It is mid November, so you all must be thinking that winter will be upon me as well - However, in Karachi it very rarely gets cold. Instead the weather mostly becomes hot and dry (from hot and humid). OK, so here is a display of what is blooming in my garden right now! Juicy Soft Cactus. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Yellow Oleander. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Marigolds 1 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Marigolds 2 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Nice! Those marigolds are so pretty. We can grow them as annuals here, but have to start them in a greenhouse in February if we want them to bloom before the frost takes them. Hot and dry sounds good, if it doesn't last for months of course.
I really like the rich colour of your cactus flower and that yellow oleander is so pretty. I have to do the same as Droopy if I want to have marigolds in my garden every year but it's worth it as I simply love these flowers.
Those are lovely photos of a lovely garden. I especially like the juicy, soft cactus. We have prickly pear here, which is neither soft nor juicy--just very prickly! Here in Texas we have the hot and dry season, and also the hot and humid, but they are both summer!
Well marigolds over here grow from late October to early May. After which it gets too hot for them. However if the monsoon rains come early during the summer (which often cools things down) - Then they can last for the whole year! I myself plant them for 2 reasons. First is that my dog always used to eat them! Yes, believe it or not, she was always chewing them up just as fast as they would grow! So I did some research into it, and found out that from calendula (the marigold plant) a lot of herbal remedies are made! Even some homeopathic medicines are made from this, usually for skin ailments. Now I am very close to the ocean where the air is very salty - And dog's skin is about 10 times as sensitive then ours (because dog's don't have sweat glands) - So she eating them meant that she was actually taking care of her skin. That anyway is what a homeopathic doctor told me! Second reason is that they seem to repel pests. So planting them next to chilies (which are most susceptible) often is very beneficial! Because I really like to avoid using pesticides wherever and whenever I can...
I think I have read that planting marigolds near the veggies keeps rabbits, or something away -- can someone else say what it is? I can't remember. I love marigolds. They're so cheerful and the fragrance always reminds me of childhood. Your soft juicy cactus reminds me of something I have called Ice Plant. Yours is a pretty color!
I think it is some natural insect repellent of a sort. The chemical in it is called "pyrethum" - Here is a link explaining it's history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrum
I heard that Marigolds keep deer away. I really like your Delosperma. I have one too, but it is not blooming right now because it is too cold. I also like your Yellow Oleander. I have never seen the yellow before, only red/pink and white. Great pics!
Delosperma? So that's what my soft juicy cactus is called? Finally... You know, nearly all the plant nurseries over here have a habit of giving different names to plants - Why? Because they don't want you to start importing seeds yourself! In 1990 while I was in my early teens, I bought this chili plant called Holiday Cheers (see picture below). However it was sold to me by the name of "Brazilian Chili"... Now that plant soon died because I did not know how to protect a plant from the salt spray we get in this area so close to the ocean - Still I had obtained some seeds from it. So I planted them (this time protecting them from the salt). However in 1996 when I was away for a few weeks, the person I trusted to care for my plants did not do a good job. So I lost the last plant. I still had the seeds, but when I tried to plant them, they too had become useless... Now this really is a very rare chili plant, therefore I could not find it in any of our plant nurseries again. I then tried searching for it over the Internet a few years later, but because I was searching by the wrong name, I again got zilch - So it was only by chance that I discovered that it was called Holiday Cheers! Anyway, 2 years ago I found it again (and only because I this time knew what it was called). So now I am propagating it! Holiday Cheers 1 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )