Flower Power In The Potted Garden

Since the past two months the potted garden, is battered by on and off violent spells of rain showers,but the flowering plants are tough cookies and they don't seem to mind the rains, in fact most of them enjoy it and put out the most amazing display of flowers, this post is dedicated to the flowers that are currently growing and blooming,and beautifying my  potted garden.......

Harlequin Marigolds (Above)

These Harlequin Marigolds seem to brighten up even the gloomiest of days, sunshiny cheery yellow with bold maroon stripes, each flower has it own individual pattern and coloring.

They are so pretty and exquisite that even the butterflies can't resist and stay away from them.

Next are my Hibiscus plants,they have been flowering non stop since the onset of the monsoons,i have them in different colors like Pink,Yellow,Red etc. and types, like single petal and double petal varieties.

Pink Single Petal Hibiscus (Above)

Yellow Double Petal Hibiscus 

Double Petal Pink Hibiscus (Above)

Pink Single Petal Hibiscus (above)

Double Petal Red Hibiscus (Above)

Another beauty that does not fail to impress me, is the humble yet beautiful morning glory, i have a soft corner for these flowers, my grandmother loved growing roses and other flowers, and morning glories  happened to be one of them, she grew them in the front yard on an old criss cross wooden fence, so each year in remembrance of the good old times and memories i grow them from seed,but this year i was in for a surprise when they self seeded in the same pot that i grew them in last year so saved me the trouble, and who doesn't like a pretty volunteer like this one, each morning i am greeted by these beauties who are kissed with rain drops in the early morning :))

Purple Morning Glories (Side View )

Royal Purple & Feringa Morning Glories (front view)

I have moss rose that is growing in a rectangular pot,i started it from a small stem cutting that was given to me by a friend.Moss rose is also known as China Rose or Chini Gulab in Hindi,these however do not bloom completely on dark, gloomy days.However tiny bees love these blooms and they spend hours and hours inside the flowers, its such a beautiful sight.

Moss rose (long shot )

Moss Rose (close up shot)

My rose plants are not far behind in the bloom competition, especially the double delight,Ahalya and hot pink rose, are loaded with buds.

                                                         Double delight (above)

 Hot pink rose (above)

Ahalya rose (above)

These Salmon colored ixora,are low maintenance plants that put out bunches of flowers, that the bees adore,come monsoon and plants transform from all leaves in the summers to just flowers and few leaves in the rainy season. 

Another monsoon beauty that i love to grow each year is Balsam, i love the  red double petal variety 

They look just like roses, and the entire plant looks pretty from a distance, the striking red against the dark green foliage.

And last but definitely not the least are my Polar bear zinnia, its hard to come across a pure white variety of zinnia, and when i seen the polar bear zinnias on the baker creek website i knew i had to buy the seeds and grow them right away,the flowers are more of a pale off white color but honestly i don't mind the color difference white or not, these beauties are pure and elegant, you feel a sense of peace and calm from the moment you set your eyes on them:) 

  Polar Bear Zinnia (Close Up) 

Polar Bear Zinnias ( Long Shot )

 So this was my flower power post, i would love to hear from my readers what's your favorite flower to grow in your garden, or if you have any interesting stories or memories about gardening to share with me, i would love to hear them :))

So until my next post its Happy Gardening To You All ☺♥

  

Growing Season &Garden Update 2017

Our growing season 2017 is finally here, the moment that i had been waiting for so long and with it begins my sowing for 2017.I started it by doing one of the most important parts of gardening which is ordering seeds that i planned to grow,and the list was a long one. After lots of confusion,rethinking and brainstorming ,i made my decision and i got my seeds finalized and delivered to me all the way from the USA from Baker Creek and Pinetree.I also bought seeds from seed stores here in India  from companies like Pocha and Omaxe .

Nothing brings me more joy than sowing seeds and the sight of little baby seedlings sprouting from the soil is such a delight to watch,what else could a gardener ask for.It was time to begin the sowing process, and i sowed my very first batch of seeds in June,as you can see in the pic below ,I sowed tomato,pepper,marigolds,beans just to name a few,all seemed to be going well until the monsoons arrived towards the end of June,it poured day in day out non stop for the first two weeks and i lost a lot of seedling and seeds in the bargain due to various issues like water logging, root rot and wilt. 

Not all was lost though they were a few seedlings that stood tough against this harsh down pour and those were my Yardlong beans that grow each year from seeds that i save.

Lab Lab (Hyacinth beans), Thai pink egg tomato and Japanese white eggplants and a sole  little Chinese five color chili pepper plant that was holding on to dear life.

There were also a few volunteer plants that popped up effortlessly with the  help of the rains like Morning glories and Marigolds.

Glorious Morning Glories, oh how i love the pop of color that they add to the garden,each morning i am greeted by these purple beauties :)) 

My friend Mumbai Balcony Gardener shared a few heirloom varieties of Marigold seeds that she bought from Baker Creek with me last year, we exchange, share, swap a lot of seeds with each other, and we share a common love .... oh yes ...now before you get your thoughts running wild, let me tell tell you that the love that i am talking about here is for gardening and seeds :) infact we are seed-o-holics its maddening at times thinking just about how many seeds we have ended up hoarding !!! anyways now coming back to the marigolds, so the initial marigolds that i had sowed were dwarf plants that put out many beautiful blooms but alas i don't know what went wrong and kaput the plants were all dead,with the onset of the harsh summers back then i did not bother to uproot those dead plants, and those marigolds had now self seeded.

And this is what  i ended up with, a gigantic marigold plant now that standing tall, so tall that one of its stems snapped during a rain storm, but nothing seemed to hold it back and it just keeps on growing.

Three days back it began flowering,here is pic of the bloom below.The sweetest looking marigolds so dainty and petite.

Its August now, things have begun moving along, the weather seems to be a tad bit okay,and the sun is out , at times it just suddenly gets dark,cloudy and starts pouring down ,and at times its scorching hot, i hate unpredictable weather :(

 The yard beans have twined themselves, way up onto the fence and they have begun flowering :)

What looked like this around a month back, looks like this now as of today !!!

How can we not talk about "TOMATOES", oh yes !!! one of the most favorite plants that i love to grow in my potted garden,I bought them in colors of pink, white, blue, green, black, yellow,red, orange,stripes etc, I got all the colors of the rainbow covered :))and so i sowed some tomato seeds on the 4 th of August and they are doing just fine,i am yet to sow the remaining ones,this year i had a choice of some 45 plus odd types of tomato seeds to choose from,some seeds were gifted, some i got in swaps, i shortlisted the ones i liked and then decided to grow 26 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.Infact I was tomato shamed by most of my gardening friends when they first heard of my plans !! Lol ☺they thought i have gone wayyyy over board, Hmmm... well that's what most may think ...but for me there is no such thing as " so many tomatoes ",only a true tomatoholic would know and understand, just how i feel about them:)) I waited for a good long period of seven months before i can grow them.

So this was my garden update for my readers, and as always don't forget to leave your precious comments down below tell me what you like growing, where do you like seed shopping or just about anything you like to do in your garden, so until my next post its,

 Happy Gardening To All ☺