Mahmood's Den

Desert Rose, originally uploaded by malyousif.

This is the first time EVER this adenium flower, I’m so excited as the plants are actually in the garden in a bed rather than a pot where I usually have them.

I really hope they will also flourish.

I got a few of these as a generous gift by Dr. Jean who raised them from seed! A venerable feat to be sure.

Have a lovely weekend my friends.

Fountain Grass, originally uploaded by malyousif.

Have a wonderful Friday my friends…

Pomegranate from my garden, originally uploaded by malyousif.

I’m not that of a fanatic when it comes to pomegranates, I do like them sometimes, but when it comes from your own garden the story is completely different of course!

Even when the thing is more sour than a lemon, it does taste delicious. At least the first few handfuls and then your eyes start blinking rather rapidly!

I like the pictures though. Have a wonderful Friday and weekend my friends.

A long weekend and a lot to do in the garden with a new growing season, the bloggers gathering and the sending up of political test balloons.

Episode links:
World Press Freedom Day • My gardening escapades • Yacoub’s Dome • Bahrain set to name Jewish woman envoy • Looking for employees is harder than I expected.

Night flowering Cereus, originally uploaded by malyousif.

A wonderful cactus in full bloom at The Garden Nursery in Barbar.

With the soup of a dust storm outside (thanks to Iraq for this gift!) you’d better stay inside and watch TV or cruise some sites.

Have a wonderful Friday my friends, I hope tomorrow will be a better day, weather-wise.

update: Anne just corrected me and told me that this plant is not actually the “Night Flowering Cactus” but actually the Mammallaria, which is just as nice to my eyes! Thanks for the correction Anne.

The Garden Nursery, originally uploaded by malyousif.

My friend Rami and I visited Anne Al-Jalahma’s "The Garden Nursery" this morning, despite the horrendous weather we are experiencing in Bahrain – thanks to the huge Iraqi sandstorm earlier in the week – the nursery itself was a sight for sore eyes and a replenishment for the soul.

It is the ONLY nursery in Bahrain that I felt is made and maintained by a gardener for gardeners. It really shows where the others are going wrong; for while the others are interested in "moving pots", ie, bulk sales with whatever the season throws at them, Anne’s garden is a well thought out collection of wonderful plants which she herself has propagated in Bahrain and have been tested in our own climate.

The gardeners working with her are also knowledgeable and give good advice as to where and how to place the plants once bought.

It is also one of two nurseries – the other being Jannusan Exotics – who actually bother to label every plant with common and scientific names. Anne’s; however, comes out on top once again as most of the plants not only have the clear labels, but pictures of the plants when mature and flowered. I am sure that if you take a picture of an obscure plant to her, she might even help you name it, as she did with a very tiny picture of a Clitoria I showed her on my mobile phone.

Overall, this is the best garden nursery in Bahrain, barring none, and should be the real refuge for all of us who are frustrated with the box movers.

I’m pretty certain that this orchid is not only Robert’s Delight, it is mine too! I really like this one. It’s so full and vibrant.

Have a wonderful Friday my friends.

Orchids!, originally uploaded by malyousif.

Frances and I are just back from the Garden Show, and these babies are her present to me for my birthday tomorrow. I don’t care very much for the birthday as taking care of these over the next few months… I’ve got plans!!

Have a wonderful Friday my friends…

I’ve just received an email from the Garden Club informing me that my garden won the first place in the New Garden category! This is fantastic news and a fantastic start to the day!

Yipppeeeee…

Update 080221@1420L: I’ve just had a chance to look at the GDN and it’s published there (though they didn’t put my full name, I just appear as Mahmood Nasser, which is good enough for me!)

I’ve won the Best-kept new garden – under 4 years old which is the Central Municipility Cup.

Gladiolus, originally uploaded by malyousif.

It’s raining! The sky is overcast and it’s Friday. What a beautiful combination!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends.

New water feature, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The plants seem to have settled, and even the impatiens has flowered!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends.

Anticipation, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The first Hippaestrum (Amaryllis to some) of the season. I love these bulbs as they always reward you with huge showy flowers like no other.

I’ve planted them outside in the garden before with good success. This year, I wanted to have some extra colour in the house. They’re all in pots of course so I can cluster them however I wish, this is what makes container gardening such a nice thing to do, the flexibility.

Apart from the Hippaestrum, I’ve got some lilies, gladiolus and two types of Hyacinth so the arrangements when they all flower (if they all flower at the same time that is) should be quite a sight for sore eyes.

Have a wonderful Friday my friends, and stay in peace.

update 071118: I thought this deserves an update. I went home for lunch and discovered that the Hippaestrum has opened!

I’ve been documenting some of my experiences – as meagre as they are – in a new blog I call “Mahmood’s Garden” and have also taken the opportunity to list some of the plants I have in my garden and fill out information about them I gathered from various locations on the web. Apart from these reference files, I have also culled Elizabeth Shaheen’s articles published in the GDN and put them all in one place for easy reference – I hope she doesn’t mind.

The reason I started Mahmood’s Garden is because I just could not find much information about plants which actually can and do grow in Bahrain, nor did I get much information about gardening in this area of the world specifically and I thought it would be great if I not only document my own experiences, but also enrich that with other information and articles I come across which might help local gardeners.

As gardening experiences are the major ingredient in a successful garden, I also created a forum for gardeners to directly share their experiences, provide a seed-exchange area and ask questions about the topic.

It is important to note that Mahmood’s Garden is specialist site concerned solely with gardening and would like to keep the articles and forum entries to be in that stream as much as possible.

If you are interested in gardening in general and/or in Bahraini gardens and gardeners specifically, please consider taking a look and contribute if you so wish. We really welcome sharing your experience with us.

Please come into my garden and make yourself at home.

Hi guys, I hope you’re having wonderful Friday/Weekend.

I thought I would do another slideshow for you this Friday with stills rather than video (partly because I missed my Canon ) this time once again accompanies by Emma Shapplin which I hope you will enjoy.

Finally!

This “real” video thingy is taking the whole day to finish and then upload, but hey, I enjoy it tremendously and I hope you like it.

I wish you a wonderful Friday, weekend, Ramadhan, Iftar, life, and every other good thing in your lives.

[MEDIA=6]

It’s about 50 megs! There’s a smaller YouTube version too now which should mangle it enough to be “reasonable” for poor Bahrainis, after taking permission from Batelco of course, although a little birdie tells me that a huge change is coming in that department!