Hyacinth here...

Here is one of the hyacinths I have forced this winter.

Poinsettias

It was interesting to read a recent article about Six Homespun Medical Myths Debunked. It talked about Poinsettias which bring so much holiday mood into any home they enter. It turned out that Poinsettias aren't poisonous anymore. This is a good news for folks with pets and young children :)

Winter Solstice...

Finally, winter solstice has occurred yesterday morning, now we can look forward for slowly growing longer days. Officially winter has started bringing in a lot of snow. It seemed that I am living in a winter wonderland...

Happy Holidays!!!

To bring some holiday cheer, I baked some cookies & muffins. Happy Holidays to you all!!

Hyacinths are indoors now!

I have got my Hyacinth bulbs indoors to get some sunlight and grow after a dormant period of about 10 weeks in my unheated garage. It was fun to see its roots shoot and now looking forward for the blooms. I am hoping to see some foliage and flower around new year.

Found great trick for paperwhites!

@ Fern's life on the balcony, found Neat Trick to Keep Forced Bulbs Looking Great. Thanks Theresa & Fern!! This is a great tip for me as my paperwhites are beautiful and fragrant but are long and flopping over. I usually try to put them to direct sunlight or light source whenever possible and this helps them to stand straight, but growth-wise, they are always tall. Next time will try this.

Sugar Cookies...

Now that its almost winter and holiday season is here, I am making less trips around the garden and chilling out inside :) Today, decided to make some cookies and tried out sugar cookies, taking the recipe from Joy of Baking. My daughter who is a toddler showed special interest cutting the cookies along with my husband and my cousine. So, at the end we all had a yummy treat!!!

I am so happy....

..not to see this gloomy sky and bare tree branches, but because we are done racking the leaves on the lawn shed by these trees before the rain for couple more days. This year we waited till all the trees (in total we have 5 trees - 2 Maple, 1 Oak, 1 each of flowing cherry, flowering dogwood and a crab apple) shed their leaves and it took me and my husband few hours 2 weekday mornings and an hour on weekend to bag all the leaves. So far we have filled 14 big refuse bags. I enjoyed racking the dry leaves and its a wonderful experience to see your lawn clean after the job and the feeling that you are done for this season.

Garlic in the ground

Last weekend after cleaning the vegatable bed, I planted few garlic bulbs in the ground. In "New England Forum" of gardenweb, fellow gardeners were talking about planting the bulbs before frost and whereas my nearest local nursery was not carrying bulbs and told me that they are going to get them early spring. So, I chose few Organic garlic which I bought for culinary purpose to try and see what will happen.

Easy Paperwhites...

Bulb forcing...Its a easy technique to make flowering bulbs to bloom when you want them to. Rather than waiting till spring and summer to see tulips or hyacinths, we can enjoy them even in winters. Among the various types of bulbs available, Paperwhite Narcissus are the easy ones to force as there is never a risk of them not growing. Only things required are
1. Good Quality bulbs
2. Some pebbles or mables or stones or potting soil
3. Water
They also don't need the chilling period needed by other bulbs. Here is how I am forcing few bulbs in a container filled with stones to support the bulbs and add some water. If the bulb can support itself on the container, even with water, paperwhites can be forced.

Growth with in 2 weeks...

Indoor Blooms

My first batch of Paper White Narcissus bulbs are in action and the flowers are beautiful, fragrant and charming.

Today's Commute

On this perfect morning, I couldn't resist myself to enjoy the peak foliage in my neighbourhood and decided to walk to my work and captured these wonderful colors on the bike path trail.

Saving the curry leaf tree...

Curry leaf, which is used in almost all South Indian curries, not only brings flavorful aroma to the dish but is also a good source of micronutrients, antioxidants and carotene. I got this root sucker, a little late in summer. Now, I am trying to save it against the frost and cold weather, it is currently residing in my basement and going through a little dormant period.

Peaceful Peace Lily

One of my favorite house plants is the peace lily. It is ever green with its shiny dark green foliage. Its white blooms are wondeful. It produces a lot of oxygen and refreshes the air, no wonder it was elected as the 'best desk plant' for last year.

Some fall color

I captured these pictures when we went for a walk late morning today!!

Colorful Maple!

Street View

Japanese Maple leaves.

Queen of Fall flowers...

Chrysanthemums or commonly called mums are herbaceous perennials and bring a vibrance and brightness to any garden and landscapes. I specially like them for their various colors and beauty. They make a beautiful fall display and provide a colorful climax before the dormant winter sweeps into the garden. Below is a pictures of mums from my backyard, they are very easy to care for. Plant them in full sun (mine are in partial sun) and plant is pinched to make it grow bushy. Fertilize them once before buds form and beautiful flowers are all yours.

Robot Garden is no more a dream...

Scientists have developed robot plants which act like real plants.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1066

Heirloom Tomatoes

Here are couple of heirloom tomatoes from my garden. I got the tomato seedling through a plant swap. I am not sure if this a open pollinated variety or family heirloom or a created one. But its name is 'White Wonder', tastes really good compared to the hybrid varieties home grown or store bought.

Pruned Lilac

How does this pruned lilac look like? My cousine who looked at it thought we were trying to cut it down slowly, where as my husband and I were trying to prune it :). We enjoyed the lilac blooms in spring, but we felt the shrubs are getting leggy and decided to do some renewal pruning and ended up with this now. Only time will tell us if did a good job pruning or not.

Lilacs, even though they are not native to America, they are part of New England's heritage. George Washington mentioned about transplanting lilacs in his garden and Thomas Jefferson mentioned about them in his garden book. Most of the species come from Asia and Europe. Here are some spring pictures.

Muscari armeniacum or Grape Hyacinths

Not sure if I will see any blooms..just waiting what will happen next. Check the picture below from spring time, grape hyacinths did well and after they dried up, I forgot to store them and left them outside in the same pot and to my surprise in September when I happen to see this pot, its full of leggy foliage. This year's rainy summers must have given the cold treatment. I know that these bulbs are winter hardy and you can sow them once and forget about them and enjoy the blooms every spring. I wish I could see some flowers from these bulbs in my pot soon.

Latecomers....

I started these Eggplant plants from seed in spring and planted them after the last frost along with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Tomatoes did very well and the harvest was abundant. Peppers and cucumbers grew in time with just few to harvest. But the eggplants seedlings didn't show any major activity and I almost lost hope in them. Now its time to clean up the vegatable bed and I see that the eggplants are shooting out and bringing a smile on my face :)

"Fall" is in the air

Fall is my favorite and best time of the year. The weather is cooling down, trees are changing their colors, everything seems to be gradually slowing down. I love everything related to Fall - Foliage, Pumpkin patches, Apple picking, Hay bales, Hallowean......and finally towards the end, wait for the first snow. This season reminds me of the "Sankranthi" time in the place I grew up and spent more than 2 dacades of my life. Changes in the nature are not exactly the same but the feeling of festive atmostphere is something I love.

Done with bulbs!!!!

Finally, I am done planting all tulip bulbs and now I will wait for them to come out in spring. For a new gardener like me its a tough question to decide on where to buy the bulbs. Whether to go to a local nursury or to go to a store like Home Depot, which bulbs quality to trust. With so many choices available, finally I decided on 2 bags of tulips...one yellow and red mixture and another bag of candy cone color. I kept a few to experiment indoor forcing technique, and rest are now in the ground.

Solo Rose

I guess, this rose could be the last rose for this season, as there are no more buds on my plants and I pruned them yesterday. This wonderful grandiflora rose "Dream come true" (2008 AARS Rose Winner) is all alone in the vase but its soft rose fragrance is filling the air.

Entering Blog world

I have been planning to start my garden blog from several months, but atlast, last weekend's visit to Shelburne Falls - Bridge of Flowers and lovely pictures I got motivated me to share my collection of pictures and my thoughts in this world. The plants and flowers on the bridge were lovely, here are some of the pictures I have captured.