It is exciting to plant a rose cutting or sow some seeds in the ground and wait for them to take root and sprout leaves. It is even more exciting to see them bloom for the first time. Most locales in Sri Lanka are blessed with abundant rain which allows gardens to flourish in no time.
I have enjoyed taking a walk in the garden each morning or evening looking at the flowers, deheading the dead roses and flowering shrubs allowing them to grow new shoots and flower buds. It has given me so much satisfaction to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
A garden can be truly like an artist's canvas, where you are free to exercise your creativity.
Gardens promote peace and can be a great source of solace and stress relief. In my times of mental stress or turmoil, my garden has been something I have thrown myself heart and soul into and been rewarded in a positive way.
Note:
I have many pictures throughout this blog posting. Please double click on each picture to enlarge the picture for a better view.
Some views of my Garden after thinning and replanting - September 2009
My first experience with Gardening
My first experience with gardening that I can remember is when I planted a purple raja pohottu plant (globe amaranth) at our home at the University of Peradeniya, I was about six years old. The seeds I had obtained when we visited Sigiriya with a group of university students. My parents had been asked to chaperone a bus load of students from one of the girls' halls. It was magic to see how the seeds took root and emerged into a plant with blooms of its own.
Cottage style Gardening
I like to grow my garden in a cottage garden style. This means that my garden consists of a mixture of plants such as flowering vines, perennial flowering shrubs and roses, green leafy plants and flowering annuals. It creates an attractive but fuss free landscape of various shapes and colors.
I like to grow my garden in a cottage garden style. This means that my garden consists of a mixture of plants such as flowering vines, perennial flowering shrubs and roses, green leafy plants and flowering annuals. It creates an attractive but fuss free landscape of various shapes and colors.
My favorite plants tend to be those that have been part of the story of my life. Some of these flowers are what was in our garden when I was a child growing up in Kandy (University of Peradeniya), Sri Lanka. Other flowers are what I encountered at my grandparents house in Udubadana (close to Welimada).
When I visited my grandparents home as a child the flowers I recall were: roses, marigolds, jasmine, yesterday today tomorrow, dahlias and chrysanthemums. The climate at Udubadana was cooler than that of Kandy being at a higher elevation, and therefore was conducive to growing flowers such as roses.
Since we lived at the University quarters in Peradeniya our own home in Kandy had been rented out. It was not till 1996 that I finally had the chance to live there myself. My Mom had lived there before marriage and that was the house I was born in but we left when I was nine months old. During the time my Mother lived there, she had established a small garden. As a child I remember visiting the house on ocassion. On those visits I noticed that my Mom had grown lavender colored mini daisys and barbetons. However, with renovations of the original house in latter years the whole garden was destroyed.
On my most recent visit to Kandy in June 2009, I replanted the same lavender mini daisys and barbetons that my Mom had planted many years ago.
lavender mini daisys
lavender mini daisys
Red barbeton flower
Red barbeton Barbeton plants in flower bed (bottom of picture)
Retablishing the garden in 1996
When we moved back to the house in 1996 I was eager to start a flower garden again. I began the garden with plant cuttings and seeds acquired from friends and relatives. The rest of my plants I acquired as small plants from nurseries. I made it a point then to bring back cuttings from my cousin's house at Udubadana of around five different varieties of roses.When we returned home I planted them straight in the ground (with another cousin's help) and they took root and grew into the bushes that they now are.
Roses from cousin
Below are roses that I grew from the cuttings from my cousin.
Below are roses that I grew from the cuttings from my cousin.
Magenta rose with an 'eye'
Magenta rose with an 'eye' -closeup view
Orange baby roses
Salmon pink baby roses. This rose has subsequently disappeared from my garden, having being overpowered by larger plants.
White baby rose with multi petals.
Why roses are my favorite flower
I would have to say that my most favorite type of flower is the rose. As a child living in Peradeniya in our garden there were roses which were of the 'common' variety. I for the most part prefer those common roses to the various bud roses that people grow. These common roses are quite hardy and only appear in a few basic colors like white, pink, maroon and magenta. I find that the smaller blooms of common roses have a beauty of their own. I do not like using pesticides or hormones which are essential for bud roses. If the insects come to eat my flowers I tolerate them or if I really need to I use soap water or spray them with water to stop them from attacking my blooms. I try my best to allow insects such as butterflies and bugs to enjoy the garden as much I do.
Below are the common roses I encountered during my childhood and which I now grow in my own garden.
Pink common rose
Pink multi petal common baby rose.
I was able to find this rose and plant it in my garden. However sadly it has since disappeared from my garden, a casualty of letting bigger plants grow unchecked. During my visit this year to Kandy I tried to find a plant or cutting of the same variety without success. I would love to have this rose back in my garden, it holds so much nostalgia for me.
Pink multi petal common baby rose(close up view).
This is a Pink Common baby rose.
It was not around in Sri Lankan gardens when I was a kid. However, when I returned to Sri Lanka in 1996 I found it to be a commonly grown garden rose. It was so pretty that I made sure to incorporate it into my own garden.
As you might have noted from my earlier pictures in this blog posting, this variety of baby rose comes in dark orange and salmon pink as well. I got those colors from my cousin ( as you can see in the pictures above). However the pink is the most commonly found variety.
At the university house we lived in in the 1970’s there was an arch of climbing white roses that framed our doorway. In 1996 I obtained a cuttings of the same variety when I visited my cousins who lived at my Dad’s ancestral village of Udubadana and replanted the cuttings in our garden at Kandy.
climbing white roses
These magenta roses are multi petaled, and ramblers like the white roses above. I grew them from cuttings. I remember the roses that grew in my grandparents garden in Udubadana were similar except that the color was maroon.
Other common roses that I have planted in my garden are pictured below:
Light pink common rose
I obtained this planted from a nursery although it's commonly found in many Sri Lankan gardens.
Very light pink common rose- fades to a white color and has rectangular petals. I grew this from a cutting.
This is the same rose variety as it begins to fade to white.
Marigolds
I love marigolds as well, there are so many varieties. My favorites now are the bicolor dwarf varieties. I love the pungent smell of marigolds in addition to the variety of shapes and colors. As a child in Fiji I grew a big marigold plant in our back yard from which I would offer flowers before school each morning at the Buddha Shrine in our home.
These are regular size orange marigolds in my garden, they grow quite tall.
Yellow marigold
Dwarf bicolor marigold (click on pic for bigger view)
Fragrant Flowers
Other flowers I like and grow in my garden are fragrant flowers such as: jasmine (gata pichcha and saman pichcha), araliya, Hendrikka (4 o'clocks), dianthus(carnation) and ginger flower. Gata pichcha which is a jasmine that propagates as a runner was part of the hedge of the house we lived in at the Peradeniya University during the seventies. It had also been planted by my Mom's Grandma at our house in Kandy and continues to grow over forty years later. At the second home we lived in Fiji there were white ginger flowers that had the most beautiful smell. I had been looking all over to grow such a plant in Kandy and I finally found it in my Mom's Aunt's garden in June this year.
I'm sorry the picture below is very small. Click it to make it a bit bigger. This pic shows myself and my brother sitting next to the Gata pichcha (Jasmine) hedge that grew in the front garden of the Peradeniya University bungalow where we lived 1973-1975.
White Hendrikka (4 o'clocks)
This White Hendrikka plant was initially found at the bottom of the garden next to the well. It prompted me to go on a hunt for the other colors as well.
Yellow Hendrikka (4 o'clocks)
Bicolor-Yellow and Magenta Hendrikka (4 o'clocks)
Magenta Hendrikka (4 o'clocks)- has now disappeared from the garden but can be easily reestablished either using the tubers or black seeds.
dianthus(carnation) -Magenta/ White bicolor
Begonias and other Foliage plants
In addition to flowering plants, I also like plants with beautiful leaves such as begonias. I have finally realized that plants grow best in the ground rather than in pots, during my absence from our home in Sri Lanka , my cousins had taken many of my potted foliage plants and planted them in the ground where they had grown into hardy bushes. This time I was in Sri Lanka long enough to revamp the front garden and remove some of these bushes and basically to thin out the plants in the front garden where it looked somewhat neater.
This picture shows the garden initially in June 2009 in a ' jungle state'.
This second photo reflects the garden after I thinned out the plants, removing the leafy plants and leaving the flowering plants.
Grouping plants of same variety together
Finally, I grow any plant that catches my attention due to its beauty in shape and form. I like to grow different colors of the same variety of plants and group them together. I have done this with Pentas carnea which comes in various shades (white, lavender, red and pink) . I did the same type of grouping with Hendrikka (yellow, white, magenta, magenta/white bicolor and yellow/magenta bicolor) which is reflected in the pictures above.
Pentas carnea (white, lavender and red)
Pentas carnea - pink (click on pic to enlarge)
Grouping plants according to Sun, Shade and Moisture needs
Through experience and some times trial and error I have learnt what kind of sun exposure and moisture each plant needs and I have tried to position each plant in the best suited enviroment. For instance, I have planted and grouped foliage plants and certain flowering plants that prefer shade or partial shade in shady areas and annuals in sunny areas. I have found that roses do well either in full sun or partial shade. Ground orchids, impatiens, today tomorrow yesterday and a kind of bell shaped purple flower and another trumpet shaped red flower with both have fleshy leaves all are flowering plants that prefer shade or partial shade.
On the left are the foliage plants and begonias that I originally grew in pots. In my absence my cousins had planted them in the ground. Some of them survived and grew into hardy bushes and even completely taking over parts of the garden. So much so that I had to thin them out and replant them in other shady spots in the garden.
Below are foliage plants (e.g. begonias) that I replanted in the ground in shady areas:
This is Episcia cupreata it is a trailing plant that has a beautiful red or pink flower, it can also be grown in hanging pots. It has several different varieties, in the picture you can see that some have dark brownish green leaves and others have light green leaves. (click on the pic for a better view)
Impatiens flowers of various colors growing in a shady area. (click on picture for better view)
Yesterday today tomorrow grows better in partial shade.
Light purple ground orchids in partial shade. This is the most commonly found ground orchid color in Sri Lankan gardens. Also comes in white but is less common. The white variety and light purple grown side by side look perfect together.
Dark purple ground orchids in partial shade. This orchid was obtained from a nursery but is no longer in my garden.
This is the bell shaped light purple flower with large fleshy leaves that grows in shade. I don't know what its called.
These are bell shaped red flowers growing best in partial shade. I would be interested in knowing the name of these plants if any one knows.
They make perfect companions to 'Poondalu' (impatiens balsamina ) the purple color of which you can also catch a glimpse of in this picture.
Flowering Vines
I have included flowering vines in my garden as they add a romantic touch to the whole setting, especially if they are trained to climb an arch. At one time I had several arches in my garden with different vines growing on them. However, in my absence they had been removed as the birds built nests in the vines and the nests in turn attracted snakes.
This is the pink antignon vine in my garden. I also had the white variety, the contrast of the two varieties together is beautiful. Unfortunately, the white antignon has since died out being less hardy than the pink variety.
This vine is called bleeding heart (clerodendron thomsoniae).Below are pictures of the arches that I had in my garden at one time along with various flowering vines which had been removed in my absence since they said they attracted snakes.
This light purple flowered vine is called thunbergia grandiflora. It also has a white flowered variety which is less robust. (click on picture to enlarge)
This vine with white flowers is one that I obtained from one of the flower fairs at the Vihara Maha Devi Park in Colombo.
These vines are katarolu -here you see the light purple variety. In the background you can see the buds of the bright blue katarolu (clitoria ternatea). There is also a white variety. They spread from seed so if you are not careful they will take over your whole garden.
The following three pictures show the arches that I had built in my garden to run my floral vines on. The arches have subsequently been removed.
Purple flowers
In keeping with the cottage garden style I have included flowers that are purple in color in my garden as shown below: 
