Dogwood Day Afternoon – A walk in the flowering woods
Come spring, the first thing you would notice in every pocket of woods in Raleigh, NC are dazzling white flowers. Meet the Flowering Dogwood, the state flower of North Carolina
Tag: flowering trees
Flowering Gliricidia is a feast for the Tufted Gray Langur
Few distractions can thwart a morning of birding, especially in late winter when it’s time to “clean up” the migrants. However, stopping to watch a troop of Tufted Gray Langur feast on flowering Gliricidia at Horsley Hills is certainly one
Encounter: Rhododendron, sentinel of the highlands
Never mind its cough-syrupy taste, or its tongue-twister of a name, a Rhododendron in flower is inspiration enough to walk the Himalaya, or the Nilgiris
Burning Bright – In praise of the Flame of the Forest
Devoid of flower through the year it is like any other tree pale of trunk and green of leaf. But come March, when the Flame of the Forest burns up the landscape for far furlongs, its incendiary sight you can neither ignore nor forget I remember Beej telling me about…
Shrieks of silence in Pondicherry’s treeless avenues
Statistically, 35 people perished in the carnage essayed by Cyclone Thane. Yet, the obituaries that will never be written are of Pondicherry’s beautiful avenue trees, many of which we have celebrated on The Green Ogre. In the funereal streets of this old French enclave, their limbs are being hacked and…
Encounter: Cyclone Thane, Pondicherry
To those of us sitting in Bangalore, Cyclone Thane is just a cold, wet day to grumble about. Or perhaps even enjoy as we huddle (or perhaps cuddle – but don’t let us give you any ideas) amid cups of tea. But out on the east coast of India, the…
When Sky Jasmine rained down
The Indian Cork Tree’s expended blossoms infuse rare magic into the morning after a stormy monsoon night I stay on the coast in Pondicherry. My sense of infinity is linked to the sea. It is not confined to poignant gazing at the horizon but often it attains a physical dimension — like infinite…
A Red Cassia in late flower
The late-blooming Red Cassia sets the avenue canopy aflame, flowering as it does when all colour is spent after the monsoon’s departure In early August I had posted an encounter with the lovely Red Cassia (Cassia roxburghii) and that was already late for the summer flowering season in the subcontinent. Not so…
The Cannonball Tree, an explosion of beauty
In flower the Cannonball Tree is lovely. But, by Toutatis, beware the skull-crushing quality of its menacing fruits
Encounter: The darling buds of May
May is just behind us, but the familiar trees that lend their signature flush to this month are still in riotous flower One reason I look forward to May, despite the sweltering heat it brings, is the blooming of Gulmohar (Delonix regia), often called ‘Mayflower’ locally. The tree is also…
Encounter – Monsieur Baobab
The Baobab trees of Pondicherry were lost in time and rediscovered in the 13-acre forest patch inside the now defunct Swadeshi Cotton Mill Complex