Nature Notes/ The Season's Bloomers

It's the dustiest period of the year. There's always a light wind blowing leaving that fine patina of dust on anything that can be called a surface. This is when we long for the rains, at least we'll get a respite from the dust. But outside there's a lot of colour. My small planting area near the front door has a mix of flowers. I put in a few calendulas, verbena, pansies, salvia, and zinnia. The idea was that a mixed area would attract different kinds of butterflies. But so far I've only had the cabbage whites and a few skippers on the blooms.

I had planted two kinds of bougainvillea near the gate. They grew really bushy so I pruned them severely last year. They don't look too bad now. The red flowers beyond these white and pink ones belong to the neighbouring house. It's the Corky Coral tree. Throughout the day, the tree is visited by myriad birds.

The red penta is the favourite haunt of lizards and sunbirds. The butterflies seem to love coming here only during the height of summer.

I'm so happy with the buds on my small azalea plant. Although I've had the plant for over four years now, this is only the second time that it's blooming. Maybe it has to do with the colder (than usual)  winter we've had. When I started blogging I longed to grow cold climate plants that I drooled over at all the wonderful gardening blogs. It took me some time (read failure and expenses) to realize that such experiences were futile. As for azaleas, only these dark pink ones seem to do well in our area.


To see what's happening in the world of nature, visit Michelle at Rambling Woods.