Flowering Neem

Yesterday I thought I was smelling the Gardenia while watering the garden but it was 15 feet away and I was next to my largest Neem tree. Today the Neem blossoms really came out and gave them a good sniff. No doubt why the Neem is also called the Indian Lilac. Not real strong because the flowers are tiny but I hear in India where there are many trees the aroma is distinct at the beginning of summer. Another sure sign summer is here in Mexico.

Neem is not supposed to flower or fruit until 2-3 years old so it means this one sat in it's bucket before I planted it about a year and a half ago. Very interesting tree and I'll let you look it up. Will be interesting to watch how long the flowering goes on and how large the seeds become. Found two interesting videos below - an animation on 'natural insecticide' and one of my old favorites - CBC -The Nature of Things with David Suzuki

My Neem flowers

How to create a natural insecticide from Neem seeds (in English)

Miracle tree NEEM

Gardenia and Coffee

Fresh brewed coffee that is ... both have great aromas, are in the same family ... but luckily smell nothing alike.

Gardenia is a genus of 142 species of flowering plants in the coffee family

People have been giving me plants over the last year and I've had no idea what some of them are. Some died of natural causes, some the dog dug up and some were just plain ugly and I pulled them up. When the rain and humidity starts here they all begin to do what they are supposed to do.

My best survivor is this Gardenia bush ... at least I think Gardenia. The one flower smells wonderful. It just bloomed today but has about 20 more blossoms on it. My sixth year in Mexico but the first where I get to watch my plants do what they do over the whole year. I'll be able to make more educated choices next year

Gardenia the flower

Gardenia the plant

Another flower/plant

This plant/flower came along with a vine that I really like. Actually there were three plants in the same pot but the third faded when I tranplanted it. The red centers are part of the leaves but it does look like there may be blossoms coming in the middle. This is another that I have no idea what it is.