A lazy gardener's method to have a blooming rooftop garden in January

I’ve just planted the winter seasonals, now in mid January. Yet, my garden is radiant with floral hues. Delay in planting the seasonals has not bereft my garden of colour, fragrance or bees.

The garden is productive because of the little time spent in daily watering, pruning dry twigs from shrubs (Chinese orange, roses, poinsettia, Shatavari), pruning the chrysanthemums thrice in the year, and emptying the seeds collected from last year into a few flower pots (marigold, French hollyhock, cosmos, mustard, coriander have sprung up).

Additionally, a packet of narcissus bulbs bought at a random fair in town has rewarded the simple act of covering the bulbs with soil, agnihotra ash, cowdung manure and sand.

I learnt that the ill-effects of laziness can well be averted by just a bit of loving attention, no matter how sporadic.

Pictures here are from my garden in Lucknow in northern India.