A walk in the park…..

Delhi has beautiful blossoms in February and March, and this year is no different.

All over Delhi, parks and roundabouts are being readied for spring flowers and at several places, the flowering has already begun.

One such place is Nehru Park, where a few (Shweta Poddar, Sujata Khanna, Harjas Singh & me) of us landed up after a couple of rainy days and were greeted by a prolific variety of  Gazania.

Gazania rigens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.

The species occurs in South Africa and Mozambique.

It is naturalised elsewhere and is widely cultivated as an ornamental garden plant.

Gazania rigens is grown for the brilliant colour of its flowers which appear in the late spring and early summer. Plants prefer a sunny position and are tolerant of dryness and poor soils.

LiveJournal Tags: "Nehru Park","New Delhi","Gazania rigens",Asteraceae,santoshnc,brilliant,colour,flowers,"Shweta Poddar","Sujata Khanna","Harjas Singh"

Okhla Bird Park – Butterflies

A recent visit to the Okhla Bird Park allowed me to be enthralled by hundreds of butterflies fluttering around there. There is such a profusion of  lantana there, that it attracts butterflies in droves.

A long time ago, when i was doing my post-grad, we used to hate lantana. This is a shrub that was introduced into India as an ornamental plant and soon started displacing native plants in all habitats.

Although the plant is disastrous in ecological terms, it is a great introduction to gardens, including home gardens as it is hardy and grows with little maintenance and can make the garden look very colourful…. and attract lots of butterflies…..

LiveJournal Tags: "Striped Tiger","Great Eggfly","Common Evening Brown". "Hypolimnas bolina","Danaus genutia","Melanitis leda"

Common Lime

The Common Lime Butterfly, Papilio demoleus, is a common and widespread Swallowtail butterfly. It gets its name from its host plants which are usually citrus species such as the lime. Unlike most swallowtail butterflies it does not have a prominent tail.

Canon EOS 40D ,Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

1/1000s f/5.6 at 300.0mm ISO800

Technorati Tags: "Common Lime Butterfly" "Papilio demoleus" Bangalore,butterfly,butterflies,photography