Welcome to Blooming Friday! It gives me such pleasure to share these pictures from a recent trip to my hometown. The blooms I’m posting today are from my cousin’s place. She lives on the edge of a hill overlooking the Diyung valley with a magnificent view of the Barail Ranges.
The last blooms of a succulent in a pretty shade of pink greets me as I climb the steps to my cousin’s house. Bharati (my cousin’s name) and I grew up together. She’s head of the department of history at a college there. She’s an avid gardener, a passion shared by her oldest daughter.
Poinsettia (Fireball) blooming near the ledge. This photo was taken from her driveway. It’s the driest season of the year and the ornamental potato plants do not look good at this time of the year. But once the rainy season starts everything will look so lush and beautiful.
Pink, in various shades, is the dominant colour. I fell in love with this variegated bougainvillea growing against the wall.
Pink kalanchoe growing in a pot.
The view of the blue ranges from Bharati’s house.
Pink and white geraniums in a pot on her porch. Fortunately, geraniums do well in that climate.
A green bird on one of the tall trees. I don’t know its name. There were many birds but I only recognized the Bulbul (not in picture).
A red dragonfly on a twig. Not many dragonflies are seen in this season so I was happy to be able to photograph this one.
A yellow rose. There were many on the bush.
Euphorbia in a delicate shade of pink.
Broom grass grows wild all across the area.
Bay-leaf moon. The Indian bayleaf (Tejpatta) is regularly used in our kitchens. This was taken from the terrace of Bharati’s house. With the moon already out I couldn’t resist taking this picture.
The wooded area on the edge of the hill overlooking the valley. This is home to squirrels and a great variety of birds. The bird song as we went around the property were music to my ears.
It was getting dark as I left my cousin’s house and on one of the tall bare trees, the birds had come to roost.
And talking about the birds, these impatiens are a gift from them! Bharati told me that she never planted impatiens but they’ve been sprouting all over the place and in many colours too. Some people are just plain lucky!:-)
I hope you’ve enjoyed going through this post. Thank you Katarina, for hosting Blooming Friday. I wish all my visitors and blogger friends a wonderful weekend!
Terra farmer 
Thanks Kanak, as usual i am still in awe of the mountain ranges! Am sorry but the flowers are just secondary.
Andrea…with your love for the mountains, I can understand!! The hills will feature in many of my posts.
How wonderful it looks in your home town. No snow! Yes, there is still much snow to come here before spring. Have a nice week end!
Lillebeth, no snow but December and January are cold…by our standards, I mean. Thanks!
Love your cousins place- what a pretty home! The pink succulent and the green bird are my favourites! Have a nice weekend//Eva
Thanks Eva…glad to be able to show my part of the world:)
This was a great treat for me and please tell your cousin that she has a beautiful garden. Of course we would love to see more of it !
P.S. Why don’t you suggest that she or her daughter start a gardening blog like you?
Helen, I definitely will! I wish more north-easterners would blog. Most hill towns have spectacular blooms/scenery and no bloggers!:(
Kanak,
Enjoyed this posting, your cousin’s place is charming. We were given a kalanchoe plant and until now I had no clue what it was.
Thanks randy. Red kalanchoes are the ones that are most commonly seen. Yellow looks pretty too. I’ll be posting mine…they’re all set to bloom now.
Such a beautiful location for your cousin’s house. I love all the different shades of pink she has. That broom grass is amazing! I can just imagine the joy in your heart getting to be with a dear loved one and enjoying the fantastic scenes and the song of the birds! Happy weekend to you too.
Mildred, thanks! I’ve always wanted to include the broom grass in my posts but never managed to get a decent picture. This happened to be the right time, just ready to be gathered and dried for making brooms.
Very beautiful driveway of your cousin’s house.The view from the house is also spectacular. As usual you managed to capture a beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Padma. The bird could be a kind of barbet but I’m not too sure. I hope I’ll be able to spend some time there in the future and photograph a great variety of wildlife.
Lovely place, just love that Poinsettia blooming near the ledge, so lush. I’m also impressed of the bay leaf tree?bush?we use it a lot in our kitchen as well. I wish you a great weekend/ xx Tyra
Tyra, thanks! It’s a medium-sized tree but not the same kind that’s used in western cooking. Although both belong to the same family (Lauraceae), this one has a flavour that’s almost similar to cinnamon. The botanical name is Cinnamomum tamala.
A Flavour of cinnamon ? Like to try that ‘speice’, perhaps I already have? I’m a big fan of Indian kitchen 🙂
Your cousin’s house reminds me of an eaglenest, placed on a cliff, beautiful and what a weiv you are showing. Enjoy to see all the flowers, all I can see outside here is white snow.. So, birds are not only a joy to watch but also small gardeners, Funny 🙂
Mia, so glad to know that you love Indian food. Maybe you have, tasted tejpatta, I mean. It’s usually added to hot oil for that special aroma. Most homes have a tree in their yards. It’s a medium sized tree so it doesn’t take up a lot of space. And the leaves can always be dried and used. It’s better that way.
About the birds, it’s wonderful. I’ve had my fair share of pleasant surprises (gifts) too! I love your description about the location of the house. An eagle’s nest…I like that!
Beautiful pictures – and the view from the house is magnificent. I am envious.
Have a good weekend!
Thanks, Easygardener. Lovely to read your comment.
Hey Kanak, What beautiful pics! They warmed me all over. It was really cold and “white” at my mom’s home. Even tho it is rainy and gray I’m very glad to be back.
Susie, thanks! Glad you liked them. My love to your mom…I hope she feels better soon!
What a lovely home! The surrouding is awesome. I like all your cousin’s plants. The bougainvillea flowers are so special (the colours!). The kalanchoe, wow! That’s something. They are re-blooms? My reblooms look horrible. Nothing like this. Btw, I like that sweet euphorbia flower… the colour so soft and nice. Wonderful post Kanak!
Steph…so happy to read this. Bharati will be happy to see all these comments. About the kalanchoe, I didn’t ask her whether they’re re-blooms. Mine are blooming again and they look pretty good. I fell for that pink too:)
Your hometown is beautiful!
Sweet Bay, thank you so much!
Kanak, your cousin’s place is fantastic – the house, the view overlooking the mountains, the garden, the lot! The variegated Bougainvillea made me gasp with envy – how lovely! Thanks for sharing and Happy Blooming weekend!
Katarina, oh she’ll love to see this comment! That variegation is not too common around here. The others are always less spectacular. Have a great weekend too!
A stunning series of images. Such greenery in this time of the year means that the weather is not extreme there.
That’s true, Birdy. Never unbearable! Summer days are hot but the nights are pleasant.
Oh, how beautiful, Kanak! The rich colors are a feast for my snow white eyes!
Joey, every time I post I’ll keep your snow-white-eyes in mind!
What a vista from your cousins house Kanak! I love your photos of the grasses, landscapes and that little green bird!! Your bougainvillea shots are lovely too… love the gray background… it makes the color sing! I like your new digs here. Are you happy with wordpress? Carol
Oh, I am!! But I know I’ve still got to use many other features. I’ve been plagued with computer woes of late (nothing to do with WordPress btw) but I can sing about the features!:) I’d like to include a future post on wild grass. Thanks carol, for all your words. Always a pleasure to have you visit me!
The red and white variegated bract bougainvillea is “Bougainvillea Chitra”