3 pictures, 2 words

TL:DR: If you are the type that doesn't like being kept in suspense, you can just go to the end of this post to see what the two words are.

I took the images below today and all of them point to one thing - a phenomenon that is described perfectly in two words. The rest of this post is an explanation of the two words. If you can guess the two words by merely looking at the images, it has to be one of these few things:

• You live within the same ecological zone as me.
• You have a telepathic ability to steal someone else's thought

I will now go ahead to describe the key feature of each image before finally revealing the two words that are common to the images.

Image 1

This image 1 can easily pass as a landscape image consisting majorly of a single plant species. While this may be true, there is so much more going on. The dominant plant species in the image is Tithonia diversifolia. The fact that it is already flowering points to one thing - the growing season is gradually coming to an end. T. diversifolia is a shrub that grows and completes its life cycle within a single growing season. although the plant's population perpetuates itself through its propagules such as stem and seeds.

Image 2

Image 2 above depicts a weed population that consists of different plant species, interspersed by tomato plants that are fruiting. Those who are quite familiar with the lowland rainforest climate already know what is wrong with this image. The usually luscious green nature that depicts the abundant presence of water seems to be missing. The tomato plants also seem to be under inadequate water stress. Can you now guess the 2 words or do you need more clues? If you can guess the words at this point, kudos to you, even though I've given more than enough clues.

Image 3

The last image completes the puzzle. It shows a population of plantain that emanated from a single plantain sucker that I planted about one and a half years ago. I harvested a bunch from this group some weeks back and another one appears to be in fruit from the picture. One thing that appears obvious, if you have been following my gardening blogs in the past is the missing luscious green nature of these plantain plants. Apart from that, the abundance of dry leaves around the stem of the plantain points to water stress - an inadequate one.

It is not "water stress"

I know someone already guessed the two words to be "water stress". No. it is not. Image one has nothing to do with water stress, even in my description. While 2 and 3 have a lot to do with water stress, the exclusion of image 1 means that they can't be the correct words.

So, what are the correct words?

Dry season.

The dry season is here. It is a season that is characterized by very little to no rain. A season when there are very few gardening or farming activities (when it comes to growing crops) without embracing artificial water application - irrigation.

For those who may be wondering, I am from Nigeria, a country that falls within the tropical zones of the world. This means that we have distinct rainy and dry seasons. There are microvariation in climate even within Nigeria. My area belongs to the lowland rainforest belt where the rainy season takes about 8 to 9 months of the year while the dry season takes the remaining 3 to 4 months.

The rainy season lasts from around February to November ending while the dry season fills up the rest.

Now that my gardening activities will become minimal, does it mean I will post fewer gardening articles in this community? Hopefully not, I love the community initiative that encourages us to keep writing even at the commencement of the off-season period.