goa to be precise.
I love gardening too - a pleasure to see your garden doing so well.
just wanted to say hi.
yogita
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