Passion: Response of plants to change of season...

Change in season have profound impact on the plants.........
In harsh condition, they will just bolt..........
When favorable condition is sensed...they will open up...
Like this mandevilla, that bloomed as the mercury mellowed down...

Also, these petunias....

Passion: My gardenscape in August........

My garden in August....
I keep on doing permutations and combinations of the pot arrangement..till  it pleases me..

Passion: Gardening and its pests.......

'If prey is around, predator can't be far behind'.......that's the exact  scenario with gardening...

As soon as you plant, an immense number of pests and bugs, some visible, some microscopic move in to ravage your fruits of labor...
Bougainvillea looper on bougainvillea...

Caterpillar on geranium.........

Miner on petunia......

Aphids on mandevilla...

Aphids on hibiscus.......

Thrips on hibiscus...

Miner worm on rose.....

A fat caterpillar was munching away on my cucumber leaves...could have been a good lunch for bug-eating birds..

See the condition of the leaves...trails of feeding by the bug...loss of chlorophylls are by some bug-secreted proteases..

A hopper...it gave me chills....hot weather favors these insects...
I have seen crepe myrtle trees in Las Vegas loaded with pests..what if they flocked here!

Another hopper..

Another..

You get a bloom, and then it unfurls like this...annoyance!

No clue what it is...looks like a tick...

Some rogue is cutting away my hibiscus buds...

Also, nibbling them...I know its a grasshopper...I caught it red-handed..however, eliminating the hoppers is not easy, for they jump away...

A mealybug on the cucumber..

Looks like some kind of insect eggs on the pea leaves..

Some aphids perhaps...on my camellia..

Butterflies.......

Thinking how are the winged-bugs are harming crop...well, the adult form sips nectar but it lays eggs on the leaves, which hatch into larvae, which quickly gorge on the leaves...

Is it a honeybee or what? Looks scary with those big eyes..

Fungal attack on cucumber.....root is split at the middle...so, it falls off.....

Mushrooms/fungus...

Cockroaches..

Snails and slugs on rose, caterpillar on coleus, fungal attack on marigold and calla lily....the list is long....

A lizard..

But like all hurdles in life, they ought not deter an aspiring gardener..........
Actually, the relation is complex..they do serve as pollinators too...you will know what they they mean, when the flowers never turn into fruits for lack of pollens...

A bee..

I despise the detrimental chemical pesticides...so I have a squirt-bottle full of concentrated detergent solution to kill the menacing aphids.........and the miners, caterpillars and snails are eliminated by just cutting the twigs harboring them........as for fungal rot, avoiding over-watering seems good enough...

Place: Sierra .........

I love Sierra........the alpine region of California....

The peaks, covered with fresh snow...
Just looking at these pictures on a scalding summer day has coolant effect....

It was a view of the mountain range from the Morro rock, Sequoia National Park.......

Thought: Why people behave so stupidly?..........

Why people behave so foolish?........endangering there own life and disturb others.

Everybody knows how harsh South California summer sun can be.

The other day it was 90 degree F and wind speed 10 miles/h.

Two guys decided to lit the charcoal grill below the jacaranda just beside our house.

The smell of  kerosene was pushed into our house.. thanks to the wind..

The blaze would make you feel pity for the green canopy of jacaranda...and the fire reminded of the devastating Sand fire...

Could not they have waited till sun was down....I would not dare stand in such intense sun..leave only stand by the fire and cook.........

We pay forty percent of our salary to live in this house in a posh neighborhood in Irvine....
For these..
Year-round blooms.....

Tree-lined sidewalks...

Gorgeous flower beds..

Stately streets and promenades..

wildlife...

Also, because it has no bug problem, no vehicle noise, no chemical smell as happens in some cities (we had bad experience with it in San Diego)......

And here, some folks are creating yet another problem..

Further, in the neighboring apartment, some Asian people put their television volume so high, I wonder if they are deaf....
Whatever the reason, it affects me as I try to study..
To nullify the noise I turn on the fan, reluctantly....
I can't imagine disturbing others like it...

People ought to respect each other....