EAST OR WEST HOME IS THE BEST

[Mustansir Billah]

Supurbly planted plants but if they were planted in our parks and other public places they would be ruined.

[M Farooq]

Thanks for sharing nice pictures.

May be someone can explain me the scientific reason: What is the natural origin of dust in the air in our country? If you note the pictures which Arif shb has just posted, the leaves very clean as if someone has polished them. This is certainly not the case in our climate. Plants and trees get dirty rather quickly. I had to wash my plants every week to get rid of dust from the leaves. (And this is not due to pollution etc, I guess there must be a natural source). And we do get dust storms in Karachi, at least once a year. What is the source of this dust?

[KBW]

Arif sb, Sir very nice pics with good right up. Please keep them coming.

Farooq sb, our plains are alluvial plains formed by rivers over millions of years. The dust in our climate is due to silt deposited by our rivers over a period of time which is the very source of our soil. This soil is a blessing as it is very fertile and retains moisture and minerals very well. Many other countries, due to their geological makeup, do not have soil like ours or do not have it everywhere or its texture is entirely different. Most part of Canada for example does not have any soil.The so called top soil is actually sort of a rock debris which does not hold anything ànd of course does not produce dust like our soil. At most places however they have to, out of compulsion, use other mediums. We are fortunate to have this soil and dust perhaps is a small price to pay for this blessing of God. Their rivers mostly have rocky bottom and clear water. They do not carry silt like our rivers. We are fortunate to have these silty rivers, the very source of our fertile lands but a source of dust too.
Regds

[M Farooq]

Farooq sb, our plains are alluvial plains formed by rivers over millions of years. The dust in our climate is due to silt deposited by our rivers over a period of time which is the very source of our soil. This soil is a blessing as it is very fertile and retains moisture and minerals very well. Many other countries, due to their geological makeup, do not have soil like ours or do not have it everywhere or its texture is entirely different. Most part of Canada for example does not have any soil.The so called top soil is actually sort of a rock debris which does not hold anything ànd of course does not produce dust like our soil. At most places however they have to, out of compulsion, use other mediums. We are fortunate to have this soil and dust perhaps is a small price to pay for this blessing of God. Their rivers mostly have rocky bottom and clear water. They do not carry silt like our rivers. We are fortunate to have these silty rivers, the very source of our fertile lands but a source of dust too.
Regds

Thanks...good info.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Dear Farooq
Absence of atmospheric dust was remarkable. Here in Lahore every evening when I return from golf the sun is like a pink to red ball of low intensity and the setting sun all over the states was blinding bright.

KBW is right every river or stream that I passed by had clear water, I attributed it to the lakes through and from which these rivers come from, which perhaps retain the silt.
Perhaps more frequent rains and sprinkler systems help in keeping the leaves so clean and fresh in parks and gardens.
Arif

[Munir]

Surprisingly,I didn't generally see much accumulation of dust on the leaves of trees/plants-which mostly I found clean, shiny & of dark green colour, in the cities of Saudi Arabia during my stay there for a few weeks, contrary to our common perception.May be the dust there is heavier & not as fine as in Pakistan.
I am not sure if Syed Adnan who has lived there long time would agree with my observation- he can confirm & explain the phenomenon better.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

AoA
My first stop was New York. I stayed in a posh area of New Jersey.
As I came out of Air port I was greeted by road side beds of yellow Daylilies.







I expected to see lots of Day lilies varieties, to my surprise this was the only variety seen all over USA public parks.
The landscaping was what impressed me the most.



Would we carry out such pruning to maintain a harmony.






Most flowering trees and shrubs were the same as found here this one not seen before impressed me a lot.





The seven story triangular hotel had an open space in the centre, used for morning breakfast; the plants were well maintained although the same are also found here.



One thing that impressed me the most was the cleanliness of all public places, absolutely no litter, Why should I complain we are what we are.



View of New York sky line from central park of NJ where people come to relax, the park had only permanent plants and no annual, as usual landscaping was superb.








We also visited Six Flag entertainment park a few hours’ drive, through country side having lovely farm houses and lots of horses.
Six Flag is basically an entertainment park having an excellent Safari park.
The garden had nothing much to talk about except the hanging baskets.












Landscaping only no annuals.

Good day until the next stop
Arif

[aykhan]

Welcome back. Nice pictures. In the USA they use Stella d'Oro a lot and hausta also in the cooler climate regions. Everything is clean likely secondary to no dust. When I received plants in mail for the first time I was surprised how clean they were and twisted to see the leaves if they were artificial. Probably has something to do with better more airy medium, good use of fertilizer for respective plants and clean air.

Wanted to pay a visit to you today Sir but some family chores prevented it. Soon Insha'Allah.

[KBW]

Thanks a lot for the treat Sir. What a pleasure watching these beautiful pics.

I agree with you on cleanliness and it sure makes world of difference. I have observed that area cleanliness is not akin to developed countries alone. I have seen the same attitude in some of the smaller and less developed countries like Vietnam and Turkmenistan. Every one keeps his place clean, may it be his/her office, house, business area or any other place. Municipality guys are keeping the public places clean. So civic cleanliness is not resources alone. Its more about the attitude that people have plus a ruthless implementation of regulations by Govt.

Most part of Canada for example does not have any soil.The so called top soil is actually sort of a rock debris which does not hold anything ànd of course does not produce dust like our soil. At most places however they have to, out of compulsion, use other mediums.

A clarification about above statement. I do not mean to say that entire Canada doesn't have soil. The Southern part of Canada does have a fertile soil that can support any kind of agriculture. However, areas of central and northern Canada which lie over the Canadian Shield, do not have a soil that can support agriculture. It does have an upper layer of crushed crushed stones and debris that is good enough to support coniferous trees, bushes and grasses etc but is not good enough to sustain commercial agriculture. And this area constitutes bulk of Canadian land mass. Of course within these areas there are pockets of fertile soil in river valleys etc but they are small proportion of total land mass.
Regds

[aykhan]

Another reason for less dust is that usually there is a lot of concrete pavement and the soil has turf laid on it. Most places in USA the grass is a very thick turf so doesn't wear off like our fine Dhaka again exposing the dusty soil.