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Friday, November 6, 2009

Blooming Friday/ Ah, November!





For today's Blooming Friday I headed off to Greenwood Resorts on the
outskirts of the city. It's a place where the gardens are beautifully
maintained and it was a pleasure indeed to walk about with my camera
stopping for a cup of coffee at one of the restaurants and at their
bakery for cookies. The "Ah!' on my post title is for the relief and
joy that summer's heat has left us. It's wonderfully pleasant now.

The last blooms of the flowering shrubs still cling tenaciously but
this really is a period of transition. Old giving way to new. The rows
and rows of plants in the nurseries have a tired look. But within a
month, the winter blooms will bring change. Colour in many hues. All
the sowing beds are full of tiny saplings...salvia, marigold, petunia,
calendula, dianthus, phlox, larkspur, sweet williams, linums...the list
is endless.


To see what's blooming around the world, head over to Katarina's.
Thank you Katarina for hosting Blooming Friday. It's a day
I look forward to.....







A pale variety of Mussaenda.






Vibrant canna.






A view of the Resort with agave blooming. And the next three pictures
show the close-up of the blooms.





















Ground orchids.







Potted euphorbia milii in their hundreds( that's what I feel) dot
the entire landscape.






White Mussaenda.








Yellow trumpet creeper ( I think!)






A small shrub favoured by gardens here is the Red Bird of Paradise/
Caesalpinia pulcherrima. This is the national flower of my good friend
Helen's country,Barbados. This is also known as the Pride Oof Barbados.
Other names include--the Peacock Flower and Dwarf Poinciana.













Red Mussaenda at the nursery where I stopped to pick up some
saplings.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of the gardens of Greenwoods. Hope
to show some of the best from my region in the coming weeks. Wish
all my wonderful blogger friends, and every welcome visitor, a great
weekend!

30 comments:

Randi said...

Wow...what a beautiful place. Very excotic and like a Paradise. I wish I could join you with my camera and stop for a cup of coffee at that lovely restaurant. Thanks for lovely the tour!
I wish you too a great weekend!

James David said...

Yes, I have enjoyed the garden tour.
Thanks for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

Lovely Garden, I enjoyed the tour very much

Thanks for Sharing.

Sujata said...

Thanks Kanak. Such a beautiful place and love the quality of your pictures.

Stephanie said...

I really enjoyed your tour. Love those Agave and
Euphorbia milii. The Red Bird of Paradise is very gorgeous. And, love your choice of Mussaenda. It's going to be beautiful :-D Remember the dwarf ixora I got as per your recommendation, it's blooming non-stop. Thanks again!

Lillebeth said...

Thank you for a wonderful tour in your so beautiful lanscape. It is so exiting to be able to visit you. Have a nice week end!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Agaves blooming! We have a lot of agaves in the public parks near where I live but I have never yet seen one bloom. The stems look very sturdy. How long do they last - or is it their death knell?

Lucy

Sunita Mohan said...

What a lovely place! I love going to places like this where their gardens are well-maintained and everything looks happy and cared for.
And yes, coffee and cookies can be a big draw too ;D

Racquel said...

I can't get over how lush & green everything is in your part of the world in November. It reminds me of spring here. :) Thanks for sharing all those exotic blooms today Kanak.

Unknown said...

Randi...you'd love it!! Every time I'm there I'm amazed at all the hard work that goes in keeping the place that beautiful.

James/Zindagi/Sujata...thank you for stopping by:) Loved reading your words!


Steph, I'm so glad to read about the dwarf ixora! Soon the Mussaenda blooms will fall off but I'm glad I managed to get these shots!

Lillebeth, so happy to have you stop by. Thanks!

Lucy, Agave blooms last for a while but I've only seen them in public gardens and traffic roundabouts. So I don't know exactly how long they last. It takes the plant about 15-20 years to bloom. And yes, that signals their death knell.


Sunita, now the area has more restaurants, cottages and a weaving centre. So one can also shop there. But of course, the gardens are beautifully cared for. There are many areas with seating arrangements and a good view of the undulating landscape.

Racquel...it's like this throughout the year. In the cooler months, the shrubs have a tired look but the seasonal flowers work their magic! But winter dust can be really bad.

Anonymous said...

It was lovely to join you on your tour of the gardens. What a paradise to photograph blooms in. The coffee and snack sound wonderful too! Wishing you and your family a blessed weekend Kanak.

lotusleaf said...

You managed to snap a butterfly in the resort too! The place looks so bright and inviting.

Susie said...

I loved the tour Kanak. I really enjoy seeing all the different type of blooms there. That looks like a wonderful place to visit. And with coffee and cookies? Sounds perfect!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend too!

Carol said...

I so enjoy visiting your world Kanak! I am happy for you ... that you now have lovely temperatures to enjoy nature. It is so interesting to think of our one planet in our shared orbit ... our different climates ... we move into one way of life as you move into another. I look forward to seeing all the splendid blooms you will share as our days are shorter and the cold takes hold. I love your bright compositions in the first two photos here and seeing the agave blooming is neat. The peacock flower is great fun and lovely lovely. Enjoy your weekend. Carol

Sandi McBride said...

Such beautiful flowers in amazing colours you've shared with us, it makes me forget it is in the 30's outside!!!
Sandi

Prospero said...

Hi Kanak. Caesalpinia pulcherrima is one of my favorites. Pulcherrima comes from the latin meaning beautiful.

sweetbay said...

What a lovely place! So many beautiful flowers. I just spotted the picture of the butterfly in your sidebar -- it's gorgeous, and looks a bit like our Common Buckeye. The warm pale orange color really sets off those eyespots.

Katarina said...

Thanks ever so much for this lovley tour! Love the Mussaendas...
Happy Blooming Friday!

Unknown said...

Mildred, it'll be interesting to see what how the gardens will look in the coming months. I have a feeling that a whole lot of potted seasonal flowers will be added. Can you imagine how good that'll look?


Padma, it does! Some of the butterflies were feeding at a leisurely pace. and that made it easy for me.

Susie, this really is a great place to spend the day with family/friends. Kudos to the owners who are so much into nature as well as aesthetics!


Carol, this is the best time for us...our cool winters. Kitchen gardens come alive with cauliflower and cabbages, carrots and peas, and so on. It's as if everyone's trying to put in as much as possible during this season. Would love to post the seasonal blooms later. It's fascinating to see snow and learn about overwintering in your part of the world. Educational too.

Sandi, glad you stopped by. Thanks! Our minimum is 20* now and max is 31*

Prospero, the flowering tree is indeed beautiful. I first came across the meaning while doing a post on Poinsettias. I learned then that its scientific name "Euphorbia pulcherrima" meant-- the most beautiful euphorbia. Thanks for mentioning it.


Sweet bay, thanks! And I'm very happy to read your comment on the Peacock Pansy. Although I've photographed them many times, I still can't resist doing so every time I see one!

Katarina...thank you so much!!

easygardener said...

I like Agaves when they flower - very statuesque. Love that red Bird of Paradise - very elegant.

Mia said...

Ah, yes, I did enjoy the tour, all the lovely flowers, colours and the weather. As snow gets thicker here I guess I will enjoy even more the visits at your place :)

Nicole said...

What beautiful colours-and that red muusseander is to die for...

AnnA said...

Wow!
Lovely post with lovely flowers you are showing, Kanak!
Have a nice weekend!/
AnnA

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I agree with the ah, November, for the lessened heat and humidity. It is such a welcome relief from the summer's heat and humidity. I also have the Dwarf Poinciana, and in yellow too.

Enjoy the cooler weather and the lovely blooms that you will have over the next few months.

Thanks for the lovely tour of blooms.

FlowerLady

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I love your assortment of blooms. I think the color of your first flower is my favorite.

I suppose I would welcome relief from the heat if I lived where you do. Since I live where it gets quite cold, I dread winter.

Thanks for your comment on my bloom post. I just learned from a blog that gazanias are a kind of African daisy.

Noelle Johnson said...

Hello Kanak,

Such beautiful flowers. I recognize three that we can grow here in the Arizona desert - Agave, Canna and the Caesalpinia pulcherrima.

Unknown said...

Easygardener...thanks! Very showy too.

Mia...I hope to post several pictures for you to enjoy!:)

Nicole...thanks for stopping by!

Anna...thank you so much!

Flower Lady...the yellow ones look very pretty but I've only seen them on the Net. I hope grow one of these in the future.

Sue...I grew gazanias last year for the first time. And they did pretty well. Which is why when I visited your blog I was instantly reminded of last year's love-affair with gazanias:) Thanks for that bit of info. I'm always amazed to see the varieties you have in your garden.

Noelle...thanks! I always love it when a landscape designer like you adds a comment here.

HelenJ said...

Ah - just the word for it!
Thank you for showing this lovley garden!

Unknown said...

Glad to have you stop by, Helen!

mewmewmew said...

Ah, yes, I did enjoy the tour, all the lovely flowers, colours and the weather. As snow gets thicker here I guess I will enjoy even more the visits at your place :)


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