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S cheffler Actinophylia ,is a popular domestic-hedge plant. Native to Australia is also called Queensland Umbrella Tree. It has decorated – small palm like arranged leaves. In some places in India, it grows u to 3 to 10 meters in height to become a large tree. I have observed it as a slow growing shrub in my garden. It has a variegated variety with leaves having ivory or yellow blotches/splashes. It can be propagated through stem cutting. It needs moderately fertile & well drained soil . Recently I noticed a nicely pruned hedge of Scheffler Actinophylia or the Quennsland Umbrella - at the Bangalore Club. However in my garden as a small landscape shrub & a filler plant with excellent foliage needing little water, all year round. The plant nurseries in Andhra Pradesh call it The SCHEFFLERA HICOLAR.

P ansy: Common name: Pansy, Pansy Violet Botanical name: Viola x wittrockiana T he name pansy is from the French word pensée, meaning thought or remembrance. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name for other Viola species that are wildflowers in Europe. The Pansy is a hybrid plant cultivated as garden flowers . Pretty to grow in pots, troughs, or as mass plantings, These lightly fragrant flowers are available in a vast range of colors. The pansy flower has two top petals overlapping slightly, two side petals, beards where the three lower petals join the center of the flower, and a single bottom petal with a small groove. The dark centers in some flowers are thought to resemble little faces. (Flowers have big blotches that make them strongly resemble faces) They grow only six to ten inches high and can spread up to ten to twelve inches across. Since Elizabethan times, the word "pansy" suggests an effeminate male and still is used, as a disapproving

Heliconia Golden Torch Botanical name: Heliconia psittacorum x spathocircinata Family: Heliconiaceae (heliconia family) H eliconias are indigenous to tropical America, and are distinct individual flowers … Heliconia can grow in seasonally dry locations -- however most grow in moist and wet regions. Growing from rhizomes, they have erect shoots, with a stem and huge leaves and it ends by a manner in which flowers develop on the stalk : brilliant orange - with a shade of red... The inflorescence comes from bracts rather than the actual flower. It can be grown anywhere. They also make great container plants. Heliconias are heavy feeders, and need rich humic soil***. The Heliconia blooms all the through the summer and they make great cut flowers: lasting 2 to 3 weeks. Heliconia is gaining popularity in world as well as Indian market due to its cut flower-value. It also have long vase life. Please note that there is a lot of difference between the Heliconia & The Bird of Paradise … ***

Bird Of Paradise: Genus Strelitzia Common : Strelitzia, Crane Flower or Bird of Paradise..... Strelitzia reginae is a monocotyledonous Flowering Plant …. (Monocotyledonous: Flowering plant that has a single leaf in the seed and floral parts in multiples of three). Bird of Paradise is indigenous to South Africa. lt is grown in India in regions such as the Western Ghats, Kerala, Karnataka .. The Bird of Paradise is grown Bangalore as a familiar ornamental plant. Bird of Paradise prefers moderate humidity, The plant grows to 2 m (6½ ft) tall, with large- strong leaves . The leaves are evergreen and arranged in two ranks, making a fan-shaped crown. Long stemmed flowers emerge from green boat-shaped bracts .. which are bordered in red or purple. (Bracts a modified leaf that arises from the stem at the point where the flower or flower cluster develops). Many pointed petals of brilliant orange are contrasted with an arrow-shaped tongue of vibrant -inkish blue. The flowers stand above the foli

16th January 2009 The P etticoat P alm My husbands grand father built this house with love and such detail planning .... He planted Petticoat palms as avenue trees around the house. This Petticoat Palm is native to California & Mexico region, again grown as avenue tree. It has dense fan like leaves. It is solid tall tree: with a skirt of dead dropping leaves supporting the above crown of large green fan shaped leaves. The dead dropping leaves -- are unsightly & quite a nuisance to clear and tidy up. Parrots and birds love its fruits and a large number gather early morning to chirp, eat, meet and enjoy its fruit. Propagation of Petticoat palm is done by seeds which germinate slowly. It grows easily in mild climates sometimes tolerating sub freezing temperatures.

Jan 16th 2009 More on The B amboo: I observed some amazing bamboo on the streams/ rivulet banks in the Western Ghats from where the River Tangabudra originates. These have fine leaves and they bow deep, arching their stems gracefully into the stream, revering the gushing waters…. . some striking wild variety…! It is said that Eastern Himalayas (Darjeeling- NW Bengal- Sikkim- Bhutan- Arunachal Pradesh) zone of India has some 26 varieties of Bamboo. Including the Rhinoceros or Kaghzi Bamboo. Interestingly, the number of the species of Bamboo goes on decreasing moving westward… and there is NO Bamboo in the beautiful Kashmir valley. Thus a Bamboo spreads tropically and subtropically in India and all through the world. Bamboo as a tree demonstrates, strength and tenacity. Surviving droughts, wars, climatic changes …from Himalayas to Andhra the bamboo survives ..strengthening and expanding sanguinely ….. cheerfully forever persistently … Bamboo grass & My Love for the Bamboo intensifie

The green cell is microscopic, but great. Great, from within. We all know that CHLOROPHYLL is the green colouring matter found in plants. It is enclosed in microscopic cell organelles called CHLOROPLASTS. CHLOROPLASTS are minute oval bodies surrounded by a double membrane & the interior contains densely crammed flattened thylakoids. And then… Photosynthesis is a process by which living plant cell containing CHLOROPHYLL , produce food substances: glucose and starch from carbon dioxide & water by using light energy sunlight. Oxygen is released as waste product in this process. Quran talks about the VERDENT GREEN in Sure’ Rehmaan. Green that is the basic Chloroplast. Source of energy and sustenance.. Then…how can Islam think Red ..? No, It does not promote terrorism. It teaches us to appreciate nature, to respect it. Natural entities water, air that we breathe, the trees, the heat of the sun - the light from the sun: are signs of Allah .. Again & again Allah reminds us of

Hoping for more g reen this 2009...