Monsoon Moments : Temptation

Carissa carandas ... ever wondered why the very name is like a caress?
Rain-frosted globes; creamy, blush, blood-red, passionate purple. And it's temptation all over again

It's a wet, green world!

Green is my world and as wet as can be!
I feel as if I'm living in a rainforest. Everywhere I turn, Mumbai is a palette of every shade of green imaginable. But nowhere more so than in my own garden.
From the deep, dark primeval greens of trees clasping branches with each other and creating cocoons of mystical calm, to the fresh clean greens of maidenhair ferns waving at me from every nook and corner of my garden.

Raindrops mist the petals and roll down leaves. Silvery balls of cool washing the earth clean and soothing it awake.
Or, thrumming in with lashing wave and frenzied winds, tossing blooms and whipping leaves, shaking my garden alive.

And in one corner of my garden I spot this little vine, planted years ago and half-forgotten. I had sown the seeds with no great expectations and was thrilled to see them grow. And grow, without showing any sign of doing much else.
It had clambered all over a custard-apple tree, ran along an electric wire and draped itself in great big looping garlands.
And then grew some more. Until now.
Now is the time the passionflower has come into its own. Perfect timing, don't you think?

Maidenhair, there, and everywhere

I had almost forgotten about the ferns! One of the most beautiful plants to make an appearance in my rain-happy garden, these maidenhair ferns are native and need no prompting to show up.

Within a few days, the whole garden seems to become a sprouting ground for these delicate beauties, waving their lacy fronds from every stone and mud wall. They do grow on the ground too, but interestingly, they seem to prefer vertical planes like walls and the sides of pots.

What starts off like this, very soon burgeons into this

If I could attribute human intelligence to them, I could swear they chose these vantage points to show off the graceful arch of their black-ribbed stems. Somehow, it just doesnt look half so dramatic when they grow on level ground.

Very often, the place where these ferns grow is blanketed with new growths of moss and lichens. Which makes it look like these maidens have sunk their feet in very luxuriously thick, green carpets.
But, I guess, the millipedes seem to like them too.

Now, if I were that lady, I'd be shrieking!