Blooming Friday/A Bromeliad And A Few More Blooms

Today I'm very happy to show these photos of a bromeliad I've
had for about five years. For reasons I do not know it took a
break from blooming last year. Which is why when I saw the flash
of red I went berserk with the camera!!!! The actual colour is
seen in the first photo.






This variety of Bromeliad is known as Bliibergia pyramidalis. It's
also known as the Flaming Torch, Summer Torch and Foolproof Plant.





The leaves are light green with serrated edges. With all that rain
the 'cup' flows over!





Purple Allamanda has been blooming for some time.





It's only now that the pink rain lilies are blooming. The
white ones are long gone.





A tiny damselfly landed on a leaf as I was clicking away.




Although I've posted about the red Penta in one of my regular
posts I can't resist doing so again... The Lime butterfly, one
of my most beautiful winged visitors, stopped by this morning.
But, as usual, she was in a big hurry! With the construction
going on, plants which are closer to the house, are affected.





Another hibiscus blooming for the first time. Don't you
love that yellow?

For more Blooming Friday posts, please visit our host Katarina
at Roses and Stuff.

Butterflies And Damselflies

In April I was lucky to see this beautiful butterfly at the
bottom of my parents' garden. But the shot with my zoom-user-
unfriendly-camera yielded this result. Although the internet
says that the Redbreast Jezebel is commonly seen in gardens,
this was my first sighting.

One needs to have the jezebel spirit ( a deviation from the
dictionary meaning; I'm using the term to mean 'intrepid')
to venture out in the garden. Especially being at the bottom
of the garden in the rainy season, is no mean feat:) Weeds
grow faster than in any season and leeches and snakes abound!
My nephew told me that there were many colourful snakes
in the garden. It gives me the shudders just thinking about
seeing them from close quarters!

I carried a stout stick and 'brandished' it on the tall grass
as I made a way through that luxuriant weed but then I didn't
want to scare the butterflies away either. No luck with the
Jezebels but here's what I got.






































I hope you've enjoyed going through the photos. I'll be going back
to blooms in my next post.

Blooms From The Vegetable Garden

The flower of the Turmeric plant/Curcuma longa. This was a stray
plant in the front yard growing next to a rosebush and amaryllis.
There are still a lot of photos of blooms and garden wildlife from
my recent trip to Haflong. As for my own garden, all activity has
come to a stop for the time being.

We're extending the house--the front portion--so you can imagine
the how messy the whole area is. Not very many blooms at the
moment but I'm glad to be able to show you these from my parents'
garden.








There are turmeric clumps in several areas of the garden but no
blooms. A must in our cuisine, we always had home-grown turmeric.
We grew up with the idea that the packed ones were definitely
adulterated!










A kind of curcuma whose exact name I do not know. The blooms
attract a lot of bees. The fruit resembles the banana flower,
a miniature replica of the banana flower, I should say.




Here's what the clump looks like. The tender stems are edible too.







The white bloom of the Chameleon plant on the herb patch.







The yellow blooms of the Bitter gourd. Despite the bitter taste
it's a popular vegetable.




Guess who was keeping an eye on me as I went about taking pictures?!




These pretty, delicate-looking blooms, belong to the plant pictured
below. The tender leaves are generally steamed. In alternative
medicine, for people with high blood pressure, these leaves are
recommended.

I noticed a spectacular swallowtail in black and flashes of blue
on its wings regularly feeding on these blooms. I've brought a
small plant along with me. I hope I can attract the same butterfly
when the blooms appear!

Insect Haven!

The summer months make gardens come alive with the sights and
sounds of many colourful insects. I'm posting some that I photo-
graphed in the few days that I was with my parents.

The beetle pictured above is a common sight. Although I've seen
this type since childhood it's only now that I'm noticing all
the details.



Gnawing away at a Crape Myrtle branch was this colourful beetle,
the kind I've never seen before. Just look at those feelers!!







To get a better shot I placed it on another small tree. It was
very cooperative:)




Two kinds of moths I found one morning.







A mantid.




An insect whose ID I don't know. But I remember seeing many
of these in the summers of childhood.




Blue-banded bee. In flight, that blue dazzles but sadly, this
one was very dead!




But its more colourful cousin was relishing the food from
a bean bloom.




Two kinds of grasshoppers. I'm amazed at the variety. There
were many tiny ones in different shades of green and brown.







Big, hairy caterpillars are a common sight too!

Blommig Fredag/ Views From The Wild

Welcome to another Blooming Friday! This week my blooms are from
the wild. I just got back from my hometown and the journey through
the jungle is a plant-lover's delight. There were many bright and
eye-catching blooms but I only got some from the edge of the jungle.
The first photo is a kind of balsam commonly seen on roadsides here.
The blooms are in this colour only.





One stretch of the road had these beauties! What a sight it
was to see Glory lilies blooming like this!



Here's another view. Of course, the jungle wouldn't be complete
without the ubiquitous Lantana.





A view of the area. An endless stretch of green.





Closer to the road this is how it looks like.




A kind of grasshopper that I photographed for the first time.
From a distance I thought the red portion belonged to a red-
bodied swallowtail. A closer look revealed this amazing insect
as colourful as a bloom.

The plant that it's (perched) on has medicinal properties. I don't
know the botanical name but even as children we knew about its
healing touch.We would crush these leaves and rub the rough paste
on our cuts and grazes. That took care of our play-time wounds!





I hope you've enjoyed these views from my part of the world. For
more Blooming Friday posts please visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff.