ALTER IDEM

Bougainvillea!! Shrubs that add a lot of colour to the summer months! A native of South America, the bougainvillea is one plant that has really taken to the Indian climate. Strictly speaking, the 'flower' is the small, white, well...flower- like thing you see in the picture. The surrounding bigger petal-like thing is some kind of a leaf variation. During summer, when the rest of the plants demand water, the bougainvillea shuns water. Excess watering encourages the green foliage. So, during the monsoon months here, this plant is just an ordinary, thorny shrub. There are some varieties with dual coloured leaves for such times...they look ornamental even when not in bloom (unfortunately, none in my collection). Here's another beautiful bougainvillea .... where the flowers aren't visible. One nice thing about the bougainvillea is that it can be grown in pots and trained to nice shapes. Since the plants are very hardy, available in 40-50 different types and re...

These days, I wake up...no,.. am woken up... at 5 - 5.15 in the morning...by the cuckoos. Such noisy birds! I'm sure, all the poets who praise the cuckoo's 'melodious' voice have never had to live near them! Or, maybe, they're sound sleepers!! You know, the cries of the male and the female cuckoo are different. While the male's is the extended 'koo....ooo' (the celebrated cry!), the female's is a quick, curt, 'kukukukuk...'. And, though you can hear them, it is very difficult to catch sight of these elusive birds, especially the female. And, they are birds that seem to stick to a regular routine - a sort of a time table. Maybe, that's why, the clock makers decided to make a 'cuckoo clock' instead of a 'parrot clock, 'sparrow clock',... :) Every year, during Feb-March, around 8.00- 8.30 a.m., I see them from our kitchen window... having a breakfast of chikoo fruits from our neighbour's tree! I like to watch the...