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September 14, 2006
Sun-loving plants
Z.N. guides her readers on how to grow dazzling blossoming creepers
Q Are there any beautiful flowering creepers which can be grown in full sun. They must be able to thrive in plants, pots and tolerate the high temperatures in Karachi.
A There are quite a number of attractive flowering creepers which will suit your purpose and all of the following should be easily acquired from your local nurseries: banisteria laurifolia which is evergreen and has brilliant yellow flowers during the hot weather; beaumontia grandiflora grows very rapidly and bears large white flowers in the spring; bignonia chamberlayne has pale yellow flowers and bignonia venusta; otherwise known as golden shower has masses of tubular orange flowers in late winter and sometimes again in the autumn months.
Bougainvillea which is now available in an extensive range of colours with both single and double flowers; jacquemontia violacea has small leaves and very pretty bright blue flowers may be suitable but actually does better with some shade; passiflora of all varieties; petrea volubilis has long racemes of almost lavender coloured flowers in late winter and sometimes again in late spring; poiverea coccinea with shiny green leaves and red flowers in hot weather; quisqualis indica which is more commonly known as Rangoon creeper with pale pink and white perfumed flowers which turn dark red on their second day; tecoma grandiflora with gorgeous terracotta coloured, trumpet shaped flowers during the monsoons and there are various species of ipomea, some annual and others perennial which give a very attractive display. You have lots and lots to choose from.
Q I have got a few plants like aloe vera and petunias growing in pots and I want to get more varieties but I can only grow them in pots. Some plants that I tried to grow wilted due to exposure to full sun. What kind of things can I grow in areas where we do not have adequate shade available and in order for pot plants to thrive what precautions and care do we need to take.
A Aloe Vera is an excellent choice for growing in large pots in full sun and, as these are perennial plants, they will increase rapidly if they are happy. Petunias are annual flowering plants which will not, as a rule, survive for any length of time if kept in pots which get direct sunshine during the hotter part of the year. There are numerous varieties of aloes, agaves and other succulents which love the conditions you can supply them with and, as an added bonus, some of them do flower and they will all survive in poor soil conditions with limited water.
The cacti family relishes the same kind of conditions though some species do not like the high humidity of the summer months as this can cause them to rot.
However, during the cooler months of late autumn, winter and early spring you can grow a very wide range of seasonal flowering plants indeed. Also, during the same period you can cultivate annual herbs and vegetables in large plant pots, too.
As plant pots tend to dry out faster than the soil in an actual garden, you need to pay attention to watering, especially with annual species and their pots should never be allowed to completely dry out. Pots should not be allowed to get watereither as this causes plants roots to rot away and die. Keeping the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots clear is extremely important. This is generally done by placing few pieces of broken clay pots at angles over the drainage hole prior to putting in the soil. Ants can create havoc in plant pots but can be controlled by sprinkling organic derris dust around the outer base of the pots and also by keeping the area around your pots completely free of soil particles, leaves and other debris. Gardening in pots can be a very rewarding experience and, unlike with plants grown directly in the ground, you can rearrange them to match your mood!
Q Over the last couple of years a light reddish coloured plant has developed in our garden. The mali keeps taking it out but it comes back very fast. Please suggest a remedy or spray to deal with this problem.
A I suspect that you may have been invaded by a member of the oxalis family of plants which can be extremely difficult to control indeed. As I do not advocate the use of any harmful chemical sprays in any garden, the only method of control is to continue pulling the plants out. In doing this, your mali needs to ensure that he takes out as much of the invasive roots as possible and not just pull or cut off the visible growth. He may get quite fed up of this chore but, if he works hard, then the problem will eventually be solved.
Q Our neighbour planted a palm tree adjacent to our boundary wall. The tree has now grown tremendously in both height and girth and we are concerned that it will break down the wall which is already slanting with the weight. What can we do?
A I sincerely hope that you are on good terms with your neighbours as the only solution is to discuss the problem with them and solve it between you. It sounds like the offending tree will have to be removed to be honest and any new trees planted at a decent distance away from your boundary wall.
Q We live in Abbottabad and my mother loves gardening but every winter she loses lots of her precious plants no matter how much shelter she gives them from the cold.
Bougainvillea for example, keeps on dying off. She has grown experimental mango trees and bananas and although these do die back in the winter they come again in the spring and are now three years old. We do not expect them to fruit but at least they are growing. Also, we have two varieties of pomegranate, one white and one red, but some insect gets inside the fruit and they are black and hollow inside no matter how much pesticide we spray. What can we do?
A I am very surprised that your bougainvillea do not survive as I have seen them thriving in Abbottabad. They need to be grown in well drained soil in a sunny location which is preferably sheltered from strong winds. My own bougainvillea in Bhurban, which is at a much higher altitude than Abbottabad and also much colder, tend to die back in the winter but come up again from the roots in spring. I am delighted to hear about your mango and banana trees and hope they continue to survive but, as with my own bananas, I agree that they will probably not bear fruit.
I have had exactly the same problem with my own pomegranate trees this year. I do not believe in using any form of chemical in the garden so will be treating my pomegranates with hing next spring. This needs be done as soon as the trees start to wake up after their winter rest. Simply bore a small hole into the trunk of the tree, six inches above ground level and to a depth of one quarter of an inch to two inches depending on the size of the tree trunk. The hole should not reach right into the centre of the trunk but needs to be deep enough to reach the rising sap. Into this hole which, by the way, should only have a small diameter, push a kishmish size piece of fresh hing and then seal up the hole with mud. As the sap rises and spreads throughout the tree it takes the active ingredient of the hing with it and this heals all sorts of tree diseases and helps to prevent any insect attack when the tree is fruiting. The fruit does not taste of hing at all so this is not a problem. Please try this method and I hope that it solves both you and my own pomegranate problems.
Q Is there any plant or vine, other than citronella, which can be used to keep mosquitoes away.
A The leaves of the neem tree are quite effective in this respect as are eucalyptus leaves. Both varieties of leaves should be burnt, in small quantities, as the aromatic smoke drives mosquitoes away. Otherwise, growing pots of mint and sacred basil, niazbo and either placing them inside your house or next to doors and windows, is claimed to help. n
Send your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com
Answers to selected questions will appear in a future issue of 'The Review'
The great Hair affair
Having read the article ‘The great Hair affair’ (TR, Aug 31), I would like to add that there is no proof what so ever about tampering with the ball. So on what basis can the ICC even convene a meeting to investigate the affair? The person who needs to be investigated is Darrel Hair for alleging that Pakistanis are cheats without submitting any tangible proof. Pakistan and Inzamam ul Haq should sue the umpire Darrel Hair and ICC for defamation of the team and country. How dare Darrel Hair ask for 50,000 pay off and how dare ICC support his allegations and pay-off demand. Second umpire Billy Doctrove cannot be absolved of the whole affair either, as he went along with the un-substantiated tampering allegation of Darrel Hair.
Since when has the right to forfeit the game become a matter of disrepute as a team has the right to forfeit a game, and Pakistan exercised that right. It is Darrel Hair who brought the honest profession of umpiring into disrepute by passing judgment which sixty plus cameras could not detect. My question to ICC is “if one of the other umpires from the elite panel like Asaad Rauf or Nadeem Gauri had done the same would Malcolm Speeds’ ICC have supported them the same way as they are supporting Darrel Hair? If it had been the Australian team on the receiving end had their media reacted in the same fashion as they are reacting now?
The problem is that ICC is dominated by whites and thus Asian teams usually get the stick. Inzamam should have walked away the moment the opposition was awarded five runs instead of waiting till tea to make the decision. Dignity, pride, honour and prestige are more important than disrepute. How the ICC can expect after 50 plus overs the ball to remain intact including seams, considering the hard surfaces the balls land on, is beyond me.
When reverse swing was used successfully by English bowlers last summer in the Ashes series, umpires never had any suspicions, Australians never objected either, and the English were considered to have mastered the reverse swing technique…but when a non-white team does it the whole scenario changes.
ICC also has the audacity of warning Pakistan and Inzamam ul Haq to refrain from making any comments on the issue till the hearing is over. It’s about time e become a bit more bolder!
Tanweer Ameen
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