Jasmine…

I am crazy about jasmine and its sweet fragrance. They are mystical and romantic. Their scent seems to trigger nice memories of my childhood and of the people who I deeply care about.

About three summers ago, I bought two jasmine plants from a nursery in my old neighborhood in Chicago. I planted them together in a rectangular plastic container and placed them outside of my apartment window. I would move them inside of the apartment when the breeze turns colder, keep them close to a bright window, and hope they stay alive until spring returns. Once the air becomes warmer, I’d move them back outside again and let them stay out for the whole summer. That dance continued every year to this summer in our new home in Michigan. As a native to the tropical regions of the world, my jasmine plants love and thrive in the bright sun, heat, and humidity that summer offers this year. I just have to make sure that they drink lots of water once a day.

Here are the little beauties. Wished you could smell their intoxicating beautiful fragrance.

I notice that they start budding and blooming like crazy in July.

My morning coffee ritual on the patio becomes even more special with the little beauties’ scent all around. It’s pretty fantastic!

Hope you’re enjoying your summer wherever you are!

Harini RianaLeave a comment

Container Gardening and My Nemesis

Like many people, I get excited over the arrival of spring. I relish the longer and warmer days and I plan to be outside as much as I can. Also like many others, I plant in the spring time. Due to space limitation I stick with container gardening, which I have been doing for a few years now. I started with growing flowers and chili peppers in containers outside of my apartment windows in Chicago. Now that we live in an apartment with a patio that opens up to a grassy area, I have a little bit of space for more plants.  This year I focus on herbs and vegetables that I use a lot in my cooking. So far I have:

parsley and rosemary,

tomato,

Cayenne peppers, sweet basil, Thai and Serano peppers, and another tomato.

I also have jasmine, impatiens, lavender, citronella mosquito plant, mums, and a couple of other flowers.

The nemesis eating my tomato

Of course like many of those who garden, I also have a nemesis. I caught him eating my tomato one day. A few days later, my sweet upstairs neighbor confessed that she’s been feeding my nemesis recently. She thinks that feeding the chipmunk will make it full and stop eating my young tomatoes.  But I am thinking that it might invite more chipmunks to party on her patio.

Meanwhile, I am sprinkling cayenne pepper powder around my tomato plants. A tip I found online somewhere. Let’s see if it works. So far so good though.

PS: If you a name suggestion for my nemesis, I am all ears.

Harini RianaLeave a comment