Rain Raven

Week 34	August 18, 2014	August 24, 2014

1.     Preamble:

The monsoon rainy season continues despite the fact that it did not rain the entire week except at the fag end, on last Friday night. We could smell rain in the air on the preceding evening and hear in the distance thunder rumbling, moving closer and closer accompanied by lightening arcs across the sky before the rain storm accompanied with the howling wind struck. It did rain for a good couple of hours. The air became fresh and clean once again. The temperature plummeted to mid twenties from mid thirties and regardless of the post rain high humidity, it was easy to breath before and just after rising of the Sun. The chirping and singing of many a birds early in the morning foretold a happy day ahead.

We have radar, sonar, thermometers, barometers, so us humans know what the weather will be like hours or even days ahead. Other animals and plants do not have instruments to help them predict the weather. Yet they seem to know. If we watch them we can have a confirmation to the effect too. Among the plants, the Texas Sage or barometer bush as well as the Rain Raven as it is also called can sometimes predict rain better than our meteorologists. When it begins to produce an abundance of purple flowers, watch out—rain is on the way. We have a couple of these bushes at the farm and have been witnessing their blushes from time to time all through this entire monsoon season. We will talk about the Texas Sage besides also the heavenly Hibiscus the summer's late-blooming sensation and the Tuberoses, which too have lately arrived on our farmhouse scene. The Bitter Gourd Vine these days is full of yellow flowers and the vegetable fruit that it is bearing. In addition one of our Guava Tree too is in fruiting season and we can not resist talking about it too. But first and foremost the Rain Raven. 

2.     Flowering Trees/Shrubs:

2.1.  Texas Sage: Rain Raven or Barometer Bush:

The Texas Sage or Cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens) as it is sometimes called, is a great south and central Texas native shrub. The sage has many varieties offering evergreen foliage in shades of gray to green and blooms in hues of pink, lavender or white. The sage, of which we have a couple of plants at our farm is the one which gives out blushes of lavender flowers. It is called the ‘Silverado’ Texas Sage. It has a dense, rounded growth habit. It's bloom cycles follow summer rainstorms.

We have one in front of our front window facing west and the other in front of a bedroom window facing south. We keep pruning them at regular intervals to keep them in the shape of a tree.

Read more at:

http://pk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=Texas+Sage+Silverado&fr=ipad

http://plant-shed.com/beat-the-heat-with-texas-sage/

http://pk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=Texas+Sage+Desperado&fr=ipad

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucophyllum

http://shoreacres.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/trusting-the-barometer-bush/

2.2.   Heavenly Hibiscus: Summer’s Late-Blooming Sensation:

In addition to Texas Sage, one other shrub, which is in bloom these days at our farm is Hibiscus. Hibiscus is a large shrubs or small trees that produce colorful, trumpet-shaped flowers late in summer  

It is a deciduous shrubs with dark green leaves; the plants can grow to 15 feet tall. Flowers may be up to 6 inches diameter, with colors ranging from yellow to peach to red. 

Talking of Hibiscus, I all of a sudden remember and reminisce about my days in Denmark back in 1974-75. I was there for a stint of one year with the Danish Atomic Energy Research Establishment RISO at Roskilde. At the RISO Guest House. we were many a foreigners from several countries but quite a few from Egypt, with whom I had developed close friendship. Together, we used to go to Copenhagen besides other places of interest. One especial place that we used to frequent was the apartment of Dr Hafiz Higgy, who was an Egyptian scientist of considerable standing (He later rose to the position of the Chairman, Egyptian Atomic Energy Commission). Since Dr Higgy had a family, accompanying him, he preferred to live in the city of Roskilde rather than the RISO Guest House. I remember when ever we went to the apartment of Dr Higgy, his very kind wife, whom we all addressed as Madam used first to serve us with a maroon colour cold beverage, which had a nice tangy taste to it. I then learned,  it was the preferred Egyptian drink called Karkady made from  dried, dark red petals of the Hibiscus flower. Many years later when I went to Cairo to attend an international conference in 2002, I had a rendezvous with the family of Dr Higgy who looked after me and had me invited to their place for a very sumptuous lunch. Of course at that occasion too the Karkady was served as a starter, which took us back to the sweet memories of our days together in Denmark. On my return, I did not forget to bring back a packet of the famous Karkady from Luxor, (Egypt), which was grately liked by the entire household of ours.

Read more at:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus

http://www.bhg.com/common/profile/regStep1.jsp?regSource=9438&returnURL=http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/hibiscus/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_tea

3.     Vegetable of Season:

The vegetable of season currently is none other than the Bitter Gourd, which we are harvesting in abundance these days. Taxila, where our farm is situated is renowned for good quality Karela or Kareli,  which the bitter gourd is known as locally. It is planted by more or less every other grower in the vicinity. Every day in the morning we can see Suzuki vans loaded and packed to capacity with this vegetable leaving for the vegetable market in Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Besides, Lychee, Oranges and Garlic, it is another cash crop of this area. For the last couple of years, it is being exported  directly from the farms to the Middle East, where it is in great demand. We have talked about it earlier too and will suffice with exhibiting only the pictures of our produce at this time hereunder:

4.     Fruit of Season: 

4.1.  Guava:

In addition to other fruit trees, we have a couple of Guava trees at our farm as well. It is an evergreen, tropical tree. Different cultivars are grown all over the world which, vary widely in flavor, pulp color, and seediness. The best quality Guava is grown and cultivated in Malir (Karachi) and Larkana (Sind). The fruit is soft when ripe with sweet musky aroma and creamy in texture. Internally, the flesh varies in color depending up on the cultivar and may be white, pink, yellow, or red. Ripe fruits have rich flavor with sweet-tart taste. Each fruit contains numerous tiny, semi-hard edible seeds, concentrated especially at its center.

In the Taxila/Khanpur area where our farm is situated, the Guava is of the same cultivar that is grown and cultivated in the Punjab. During each season, the trees at our farm bear numerous round-shaped fruit. Following are some pictures of the Guava harvest of our farm. We will keep harvesting the fruit for a few weeks yet.

Before we wind up and close for the week, it is nice to say adieu with a bunch of Tuberoses which too are in bloom and about which we sure will talk next week when we will also celebrate the birthday of Taha, our youngest son, in these pages.

Godspeed Every body.