| Week 28 of 2014 | July 7, 2014 | July 13, 2014 |
1. The Foreword:
After a pleasant cloudy weather interspersed with rains almost whole of the previous week, the current week started by reverting back to the earlier hot days. The day time temperatures hovering near and around 40 degree Celsius, with no respite day after day. The average humidity that had risen to around 60% has come to less than 30%. However, the nights and especially the mornings are very refreshing, with gentle and balmy breeze (نسيم سحر) blowing in the face and air filled with the fragrances of sorts emanating from the flowers of the garden, accompanied by the singing of birds of great many varieties and species. One can't help but recite from the poetry of the Persian poet Jalal'din Rumi:
After a pleasant cloudy weather interspersed with rains almost whole of the previous week, the current week started by reverting back to the earlier hot days. The day time temperatures hovering near and around 40 degree Celsius, with no respite day after day. The average humidity that had risen to around 60% has come to less than 30%. However, the nights and especially the mornings are very refreshing, with gentle and balmy breeze (نسيم سحر) blowing in the face and air filled with the fragrances of sorts emanating from the flowers of the garden, accompanied by the singing of birds of great many varieties and species. One can't help but recite from the poetry of the Persian poet Jalal'din Rumi:
"The morning breeze has secrets to tell you ..... ".
The Pink Shower Tree (Cassia Nodosa) and the ever green Rhododendron Rosebay are however exceptions as they both continue to produce bunches of flower bouquets uninterrupted. The Pink Shower Tree has previously been mentioned (week: 24/2014) in this blog. As this tree has long flowering span from end of spring to end of summer, we will keep coming back to it throughout its blooming period. This tree is the focal point of our garden at the farm. A very recent set of images of this tree and bouquet of flowers, it is presently generating are included in this blog. The tree is a source of such is a joyous experience that we can not keep just to ourselves!
2.1 Pink Shower (Cassia Nodosa) Tree:
The Pink Shower Tree (Cassia Nodosa) at our farmhouse is more than five years old. We first spotted a specimen of this tree at the Islamabad Club. We didn't at that time know what tree it really was? We took a picture of the tree and posted on the Web for its identification. Came a response from a East European Country in a brief little while, telling us that it was Cassia Nodosa. We then searched it by name on the internet and received an instant verification by looking at the pictures already in existence on a few sites there. It was such an impressive show piece of a flowering tree that we wasted no time in procuring one little plant for our farmhouse too. It has since grown to be a real fine tree. We can now sit under its shade as it's branches laden with beautiful pink and white flowers are large, over extending and drooping forward. It is somewhat deciduous as it sheds it's leaves for a very brief period just after spring each year, before coming to life all of a sudden by flowering intensely profusely. No visitor to our farm or farmhouse can ever miss it as it is situated at an angle right in front with its very impressive large span. We saw and marvelled at a true model of this tree in the garden (open for visitors) of Sultan Qaboos when we went to Mascat (Oman) in February 2011 to visit our son Taha and his family. We then learned how to shape a beautiful tree such as Cassia Nodosa through planned and objective pruning. It's current looks are much to those early measures, we took at that time over two years ago. Last year it did produce some flowers but this is the first year of its heavy flowering. Five long but worthwhile years in the making!
The current exceptionally hot interlude is very oppressive for the plants, flowers and fruit bearing trees, bushes and shrubs as it is for the vegetables growth and prospering. Never before but this week, the heat was so intense that one of our orange bearing smallish little plant succumbed all of a sudden and couldn't be revived in spite of excessive watering and sprinkling with cold water. Even the rains, which came late at the fag end of the present week (Friday night through Saturday morning) couldn't succeed in bringing it back to life. Such is the nature of life that not every thing is pleasing and happening to brighten our lives always at the farm.
Our first casualty of this summer 2014: A hardy Khanpur Orange Plant dying from intense heat generated by fire sputing Sun!
2. Flowering Trees/Shrubs:
2.1 Pink Shower (Cassia Nodosa) Tree:
The Pink Shower Tree (Cassia Nodosa) at our farmhouse is more than five years old. We first spotted a specimen of this tree at the Islamabad Club. We didn't at that time know what tree it really was? We took a picture of the tree and posted on the Web for its identification. Came a response from a East European Country in a brief little while, telling us that it was Cassia Nodosa. We then searched it by name on the internet and received an instant verification by looking at the pictures already in existence on a few sites there. It was such an impressive show piece of a flowering tree that we wasted no time in procuring one little plant for our farmhouse too. It has since grown to be a real fine tree. We can now sit under its shade as it's branches laden with beautiful pink and white flowers are large, over extending and drooping forward. It is somewhat deciduous as it sheds it's leaves for a very brief period just after spring each year, before coming to life all of a sudden by flowering intensely profusely. No visitor to our farm or farmhouse can ever miss it as it is situated at an angle right in front with its very impressive large span. We saw and marvelled at a true model of this tree in the garden (open for visitors) of Sultan Qaboos when we went to Mascat (Oman) in February 2011 to visit our son Taha and his family. We then learned how to shape a beautiful tree such as Cassia Nodosa through planned and objective pruning. It's current looks are much to those early measures, we took at that time over two years ago. Last year it did produce some flowers but this is the first year of its heavy flowering. Five long but worthwhile years in the making!
For complete description of Cassia Nodosa Tree, visit:
http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Cassia_nodosa.htm
2.2 Rhododendron Rosebay:
There are several different types and categories of Rhdodendrons. We have a couple of them called, Rhododendron Rosebay. On account of the fact that it is a shrub with dark green, glossy leaves it belongs to the Laurel or Bay family of plants. It is an ever green bush, producing roselike flower bouqets all the year round. But more so in summer. Flowers give out a nice and pleasant aroma of smell, but the leaves are poisonous and need to be cautioned against the children going near it.
For complete description of Rhododendron Rosebay, visit:
3. Fruits of Season:
3.1 Chiku/Manilkara zapota//sapodilla:
Chiku is not a well known fruit in Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa (KPK), the province where our farmhouse is situated and where we live. The Chiku trees are known only to survive in warm, typically tropical environments, dying easily if the temperature dropped to below freezing. It is as such generally grown in the rural district around Karachi, especially on the farms to which water is supplied from Hub Dam. Even though apprehensive about success, imported from Karachi, we planted two Chiku saplings soon after moving to our farmhouse some five years ago. Those saplings have since grown into large fruit bearing mature trees. The trees are near about the same size as the surrounding Lychee trees. They bear fruit in June and July every year. After achieving the size, the fruit is plucked from the tree and kept underneath dry grass or the like for ripening. It is ready to be
consumed in about a week of storage.
The fruit is a large ellipsoid, normally 4–8 cm in diameter, containing two to five seeds. Inside, its flesh ranges from a pale yellow to an earthy brown color with a grainy texture akin to that of a well-ripened pear. The fruit has an exceptionally sweet, malty flavor.
For complete description of Chiku Tree, visit:
4. Vegetables of Season:
We continued to enjoy Brinjals and Green Chillies alongside Okra with amazingly large harvest day after day. But other vegetables such as Bitter Gourd, Bottle Gourd and Turai are still awaiting to turn any mentionable production. They are expected to do so later during this current month of July.
5. Pet Birds of Our Farm:
5.1 Budgrigars:
This week we will introduce Budgrigars or Budgies, the commonest of pet birds, of which we have a few pairs too. These are beautiful birds having many hues and colours. They thrive especially in warm and humid conditions. During the winter months they are dormant and are visibly unhappy just like our other pet birds at the farm. They breed just before, just after and during rainy season. Last month we had a couple of fledglings added to the community. Currently, we have a pair rearing eggs and can expect an increase in the colony still further in a few days. Presently, we have two azure blue males, two females: a light green and the other sky blue besides the mentioned above two fledglings: one yellow green and the other white with black markings.
I am so mad with myself. I completely forgot that the Cheeku saplings came all the way from Karachi, with Anjum, travelling all the way in her lap. What a VIP took after and care! And I absolutely had no idea it was a gift from our very dear daughter Tania. Thank you Tania even if it is belated. Thank you very much!
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