The Color Of Summer Staying away from social media for almost two months proved very productive. I don’t mean to offend anyone who has been reading my blog or bloggers I’ve been following but I needed time to reflect, get things done and read books. I did get a lot of things done, have read more books and even started baking again. Now I’m back, … Continue reading Hibiscus
Really A Fragrant Bouquet I love fragrant flowers and try my best to collect them in our garden. Many of them have to stay in pots as they are tropical plants. As we are running out of space in the basement, I try not to get a new tropical plant. I also try not to propagate plants I have. It’s hard to do since I regularly … Continue reading Cashmere Bouquet
A Tiny Fragrant Star Winter is my time for basement gardening. Where we live we have to put our tropical plants in the basement for the winter. It’s a lot of labor to go through twice a year. We take them in when we know that the night temperature will drop and stay below 45°F, usually around late September or early October. Then take them back … Continue reading Water Jasmine
Trial And Error I love eating Sweet Tamarind and spicy tamarind candy so much so that I forgot it has a laxative property. Tamarind juice is also used in many beverages and cooking. You cannot make real Pad Thai or Massaman curry without tamarind juice. Young leaves and flowers are also good in cooking. The juice is also good as a non-toxic polisher for brass and … Continue reading Growing Tamarind From Seeds
A Good Time For Planning: Flowers For Pollinators I Snow came down two days ago accumulating just three inches. Today the garden is still covered with snow and the temperature dropped down to just above 10°F. It’s a perfect winter day for bird watching through the patio door. Since the ground is covered with snow and the sources of water around here have turned to ice, they congregate around our … Continue reading Too Cold To Be Outside
For Peace Of Mind I prefer to make an offering in what ever method is considered respectable in whatever country I visit; Buddha, Stupa, Bodhi Tree, River, Ganesh, Shiva Lingam, to name a few. I don’t see any harm in making an offering since the act exists in all cultures and can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt. Whether I believe this ritual will bring me anything is … Continue reading Flower Offering
With the Memory of Colorful Flowers I have taken leave to the other side of the world for a couple of weeks. Though I didn’t have much time to look around as I usually do, still common tropical flowers were the cheerful sight to be seen. Nothing much in North America but bare branches and snow. So, sharing some colorful images of these common tropical … Continue reading Back From The Tropics
Still Blooming What’s left blooming in our garden now are just some hardy roses, calendula and the broccoli that we let bloom for the bees (though technically a vegetable). The re-blooming iris are just producing flower buds which may or may not bloom. The weather has been staying around 50º F during the day and drops down below 40º F at night. Last week it … Continue reading Basement Garden
About Time To Go Back To Winter Camp It’s a little bit too cold for mid-September this year. Some nights the temperature has gone down below 40°F and hovered around mid 50°F during the day. But it has gone up to 70°F during in the last two days. The thirty degree gap between high and low temperatures makes it difficult for me to decide whether … Continue reading Later Summer For Tropical Plants
Not Many Flowers, But Enough To Give Me Hope I’ve been buying one or two stems of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) at the Union Square Farmer’s Market for the last couple of years. I love its fragrance, very sweet and unique. The scent brought me back to my childhood when my grandmother grew them in her garden. The memory of walking in the garden when they … Continue reading Tuberose
Petals and Wings 