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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Pictures of my little garden

My little jungle in my small little apartment is doing reasonably well. Apart from pesky doves which destroy plants and try to nest all the time - and I really mean all the time (they are like rodents) I am having a decent spell of good luck with my plants. The conditions in my apartment are a little challenging - lack of space, not enough sunlight - on a good day I can get about an average of about 2 hours of sunlight in about half the balcony. So, when plants thrive it is a big victory for me! A catalog of what I currently have -

a. Orchids - Update to the previous post.
My Dendrobium orchid is flowering profusely - three stalks now have flowers - totalling about 16-20 with some buds to go. My Vandas are rooting well now.

b. Bougainvillea - One amazing plant - flowers endlessly and grows out of a small foot wide pot kept in a shady part of the balcony. It has seeked out sunlight and hangs off some pipes and gets the most sunlight because of its location. Lovely delicate flowers (well not technically flowers but bracts but who cares) that are a golden yellow at their peak.
c. Pentas - Lovely lovely plant - flowers profusely and manages with just 2 hours of sunlight - I don't have any pictures of it right now. I have a nice lavender one - the softest of colours - it is just gorgeous.

d. Miniature exora - I have had a tough time with this one - it needs a lot of sunlight which it does not get - but it still flowers with whatever little it gets.


In addition I have red and yellow Canna which flowers regularly and profusely. This one has been a pleasant surprise - I didn't expect the Canna to flourish but it has done amazingly well. It is quite happy with about 4 hours of direct sunlight and has the most gorgeous flowers. There is a picture to the left.

I also have many ferns - Nephrophelis (Boston fern), Hare's foot fern, Asparagus Fern.

I have a fish tail palm and a parlour palm. I have bamboo and benjamina ficus.

I am waiting for my Zantedeschia to bloom - the flower stalk is just peeking out. I also have two Spathyphilliums (propogated from one big plant) which are blooming regularly. I have this un-identified plant (to the left - the guy who sold it to me called it Malwa). I also have Diffenbachia (propogated with stem cuttings) which is just starting out now.



I have Euphorbia Milli (left) and Jatropa both of which are hardy plants and are doing very well. The Milli requires sunlight but is happy with what it gets and flowers all the time but the Jatropa is doing fine in indirect light.

I seem to have lousy luck with Begonias and Impatiens which is a shame because they are both ideal for low light. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I also have some Beloprene Guttata which does well in indirect light and Croton which is a difficult plant - and delicate. I have Nandibatla (the botanical or common English name of which I am not aware) which almost died of pests but I have managed to recover and is getting ready to flower.

More flowers as they happen...

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Home Grown Orchidaceae!

The highlight of last week was the orchid I acquired in Vythiri (Kerala) in August last year flowering after me having almost killed it. Here's the beautifully delicate flower and there are about 10 more buds.
This is a Dendrobium Orchid (or so me thinks:-)) and this is the first flower of my orchid.
This is a Dendrobium Orchid (or so me thinks:-)) and this is the first flower of my orchid. Although, I am deliriously happy my joy has been blunted by the fact that this gorgeous flower is only 1.5 cm wide!!!! Imagine my shock on expecting a gorgeous large orchid flower as is commonly photographed all over the place and get my carefully nurtured (he he) orchid putting out a tiny flower that needs magnifying glasses to be admired :-D. Yet it is a perfect orchid flower demostrating its unique structure in its flower. I am thrilled.

My orchid collection is improving - I now have 2 vandas, 2 dendrobiums and 4 others that are unclassified. Hyderbad is discovering orchids big time - and people were picking them up everywhere - we are all probably going to massacre these lovely plants in our hot and dry city together!! There were several tens of varieties on sale in the recent Horticulture Exhibition at Tank Bund. Starting from Rs 50/- all the way upto Rs 2200/- The priciest ones were just gorgeous.

References -
Dendrobium in Wikipedia