Small joys..

 

Recently we got Diwali Greetings from Urban Ladder in the form of small money plant in an orange planter.  This plant was actually from another online garden shop My Sunny Balcony. When I observed the inside of the planter, I found that money plant was planted inside a coconut shell and then put into the orange planter. Cute isn't it?

 

This set me off to plant few small plants in my unused large coffee mugs.  I had bought these mugs as souvenirs from our travels and definitely will not sip any coffee from them. Instead of simply showing off, now they are there in many nooks and corners with plants.

 

 

 

 

Dry the used coconut shell. After couple of days of drying,  the eyes of the shell would come off. Put the potting mixture and plant any of tiny indoor plant of your choice.

 

Flowers of Sim's Park, Coonoor, Tamilnadu, India..

We had been to Ooty, Coonoor in the first week of November. Ooty as expected has changed so much since last time I visited as a kid. All I remembered was munching carrots, fragrance of eucalyptus trees, unbearable cold and rolling on the lawns of Botanical gardens.

During our stay we visited Sim's Park in Coonoor. Could not resist sharing few pics of blooming beauties. While admiring them all I could wish was bringing and growing them here in Bangalore. I did bring lot of seeds and about 12 saplings each costing 10 bucks.. I have to wait and see whether they like Bangalore or not.

This is picture heavy post, hope you enjoy it. All clicks by my husband...

 

 

 

Happy weekend with flowers..

 

Few unusual flowers put into vase, uruli whatever available.. Most of them are put on display on Friday morning while  waiting eagerly for the weekend break..

 

 

This yellow flowers has grown like a weed everywhere in the vacant sites and they make a delightful sight inside home.

 

 The butterfly pea flowers abundantly grown,  they are so frequent in my home..



Diwali Kandeel

With Deepavali fever still on, all the Indian home décor websites are brimming with Diwali celebration pictures and ideas, I am sharing with you something I did for Deepavali. 
It's a must in our home to hang the Akasha Deepa or Goodu Deepa(Kannada) or Kandeel on the first day of Deepavali. Its generally lighted from dusk to dawn and believed that whosoever have died in the family visit us during this time, it's a good gesture to invite them to bless us.

In old times lanterns were done at home with color papers, home made glue, bamboo etc,, these days you get them easily in the market.
Preparing Kandeel at home was always on my mind and Priti from Kwikdeko has shared about doing Kandeel with handmade paper. The process details are given out well and as she says it requires a lots of patience..

It didn't turn out as Priti's but never the still our Diwali Kandeel was ready and hung.

Could not do the same designs  but what I did was that  folded the paper and cut designs using the scissors. For the plain side, the Warli figures were drawn..
I made a mistake of sticking a bamboo blind along the length instead of the said cardboard piece. Hence all the four pieces turned out to be stiff, the end result was slightly out of shape...

 

Pride of India

Queen Crape Myrtle(Pride of India) during  summer

 

 

The tree after the blooming season,  produces these seeds.

It looks like bunch of dates..

 

Linking this to Our World Tuesday

Hibiscus.. A Few of them

 I have been missing in action for a long time. With kids gone back to school, I am back to being myself. The house is so peaceful for a while.

I always wished to have many varieties of Hibiscus in my garden. With a small garden it's bit difficult to have different kinds, colors of Hibiscus but it's not impossible. Most of these are propagated from the stem cutting and couple of them bought from the plant nursery.

 

Painted terracotta bell

Last week we had a wonderful time where kids and husband have a long weekend on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. I was worry less in terms of kids studies. All we did was to celebrate the festival, crafting, watching movie in a tent style, coloring etc. I had after a long time splendid 'me' time.
I got to finish painting the terracotta bell that I had got few days ago from the road side vendor. Often while browsing through the shopping websites, I am so tempted to buy those beautiful terracotta items. They are so inspiring. Doing it yourself is fun, easy, light on pockets.

It took more than four days for two coats of acrylic paint to dry. While painting, the upper circles were disturbing, so tied them with the soft cloth. I painted the circles last, hanging them with a support.

My intention was to spruce up my garden with this bell, for time being I have kept it in a corner of my home. I am so glad that I utilized this time efficiently...