Earth Day 2008

I was going through Teenuja's blog and found this awesome post where I learned that yesterday was Earth Day. As she rightly mentioned in her post, everyday should be Earth Day as we cannot thank the Earth enough for everything that it gives to us. So here goes, my own little tribute to Earth, the vegetable garden.

The gate to the vegetable garden is quite friendly with a bitter gourd vine.


The vegetable garden, I know it needs weeding. :$


A mini aubergine.


A very rustic tap and some bitter gourd flowers.


A chili tree with chilies. :D


A small banana tree.


curry leaves. They smell awesome.


butterflies roaming here and there.


Okras.

That was a little garden tour. This has reminded me that I need to find the time to weed the garden before it turns into a real jungle, but it's been worse. Especially after the huge rains so I can still hope I'll make it look like a real vegetable garden soon.

So much for the garden dudettes and dudes and my green aliens. I'm off to make some coconut chutney. Yummy.

Earth Day 2008

I was going through Teenuja's blog and found this awesome post where I learned that yesterday was Earth Day. As she rightly mentioned in her post, everyday should be Earth Day as we cannot thank the Earth enough for everything that it gives to us. So here goes, my own little tribute to Earth, the vegetable garden.

The gate to the vegetable garden is quite friendly with a bitter gourd vine.


The vegetable garden, I know it needs weeding. :$


A mini aubergine.


A very rustic tap and some bitter gourd flowers.


A chili tree with chilies. :D


A small banana tree.


curry leaves. They smell awesome.


butterflies roaming here and there.


Okras.

That was a little garden tour. This has reminded me that I need to find the time to weed the garden before it turns into a real jungle, but it's been worse. Especially after the huge rains so I can still hope I'll make it look like a real vegetable garden soon.

So much for the garden dudettes and dudes and my green aliens. I'm off to make some coconut chutney. Yummy.

Gifts?

When I was a kid I used to know what I wanted for my birthday. I had a list all planned and waited for my parents to ask me what to buy. Now it's different. I don't know what I want, or whether I should ask for something. This year, I'll just let them decide what they want to give me, for a change.

Having said this, I think some flower plants would not be bad as gifts! The garden is a jungle already but I'm always longing for new plants. It's just the gardening craze! I just hope I get over it soon.

Ah so much for today dudettes and dudes and my crazy aliens. I think it's high time I get some real sleep.

Gifts?

When I was a kid I used to know what I wanted for my birthday. I had a list all planned and waited for my parents to ask me what to buy. Now it's different. I don't know what I want, or whether I should ask for something. This year, I'll just let them decide what they want to give me, for a change.

Having said this, I think some flower plants would not be bad as gifts! The garden is a jungle already but I'm always longing for new plants. It's just the gardening craze! I just hope I get over it soon.

Ah so much for today dudettes and dudes and my crazy aliens. I think it's high time I get some real sleep.

Inspiration from the past

Those books are sources of inspiration and great bedtime reads as well! I just can't remember when my father acquired them, I must have been real small or not yet born. (Yeah they are that old!) But then they have been nicely kept and not used really often, except the ones on outdoor structure and landscaping. Before the era of technology and the common use of the internet, I guess that's what craft lovers had to help them; those lovely, well-illustrated books.

Anyway, I still use those books as a source of inspiration and to look for solutions to certain problems. Most of the contents are still relevant today though the tools suggested in those books are quite outdated.

Ah! So much for one of my sources of inspiration dudettes and dudes and my bookish aliens. I've going to bed early today. I'm having a flu and I don't want that to develop into a fever. (I've been out in the rain today but it was fun... hihi)

P.S: I've put this thing into good use, huh Jev? :D

Inspiration from the past

Those books are sources of inspiration and great bedtime reads as well! I just can't remember when my father acquired them, I must have been real small or not yet born. (Yeah they are that old!) But then they have been nicely kept and not used really often, except the ones on outdoor structure and landscaping. Before the era of technology and the common use of the internet, I guess that's what craft lovers had to help them; those lovely, well-illustrated books.

Anyway, I still use those books as a source of inspiration and to look for solutions to certain problems. Most of the contents are still relevant today though the tools suggested in those books are quite outdated.

Ah! So much for one of my sources of inspiration dudettes and dudes and my bookish aliens. I've going to bed early today. I'm having a flu and I don't want that to develop into a fever. (I've been out in the rain today but it was fun... hihi)

P.S: I've put this thing into good use, huh Jev? :D

Wild Flowers

While summer rains are the delight of any gardener (I'm not a
gardener, it just sounds cool to say it that way). So, where was I?
Yup, while summer rains are the delight of any gardener, some wild
plants benefit from it too. Today I went for a small walk and saw some
really common wild plants in the area.



The Argemone mexicana (mexican poppy) is a very attractive wild flower
which can be lethal at the same time. Its seeds contain toxic
substances called alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine. I've
had a painful experience with a mexican poppy some years ago. One of
its thorns remained in my finger for 1 whole year!

Next comes the lantana, often referred to as the
shrub verbena. The lantana comes in different colors from orange, red,
pink, yellow to white. This plant is invasive and can easily cover a
large space, especially after heavy rains. Its leaves can be
irritating to some people's and children's skins, so some cautions
have to be taken. The lantana is a very popular plant in Mauritius and
is often used in landscaping.

Next comes fluffy, OK you got it, I don't know the name of this
flower, but fluffy sounds great,huh? It is terribly fluffy and it
smells real good! I tried typing "fluffy white wild flower" on Google
but I did not get the real name of fluffy. On this picture fluffy is
seen along with a dried friend. Anyway, I hope I find fluffy name soon
enough.


Hmm, so much about some summer wild flowers dudettes and dudes and my
wild aliens. Yeah I know, who cares about wild flowers? But I do... So
long!

Wild Flowers

While summer rains are the delight of any gardener (I'm not a
gardener, it just sounds cool to say it that way). So, where was I?
Yup, while summer rains are the delight of any gardener, some wild
plants benefit from it too. Today I went for a small walk and saw some
really common wild plants in the area.



The Argemone mexicana (mexican poppy) is a very attractive wild flower
which can be lethal at the same time. Its seeds contain toxic
substances called alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine. I've
had a painful experience with a mexican poppy some years ago. One of
its thorns remained in my finger for 1 whole year!

Next comes the lantana, often referred to as the
shrub verbena. The lantana comes in different colors from orange, red,
pink, yellow to white. This plant is invasive and can easily cover a
large space, especially after heavy rains. Its leaves can be
irritating to some people's and children's skins, so some cautions
have to be taken. The lantana is a very popular plant in Mauritius and
is often used in landscaping.

Next comes fluffy, OK you got it, I don't know the name of this
flower, but fluffy sounds great,huh? It is terribly fluffy and it
smells real good! I tried typing "fluffy white wild flower" on Google
but I did not get the real name of fluffy. On this picture fluffy is
seen along with a dried friend. Anyway, I hope I find fluffy name soon
enough.


Hmm, so much about some summer wild flowers dudettes and dudes and my
wild aliens. Yeah I know, who cares about wild flowers? But I do... So
long!

Alien flowers

It's an alien plant for now and it's going to be an alien flower tomorrow. It's more freaky in real than what it looks on the picture. The plant has got a reptile-like appearance and the flower buds look like they could be stars of a sci-fi movie. Sorry I've got no latin name for this plant, actually I've got no name at all for this plant. But I'm searching people! :D

The plant takes about four to six months to reach maturity and then it starts blossoming. Its flower is white and the latter lasts for a day only. It is extremely fragile, as opposed to the plant itself which has tough leaves.

I believe this plant is related to the cactus family because of its resistance and preference to the sun and dry land and because of its way of flowering (the flower stems out directly from the leaves.).

Anyway, enjoy the crappy pictures dudettes and dudes and my gardening aliens.


Update: Some minutes after I wrote this post I realised that I was stupid. So here go, some further information. The flower is called Queen of the Night or Belle de nuit. Sounds familiar Keli? Yup it does! hihi! Here are some photos that Keli took from her plant last year. I've nicked them from this post:

Lovely aren't they? And so much more pro! :D

And now for the latin or like I like to say international name, it's the Epiphyllum Oxypetalum. A cactus, I was right on this one! :D

Alien flowers

It's an alien plant for now and it's going to be an alien flower tomorrow. It's more freaky in real than what it looks on the picture. The plant has got a reptile-like appearance and the flower buds look like they could be stars of a sci-fi movie. Sorry I've got no latin name for this plant, actually I've got no name at all for this plant. But I'm searching people! :D

The plant takes about four to six months to reach maturity and then it starts blossoming. Its flower is white and the latter lasts for a day only. It is extremely fragile, as opposed to the plant itself which has tough leaves.

I believe this plant is related to the cactus family because of its resistance and preference to the sun and dry land and because of its way of flowering (the flower stems out directly from the leaves.).

Anyway, enjoy the crappy pictures dudettes and dudes and my gardening aliens.


Update: Some minutes after I wrote this post I realised that I was stupid. So here go, some further information. The flower is called Queen of the Night or Belle de nuit. Sounds familiar Keli? Yup it does! hihi! Here are some photos that Keli took from her plant last year. I've nicked them from this post:

Lovely aren't they? And so much more pro! :D

And now for the latin or like I like to say international name, it's the Epiphyllum Oxypetalum. A cactus, I was right on this one! :D