Bromeliads

This particular variety of bromeliad does not look very

attractive but when they bloom, you can't stop looking...

I've had these plants for quite a few years but they

flowered for the first time last summer.

Bamboo leaves and the sky at dawn

Golden trumpet and my rain-drenched backyard

A flower-related story

Came across this story some time ago and would like to share
it. When Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, visited
Multan then a great religious centre, the fakirs there sent
him a cup of milk full to the brim,suggesting thereby that
the place was already full of holy men and that there was
no place for another one.
The Guru placed a jasmine flower on top of the milk and
returned the cup to the fakirs, thus telling them that as
the flower with its weightlessness floated on the surface
of the milk without displacing it, so would he live in their
midst adding only fragrance with his presence.

Fireflies and frogs

Still, dark nights do not exist anymore...the water-level in the marshy
plot of land next to our house has risen and the constant croaking of
frogs is a reminder that there's much activity going around. The view
from the bedroom window is a sight to behold. Hundreds of fireflies
flitting above the reeds, it's as if a part of the sky is suspended at eye-
level and miniature stars are twinkling and circling the marsh!
Tomorrow, as with most mornings, I'm likely to be woken by the
raucous sounds of the moorhens. There's a brood among the reeds
and the mother often comes foraging in my backyard. I've not
managed to capture her on camera. With a furtive glance she flies
her short distances, over the wall. Maybe better luck, next time.

A bee and nasturtiums

Clicked this picture on a sunny after-
noon in early March. Despite several tries of a better-picture-of-a-bee-sucking-nectar. this was what I could manage. Sitting on the veranda of my house, it's a pleasure to watch mottled
butterflies flitting about the nastur-
tiums. And talking about nasturtiums,
I love the fact that they are so easy to
grow, requiring very little care even on poor garden soil. As cut flowers,
they look amazing---lighting up the vase/bowl and the room!

April showers

The first day of April and the rains are already here.My
plants have soaked in more moisture than they need. And
the recent hailstones turned those huge leaves of the arum
and the banana to palm-like fronds. But soon the leaves
will look as good as new, I hope.
The weather had turned warm but it's cooler now. So
when the rain stopped, I was out planting the flowers
of summer---cosmos and zinnia. Did a bit of weeding
too. Everything grows so fast when the rains come--
I don't want a jungle in my front-yard!