Kamini Heralds the Arrival of Monsoon

Week 27 of 2014	Monday June 30, 2014	Sunday July 6, 2014

Ramadan Kareem started on Monday the 30th of June. We have had quite a few showers of the monsoon season since. The atmosphere is hot and humid. The day time temperature is in the mid 30's and humidity any thing between 30 to 60%. Suffocating at times for humans and animals but not for the plants and the foliage, which thrive in this weather. The activity at the farm itself has been reduced to the bare minimum. It  may remain so during the entire month of Ramadan. There was nothing much to do except plucking of Lychee fruit besides occasional weeding and cultivation of summer flower beds and cutting of hedges as well as mowing of lawn grass once a while. The watering needs of the plants and trees is sufficiently fulfilled by the monsoon rains, which come often early in the morning on most days. The seasonal flowers sown earlier include Zinnia, Portulaca and  Cosmos that are expected to flower later during the current month of July.

Flowering Trees/Bushes/Shrubs:

1. Murraya Paniculata - Kamini

There are many a kind of trees, shrubs and bushes. Among the bushes and shrubs most popular are the evergreens, which provide a green foliage throughout the year. Then there are deciduous trees, shrubs and bushes which provide a great fall foliage, which makes them popular among cultivars. Then there are everyone's favourite the flowering trees and bushes, which produce beautiful blooms of various colors during the spring and fill up the garden with beautiful fragrance. 

Murraya is a small genus of flowering shrubs and small trees from south Asia especially from the subtropical plains of Pakistan and India, where it is called Kamini besides also as Kunti, banmallika, pandhri as well as many other names. In the sub continent it is grown as houseplant and shrub because of its lovely foliage and flowers.  

The plant produces abundance of small and white flowers that add to the beauty of fresh green foliage and spread their fragrance all around. The flower bloom, which covers the bush in its entirety is extremely short-lived and lasts only for about a day or two before whittling away and the flower petals falling all over the grass underneath but the scent still enchantingly persisting in air. The kamini bush produces green fruits which on ripening become red look like berries, which birds like to pick on.

Art our farm the Murraya or Kamini shrub was planted in the very beginning besides the Pink Shower Tree. It suddenly came to life on July 1 almost with the first drops of monsoon rains and filled the air with a very strong scent of its flowers. It's so unfortunate that the fragrance can not possibly be reproduced here at this time of the state of technology but the way it is going it should soon be possible.

2.  Weigela Vanicek

The weigela shrub is a type of perennial flowering bush. It produces clumps of red, white or pink flowers. The variety we have at our farm is the one that produces multitudes of dazzling bell-shaped red colour florets (Weigela 'Bristol Ruby' or Weigela florida)

There are a couple of the Weigela Shrubs along the farm demarcation boundary on the right side on 

the rear of the plot and these all are flowering at this time in mid summer.

Fruit(s) of Season:

1. Lychee:

On account of Ramadan, the picking and plucking of Lychee fruit was a slow process. The trees continued to be laden with the fruit, which on account of very favourable hot and humid weather, took the ideal red brick colour and improved in size further. In the dry hot weather the skin of Lychee fruit brittle fractures leading to its instant splitting on slightest of cooling at night. This was exactly the case last year when the dry hot weather persisted for too long, leading to almost complete destruction of the entire crop. The Gola variety is now fully ready and can not wait any further for want of plucking. The 'Surai' can however wait for may be another week or fortnight. The present state of the two varieties respectively is depicted in the following pictures:

2. Red Grapes:

This week saw the last of the grapes. Bunches had all turned reddish black and the grapes were exceedingly sweet. Below is a picture of the last bunch of grapes after which we said farewell to the grapes for the year 2014.

Vegetables of Season:

There were no new vegetables except the Okra, Brinjal, Bell Pepper and Green Chillies currently growing in our yard,. Those were reported in the earlier editions of this blog. The Brinjals are on their way out but Okra would last a while. After the onset of rainy season, the Bitter Gourd and Bottle Gourd, also reported previously have started flourishing slowly and shall be reported upon in due course again.

Our Pet Birds:

Peach Faced Lutino Love Birds:

In this edition of the blog, we will introduce our Peach Faced Lutino Love Birds of which we have two pairs acquired from Karachi last year at about this time.  These with their golden yellow plumage and peachie face, are said by many to be the most beautiful of all lovebirds!

The Lutino Lovebirds are very social and love companionship. Their natural behavior is to live closely with a companion. They make a very fine and affectionate pet. They will are kept as in our aviary in pairs to satisfy their considerable need for constant companionship, mutual preening, and socialization. These birds have a moderate but metallic shriek and can be somewhat noisy for parts of the day. Although they seem to be happily settled after their second summer and a winter in between, they still haven't started breeding to which we are keenly looking forward.