A window to the world green

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The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies … Gertrude Jekyll


Looking out the window mine
Is a world all bouncing green
The jasmine sways
To winds own ways
Oh where is that lily white
Red orange pink but no white?
Greens go envy green
Herbs to grandmas
Handy hints
Curryleaves that made
Neighbours jealous
Bananas making monkeys
Delight…


Looking back at my years of gardening is sure a pleasant trail of thought and although I cant say I have a green thumb I feel I do have a green thought.
Whatever flowering plants or vegetables I planted I seem to have tried to get as many varieties as possible of the same kind.
I used to boast that I have fifteen varieties of hibiscus. The usual red, the bundle red(the adukku sembarathai ) the whilte, the pink, the pink and white in the same plant that sometimes flowered half white half pink flowers, the huge corolla deep pink, the yellow with red centre, the large red corolla, the bundle pink, the bundle deep pink, the orange bundle, the orangish red bundle, the red chillie variety and also the pink chillie variety. People who visited our garden used to comment that it looks like hibiscus nandavanam.
Getting plants is a different story altogether. If you have read my write up .. the croc in me … you will understand my trail of thoughts about getting plants.
The drumsticks at our place was huge and measured a little more than a metre. My father in law passed away and the house was full of people. Meeting my mom in law to console their eyes went sideways to look in awe of those huge drumsticks. They would ask the maid, or cousin or us whether they can have a pothu …a part of the stem for planting…and also some drumsticks…!!
On the moneyplant trail…whether money mattered or not…there were a whole lot of moneyplants at our place. I used to put them into heart shaped borders sometime climbing on papaya trees. When the trails went up the papaya tree the leaves were huge and looked like huge corollas of the papaya plant knit closely. People who visited us used to ask how or where we got this variety. Explaining to them that the moneyplant when it grows on some tree such as the papaya has huge leaves, was not accepted by them. When they asked for a twig and I gave them from the bottom they insisted that I give them a twig from the huge climbing leaves…!!
The red earth which is supposed to be good for rose plants and almost all potted plants used to beckon me wherever even when I was traveling in a bus or train and I used to send out silent prayers to come home to my garden.
Mimicking Paari…the king is supposed to have donated his chariot to the trails of jasmine. Well I would do anything like putting the new stool or planting in the brand new bucket or tying up the tendrils to my sons cycle during holidays. I cant seem to express enough when I say the jasmine trails used to swing in a welcoming way whenever I went by that side. Visitors also felt that the jasmine welcomed them …!! Talking of jasmine… we were married because vijay used to bring jasmine from a nearby garden for me to our workplace and wouldn’t take no for a answer.
Jasmine varieties were a dozen the nithyamalli, the gundu malli, the long thin variety, the short round variety, the one set of corolla variety, the jaathi malli white the jaathi malli pink the jaathi malli white small, the ramabanam small the ramabanam large .
The ixora plant was a pleasant addition with red, orange yellow and the fragrant white.
Composting was a greedy passion… greedy because I almost begged borrowed and whatever to get coffee grinds, tea leftovers from tea shops, the goat droppings whatever you call them, the dung from naattu maadu (desi cow) and urine for making panchakavya.
Pruning plants is something I did not like and yet it has to be done to get the new leaves sprout.
Digging the garden composting and watering was a lovely hobby and singing to plants sure brought about immense pleasure that cannot be explained in words.
Do set right my school history….now there was a king who came to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">India</st1lace></st1:country-region> 18 times to get the huge haul of gold and goodies to take back home…? Well this is how I felt when the parijatham refused to take life or flower at our place after a huge plant died after many many years. I bought the seeds the plants , sometimes from the nursery sometimes from friends and relatives. And atlast two came alive.
Come rains and i used to wander on the roadsides looking for tulsi plants. they were all over the place and also the manatakkali. Bringing them home to give a new place was time well spent.
Talking of greens there were a dozen again..and making greens from your own garden is tasty healthy and makes you feel proud.
I had seven varieties of avarakkai…broad beans. Getting the seeds every season and putting them into small covers was a wonderful pastime.
The sanku pushpam blue and white varieties were almost all over my garden and when in flower the whole place had blue and white toppings as the plant climbed all heights..!!
No chemical fertilizers or pesticides in my garden. I chased away the flies with yellow oiled papers. Some with crysanthemums called thulukkajavanthi in tamil. I had powder of mustard, clove and cornflour ready for those ants that kept shifting places. come rains and vijay used to clear the pathways for water to go out and while on that job he used to bring back lots of earthworms for the compost pile.
My garden has been an inspiration for me to write …like house atop trees, the croc in me, the green cascade and red beaks, and a lot more unpublished ones, my garden has been a place where I could experiment with new types grafting, pickling as we had so many varieties of mangoes, sour lime, amla the big and small varieties, cooking greens as we had at least fifteen varieties of greens and need not have to buy greens in the market…
The herb garden…yet another collection and a storehouse for household remedies.
The colourful crotons brought neat pot arrangements and the December cacti type flowers a red glow in 20 pots all in a row.
The month of may had lilies in bloom the red orange and pink. I was always on the look out for the white ones which I still miss.
Butterflies birds atleast twenty varieties including the crow and bees,beetles grasshoppers used to abound and the garden a wonderful place to be in…lazing in the sunshine below the shade of a tree with a book and a pitcher of water in hand…oh what a nice and wonderful way to spend an afternoon


sathya
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/snippets-of-life-non-fiction/9169-house-atop-trees.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/snippets-of-life-non-fiction/8949-green-cascade-and-red-beaks.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/snippets-of-life-non-fiction/8154-a-croc-in-me.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/gardening/27404-160-pods-one-single-trailing.html

 

haha sindhu

that was a nice compliment
to my garden

i plant a twig green
right in my dreams
that flowers all fragrant
peeps through my window
allays fear of the future
blooms bright orange
and hangs tulips
from tendrils
tulips from tendrils
dare not ask
as they are all a dream green
to wake up
to light

sathya

 

hello shanvy

tch tch
shooo shoo

thats september borns
you see..same pinch

there is a rush out everywhere to loose the treasure we have as a nation. having shifted to bangalore...a place once called the garden city...perhaps it will soon loose its name..the platforms neatly done...theres hardly any mud you can use for pots..!! the roads bumpy or neat hardly has any place for water to drain in..they dont cut trees by dozens anymore...it is only in hundreds...the cubbon park may soon have some of its age old trees cut all in the name of better traffic..
for building apartments...each apartment blocks cuts down atleast two or more trees...in between two blocks theres hardly any space for breathing let alone have trees... some people boast of terrace gardens...a hand full and others are just busy looking up gardens on the internet..
it is better to draw/paint a few trees for the future...soon we shall be singing to our grand grand children with masks for oxygen...here is the mango tree or teak tree or coconut tree ..i painted when your mom was born...!!!
they are importing naattu maadu from madurai all the way to australia and we shut an eye of ignorance when it is taken in lorries to the adjoining state for you know what...!!
thirunthapovathillai naam global warming be damned.....a summit in its name to meet eat be merry... talk about yellow lights and make more garbage..!!
enge arambithu enge mudikkiren...

sathya

 

hello abhi
haha went green with envy eh....
try abhi wherever you are
to turn the world
just a bit more green
around you..
potted plants
trailing tendrils
vegetable patch
you dont have to have a garden
huge....
you just have to have a heart
huge and green
to have greenery around you
....
photos were always
with people
and am not so good at
posting them
sometime later maybe...
till then imagine wild...
and enjoy

sathya