Friday, January 18, 2008

Asters, Zinnias, Gazanias, Nasturtium and Impatiens

Some assorted flowers currently blooming in my flower bed.

Nasturtium - Nasturtiums are very good flower bed fillers and grow great in good sunlight and good well manured soil. I started out with a few seeds and very soon my entire bed was full of this delightful plant. It has large saucer shaped green leaves and delicate red, yellow and orange flowers that are edible. My greatest worry is that my wife will find out that these are edible and will send me out in the garden with a bottle of ketchup for my evening snack! Knowing my wife as well as I do, this is a very distinct possibility :-)





The best part about these plants is that they are always seeding themselves - flowers mature and produce groups of green seeds that later turn brown and fall off the plant and start new plants. All I ever do with my Nasturtium bed is water it well and make sure its well manured - and it takes care of the rest.












Gazania - I discovered the Gazanias at the back of my nursery's lot - and fell in love with their glossy irregular shaped leaves and flowers that open and close with the sunrise and sunset. These plants usually thrive in dry conditions but they adapted really well to the manure rich soil in my flower bed. The real interesting thing about this flower is how they curl up during the unlit hours. Each petal curls into itself in a very peculiar manner and gives the flower a spiky appearance when closed. As soon as the sun rises and its rays fall on the flower, it slowly uncurls and out pops this incredibly vivid yellow flower with a black rim around its yellow center. The bees love this flower and are all over it. The leaf of this plant is also very unique and nice looking.












Zinnia - I got my first packet of Zinnia seeds from the US and wasn't really sure if it would grow in India. I planted the seeds and waited with bated breath - but to my surprise and joy they grew well and bloomed and have occupied a space in my garden for the last 2 years. Zinnas are not fussy and just need a nice sunny space with frequent watering to thrive. They flower all year round and each plant usually has multiple multicolored flowers. Bees and other garden insects buzz around these flowers all day - and do multiple shifts round the clock. Growing these plants is also very easy as the seeds are in the dried up flower. All you have to do is pop off the dried up flowers and gently pry out each petal - the seed is at the end of the petal and just needs to be planted in the ground and watered for nature to do its magic and start a new plant. This plant really cheers you up with its pink, red, orange and violet shades of flowers.










Dianthus




Aster





Impatiens: These are prolific plants that grow like weeds in my garden. They have very nice green foliage with translucent stems and generally get very bushy and spread out quite a bit providing nice cover. The flowers are delicate pink and have a seed in the center which gets cast around quite a bit causing this plant to grow all over my garden.





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