Cataloguing My Garden
We must cultivate our garden.
Volatire (Candide)
This is the closing sentence in Volatire’s Satire Candide. Of course the metaphorical sense is, regardless of what’s happening in the world we should continue to work on ourselves and shouldn’t worry too much in things which are either inconsequential or are out of our controls. This doesn’t mean we become ignorant or indifferent towards those but rather put oneself and one’s concerns first. I love the literal meaning too, just cultivate your gardens.
I spent a weekend cataloguing all the flowers and plants me and my brother have grown in our little garden. It’s him really who got me interested in gardening and the beauty of it. The planning (timing) of when to plant what and where (sunlight, water, moist etc) and the patience it requires to see them come of age: all of these give me a lot of solace and peace.
Top View Of The Garden
Carnation
Got this from a local nursery.
Jade Plant
Cordyline
(Got this while on a morning walk, this was cut and thrown on the road side after someone had cleaned up their garden. We took a fancy and
lucky us it survived)
Philodendron
Golden Pothos
Finger plant (Type of jade plant)
Red Frangipani (Pumeria)
Arrowhead Plant
Echevera
Pipe Cactus
(I am naming it so because that’s how we carried it from the place we found, a rural place about 100 kms aways from Pokhara)
Dracena Fragrans
Aztec Marigold
(This is popular during festival of Tihar where these flowers are used to make a garland to be worn during bhaitika and other rituals)
Morning Glory
(We got this from the banks of Bijapur River in Pokhara. It has spread so quickly, these flowers bloom in all glory in the morning and slowly
wither away in the evening only to awake the next morning. It’s so fascinating)
Coleus
(One of the many varieties of Coleus. This particular is an offspring/spread of the plant that was planted by my Grandfather many years ago.)
Bergenia (Elephant’s ears) (Nepali Name: Pakhane पखने )
We got this during our hike to Annapurna Base Camp. It has medicinal usage. (that’s how we got to know about the plant from the stories
shared by our mother). It’s less likely that it will survive here in Pokhara (it’s a bit tropical for this) but let’s see
Hibiscus (Red)
We have a lot of varieties of this. (Red, White, Pink)
Have never tried hibiscus tea so far but have used it to shampoo my hair.
Red Max Wallow
We called this (Chilli flower - as it resembles a red chilli) during our childhood. It has sweet nectar (that’s plenty in quantity).
Loved it as a kid and still do and eat the nectar, hahaha
Lemon Grass
We sometimes make lemon grass tea.
Rosemary
Inchplant
Strawberry
Wild Coriander
(Wild version of coriander, it’s more pungent, eg: half leaf is sufficient)
Mint
Wild Onions (Nepali name: Jimmu - जिम्मु)
Used for seasoning. Common in higher altitudes. Hoping it survives here!!
Peepal Bonsai
Peepal has a religious/spiritual significance in Hindu community. My brother has been growing this in Bonsai Fashion as we don’t have
lot of space. (Naturally it can grow to be huge with it’s roots penetrating deep and wide)
Kalanchoe (A succulent)
Tree Tomato
(Grows as a medium sized plant and bears brinjal shaped fruit which can be used as tomato substitute)
Aloe Vera
Holy Basil (Tulsi)
White Max Mallow
(While the red version of this flower is so common, we’d never seen a white one and took a fancy of it)
Rose
Balloonplant/hairy-balls/bishop’s-balls :D
Probably the plant which gets the most attention in our garden. I probably needn’t explain why it’s named so.
Donkey’s Tail
Peace Lily
White Lily on a DIY aquarium
- In that aquarium we have zebra fishes. Zebra fishes were brought from Bijaypur River and the peace lilies and various small aquatic plants
were brought from Begnas and Fewa Lake. It’s a miniature Pond Ecosystem really!! (Not to worry about mosquitoes laying eggs there because
zebra fishes are there to devour and we change water once in a while)
Kleinia
Purslane (Sunplant)
Our childhood name for this flower was: भाते फूल (something that blooms in the morning 9-10 AM, typical time for Nepali household to have
lunch - which is predominantly rice (भात))
Echeveria
A type of succulent. We got this from a place called “Sinuwa” during our Annapurna Base Camp Trek.