Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

This post is in honor of GBBD hosted by Carol of http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/">May Dreams Garden. These are blooms on the bigger plants and trees in our garden. Last year, all these bloomed in early-April as 2011-2012 was one of the hottest year. This year, perhaps, everything is normal as this part of New Jersey continues to have frost until the late May. 

The dogwood in bloom; close-up of the blooms.

A small shrub of azalea; the blooms in close-up. This shrub remains a small shrub only about two feet tall with about three feet spread.

This is a big azalea tree. The whole tree is becoming like that. If you ask me about the size of the tree, I might have to say that it is 7 to 10 feet. Close-up of the blooms

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A kind of rhododendron tree; close-up of one of the bloom on the tree.

Another kind of azalea tree. This is also a big tree. The blooms are of deep-red (or may be very dark pink). Close-up of the bloom.

Close-up of the bloom of Persian-Lilac tree. The whole tree gets covered with big clusters of bloom like this. And the fragrance is heavenly, out of this world. The whole yard, place around it for many, many feet will be drenched in this sweet aroma for everyone to drink it and lose sense. But, this is a very invasive species. You plant one tree, forget about it, and come back a year later; the whole place will be covered with this tree. The second picture is the blooms on one of my blueberry-plant. The third picture is the bloom on beach-plum, a native plant/bush/shrub. The plum can be eaten by humans. If left on the tree, they will become one of the essential food for many of the native songbirds.

I appreciate the blooms of these trees because their beauties are of such fleeting nature. They will bloom for a short period during the early spring; rest of the year, they will be standing in a jungle of trees, favorite place for all sorts of birds to hang around. Looking at them at such time no one will be able to tell about the ephemeral beauty pageant they put up during the early spring of every year. I think I have come to appreciate nature, enjoy all these beauties and savor in the harvest because I do not get these all year round. If I were living in a tropical climate where some kind of fruits, vegetables and flowers can be grown throughout the year, I might not have appreciated nature, observed and learned it or waited eagerly for spring. This is the best time of the year as I wait enthusiastically for all the bounties to come, for all the secrets that my garden is going to reveal. This waiting is the best experience because once it comes, it goes away pretty fast; just like waiting for any festival is all the fun because once it is there, it is over in a blink of an eye. What do you think?

I also could not lose this opportunity about this post on Wisteria garden in Japan. Apparently there is a garden in Japan where about 10,000 square feet is dedicated to all sorts of wisteria. Here is the link with the pictures and the video. Click on link or click here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324253/Flowers-world-Enchanting-wisteria-vines-Japan-real-life-version-blockbuster-Avatars-Tree-Souls.html

I have never been to that garden; so I don't know how it will feel when I see it face to face. But, seeing the pictures or the video, I am not feeling much interested; it's not appealing to me that much because it looks very artificial with all those artificial support; also, simply too many people. I like the look of everything natural with calm, quiteness around it; and not that many people. How about you?

Spring Has Gone

On reading the title if you think that summer is here, then you are so very wrong :-). Rather winter is back with night temperature dropping to about 35 degree Fahrenheit (about 1.7 degree Centigrade) and day temperature hovering up to, very lethargically as if it is very tired after all the hard work of summer in the southern hemisphere, about 55 degree Fahrenheit (about 13 degree Centigrade). I have to be honest, though, and declare that last week temperature was a balmy 77 degree. I was too busy, then, to write. Why is it that I become busy whenever I have so many things to write about!! Anyway, seems like winter is back with all its might and force. Our pear-tree is shedding off its leaves!! Since harvest of any true summer vegetables like zucchini, squash, tomato, pepper, etc, will be of distant dream  this year, I am keeping myself busy, gardening-wise, by buying perennial flowering plants and beautifying a small corner in the front yard.

The first image is that of foxglove-plants. They are short-lived perennial. They bloom profusely if they are regularly deadheaded. I want them to multiply and spread. So, I will not be deadheading as I want the seeds to mature and drop off in the soil to produce the next generation. The second image is that of yarrow plant. It has not started flowering yet. The third picture that of lupine (purple) and erysimum (yellow; also known as perennial wallflower)

Thus far, this year, I got the above along with dianthus, saxifrages, gaillardia and viola. These are all apparently perennial. So, next year that small corner should be full of flowers from the early spring onwards as I have also planted some daffodil, cardinal blue, cardinal lobelia, monarda and crocus.

It is amazing that within just two years of gardening I have learned so much about plants, garden and flower. Can you believe that I only knew names of two flowers (in English; I knew some more in my mother tongue) -- rose and sunflower!! But what do you expect from someone who grew in the middle of one of the world's largest metropolis -- Calcutta -- with 20 million inhabitants. I literally grew up in the jungle of concrete and cars. As I would look out of the windows, in my childhood, all I would see are tall houses, cars and buses either standing tail-to-tail or trying to navigate the roads along with humans, stray-dogs and cows, TV antennae jutting out of roof-tops at askew angles trying to get the best reception and TV, telephone and electric wires and cables creating a maze overhead. Standing on the verandah of the city-apartment, that little girl kept on dreaming about nature, hiking, trekking, adventures and exploration. At the first opportunity she left all her friends, families, relatives behind, as a teenager, to explore the big world. Her exploration is still going on, and she jumped in to navigate the world of bees and butterflies, compost and mulch, vegetable, fruits and flowering plants, native and invasive plants, weeds and fertilizers as soon as she and her partner bought their first house three years back.

So, this blog and all the pictures are part of journals of my discovery and journey into the gardening-world :-).

Things On Our Lawn....

Spring is in full swing here. The temperature drops to 40 degree Fahrenheit during night; evenings become real cooler. But the sun shines bright. New life is everywhere. Weeds, wild flowers, cultivated flowers, vegetables and fruits, all competing with each other to suck up the renewed life energy and burst forth with all the vigor and beauty.

The lawn is no exception. Grasses are growing wild, soon to reach knee-high, and speckled with all sorts of flowers. I do not know where they have come from, if they are wild or cultivated flowers. Perhaps these are all weeds. But they are beautiful to look at and admire. Bees also love them as they fly low buzzing over them.

If you can recognize any of these flowers, please let me know. I am guessing some of them are wild (native) violets, garlic-mustard and creeping ivy flowers. So, as you see that my lawn is actually not "lawn." It is full of grasses and other creeping, wild plants which others might consider as weed. But I do not mind them. Weeds improve the soil structure infusing it with nutrients. The lawns remain green and wild even during peak summer though I never water them, put any fertilizers or other chemicals on them. The soil underneath is full of worms and other insects and creatures. Whenever I have to dug a portion out to plant any put any plants/trees, I will see them scurrying around, hurriedly trying to hid. My most favorite is the soil spider. Their heads are small but their body is a big fat sphere. A completely different world and eco-system exists beneath our feet that we neither can see and observe nor know much about them. Anyone interested in knowing about these beauties should watch the French movie Microcosm. It's more of a delicate art than a movie.

How is your lawn? Is it full of weeds? Do you like them? Or it is the true golf "lawn"?

These are two unknown greens. They come back every year (perennial). They look so luscious that seems like they are some wild greens that can be easily eaten. Do you know what they are? Is the first one a nettle as it is has tiny needles along the back of the leaves? Happy Life All :-)