Dhanteras Wishes for your Plants Taking Care of Plants During Lighting Crackers and Fire Works Diwali Care for your Plants

Dhanteras Wishes for your Plants, lots of happiness and good health and loads of wealth coming your way from Rizwana! Have a Great Healthy Safe Deepavali!

Diya cubism oil on paper by Rizwana A

 Taking Care of Plants During Lighting Crackers and Fire Works Diwali Care for your Plants
Yes they too have a right to celebrate and enjoy the festival of lights. Plants are living and need care during lighting crackers and fire works. The show looks beautiful with lighting and diyas decorated during the festival of lights, deepavali, but your plants feel suffocated and cry for help!
It is tradition to light diyas, oil lamps, and decorate your house, main door, garden, plant containers and every window seems lighted up with beautiful oil lamps during the important nights of Deepavali.

A corner of my Precious space under the sun

Plants at this time are happy with the shorter days and cooler nights, and the Juhi climber jasmine white fragrant flowering one is fully loaded with beautifully soothing white blooms that give out heavenly fragrances as evening sets in.
 Each day I see lovely butterflies coming over our terrace garden, as it is full of colorful blooming plants. While some look like dried bark, there are some that imitate the color of the flowers and this one which I really didn't catch a glimpse until I watered the bamboo plant ,and as this butterfly flew, I was awestruck by the beauty in nature and the creation of God. It had the colors of the bamboo leaves just like the original leaves, what a wonderful sight!

Fragrant Juhi Jasmine Climber is loaded with flowers

Butterfly Imitating colors  Bamboo leaves

Coming back to our festival of lights, People line up their garden with oil lamps and electrical colorful torans of lights and cover most garden plants with this. Ever thought about the effects on your plants? From experience I have seen leaves turned to burnt dark brown in front of me, the plants shrivel with heat, and leaves drop, so sad! Their first response is they move back, from the heat source, observe this movement.
1) Plants feel the heat, yes leaves burn with strong powered halogen lamps.
2) During nights, the rest period, plants are made to stay awake! For the whole year they sleep as sun sets and these few nights they are exposed to such strong lights and made to stay awake for full nights which even we don't do!

Fragrant Candles oil on paper by Rizwana

3) Electric lighting also affects the roots and pots of the plants. Plastic containers crack with strong heat. Roots dry out sooner even after watering.
4) While doing puja people offer flowers and other ingredients used to the plants, oils sometimes clog the soil which results in plant death also.
5) The flower shows and sound less crackers that are very pretty to look at drop hot particles of ashes that may burn your plants.
6) Tall tress can bear the heat of oil lamps as their trunk is strong but small plants soon die off.
7) Warm lights with lamp shades harm less.
8) Watering carefully in mornings during Deepavali  festivals so that the plants do not feel cold and hot at one time when you light oil lamps surrounding them.
9) Try to protect your plant containers soil from ashes and sediments from lighted crackers and fireworks as this grayish ash coating can make a layer over the oil and suffocate your plants , also clogging the soil, eventually leading to dry roots, sometimes death of your precious plants.
How can you prevent this damage to your plants while enjoying this festival of lights-
1) water regularly before the festival, healthy plants survive changes better.
2) avoid putting electrical lights directly on leaves and plants.
3) Oil lamps can be put near containers taking care to see that the exposed roots are not close to heat source.
4) Clean all left overs of fie crackers and loosen the soil after the festival to allow well draining of plant soil.
5) Burnt plant leaves should be trimmed to prevent further damage to plant.
6) Wash leaves thoroughly after the Deepavali  festival and during as ash settles on leaves clogging its pores.
7) If possible avoid adding too much of oil and other ingredients to the soil to the extent that the soil gets clogged.

Protection Swastik by RizwanaA Mundewadi

8) Hang lamps with soothing warm light and avoid strong powerful light sources over your plants.
Your plants are a part of your family, while you enjoy the festival of lights , let them also enjoy it happily.
Goddess Laxmi comes to every home when it is lighted but when she hears the whimpers and soft calls of pain from plants, wonder how she will bless you, think about this !
Have a Safe and Healthy Deepavali!
God Bless from Rizwana!
www.razarts.com
For some Deepavali gift ideas, gifting healing art visit my website www.razarts.com

Begin your Vertical Garden No Space Make a Wall Garden sharing some tips for Vertical Gardening

Vertical Gardening Tips on Garden Care Simplified

Begin your Vertical Garden No Space Make a Wall Garden sharing some tips for Vertical Gardening. With space crunch in city many people do not have any space left to bring in nature into their homes and their lives. Today vertical gardening is enjoying the lime light as it is the best option in modern contemporary homes that have great decor and are not so largely spacious.

Window garden of Joy with video of my garden

read on- window sill gardening add some PIZZAZ! 3 tips

Today we are seeing more and more vertical gardens in homes and modern offices. As such gardens require less space and also add beauty to your walls it is coming up as  a great option to land gardening which requires more space. We see large walls covered with luscious greenery and even flowers blooming enjoying their vertical space reaching the sky.

Lovely flowering plants Vertical Gardens

Begin a Vertical Garden Simple tips-
 1) Select one wall that is strong , no leakages as water added to plants may seep in side and also create cracks in wall.
2) Sun light, preferably a wall which receives at least some direct sun light for some part of the day as flowering plants will never show blooms without sunlight.
3) Choose stands, vertical ones, metal, wood or acrylic ones that are tough and can take the weight of pots and plant containers. Here in fact even old window structures and frames add great artistic appeal to your vertical garden.
4) Hanging pots, well draining soil and medium sized containers are best for vertical gardening. Avoid large sized containers and large sized plants also as there is risk of toppling over of the pots.
5) Choose plants judiciously as in vertical gardening all plants will receive  same amount of sunlight and also watering will be with same technique.
6) Avoid climbers and creepers that spread wildly as these take over the complete wall and roots coming out from these plants seep into the walls leading to cracks and later on leakages during rainy season. Especially money plants pothos.
7) Vertical gardens can be a great highlight and artistic piece in your home space, one to add beauty, color and of course nature into your home!
And what more to ask for if your vertical garden is light weight it can be carried,shifted and even taken to places! So carry your garden to your new home, office or family homes!

Have you grown a vertical garden in containers? Share your experiences! Rizwana Mundewadi bringing out joy of gardening, promoting growing plants,  and writing practical tips about container gardening since year 2010! Happy  Gardening!

Important Gardening Posts on Rizwana's Google blog-  

Garden plant stands window creative gardening

Why you are not able to grow plants in hanging baskets

All the Best from Rizwana!

A Healing Artist selling original Reiki healing art @ The Red Pilgrim's Soul Perk^Up Healing Art , You Tuber The Red Pilgrim.Dedicated since year 2000 towards spreading joy, health,wealth and success with my Reiki symbol healing Paintings!

Brahma Kamalam PDf File of Beautiful Poetry written Text on Blooming of Brahma Kamal Flower Thank you for Sharing Hunuma Sai

Brahma Kamalam -Nov 2010 

Sai Vemuri 

The sheer beauty, the rapid flowering, the quick exit and above all the unique appearance once in a 

year reveal a conscious evolution of a plant which would have worked over thousands of years to 

perfect its act! And why this attempt to be unique and why this struggle for achieving a perfection? It 

is an undercurrent that becomes visually obvious from every flower mesmerizing and capturing our 

attention. The flowers give us a joy, a sense of assimilating beauty and a pleasant sensation flowing 

through the vital body. It is the inner nature of every life to evolve, to reach a state of sublime and 

consummate perfection and beauty in its own unique way, to blend into its environs with a grace and 

dignity and to surrender at the feet of the divine even if it is for a short tender moment. Few plants 

have attempted this unique concept of giving life to a flower on its leaf. Brahma Kamalam is even 

more unique in its presentation of itself with the fine shades of white and a few other pleasing shades, 

and it excels further in providing a breathtaking sequence of the few different phases of flowering. 

The initial modest prayer-like form covering itself fully and leaning forward in humble reverence, the 

gradual opening of its outer layer with sharp and lean sepals resembling the fiery flames from the fire 

ritual of a Homam, and then, the slow unveiling of a pure white inner form with petals gracefully 

spreading out forming layers of geometric precision and beauty, and the final launch of the single long 

Style as if to seat Brahma on its pedestal of stigma! The exit is equally impressive. There is grace, 

there is modesty and there is a triumphant silence. When we go through this motion of a divine act in 

front of our eyes, we feel blessed and perceive the blissful silence that the soul longs for! 

Such a breathtaking flower, wonderful views shared here on Garden Care Simplified, Thank you Hanuma Sai!
All the Best from Rizwana!
www.razarts.com

Check out my ebook Your Little Wonders Garden on Amazon!

Mussaenda Erythrophylla container growing care Red Flag Bush Queen Sirikit Large Growing Bushes of Different Colorful Flowers

Mussaenda  Erythrophylla container growing care

 Mussaenda Erythrophylla lovely colorful large sized flowers on this beautiful bush. We have three different types of plants that give out white, peach pinkish and red flowers. Most commonly grown for its beautiful large sized blooms this bush is seen in many housing societies as it grows into large trees if left uncut.  

Common names are Ashanti Blood, Red Flag Bush, Tropical Dogwood shrub. Queen Sirikit is cross breed between Mussaenda Erythrophylla and Mussaenda Phillipica.

Grown mostly for their beautiful ornamental blooms the rare exotic range plants cost here form almost 150 to 1000 INR depending upon the plant size and colors. Bright vermillon red flowering plants are the most costliest and  also need some care while growing. The peach colored and white are somewhat tough ones and take happily to most containers and soil also. 

Are these lovely colored leaves as the central core shows tiny green flowers?  The flower actually may be leaves surrounding the tiny flowers, Sepals as they are called maybe as the beautiful centre shows small sized tiny green flowers. 

Mussaenda Erythrophylla  White Colored Flowers

Mussaenda Erythrophylla container growing care:- 

These are ornamental plants and hence need some care for watering as well as measured amounts of indirect sunlight most parts of the day. The most important task to maintain these plants are the trimming and watering part. 

The plants grow lanky stems that go on drooping with its own weight, that is the heavy big sized blooms. 

Once the plants grow like huge trees they stop giving out many flowers unless trimmed from top. 

In the beginning after the flowering ti is advisable to trim the top to avoid top heavy stems later on and weak plants. 

Sunlight requirements are also some what less clear as the plant does require sunlight but only fresh morning or evening one for few hours and loves partially shaded areas for growth. Water regularly , especially when there are flowers as the plant requires more water during these times. 

Once the plant grown in soil adapts itself the bush grows majestically with big sized blooms all year round. 

Strongest ones are peach and white or off white, look almost heavenly in the morning sunlight. 

Not very much luck in growing the red ones as they need more care and regular feedings to give out healthy blooms, and of course are very costly. 

These plants are grown easily from cuttings , take a thick stem that has three or four branches coming out from main stem. Twizzle the edges and then plant so that the Mussaenda Erythrophylla root faster. 

Mussaenda Erythrophylla  growing in soil land

Soil need not be well draining or rocky, loamy clay soil is best, as they need strong support to hold the heavy plant in place. Mentioning of support the heavy gusty winds over the terrace garden yesterday night brought our beautifully flowered Kamini bush down, sad.. thank God nothing was damaged as the plant is a tough one! I usually tie my large sized plant to metal grill which is surrounding our whole terrace garden,  some support as winds on top floors of high rises  can sometimes be quiet nasty bringing down the pots with a thud, and also not very safe to be around! So while we have lost a few small mud pots in the beginning,  now we have mostly large container plants, these are heavy so that they do not fall and every plant is tied with strong strings to keep the plants safe and avoid such traumas of fall.

Hope this helps, Thank you for the overwhelming shares of your beautiful flowers and plants, it does matter a lot by sharing,  do keep the love for gardening  alive , share your plant photographs and experiences on Garden Care Simplified!

All the Best from Rizwana! Happy Gardening!

www.razarts.com