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I looked last week at the roses at two corners of the roof garden. The other two corners, as I have shown previously, are occupied by two pots of bougainvillea, which I have had from the days I took up gardening, though there were earlier on the balcony, and were moved up only last year.
In the centre of the roof garden are two large and deep basins, the first of which, near the stairs, has a temple flower tree while there are two lime trees in the other. From the beginning there were roses in the first basin, one plant put in early on at the northeastern edge, near the stairway, and then another alongside it. The former has kept producing little red roses over the last year, but the other was slower, and has only occasionally produced large white blossoms. But this month it surpassed itself, and had four blossoms, verging on light pink.
You see all of them in the first picture, together with three smaller flowers in the first rose tree there on the left. Beyond, at the opposite corner to this tree is a taller red rose tree, one of those Anuruddha gave me, with one blossom high above the others. Sadly the two other rose trees in this basin, also given by Anuruddha, had no blossoms this time round, though a couple of weeks earlier one of them had had a massive flower, just like the one that had thrilled me when he made me his present.
Further still in this first picture you see a rose in the next basin along. This is on the plant in the northwest corner, with one lime tree to the east and the other to the south. The second picture here gives you a closer view of that purple flower, while beyond it, through the luscious lime leaves, you can see two blossoms on the plant in the opposite corner. These should have been a vibrant orange, as the original flower on the tree was when I bought it, but as I showed a few weeks back its new home has softened its shade. But as the third picture shows, the blossoms are large and luscious and there are several together, and their colour is splendidly set off by the darker green of the lime tree behind them.
The next picture shows one of these flowers by itself, to highlight its beautiful form as well as the colour, a pale orange. Then to match this is one of the flowers in the other basin, which I showed at the start, a pale pink though that I had thought had originally had white blossoms. I show after that a side view of one of these blossoms, with the red flowers beside it in contrast, and then there is a close up of one of those red flowers.
And I conclude, for good measure, with a picture of the red tree from the other side, with a pink one beside it, these again in that first basin with which I started. But I should add that perhaps not all the pictures will appear, for the internet on this ship seems slow.
I move today to the garden, to a tank I have largely neglected. This is the upright tank that stands in the porch, to the right of the first designer chair which I described several weeks ago. The fish best seen from there are those in this upright tank, and I mentioned this when I spoke about the chair, but I seem not to have talked after that about the tank.
It has had a range of fish there over the three or four years I have had it, including several angels at one stage, but chaos set in when I moved many fish there last December to clear the waterfall pond of all but the white fish which had spawned. There seem to have been fights, and a few fish including the old Mozambique Kavi had given me when I set up a pond here died, and the angels that remained also died a few weeks after they were transferred to the pink tub below the ehala tree.
So there remained there just the four carp I had moved from the waterfall pond, and to them I added another red fish, which seemed just like a carp but which I was assured when I had bought it was nothing of the sort. His mate had vanished and he had then started to lurk in a corner as had done a gourami whom I rescued too late, but this chap has survived in the tank.
And I also put in there first two black catfish and then two white ones, though within a few weeks in either case one of the pair died. But the remaining two have survived, and seem to get along well with the other five fatter fish, moving about all the time as catfish do while the others are more sedate.
But then I decided to supplement the fish with inanimate nature, for I found suddenly on the ground one of three clay statues I had been gifted some years back, three elephants with musical instruments. They had vanished from the wall where I had put them, and when one reappeared I thought this would be a good place to put him. He looks grand there and the fish did not seem to mind.
So when some of the little statues I had put on the edge of the waterfall pond came unstuck and could not be put in place again despite repeated efforts I thought they might as well go there too. So we have in there a horse and a hippopotamus and the head of a statue which broke.
So here is my own version of a glass menagerie. The first picture shows the head in a corner, and one of the carp talking to the hippopotamus, with three fish listening to them behind. They are all red, a big red carp and another that is predominantly red but has black markings, and then the red fish that is not a carp.
In the next picture you see the white catfish gliding along, with behind him a horse, propped against the back wall for he came off his pedestal, which you can see separately. And though he is almost impossible to catch, I think it is the black catfish you see in the next picture, diving downward between two red fish with the white catfish to the left.
I then go back in time to the middle of last year when the tank was a haven for angels. And the final picture is not here because of the fish, or the statues, but because it shows Benjy passing which he is wont to do of a morning.
A couple of weeks back, after incessant rain had stopped me going up there for ages, I finally got to the roof garden. I think that in fact it had been just a couple of weeks but my impatience made it seem longer. That impatience was because, as I showed just a few weeks back, the roses there had begun to produce blossoms in profusion, the old ones and those I had put in since Anuruddha’s present of four plants in May had made me decide to virtually dedicate the roof garden to roses.
I had seen from below, in the plants on the edge, blossoms proliferating, but this did not prepare me for the wonderful sight that met my eyes, on what seemed the first sunny afternoon in aeons, that of Saturday November 11th. So before they seemed stale I thought I would revert to the roof garden, interrupting my account of the garden below. And since I am now travelling, it will be easier for a week or two simply to show these beauties, without much commentary.
But there is need of some at least, to make it clear what lies where, in the profusion of colour that covered the roof. Of the fourteen rose plants I had there, twelve were in bloom, and some of them had several blossoms. There were eighteen on one plant, and I start with that, the yellow roses which I had moved to the bed on the southwest corner when I had to make room in a pot for the new tall plants I had bought in Ingiriya.
Along with the yellow roses I had moved some white roses there from another pot I needed, and the white roses too were flourishing. I had shown both these plants last month, but what they displayed then was nothing like what they had now. You see both these sets of flowers from the front in the first picture, along with a solitary red flower on the first rose plant I placed in that bed, one of those Anuruddha had given me in May. And the second picture shows them from the east, the seat just above them.
A third picture focuses more on the white roses just next to the seat, and also gives you a better look at the red rose. In the preceding picture you also have a sight of one of the few other flowers that was in bloom on that day, a blue daisy I think in the next bed along.
From these I move to the other end of the roof garden and very different flowers, the bicoloured rose plant in the pot on the northeast end. This is at the top of the stairway, on the left as you look down from the garden. It was doing well the last time I was up here, but now it has produced four blossoms. I show all of them first, and then focus on a couple, of different shades.
But I should not forget the original fish on the balcony, the small fish I put in the little tank, and then the angels in the big one, together with some round white fish. The angels bred almost at once, so only the parents were left with the little ones, dozens of them it seems.
Sadly those I put in other tanks did not survive, but there are still over twenty I think in the big tank. And though the mother died within a month of the babies emerging, the father survived, and for months I was able to identify him when they all swarmed round the food I dropped in. Recently though his children have got so big that I am not sure as to which he is, though I think he can be seen in the first picture here.
Though the tank has a big glass frontage, the angels lurked at the back, so for months I only saw them well when I fed them and they came up in clouds to grab what they could. But a month back when Kavi cleaned the other tanks he cleaned up the front of this, and perhaps because of this they now appear there in the morning when I go up with their food, as though demanding that I feed them first. The second picture shows them clustered at the front, the white ones dominating though you can see a couple of the black ones at the back. The orange that decorates the white ones is not so prominent when one sees them, but for some reason it shows up well in pictures.
For almost the whole of their first year of existence it seemed that all the angels in this pond survived, which made me feel worse about the fate of those I had moved. But then in September I found one floating at the top of the pond, just as their mother had been floating eleven months earlier. And then the next month there were two dead on the same day, one floating on top, and another an odd shape in the greenery below, which turned out to be another dead angel. I wondered then whether there had been others dying over the year, lost in the depths of the pond, but there has never been a smell, so I trust this was not the case.
After I show these fish, the latter being buried under the roses, I show the other survivor of the original four angels I brought to the balcony. I had removed the second pair when the mother and father treated them as hostile, way back in October, and put them in the little pond, where the pondweed affected them badly and one of them died. But the other as I have described survived, and though once he gave me a scare he soon revived, and now is almost always near the top when I go up in the morning.
And with him are the six tetra who have survived for over a year now. I had put in eight, but two died almost straight away. But the others remain, and I usually see at least four of a morning, and occasionally all six, though not all are here with their friendly angel in the next two pictures, taken in August and then in early November.
But sadly I no longer see the platies which were the first fish there. One of the six originally put in died soon, but the other five survived for nearly a year, and then there were just four visible. They used to be on top or came up soon enough for food, but for a months they have scarcely been visible. And yet there is at least one still there, for about once every two weeks, at least till last month, he would suddenly come up to eat, and then vanish again into the depths.
As I have noted before, there are not many flowers in my actual garden, as compared with the plethora of roses, up on the balcony and on the roof garden. But I have shown some delights, notably the purple orchids that for a year and more appeared regularly on a branch of the dead temple flower tree.
Unfortunately that plant fell from the tree, and though I have put it up elsewhere there have been no flowers. Nor, after one or two some years back on the Kandyan Dancer which Kavi gave me when the garden was inaugurated, five years ago, were there any blooms on that. So some months back, thinking that perhaps the reason was that there was not enough sun on the ehala tree where it had been placed, I moved it, together with other orchid plants I had been given, to the tall trees at the back of the tortoise enclosure where I have on occasion shown delicate purple flowers.
But when nothing appeared for some months I had given up hope, so much so that I had not looked in that direction. So I was both surprised and delighted when at the beginning of this month I saw a whole host of Kandyan dancers on that old plant. There were several, which had not happened before, and in two clusters, a glory to behold in the morning as I sit by the ponds there to feed the fish.
Behind the seat, in front of the orchid tree, is the ambarella tree which is about to complete two years. It has flowered four times during this period, and now there is a fifth set of flowers. But these are tiny and so the second picture here shows the fruits of the fourth set of flowers. Behind them you can glimpse the yellow Kandyan Dancer.
On the other side of the pond round the temple flower tree there is a ginger plant, the only one that remains of several my sister gave me a few years back. A few months back it finally produced a flower, and then another, though the second did not flourish as the first had done because of the rain. Now there are a couple of buds on the plant, which I thought worth capturing since the rains may do for them before they reach fruition. But I also value the picture that appears third here because in the pond itself you can see one of the white fish which have been prolific breeders. Unfortunately the mother is no longer there – assuming the bigger fish is the father, which I may have got wrong – but several babies are just about visible near this chap when I look closely. This set of parents are more accomplished than those in the waterfall pond, for there are half a dozen of their first brood now in the other part of the pond – though more about that will have to appear on a Wednesday.
Finally I show the most extraordinary flower that emerged on one of the vegetables that Janaki has planted below the frame that was intended initially for jasmines. Those produced hardly any flowers, and now spinach and other healthy foodstuffs flourish there. But one of these produced the most extraordinary white flowers, I think three of them now. So I end with one that appeared in September, the first, and then one from the end of last month.
Well over two months ago I wrote of the sad reminder I had had of the ruthlessness sometimes of nature, given the depredations of the white fish on others I introduced into the second little tank on the balcony. This is below the seat on the east side, next to the bed in the corner which was my second effort to have roses up there.
The white fish, born last December in the waterfall pond below, with well over twenty surviving for we removed all the other fish from there, were introduced up here soon after the tank was established. And having taken possession, they swiftly got rid of any others I put in there, platies and two sets of colourful little fish I bought.
But I did not want to leave them in possession of the field, so I introduced large fish I thought they could not bully, catfish whose swift and sinuous movements I find fascinating. And though Kavi told me the white fish tried occasionally to chase them, they held their own. Sadly one of them vanished, how I do not know, perhaps taken by a predator, perhaps washed over the edge as the tank filled with water because of the incessant rain – on several days I have had to reduce the levels, as with the other tank on that side which I described last week – but the other three seem quite happy there, twisting and turning and standing up as it were when food is dropped into the tanks of a morning.
The third tank up there, put in at the same time as the second, is under the seat in the south, next to the little lotus pond and the first bed for roses in the corner. I had various little fish in there to start with, including small angels from the bigger tank, though when a couple died I moved the one that remained, though he was not seen again in the little pond where I put him.
The colourful fish I had put in the other tank too did not survive, though the platies did, as did the black mollies I introduced there from the first tank on the balcony, where they had been prolific breeders. Aand then Lohan suggested I get some tiger barbs, which I had admired in his tank at Palankadewatte.
I first got a couple, and when they did well a few more. They all seem to have survived, though interestingly they take some time to emerge from the back of the tank when I drop food in, and then they stay near the bottom, while the platies frolic above them.
The first picture here shows I think the four catfish, along with some of the white fish, soon after I introduced them. But then I show just the three, with after that all four white fish, which have survived there from the start, along with two of the catfish.
Then we have the mollies and the platies in the other tank, with a tiger barb just discernible at the back. There follow two pictures of the tiger barbs amidst the others when they have finally come forward in search of food.
I have not written since August about my actual garden, down below, with its several ponds. Those of course figure here on Saturdays, but as I have shown there are lots of lovely trees down there, and occasionally flowers bloom. But I start today with neither flowers nor trees, but rather with an unexpected visitor in early September.
This was a peacock, who for a month or so haunted the neighbourhood so that my neighbours across the road – whose house like ours has been divided so that the only member of the family who lives there is far from us, with his front door on Duplication Road – said it had visited them too. This visit to my garden was a protracted one and, though I could not capture him on the grass, from which he flew up the moment I opened the door, he pottered for ages on the boundary wall.
The first picture shows him framed between the two trunks of the dead temple flower tree, and the second has him on a jutting out wall belonging to the neighbour at the back, with the new skyrise at the back and, more hearteningly, the bush with bright yellow leaves in front.
The next picture is an aerial view of the temple flower tree with the pond beneath it, but the focus is Lara, looking into the tortoise enclosure which she does often every day. You can see the little pond on the near side and then, through shrubbery, the pink bath tub where Kavi’s big pink gourami lives, together with the two companions given me by his uncle for Christmas.
The next picture is of the shrubs in the triangular basin beyond the pond, against the wall where the peacock was. There are three variegated varieties there, the little green and white one on the right taken from plants elsewhere in the garden, the middle long leaved one bought specially, as was the other which has spread widely, though that was bought for the roof garden and it was lucky that Janaki thought to place here a little plant from there.
Next I show a shrub that Mala Weerasekera gave me which she said spread profusely. I placed it next to the pink bath tub on the other side, beneath the ehala tree, and it did spread, though Benjy and Lara have made depredations upon it so that there is less than there was before they arrived. But this specimen is I think quite delightful, though I fear the netting I had to place over the tub slightly spoils its effect.
Finally I show little plants that I placed on the other side of the garden, below the place where the peacock displays himself in the second picture. These are grass as well as herbs that grow in profusion on the balcony, both in the little space I created for them and also in the rose beds so that they have to be weeded regularly. But instead of throwing that excess away, I uprooted them, with much help from Janaki and Kavi, and transferred them to the area outside the brick border where grass did not grow, and they did well. The recent rains created some problems, but much of this greenery has survived, a relief since Benjy and Lara have dug up much of the grass in the garden proper.
I return after two months to the balcony where finally the fish in the little tanks below the seats and the flower bed have fulfilled the promise for which I had constructed them. The first one had been under the flower bed just by the big lotus pond, and I had started there with a variety of little fish from the ponds down below. But little by little the Black Mollies, as I have now learnt their name is, began to dominate.
I had put three of them in there to begin with, and soon they started to breed, and did so in profusion. Two of the original chaps are still in there, having grown bigger and bigger, and along with them are their children of different sizes, including tiny ones which were born in the last days of October.
There have been so many that I have put them in the little basins in which Janaki placed the lotus seeds, some of which sprouted. This was hard on them for they did not last long there, whether taken by predators or somehow washed over by rain causing the levels to rise I cannot say. I bailed those basins out whenever I could, and covered them with old tiles to protect the fish, but that did not work, and I had to replenish the stock two or three times, to prevent mosquitoes breeding.
In the tank itself I found that the other fish I had placed dwindled till there was only one red fish, a platy, I believe. But since I wanted varied colours I put in a few more red fish last month, and Kavi had cleaned out the tank so that the tank presents a wonderful sight when I visit the balcony of a morning. I see a plethora of colour from the seat opposite, against the wall of the staircase, my perch for feeding the angels. And then I perch on the edge of the little square of greenery, leaning against the steps to the iron stairway to the roof garden, to look more closely at the fish from above.
It was there that I had the little basins, nestled between the big pond and the little tank, half shaded by the overhang of the roof. When leaves had begun to emerge I transferred the basins to ponds, but unfortunately they did not survive and I then moved them to open spaces, including one to the window ledge of my dining room.
I put two black mollies there but within a few minutes one had vanished, and I put in a couple more but next morning there was only one left even though I had put a slate on top. So, wondering if I was about to sacrifice another, I got one more so that the remaining chap would not feel lonely, and put another block on top of the basin, and hoped for the best.
The first picture shows that little tank with several black mollies and one platy, and then a recent one where you can see more gold amidst the black. Then I have a basin with a couple of black fish, and then both basins after leaves had emerged, with one black fish seen near the top of the basin on the left. And finally I have the basin, bereft of its leaves though I hope for more in the sunshine of the window, with its two little fish which I can only hope will survive.
Time after three weeks on top of my world to move down to the balcony where too, in addition to the lotuses and the fish, which feature on Saturdays, the roses continue to delight. Indeed I showed one of the plants last week, the newest entrant to the field, with the orange blossoms that had so enchanted me in Ingiriya.
These flowers, as I showed, kept their colour unlike the ones on the plant above which were paler, almost white in fact as the picture last week showed. The rich colour down below deserves greater exposure, so I start today with three blossoms together, blossoms that seem to glow more and more every day. This picture was taken on the 29th and the next one three days earlier.
That shows a blossom, indeed two, on the next plant in that bed on the east of the balcony. Those roses are pink, and the third picture shows them in all their glory.
The fourth picture was taken a couple of days later, and shows them together with blossoms on the northernmost plant in that bed, blossoms which change from yellow to orange. That is a tall plant as I hope its counterpart on the south will be, while the pink flowers are on what is termed a bud rose.
I show next the bed seen from above, from the roof garden, but there follows a picture from the best place to see it from whole, which is the little seat opposite, against the wall of the stairway to the balcony, next to the large lotus pond. From there of a morning I can see the angels in that tank, and its blossoms that once again emerge weekly, and then on the other side the rose bed. Over the last month that has not ceased to have colour, and in profusion during the last week.
Those are not the only rose bushes on the balcony. Though the bed in the south east corner failed, for we had failed to have an outlet for water – one has now been drilled – the one in the south west, where once my red roses flourished for nearly five years, has a small pink bush and a bigger orange one. There are no blossoms there now, though a bud is emerging. But at the beginning of October they were both in fine fettle.
Those appear in the seventh picture, and the eighth shows the little plant in the bed against the wall of the stairway, next to the seat on the other side of which is the big pond. This seemed to be dying at one stage, but it revived, and has produced single blossoms, one of which is still in good shape.
That picture was taken in September, and then the plant required pruning for it has a tendency to produce those long shoots that are barren of flowers. But then the blossom seen in the last picture emerged.
Rajiva Wijesinha 