Quite contrary
It’s been a wet, rainy, miserable day. All day, my plants were swimming in too much water and every time I went out, water from someone’s balcony drip pipe leaked onto my head so I thought it would be the perfect time to update the blog which has pretty much been asleep these last few weeks. The big reason for the big sleep is I’ve discovered a new love for gardening, thanks to the small but lovely outdoor space at our new place and that’s been taking up a lot of time. Between work, writing a column for Bangalore Mirror, running my home and growing flowers, I’m a little bit breathless. But I figured things have been so boring around here that if I don’t shake them up, I’ll never write anything. So here’s the new look. Expect posts about gardening alongside the usual. And some photographs as well. I’m really going to try to keep up.
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When we moved into this ground-floor apartment, the garden was overgrown with weeds and invasive plants that had been given the run of the place. Singonium, Peace Lily (which a lot of people mix up with Anthurium) and Snake Plant (Sanseviera) are all lovely but not when they’re filling every nook and crevice and threatening to choke the trees. Okay, scratch that. I just don’t like the Snake Plant and that’s that. But for those who do, it is apparently one of the easiest to grow and hardest to kill, grows indoors and outdoors and requires practically no care. And it’s also called Mother-In-Law’s Tongue. Ahem. I think it can look quite nice when grown in containers but it was such a wild, overgrown thing all over one section of the outside garden that I’m now a bit sick of it. Taking out these guys is not fun. They multiply through rhizomes and tubers; long, crawling bits above ground and below. Anyway, I dug them up and planted flowering plants — Marigolds, Dahlia, Coxcomb, Allamanda, Shasta Daisy, Gladiolus, Passion Flower and Jasmine. Will post pictures when they flower. In the meantime, here is a picture of the Snake Plant in case anyone feels enthused.
Credit: Firehow.com
In another bed, I planted something I really do like. Hydrangia is nature’s litmus test–the flowers are pink or blue depending on whether the soil is acidic or alkaline. When I got this one, it was a tiny plant and I waited about three months for it to flower. I find these flowers very beautiful and was very taken by how in Sikkim, they grow wild on the side of the road. It needed similar conditions of cool weather and rain in Bangalore before it bloomed. But otherwise, it’s been a very non-fussy plant. To its right, I’m trying to grow a Mexican Flame Vine which has brilliant orange flowers when it blooms. Let’s see how that goes.
And here are red chrysanthemums or ‘mums’. It was another wet day so the soil was slushy but look at the flowers!
And this is a foliage plant that grows to an impressive height and really adds a tropical sort of niceness. The Dracaena Marginata or Madagascar Dragon Tree. It removes formaldehyde from the air and cleans it up s o it’s good to have around for more than just eye appeal. Mine is in a large container and nearly four feet tall.
Here is one I got on a sunny day which is the only kind of day on which African Marigolds look good. (They also look good on cloudy days.) On wet days, they look raggedy and dirty because the flowers rot easily. Marigolds are again hugely easy to grow which is why I chose them as part of my beginner plant course. I’ve heard some people spurn them in terms of landscape design because of the association with religious rituals or pujas. I don’t give a damn about that and I think they look pretty. Plus they repel aphids which is a big plus for me since I’m trying to be as organic as possible and not using any chemical pesticides.
As an aside, I also found this poem on Marigolds by Australian poet Rae Desmond Jones. And look at what he says in the last few verses: (the line breaks are refusing to cooperate here so please read the entire thing at the site I’ve linked to.)
but
speak the thing in any of
its parts tosuggest the ambiguous &
undefinable marvel of
the thing whichis not any one
of its definable effects
before the wintersets in out in
the garden & someone
comes along to rip outthe marigolds because
he hopes that if he
plants rosesthree feet apart then
he can order & control
in neat manuredlittle squares
the power of growth.
So much of gardening is about that really, the urge to impose order on that which is not within our control—nature. And here is another poem about Marigolds which I quite liked.
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In other news, I’ve been writing for a weekly column for the Bangalore Mirror again and here’s the latest piece which is sort of related to gardening and my adventures with making compost.
