Garden Chronicles

The Make Over - Progress

2012-02-13T13:20:00.010+08:00

I'm actually telling myself that I'm going to write

a "light & easy" posting here.

Hopefully I might just able to do that.

You see - it was really not easy for me this time.

Compared to many other yearly make-overs

this one in particular was not easy.

I guess the pictures would substitute the most of my "talking"

and so - perhaps I might just let that be the emphasise for now.

The Purple Queen is all so tidy and perfect in their own little pots.

Earlier they had crawled all over.

Managed to get another 3 small pots of EarthStar Bromeliad for RM10 from Sg.Buloh Nursery to add to this collection.

And another thing:

Snails just love to snug below the leaves.

The eggshells keeps the snails away from the plant.

Glued the tortoise this time.

Always end up lost or missing whenever I water or rains.

UNKNOWN PLANTS:

Any help in their ID is greatly appreciated.

(all the plants below)

I had rescued this bromeliad last year from a dump.

It was truly in a bad shape until it got stabilised as I nurture it to its best display.

I guess this is a Neoregelia.

Can anyone help me identify what actually this might be?

(I haven't seen its flower yet)

From far end to front:

a) Necklace orchid

b) Ground Orchid - Spathoglottis Plicata

c) Walking Stick Iris

d) Bromeliad

I had added 2 more air plants to my collection together with my Spanish Moss.

Not really sure of their names.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have totally no clue with this one.

I tried propagate this silvery vine but failed few times.

Anyone knows how to propagate this plant?

This one is not so hardy.

When it goes without water on a very hot day

- it tend to dry up paper crisp.

Still it does seemed robust and gives a nice cascading look.

Again.

Thanks for the help concerning the ID of the plant.

Garden Updates - January 2012

2012-01-30T12:45:00.016+08:00

This is very much the "BEFORE" factor.

I'm still in the midst of redesigning this space.

I'm not sure how many would still agree that this is beautiful and would still keep this arrangement in their own gardens undisturbed. Currently if you notice the blue tiles - they are now totally non-visible taken over by the undergrowth.

(current pic. not taken)

So are all the nice looking pebbles and rocks.

Neither the orchids remained.

I had the Mokara orchids (or it could be Reed orchid)

trailed on the fence.

They grew very well and healthy trailing all over and started to spread and I kept them patiently waiting for that few years.

(or so I think - felt it was sooo... that long)

All for the waiting to see them bloom. (but they didn't!!!!)

So one fine day - I decided to prune them.

Then eventually I decided to give all of them away.

I kept a few branches (just hoping that they might just bloom someday) and relocated them to a different place.

(outside my house)

Then the place appear to be a little brighter, clearer & fresher.

So went the plants that trailed along the slope

(ferns, zebra tradescantia & a few others)

Pruned and cleared those Bleeding Hearts. (never knew that these vines can just trail to all the nook and corners)

And above all - have enough to give away to friends who still appreciate plants.

Most of the herbs and edible plants are out from my garden.

They had already matured and died and I didn't bother to replant them again.

(One theme - striked out from the list)

Now the most difficult question was what to keep and what to go (in my case - giving it away)

I'm still deciding on the ferns (I still got a few species) whether to blend them together in the garden space or take a cold cut of removing them completely.

Another was the fragrant plants - they don't look attractive with their green leaves & to say their blooming episode takes place during the most unpredictable time.

(I was thinking of converting them into bonsai - especially the orange jasmine and water jasmine)

But others - I'm still scratching my head and totally ran out of ideas. (want not, keep not)

And the factor of theme - I really cannot figure it now as I got everything that I can possibly grow - in a small constraint space (pots and all)

I love the Zen concept - less is more.

(That would mean more is out of my garden)

The Bromeliads section fits well with this idea

(Earthstar, Pineapple, Dykia & Spanish Moss)

Still setting and arranging with this concept with the mix with Purple Queen & Golden Hahnii gives a very good colour contrast (perfect for small space gardening)

The only set back with Tradescantias is that they tend to get leggy and walk out from the designated pots (literally)

I wonder is that's why they are known as Wandering Jew?

The Dumbcane collection were totally neglected. Most of them really need some pruning and replanting. And what I fear most of them are beyond repair.

I found that Episcia (Flame Violets) grows very well when they are on ground compared as placing them on hanging containers. And so are the Black Velvet Begonia - this one had stolen the show compared to all the hanging ones put together.

And the Red Flame Ivy (you guess it) - it had crawled out from its resident pot and now all over except on its designated pot.

The best solution I had figured out so far is conquer a little at a time.

And that seemed to be the most productive thought and work that took place over these past few days.

And enough to keep me motivated to expanding that small territory in clearing of what my wife calls the currently calls my garden:

Its a Jungle Out There!

And I had a friend visit my garden who confirmed what my wife said without any second thought.

I guess I'm still in the denial concerning the mess that took place during the process.

And it always.. (repeat)

Always rains when I'm in the midst of gardening.

There are mud, dirt, dried leaves and stuff all over.

(And I thought it's suppose to be a very hot season during this time of year)

The garden is infested with snails, ants and mealy bugs.

I'm secretly hoping to clear my garden ASAP as to avoid any new unwanted creatures making itself its home (you know what I mean)

And yeah..

hoping to have a better garden this year compared to all those years put together.

So if I give up or failed in the process -

I would call my next posting: Jungle vs Garden.

(come to think about it - that what actually happened to my mom's garden and my mother in law's garden - Strange!!!)

Spider Plant - Chlorophytum comosum

2011-11-22T14:59:00.008+08:00

It feels like ages I wrote anything. Gardening seemed to be a distant passion now. Somehow, I do manage to water and reset my plants but even that seemed to be with my mood swing.
I guess I would blame it on the rain. My wife often laughs when I prepare myself to garden - for one she would know that I would be chased back to the living again - being me grumpy all over again, half soaked wet.

Yeah.. Gardening is a passion that doesn't wears out easily, except when it rains.

Its just feel being washed out. Now I remember - why I'm having that sore throat now.

Didn't fully recover from the cold I had from last week - gardening time.

Rain - sure spoils my mood but this time I decided to wrestle against it.

And look what happen now - stuck with a cold & a headache that won't just go away.

OK. You must be wondering what I'm ranting all about now. Let's get back to gardening.

I had found two pots of spider plant being thrown out along the roadside. It was in a bad shape, one of the pots was broken. I guess the owner decided to discard it. After inspecting, I too was not too sure what & how to revive it.

The root ball was totally absorbed the whole pot - there was no soil to consider. The babies looked over matured but still hanging and surviving from the mother plant.

I had it for another 2 months and then decided that I'm going to reset it.

Wow - it was really a lot of work. I really felt I was opening up the husk from a coconut shell. The root mass was unbelievable. It didn't let go easily and took a lot of force just to reset all of them.

Replanting them was a risk too. Not all the babies survived but the ones that did - thrived well and now flowers often.

I had also manage to give away so many of these baby plants to friends (now, I wonder whether the plant had survived)

Anyway, some thoughts and experiences concerning this plant:

1) Watering

This plant is forgiving if you forget to water it in a day or two. You will find that this plant will slightly discolour and may lost its usual strong colour when lacking water. They will bounce back once watered.

2) Too much watering may cause the leaves to fall off from the base.

3) They do well as shaded plants. I had seen the abuse they go through when gardeners place them on open direct sunlight. They do seemed to look adjusted but its more of a survival thing rather than thriving. You will find tell-tale signs of burned & withered leaves.

Eventually they will mature faster and look over-spend.

4) This one doesn't do well with chlorinated tap water. If you can - use filtered watered or the best rain water.

5) If the plant starts to dry & mature - its going to be a messy in pruning and keeping the right ones. The best option is to replant it. It is never going to look like its former glory. I have not seen a spider plant dying out after it being matured. Chances are it would have died more likely of neglect rather than being fully matured or aged.

Pictures:

1) The first 2 - when I first found them - rescued

2) 3rd pic - slowly recovering within a month

3) Others - the plants been reset & replanted from the original pot.

Finally giving out new stolons and spikes bringing a second generation.

Orchid Blooms

2011-10-21T09:25:00.010+08:00

It been ages (or never seemed) that my orchids bloomed.
This is actually rescued - someone had thrown it away
and I had collected it by the roadside.
The condition of the plant was bad (dried up leaves, dead roots)
and it required a lot of pruning of which even I was not sure of.
Somehow, I was amazed when a flower spike shoot up.
And these lasted almost a month for me to enjoy.

The Bleeding Hearts eventually had taken over
the other orchids which I tied along the fence.
And this one constantly blooms with bouquets of flowers.

Purple Shamrock Mix - Oxalis Triangularis

2011-10-11T11:36:00.012+08:00

There is something in my garden that I never seemed to get used to it. Often the regular surprise that comes in seasons of blooms. But never this one - nope, I'm certain that I'm not going to get bored with these.

I've been delayed some few weeks in taking these pictures. Earlier there were lots of blooms. The tiny pink bells in the midst of the purple background seemed to mesmerise my eyes - painting them as one tone factor.

But this result didn't come just suddenly.
It was months of dissatisfaction
and the non-ability to put that garden finger
and figure out how it actually should be.

Earlier I had flame-violets in this space. There did well but they started crawling down by the fence. Being leggy and so dis-proportioned that the whole mess was beyond words.

Then I tried begonias - well, it too didn't go well as they needed resetting time to time. And finally these Oxalis came and they slowly took dominion over this space. But the slow growing pace was not only the set-back. They tend to be very sensitive over the watering issues. (Make one mistake - and they punish you with a rotting bulb)

So I came up with an idea - plant other plants which able to co-exist with each other. I find some begonias & trailing plants do not have deep roots which compliments well together in the colour tones. Resetting all of them was a challenge. Some of the bulbs didn't emerge (either dormant or dead) and neither did some of the begonia manage to survive the initial shock of propagation.

Regardless, those which manage to survive - did thrive to the fullness. With much trial and error - I found another few more tips to add here.

1) Over-Watering.
The first sign of over-watering:

You will find some few leaves slight rotted and fallen from the base. (I thought it got attacked by snail or a pest munching over at the base) IF you continue to over-water - the remainder leaves too will rot at the base. By then, if you carefully dig up - the bulb had rotted away. In my case - the bulb had totally disappeared - disintergrated into the soil.

2) Lack of water.

Here you will find the leaves will be in a close posture. (like an umbrella being pulled down by the base) If you continue without watering them - they will go immediately into dormant stage
but watering immediately will revive them back.

3) In order to get the right balance - plant trailing plant which its roots doesn't go deep. That way - it will absorb most of the water (over-watered medium) And you will get a good colour mix that complement each other.

Now I'm wishing to have a few more different varieties of oxalis to give more shape, colour and composition. If you have any experience with this plant, do share your success story or your trials with this one.

August 2011 - Garden Update

2011-08-29T15:31:00.010+08:00

This is my latest garden scene, there are a lot of which I had not updated.
Hope the picture gives a better picture than my words.

One of my joy and pride of garden plants are these Spanish moss. They seemed to have a life of their own and able to retain and regulate moisture - I guess its the secret of those matured tried moss that is deeply embedded inside the whole cascade effect. I understand that watering is the key factor on this issue. Too much water and they rot, to less water and they dry up.
The best solution is to water once a day and if you really have the time - water on every hour on a hot day - just after the all the residue water had evaporated. You will find the Spanish moss shimmer in silver rainbow.

The scary part often begin just before the rain where the wind is strong. The effect of the wave gives a haunting effect. So I do not recommend if you have a weak heart or that you are feeling that there are unseen residence in your dwelling place.

I used to have a water feature in this area but due to dengue menace - I had totally removed all my aquatic plants - what is left is this pathetic apple figures and some trailing ferns which had caught its roots in between the overlay of tiles. I was thinking of uprooting and replanting them in a small pot (which again - requires time and work) but thought that this is unique and therefore remained as such.

This is my bougainvillea collection -there are 2 pots here, recently it flowered but I really never took the trouble to capture them in camera (it rained often and that spoilt my mood in gardening) And by the time my mood finally arrived -they flowers had fallen.

So I guess - I had became a careless gardener - got satisfied with the variegated leaves than those flowers. The thing is - bougainvilleas blooms successfully when they are in the open, and so the chances here are slim (and worst are when the orchids are now creating a screen over them)

I'm still marvelled at these collection, they are still going strong with less care. Perhaps I will focus on my next project in getting more variegated coloured earthstars and bromeliad -they seemed to be more receptive and hardy (the only thing is their price factor and their rare occurrence in nursery and garden centres) Hope I will be able to get more of this when my finance is good.

This appears to be "ugly" compared to what you see in real life. I guess there is another work to be done here and I really have not thought what would go well here. Earlier I had placed the ground orchids here but they tend to get burned up often and I had placed just below this place and it is doing fine so far now.

This is my another surprise of surprises:

Garden plants where you don't need soil to flourish.

They just grow lavishly along the concrete surface, in between the pebbles and stones.

(and yeah - there goes my pebbles and stones - they are no longer a visual effect now)

My first vertical landscape garden didn't go well. I guess the problem was when I placed the soil medium sideways - the watering became bad. And so, the only thing that looked healthy was the bird nest fern, and so I thought of placing these milk can containers (sort of recycle garden idea)

and they seemed to do fine after these 2 weeks.

The other factor about floral is the bleeding hearts. It is never a regret to have them in the garden, they bloom constantly and add more florets with lasting blooms. Somehow they compensate the flowerless orchids which I still tolerate believing that they will bloom someday by sheer luck or sort. I still haven't got drastic enough to get rid of them.

You won't believe it when you this: That my garden plants had migrated to my neighbour's space and they are blooming furiously - these flame violets seemed to do so well on the ground compared to hanging pots. It all started when few of these had fallen from my previous hanging pots and they took their humble residence for quite awhile. Not they seemed to take more than a foothold. Its all up to my neighbour now whether they would like to keep them or rid of them.

I would consider their silence as their approval - or it would have been a "rid-tear-throw" effect.

But if this happens to me, where my neighbour's plants coming to my garden - I would consider those blooms as luck and that I'm graced with beauty and abundance.

Well, so far. My garden is not that boring after all.

Begonia Species

2011-07-25T11:56:00.014+08:00

It's been amazing to note that I have been so busy and that I had totally neglected my garden.
Any space time I have is totally an emergency moment in rescuing my garden plant from death.
(that is my watering chore) But somehow I'm truly amazed at the durability of my garden that they had become very much self-sustained in keeping their equilibrium of evergreens.
(or in my case - colourful foliage)

I started hating green coloured plants and I had secretly wished that they would die but truly, that too surprised me - especially ferns, they just put out their roots to any nook and corner and display their foliage. My worst fear - now, my garden had turned into a jungle and I really have no idea of pruning or trimming them - simply because I tend to change my mind when looking at them and still consider them beautiful.

My trailing plants which seemed to be very happy trailing along "conquering" my hot hard cement space - which to me is: How on earth can a plant survive without a soil factor?
I guess plants have its ways.

Well, its seemed ages when I blogged or garden or thought of making a "new" comeback.
I thought about it last year but didn't know "my thinking about it" look almost half a year!

I guess its a perspective - sometimes that's what most gardeners goes through, at the heart they are still a plant person - its just they have not put their hands on it.
And I guess that's what garden is all about to prove about that type of a gardener.
My roses still blooms, and so my orchids, and that constant cycle of blooms and fall.
Its just that, this time - it all happened without my hands and sight fixed on them.

So the secret:
Get hardy plants,
by the time you decide to start back gardening, the garden awaits for you.

PS: Enjoy my collection of begonias - they never stop to marvel me.

Purple Shamrock - Oxalis triangularis

2011-06-02T10:39:00.019+08:00

My friend had passed this plant to me sort of to rescue it and somehow it had managed to "jump start". The best part another friend had passed to me few of the bulbs and I now have 2 pots of these. These are my tips in keeping these successful:

1) Most of the time, these plants are bought from the nursery.
So my personal advice, remove all of the bulbs carefully from the soil and replant them in good soil mix (50% black soil & 50% brown soil).
This advice applicable only for Malaysian gardeners.

Let me explain - the current nursery plants (those commercial ones) are actually planted with a coconut fibre mix which somehow kills the plant in long-term duration.

You can also use this coconut fibre mix and mixed it together with (50% black soil & 50% brown soil) mix.

THE NO. 1 KILLER FOR OXALIS IS THE WRONG SOIL MIX.
This also applies to roses, cactus & succulent species.
Anytime you find your plant is slowly dying (leaves turning yellow) chances are its a root rot and its just might be too late.
And for plant such as Oxalis, its already dead as the life line is on the bulb.

Coconut fibre composite is not suitable for oxalis especially when it comes to watering as it doesn't drain out faster causing water stagnation and bulb rot.

Well, I got it started from this when I got it first (click here)
to currently this.

If you find your oxalis dying especially bulb rot - change the soil.
But do investigate whether its dying or going dormant just like Caladiums.
When its dormant, it just springs back again after few months.
How do you know its going dormant - you will notice the leaves remain closed (folded) and no new ones emerged.

The second most important thing to watch out for is: WATERING.
Over watering kills this plant.
(Let me repeat this again..) Over watering kills this plant.
So, its best to slightly water them and water them on alternate days.
Or you can water them heavily (using the water hose) and water in that style twice weekly.

In anyway, these plants adapt to a watering system in your garden, if they had adapted well, stick to your watering routine, but you find the plant is dying then you may have to make some changes.

Another thing that I have noticed is they don't do so well in relocating to a new place.
Once they find there is a shift of lighting, they tend to go dormant.
A dormant period may last a month but it may vary from different locations and climate changes. So, if you find the leaves suddenly disappear - don't throw the pot away as it will spring back to life. (that is, if it didn't rot away)

This will be a good time to undo the soil and collect all the bulbs and replant & propagating them.
This is one of the lovely unique plants in my garden. I may have to return this revived plant back to my friend, the only problem is that this plant grows ever so slowly in my garden.

By the time I had it over, this plant might have gone dormant.

Pineapple Dyckia - Dyckia brevifolia

2011-05-19T11:18:00.006+08:00

This is an update of my dyckia planted on December. They seemed to remain static for awhile and continued to remain in that manner eversince. I decided to plant more bromeliads to add some colour to them. The dyckias seems to sprout out more leaves and giving that star-like figure, still no new pups emerges anywhere.

Would you believe it that those rosettes are actually from a pineapple fruit. I actually got them from a supermarket on the friut section. It was during the Chinese New Year season, I guess this one was used for prayers rather than consumption. (I guess they are ornamental pineapples?)

There were 4 pups attached to the friut. Its a pity the crown of the pineapple didn't make it but I guess I can comfort myself to see that these 4 survived. I bought the fruit for about RM4.00 which is quite a deal if you consider buying them from a nursery (a small pot of a bromeliad pup might easily cost about RM9-RM12)

I later realised that the colour had somehow changed where the lighter border seemed to be more distinct and brighter and the dark green centre being more vibrant - it really don't look anything like a pineapple now. (or is it?)

These are quite hardy and really require no care at all. So, in a sense - you can count on them for a hardy garden theme factor. The only thing is the appearance factor. Hope no one will think that these are plastic spiky stuff. (somehow, they really do feel like one)

Recent Garden Blooms

2011-04-27T09:58:00.015+08:00

It has been quite a while had posted anything and I realised that time do fly very quickly. In moments like these, my garden had become more into a survival mode where daily watering is a very difficult task.

Most of my garden plants are infested with whiteflies, mealybugs and snails.
And to add to that injury - weeds grows freely among the garden plants, uprooting them sort off rips off half of the soil from the potted plants. Most of them needs resetting and pruning. Something I dare not do as I will not able to stop myself & may not able to finish any in time, creating more mess (as usual)

Its really pathethic to call it a garden.
When I make the time to simply do the easy chores - that would be the time when nature decide that it should rain cats & dogs. So much so, my porch is wet and dirty. My garden plants had doubled up (it happens when most of them have pups and become leggy)

I often tell myself I will pass this one & that one to some friends and at the end, forget about it and now become clueless why it look messier than the first time. Probably, I got high expectation when it comes to gardening. Perhaps - its often thought that a small, compact potted garden plants might not be so difficult to manage and simply enjoyed.

Well, the good thing about having hardy plants is that they can take care of themselves for sometime. (perhaps until weekend) and rainy days is an added bonus (no need to do watering - often) and I guess it sort of creates a shock of rain & shine for these to plants to bloom, especially orchids. (I didn't realise the bloom until a week later when I notice something purple striking out in the midst of green!)

Above all, I apologise to you all my garden friends for not following up with my blog nor visiting your gardens (via blog) nor replying nor commenting. It had been been really hectic these few weeks and to jump start in getting myself seemed to be more a difficult task that I preceived.

I guess - its a season I'm facing now (probably an invisible winter) a feeling of coldness and a sudden lack of interest (with a load of errants that keep piling up) and a bigger measure of feeling tired most of the time. Perhaps, spring is at the corner (hopefully soon) - hopefully that might bring some cheer - as to say, for Garden sake.

Till then, I bless you with these lovely blooms, may they brighten your day!

Wishbone Flower - Torenia Fournieri

2011-04-05T09:16:00.014+08:00

One of the most enjoyable plants I have in my garden. They constantly bloom. The only setback is that they get infested with mealybug farmed by ants and that if you forget to water - they tend to wither and may not recover back from the former glory.

The good thing is that they resurrect back during the end of the year during the raining season and they just sprout everywhere - wherever the seeds had sprouted. And so, to say this plant had totally died from the garden - may not be true as they do come back again.

Hanging Flowering Plants.

2011-03-15T12:30:00.009+08:00

I'm always feeling good when I see these blooms, sort of never regret having them in my garden. Their blooms are so immaculately white with the bursting of red lips. Once they established, there is nothing to worry about except occasionally watering & feeding. I had seen some of these in the wild & abandoned areas where they bloom profusely. Guess this one behaves orderly when planted in a pot.

Above all, I'm very much excited to see my Firecracker plant (Russelia Equisetiformis) bloom.
It was quite some time to see them bare ( without leaves or blooms) and sort of feeling a little disappointed, especially rescuing this plant growing by the drain side.
What more, this flowers are known to attract nectar loving creatures and I'm hoping to see more sunbirds visiting my garden. Currently the Flame Violets been sustaining the regular visiting birds. Yet to see if they make any difference with this one blooming.

It's been a week since they started blooming. Hope they continue blooming for a very long time.

Rose in the Garden

2011-03-11T10:23:00.014+08:00

I wouldn't recommend any new beginners to start their garden with roses. They are really tricky to start with, unless you got the hardy ones but those are not sold in nursery nor supermarkets.
I'm pretty sure most gardeners would have those heart wrenching moment to see their whole plant wither and die within those few weeks of purchase.
And as everyone's guess - they are from Cameron Highland (which are not yet adapted to lowland climate) But all is not loss.

You can really get good tips from Rosa Sifu - she really got a garden full of roses.
Die hard fans for roses should visit her blog.

Ok - as for introduction, these are the rose (red) which were the product of pruned material, bundled and thrown out along the street side. I didn't have the heart to see this one go to a total waste and managed to get few branches and try my luck. In all of those branches, only one survived. I had left it to grow without much care until lately during the Chinese New Holidays where I took the time to hard prune it. It had finally started blooming few weeks ago and never stopped blooming since.

I got the white version from my mum, just keeping one plant too. Felt that too many roses is just too much to handle in a small garden space. This one is a trailing rose and requires to be tied on a post. I had hard pruned this one too but yet to see the new blooms. Usually I propagate the pruned pieces and pass them to family and friends.
As you can see (last pic) that one is in the waiting list to be passed to a friend.

I have heard lots of rose stories and one too often I hear is very old folks getting their foot pierced by rose thorns. And often, its a tragic case where they are admitted in the hospital due to their diabetic complication where the wound is not healing.
All for the Love of Roses.

But it is not like that before, even now - if you purchase a well formed rose from a florist - handle them with care (care on your part) as they are laced with chemicals to protect the bloom from pest. You will note that those green leaves are slightly tainted with a white liquid (chances are they might be a pesticide or a liquid fertiliser) both are not natural nor organic material.

So, do not sniff your roses and never,
I repeat never consume those roses unless they come from your garden.

Health Factors - Part 1

2011-03-02T12:35:00.005+08:00

I'm sure you would be wondering what got all these to do with gardening.
Well, health is the key to all things and gardening unlocks the secrets of healing
-where you will find a cure for all kinds of diseases. Knowing what to do, what to take, which herb and medicine plant gives you the edge to win the battle against ill-health.

I'm pretty sure everyone is fully aware of the deadly disease of cancer.
Once you get it, its going to be strong battle on your health part to regain back on what you once lost. And its too late to regret for not taking care of your precious health.

Our lifestyle is so well designed to kill us.
(traffic jam, junk food, fast food, pollutions)
The no. 1 killer is STRESS.

a) So, find a way to de-stress.
Go for a massage, an evening walk in the garden, smell those roses & lilies, take that bath with flowers, candles and wine (perhaps jump together with your spouse)
or, take up a hobby, find ways to laugh your guts out, spend more time with family and friends (do avoid children - if they stress you), serve in a ministry/community.
Do something that gives you the driving force, the passion to look forward for the next day.

b) Drink adequate Water - a best guide is 6 glasses.
So, work out a system. Get a water bottle or a drinking cup - specially for just drinking water.
- Drink 1 glass in the morning.
- 1 glass after you reached your office/college or wherever when you leave your home.
- 1 glass at 10am - 11 am (1 hour before lunch)
- 1 glass (1 hour after lunch)
- 1 glass at the evening
and finally 1 glass after dinner.
This won't disrupt your daily lifestyle if you feel you are going to toilet too often.

Note: your regular 3 cups of coffee or teh tarik
(tea with milk - a local fav. drink)
doesn't count as water.

There are a lot of factors that mentioned drinking lots & lots of water as a therapy, its a little difficult to overload with drinking too much water - so, its best to start it gradually rather than jumping into a regime which might cause complication to the gastric juices and overwork of kidney.

3) SLEEP.
No matter what you do - do not compromise on the area of sleep. Lack of sleep causes more stress and makes you agitated compared to all of the other area of stress put-together.
Don't wait until your body break down and then you want to take time off to rest to recover, by then too much damaged is done to the body.

4) OK - now, its the food part: DIET
a) Almost all or most of the diet programmes you invest your money, time & effort doesn't seemed to work or fall into short term result, simply because:
They are not practical based on your daily lifestyle.
Simple as that.

b) So, the next time you decide to go into a diet programme - always think whether you can live up to it for the rest of your life. IF not, don't indulge in it because your body will go into a emergency mode and start storing more fat than the last time you before you started dieting.

c) So, how to go practical about it?
- Get a diary or a notebook (an old diary also will do)
As long as you got somewhere to write and see your progress - daily, weekly and monthly.

- First, write down your current eating habits.
What you eat for:
1) breakfast,
2) snacks before breakfast
3) Lunch
4) Teatime
5) Dinner
6) Supper
7) Any other snacks eaten between.

Also calculate roughly how much you spend in a day to a week on food. Once you determine that you will able to play around that amount of what you spend converting into investing them to healthy food - gradually.

Write them daily (you can start from yesterday's meals)
But first - don't change anything - just write what is your daily diet for a week.

Once you got that sorted out.
See what you can replace - eg:
If you have: Nasi lemak & coffee for breakfast.
What can you replace that in way doesn't compromise nor disrupt your daily intake?
Perhaps, you can switch to a lower carb. and sugar for next week.
Eg: go for chapati and coffee,
then drop the drink without the condense milk?
(Malaysian choice of food are getting more & more unhealthier)

Same for every meal - see where you can improve it by switching it into a healthier choice.
Eventually you are able to handle and control the craving for the selected regular meal that you are taking for years.

As the 3rd week goes by,
others will notice your physical difference.
(provided they don't see you everyday)
Here - you will note your belly had lost a little fat, you seemed to fit in some of your once tight fitted clothes, your double chin visibly reduced)

This will give you the strong motivation to proceed to the next level where you really want to lose all the other stubborn fats that is accumulated over the years.

Now is March, by December (10 Months)
by that time, you got a beautiful, great figure and you would safe a lot and effortlessly without strife, pain or depression.

Later I will write about the herbs, healthy food and junk food. Something that most gardeners know and swear that this work & often time as usual, everyone takes it for granted because they are freely available.

Garden Update - Final part

2011-02-18T08:57:00.013+08:00

This is the other side of my my garden where the plants are in hanging pots along the fencing area. My friend had passed me this Oxalis and mentioned to me that it was dying, true enough when I unearthed the soil and found that the bulbs where rotting. I managed to safe just one bulb. Recently the leaf didn't look good as it appears to closed all day. Hope its not rotting again as that is the last straw of this species.

I also managed to reset my joyweed & zebra tradescantia - keeping them trim and proper, the difficult part is that there are too many of it and I have to choose only to use the crowns in replanting. These are the very hardy ones - able to withstand all types of weather (rain, hot sun, washed down soil, draught) I will strongly recommend these for any beginners.

And finally orchids.

Im still having mixed feelings with them, they seemed not to flower for all these years, I have been be very patient with them.

I got some tips from a gardener/blogger friend.

Will post his comment more in details once I get his follow-up and progress in getting this orchid blooming.

Garden Update - Part 2

2011-02-17T10:12:00.024+08:00

One of my nightmares had occured. It happened when I watered my vertical garden plants - those in the box. The weight of the water had uprooted the whole plant setting and the unsecured side and just flopped out dragging the bird nest fern, tumbling over.
(dragging my heart together with it - skipping few beat along that)

The good thing is none of the hanging plants got damaged. I had to review back and figured that I have to add more "anchors" to hold and support the root mass and keeping the plant mass erected. Somehow I managed to do it yesterday night. I guess its still an experiment & will have to wait and see if the the ferns pick up the pace in their new environment.

(below)
These are the overall collection of my plants - spanning this side of the garden.
Note that the ground trailing plants are only growing on the cemented base with some river pebbles lined against them. The seemed to be thriving in this condition, especially the Black Velvet Begonia. This one had become so much healthier & lushly compared to the hanging ones.
Red Flame Ivy seemed also to adapt well in this condition, they never really survived in hanging pots as they wither immediately when I missed watering. And they don't bounce back compared to begonias. Here, it look more of a silver sheen look because of the shaded area (they would look more red & crisp when grown under sunlight)
Flame Violet & Green Tradescantia also joins the collection - the only setback is that the violets do not bloom here compared to the hanging ones.

My best favourite plant in this collection:

Ylang- ylang

This one always constantly bloom and the fragrance is just so calm & relaxing.

It is never a regret to have this plant growing in the garden.

Winter Jasmine - not enough blooms to make an impact in giving out the fragrance compared to Orange Jasmine & Ylang-ylang.

Creeping Fig.

Blooming Flame Violets in Hanging pots.

They are always blooming.

I wonder whether this one is a spider plant - they never gave out any new shoots - hanging suspended pups.

I had rescued this Fire Cracker Plant.

It had grown so well and defined, the time when I got it - it look like a leaf-less twig growing alongside of a drain. I'm still waiting for this one to bloom.

Black Velvet Begonia in hanging pot (below)

Garden Updates - Feb. 2011 - Part 1

2011-02-16T09:36:00.009+08:00

My garden is constantly evolving. (whose doesn't?)
Anyway, the interesting part is my stripped leaved collection, I got a good bargain in getting a new addition - Earthstar, a type of bromeliad. I got about RM4.90 and I got 3 baby plants in there which I was very skeptical in separating them. Somehow they survived and had grown bigger.
(if you noticed the lower older leaves are smaller than the new top ones)
(2 pictures from below)

you would have a wildest guess that these are the pups and crown from a pineapple. I came to know that pineapples are also from a brom's family and wanted to try that out without spending much. These are about a week old.
.

Button Orchid in the Spanish Moss - seemed to adapt very well

My bougainvillea had suffered when this purple queen and a palm tree plant sharing on the same pot. It took a while to separate them and prune this to give that optimum look. I know that not watering the bougainvillea for a week might force blooms on them. Keeping my fingers cross in trying not to water them while watering other plants - though some splashs occurs accidentally.

Top: Not pruned

Below: Trimmed and the new look.

Magic Moments in my Garden

2011-02-14T11:42:00.011+08:00

It was a magical moment in my garden. I wouldn't say that I found fairies or angels visiting nor would I deny the factor of the presence when I just got mesmerised by the scent of Orange Jasmine blooms. They just cascade blooms over blooms and they trail of petals just littered all over the ground trailing plants. (Flame Violet)

And at the same moment my Ground Orchid bloomed - something that I considered a rare moment too as I had given up on their blooming attitude and opt. it as an alternative for a palm looking like plant.

And so, for the first time, I didn't go sniffing over the bloom as they had flooded the whole porch with their fragrance. For that one time I got double joy:
The first was the alternative week of Ylang-ylang fragrance and
The next was this - Orange Jasmine fragrance.

What more could I ask for my Valentine?
Truly it was a spiritual experience for me,
as if God visited my Garden.

To all my Garden Friends,
Have a heart warming Valentine!
Enjoy the moment with friends or family for they are truly your loved ones.

Tropical Vertical Gardening Experiment

2011-02-10T10:27:00.014+08:00

I got inspired by The Rainforest Garden in the idea of setting up a vertical landscape garden. It was a situation when you got lots of plants but lacking display space. (too many plants and too less of a garden space would create a messy, unkempt - jungle look in the garden)

And I was also in a situation where I got everything under the sun theme and I need to focus with working out to bring the impact that I often look for - sort of create an ambiance where you feel good whenever you are in the garden (kind-a-feeling)

Yep, the ferns have to go. Its either throw away or give away situation. They don't fix well in my theme coloured garden. And so, this was a great idea of display. The good thing about ferns is they can really take the abuse. They can be over watered (but not water-logged) and would survive without soil. As you can see - the whole thing is a root-ball mass which easily fit into container spaced compartments.

I had set this up during the Chinese New Year holidays - its about a week now and they are doing fine. My greatest concern is that the whole soil & root mass might just flop & drop when watering. The other challenge is watering - too much water loosen the root support, lack of water dries up the leaves. The Bird Nest Fern are enjoying their new location as they sprout out new leaflets.

I had added Jewel of Opar in the selection to give some colour in the green selection and they simply look pretty good in the collection. The plants that are in this collection:

a) Bird Nest Fern
b) Drawf Petticoat Fern
c) Fluffy Ruffle Fern
d) Basket Plant
e) Jewel of Opar
f) Wandering Jew (Green Tradescantia)
g) Zebra Tradescantia
i) Joyweed

The most challenging moment is hammering the nails to support the wooden frame. It took awhile for me to handle the issue (guess I'm not good in being a carpenter) The wooden frame is actually a fruit crate. I had stapled a layer of plastic sheet to hold the soil and placed small containers to hold the root-ball mass inside them.
Sometimes, it is an issue of trial & error. And I foresee that eventually some species in this collection might overwhelm other species and that others might slowly disappear.

Of course - at the end of the day, it looked nothing like what the Rainforest Gardener proposed.
(lol) Well, I guess - it happens when you work with your own style and ideas. I wanted to use coconut shells and husk but it happened to be during the holiday season and getting them from a sundry shop is going to be a long wait (you can get all the husk & the shell for free as they are thrown away at the end of the day)

I have managed to really reset my garden during the whole Chinese New Year holiday week . It was also the issue of doing & setting a pot at a time, telling myself not to overwhelm and get up set or panic in seeing the whole mess. Amazingly I marvelled that I did manage to do some clearing work - doing little by little and eventually made some visible progress.
(I will upload my overall garden picture later)

Wishing a Prosperous & a Garden Full of Overwhelming Beauty

to all who celebrate this Chinese New Year!

Begonia Collection

2011-02-02T11:08:00.012+08:00

Sometimes having too much begonias can be boring, that is having the same species but you will be surprised at the amount of challenges that they throw at you. I had found that some begonia are really hardy and some are really of the sensitive types. I wished I could do more plant profiling here (but again, I wonder I'm repeating myself all over again)

Cane Begonia

I find these are very easy to take care. They are very hardy. When I first got them, I was doubtful that these spotted ones would survive (rescued plants) but eventually once they get their roots deeply established the plant is here to stay.

They have really bright outstanding red flowers that revives the garden. I certainly love this begonia very much.

I bought this one for my mum but she had passed it back to me as it was slowly dying. I tried all my best to revive it and so this is the result (I didn't die on me nor did it really thrived) And so, its a twilight zone of both worlds. Wished it really could pick up. I guess the species is such.

This one too is another 50-50 type. I really thought this one died on me, but I didn't realised that there are some survivor in some hidden pot. And so, here it is, currently it really look so much better than when I first bought it. I really suspect that fertiliser plays an important role for these kind of begonia.

This is my another favourite Cane Begonia.

It can trail up strong and straight all the way to the roof. Somehow after awhile, they tend to rot by the root upward and so, I had to trim the whole bunch and replant them. It would be good to have spare plants (planting them in two pots) just in case if the plant (a pot) dies on you - you still get to keep and replant them.
.

Looking Glass Begonia.

You can propagate them using cuttings which is faster. Leaf propagating is also possible but its a little slow & unpredictable. They need good & frequent watering or else they wither fast.

Looking Glass Begonia Flower

Finally I have manage to set few pots of these hanging begonias. Water melon begonia.

Oh.. yes, they are not begonia species per say, somehow they do look colourful.

Indoor plants

2011-01-28T09:26:00.005+08:00

I'm pretty sure some of my friends would be wondering how to maintain an indoor plant. Often I hear tell-tale stories of plants dying in a week's time or facing a major disaster when the whole plant just turn yellow and rot. So, here are some tips of how to handle a plant.

The most important factor is facing disappointment.
When you see a dying plant: What to do next?
In most cases, it might just be too late to do anything.
(this is based on my perception and experience)

Then, comes the next important question:
How then can one successfully have a thriving indoor plant?
Ahh... (that is the most important question to ask before having a plant indoors)

Let's get a fact right:
Most indoor plants are not naturally designed to remain long term in an indoor condition,
All of the indoors plants thrive well outdoor. So, when they are placed indoors they just sustain instead of thriving, their survival mode takes place as some species are hardy when you place them indoors.Some species last longer than others, and in most cases they seemed to adapt to the right condition in the room environment.
Again, it depends how versatile is the indoor condition: Is it like a store room or a greenhouse environment?

The most important factor you must consider is Lighting.
Office lighting is good compared to residential lighting.
(due to the working environment - bright lights are required in a workplace)
Place the indoor plant right above the lighting (or the plant will eventually trail to the nearest light source making it very unattractive and leggy)

The other factor that are important is water, soil (or medium) & maintenance.
The factor is different for each different species. I had discovered some require minimum watering but requires good lighting.

Once the plant is placed indoors for a long time, they may not able to handle the pressure when they are placed back outdoors (in most cases, they die out of stress)

These are some of the ideas of how to keep an indoor plants:
See pictures below

.
Mother in law tongue.
They can last for months without water, you can just cut the leaves and place them in long clear jars as decor piece. They will eventually dry-up unless you plant them in a soil.
.

.
These are known as lucky bamboo, they were brought from an outdoor environment. I had stripped off their leaves and reveal their inner beauty and best displayed indoors in this style.
.

.
Goose Foot Plant
.
They are very hardy and you can place pebbles or shells with water for the medium.
Also you can use soil (even without drainage)
.

.
Other plants that you can consider indoors are:
1) Dumbcane
2) Basket Plant
3) Marble Queen & Money plant (Epipremnum aureum) or Pothos
4) Mother in law Tongue
5) Dracaena species
6) Palms

There are more newer species introduced year after year, select the cheaper ones (if you are buying them)
.

Garden in my Office

2011-01-21T15:09:00.014+08:00

I was taking a walk around my office area for my afternoon stroll (sort of making up for my exercise time and so I thought of using my one hour in brisk walking)
I had spotted several trees along the roadside and found this cluster of hanging fruits which really look very familiar.
I had once collected these seedpods and used it for my wedding decoration (found them fallen from a tree due to a strong thunderstorm) I had used it for a candle-light decoration where I placed tea-light candles inside the orange seed pods.

Known as the Peanut Tree fruit, (Sterculia quadrifida) said to be edible that the inner seeds taste like raw peanut. More information, click : Wikipedia.
There were much excitement concerning this Australian native plant in my office. I actually got it when it was a unopened olive coloured fruits, which eventually turned orange in a week's time.

Also another factor that took much of my time was giving away plants to my office mates, to date I manage to give away about 50 plants - in jars, pots and in decorative items. It had created a lot of plant frenzy in the office environment.

You can see it at the last two pictures below where I had sorted the plants in one of the office cubicles. These are indoors plants and they are doing great for some time now. I may have to give all of them away by this week before the long 1 week Chinese New Year Holidays.

I would like to wish a prosperous Chinese New Year to you.
In the matter of celebration - I'm pretty sure your garden will be auspiciously red and gold.

Something that is called "Duit-Duit"

2011-01-05T16:04:00.010+08:00

I cannot find this plant's name, the closest I got was a felt fern but this is definitely not from a fern genes. So back to the research board (which is the google search of-course)
I remember during my school days where its known locally as "duit-duit" but again, when I search and found that its all the others that resembles the name (money) but not the one I'm seeking.

Well, I was fascinated when I first saw it and thought could this also do well together with the Spanish Moss - they do look good together and hoped that they might complement each other.
And so, I managed to rip few vines and fastened it and it did well for few months.
New shoots appeared but the leaflets are quite tiny compared to the previous ones.

If you do come across its name - do let me know, I really have no idea whats this one called.

An Old Man's Beard for Christmas!

2010-12-21T10:10:00.014+08:00

Its a little strange to identify white winter Christmas in the tropicals. Well, its not like sunshine Hawaiian beach kind of feeling either.
(its been raining everyday and almost every hour now)
There is no mistletoe nor snow (perhaps one of the reasons why you will definitely find cotton as a substitute for artificial snow adorned on decorated Christmas tree) And somehow the fact that cotton collect dust and so, the idea of decorating with cotton had become out of fashion these years.

I had to scrape the idea of putting a Christmas Tree this year - anything my little one (going to be 2 years old by January) sees become his toy and I cannot imagine those glass globe and Christmas decorations smashed and broken during this festive season.

(Another reason why I understand now why most of them tend to have their Christmas tree decorated outside their house - using a Juniper Pine and settling with that)

Where was I?

Yeah.. I was thinking what could I possibly think of Christmas with my garden tales. (well - it would be wonderful to decorate my garden and create a beautiful fairy wonderland, but again, that wouldn't last a minute - once my small one might play those fragile porcelain pieces with his dinosaur - can't imagine the winner) (I had wrapped and tucked all of those far-away out of reach until its safe to reveal them)
Probably might do that when the children are all grown up.

Hmm.. I still cannot get to my main topic. (ohh. well.. here goes)

And so.. this is where I arrive, I got the real deal of what appears to be a tinsel, something snowy and well - not a great theme for Christmas. I thought of putting some cherry lights on them but scrape the idea (again?) Its raining everyday and I don't want to get anything short circuit.

Probably there are too many things in my mind, sorting stuffs, preparing & cleaning and getting everything ready. Probably it would be a little easier to do one thing at a time and plan early. That's what I told myself last year for this year - but darn... it happened again.

I thought of some excuses and thought of saying,
"The Grinch stole my Christmas!"
But again, the spirit of Christmas is not in the gifts, nor all the glitters and pomp. (There is a tug-o-war between Santa Claus and Jesus Christ - that is who are you really celebrating)

For me, its being grateful to God in cherishing all the good times in life and learning the lessons of life during the bad. (I wished the bad times ends soon - I think I had learned enough already)

And so, that's what I can think of Christmas this year..
some Old Man's Beard (the actual name of the plant)
something I can consider a nice decorative piece to call -
Hey! I got something original here.
(something that is considered as a weed at the other-side of the planet)

May the Joy of Christmas brings lots of Joy & Happiness
and cherish those precious moments with family & friends.
Blessed Christmas Everyone!

Sorry about the disarrayed thoughts in brackets
(got lots of things in my mind)
I will be on a long leave and will catch-up with you, next year.

Pineapple Dyckia - Dyckia brevifolia

2010-12-15T10:12:00.011+08:00

I had rescued this plant earlier this year.
(click here from the earlier post)
Somehow placing with the cactus plants didn't do well as the leaves then to droop and slowly dry up. I decided to put them outside where they get daily watering (well, almost daily) and they just spring back to life.

The only thing one must be very cautious of is their unforgiving spine & sharp edges. You will read everywhere concerning this when coming to handle this one: Handle with Extreme Caution.

I had tough time separating one of the pups from the root ball. They seemed to be tightly knitted together and its really, really tough in separating them. I had toiled almost for hours (or what it seemed like during the process of struggle) Well, with all the effort put together, its really worth it when you know this one is a real survivor.

These look so immaculately beautiful compared to the first time when I found them. You can easily mistaken this one as another pineapple crown replanted.
Some information concerning this plant:

a) Genes: Bromeliad
b) General Care: Very hardy plant. (drought tolerant, may rot when root ball is soggy)
c) Propagation: Pups emerging from the mother plant.

I had replanted them in a shallow pot and placed pebbles on it. Somehow I find it very interesting to set a little tortoise with it. Creates that ambiance of a secret garden kind of thing.
These are hidden from the direct view as I had placed few hanging curtain-like Spanish moss in front of it. (probably get a nice picture later for my secret garden theme post)

They do go well with my Golden Hahnii collection. I recently bought an Earth Star plant.
All I have to do is re-arrange them nicely for a great display of rossette plant corner.

Stephanie from Steph's Green Space had posted to me a lovely christmas card together with some seeds.

Thank you Stephanie!

Orchids in My Garden

2010-11-24T10:05:00.011+08:00

It had been a very long time this orchid had bloomed.
I guess it must be the constant daily rain that had caused this.

What I came to know is that orchids blooms when there is a temperature drop in the climate. That often happens after few days of hot weather followed by few rainy days.
(Of course, this happens a lot during the year end and I guess that's why this one bloomed)

Jewel of Opar blooms

2010-11-23T10:46:00.002+08:00

These are some of the additionals
I manage to take during the evening when the flower blooms.
You can also note at the last picture - all the seedpods on the hanging pot.
(They do look like a weed at the first glance)

Jewel of Opar - Talinum paniculatum

2010-11-18T16:26:00.007+08:00

I seriously recommend this one to those who swear that their plants die in their garden. I will certainly congratulate you if you manage to "kill" this one.

I bet there are thousands out there who would love to get your "secret recipe" of the murder. You see - this one is understood as an obnoxious weed & terribly invasive. It has a huge carrot-like roots which are impossible to pull out by hand. Don't give any to your friends or they might not speak to you any more!

Ok. Ok..
I may have over-exaggerated. It doesn't happen like that in my region but I believe its a serious matter around the Southern United States where its considered as an invasive plant. That is once you get them in your garden, you will never succeed in getting rid of them. Such is the reputation of this lovely plant. Its drought resistant, heat tolerant and self-sow freely plant. (So, you don't have to worry about underwatering)

I have taken this picture in the morning. You will note that these tiny blooms only open during the evening - which is quite lovely actually (come to think about it) I really wonder where is this jewel actually represent (probably these globes) Do click on the label below for other detailed pictures of the plant.

One thing strange about this plant is: it didn't die on me but none of the seeds had actually sprouted or had any invasive characteristics in my garden. They all stayed put in all the places I had planted them. (Madagascar Periwinkle & Wishbone flowers seemed to be more invasive than these) They also do well both in sunny & shaded area which is a plus point in my garden.

I knew this plant way back before where its considered as a spinach but had not come across anyone who go all out in cooking it. Also identified as "Ginseng Jawa" by the locals but it is of a different cultivar (Talinum paniculatum Gaertn)

Somehow they do surprise me for even for these tiny flowers, they certainly capture my attention during the evenings. Those bright starry pink flowers are so cheerful looking that you do forget you day's care & chores and enjoy the moment.

Probably, that's why they call this a Jewel. It certainly gives me that effect in my garden.

Overall Garden

2010-11-08T15:22:00.011+08:00

Often a lot of people asked about my garden,
and this will lead to a basic fundamental question:
How can I start tending a decent garden?

Well, as usual my basic answer will always be:
What do you want?

And from there you can start building your dream garden. Very often I notice garden beginners tend to mimic other gardener's taste and eventually spite the factor that one thing that they don't love having in their garden. A telltale examples of passed & hand-over plants from mothers, good hearted neighbours & friends and eventually the beginner will have a "zoo" of garden plants and having no clue what goes where and the whole garden either turn into a jungle or withered forest of dead twigs and few survivors.
Eventually - its a pathetic scene of what was wanted and what is not.

So, before beginning anything, its always good to read, to survey, check around your neighbourhood & surrounding of what can thrive, live or survive in your garden atmosphere.
Then another factor is how much time can you give for your gardening.
One hour a day? Few minutes a day? Few minutes a week?

or just enough time to water & enjoy the garden as it is:
(this is the case of my garden)
But you see, I spend hours during weekends going through each pot, re-setting, uprooting and replanting when it is necessary - eventually those I don't need doing that becomes my permanent seated pots. So, all that is needed is pruning and re-arranging.
This happens about 3 - 4 months once.

But actually..
What is your Garden?
Or perhaps another way of asking a question:
What is Garden to you?
Or ultimately:
What kind of Garden pleases you?

That is the Garden that you must seek to cultivate.
Given the reasonable time for tending,
plants that thrive in your region and suit your ideal factor of pleasure.
Why?

Because - until you find out what exactly you want, you might end up planting a beautiful flower garden and then realise that all you desire is a vegetable garden. And chances are you might unconsciously "kill" those flower plants to replace them into a vegetable garden.
And then, lo & behold - you found out that not all vegetable can't really grow well due to certain unavoidable factor and so you take up the consolation prize of having the most ugliest vegetable plants crawling all over your garden.

Then, after few months - some of the un-sprouted seeds of zinnia, marigold or sunflower springs up and give you the "regretted earlier garden" and you suddenly realised:
"Wow... that Floral Garden do look good after all...but..."

Somehow in that collection, you suddenly have a little of that & a little of this and everything under the sun. And you realise that you had invested quite a considerable amount of time, finance and resources maintaining what you don't want.
Then when the question arises - Do you really want it?
You wonder - How did this plant get into your garden?

Well, All I can say is:
Join the club. It happened to me.

So, after few years of trial & error - I realised what I really wanted.
Its not all perfect to say that I got everything I wanted, but to a certain degree it gave me enough pleasure to enjoy what grows in front of my house.

That is to say:
Enough colours to brighten my day,
Enough fragrance that lifts my spirit,
Enough nectar to give food for butterflies, bees & sunbirds,
Enough useful plants that serves me as herbs, spice and medicine.
Enough time - just to water them late nights.
And...
Enough to say that they are exotic looking that make some of my neighbours jealous.

So..
What more do I want from my lovely garden?
What do you expect from your lovely garden?

The Beautiful Ones

2010-11-03T11:45:00.026+08:00

Its been ages I had updated my blog. Seemed like forever when a lot of time had been devoted with family and mostly due to the overload of other priorities. Its just very tiring and the thought of watering the plants - so that they just survive for the day seemed to be the only motivating factor that kept me going.
And guess what - I'm one of the gardener that waters the garden past midnight.

Regardless, the beauty of these flowers in my garden continue to marvel me, even though my lack of zeal to care for them - they do somehow reward me with their beauty. (Well, not everything is blooming - but enough for the bees, butterflies and sunbirds to enjoy)

Sorry for the delay in commenting & replying in your blogs. Been so busy lately that I really do not have the time. I may be taking some time off from blogging until I sorted out some matters.
Till then - hope to catch up with you by next year.

This one is Angelonia,
one of the pretty ones - they need good watering or else they wither away.

Spicy Japthopa - I had relocated it to a shaded area. Earlier they got infected with mealy bug and cause the buds not to bloom and slowly killing the plant.

Spiral Ginger

Rose

Arthurium

Yellow Ixora

Black Flamingo

.
Drawf Ruellia

False Heather

Finally my best favourite one:

Flame Violets - these always attracts sunbirds in my garden, the birds faithfully come every morning to enjoy the nectar.

Plants that Died

2010-10-15T10:48:00.009+08:00

I know for a fact that my Zinnia may not last very long but didn't expect them to give a beautiful flower before they bid farewell - actually only one plant manage to give me this glorious flower. And before I knew it - it had all dried up and gone.
That is the problem with annuals - they bloom all too quickly and gone before I can really enjoy them. Well, that's what they say - was here and gone with the wind...
Somehow, it reflects about life..

No matter how great a person may proclaim to be, they all are human and may one day have to leave this world and give an account of their lives to God.
So, its very important to live a life that is worthy in God's eyes that when He sees us - it will reflect a life that gives pleasure to Him.

My Donkey Tail plant had slowly and eventually faded away, I guess its the neglect rather than anything that caused this demise. Regardless, its a tough plant to handle keeping it in a tropical environment.

These are mint.

They too didn't last long, I didn't water them in a day and they all got fried-up with the scorching sun. Though I tried to revive them again by intensive care - they never recovered. And so - it was a bye-bye too for this one.

I missed the aroma of the mint leaves, they just rejuvenate the soul.

Did any of your garden plants had bid farewell in your garden recently?

Did you miss them?

More Jasmines

2010-10-04T11:21:00.011+08:00

Its been exciting to come in close contact with more jasmines. I have been thinking whether its worth it to have the ones called jasmine (minus the fragrance) Well, I wonder if you would be surprised to find such a species like this.

I thought this one is known as Thai Jasmine only to find out that I was mistaken.
Its true name is Snowflake, Milky Way, Artic Snow, Winter Cherry Tree, Sweet Indrajao, Pudpitchaya, Hyamaraca (Wrightia Antidysenterica)

Again - wrightia share with another species (religiosa) which is somehow known as Winter Jasmine which seemed to have a good heavy scent unlike this one.

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This one is my pruned winter jasmine which had been furiously blooming.
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My Orange Jasmine had given out a fruit. (Of course, this one is not edible)

Fragrant Flowers in My Garden

2010-09-20T14:21:00.007+08:00

Its been ages since I remember when my Rose Jasmine bloomed. Also known as Grand Duke of Tuscany (Jasminum Sambac). Somehow I have decided to prune, fertilise and pay attention to this one until it blooms - and yes, it had rewarded me a glorious flower just after a week of attention. If you notice the flower somehow seemed to fastened strong compared to the regular jasmine flowers (where those flowers easily detach once the bloom is spend or dry up)

Its been raining strong these few days and so this one had seen the good days. The flower now had turned brown but still attached to the stalk.

The fragrance is so majestic, seemed to be more fresher than the regular jasmine. Have you felt a sense of refreshing, rejuvenating? Only that - it happens together with the regular jasmine scent. This is the added advantage compared to the regular jasmine bloom scent.

This one is my Orange Jasmine (Murraya Paniculata). I had relocated it to the shaded area. The raindrops seemed to be more merciful compared to the earlier location (where the raindrops whips the bloom to shreds!!!) Even the leaves seemed glossier. I had pruned just as the same time with my Rose Jasmine. Its just mesmerising to sense and enjoy both of these jasmine bloom scent together.

Truly this scent is so similar to the frangipani blooms. (Plumeria)
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Something had gone wrong with my Ylang-ylang plant (Cananga Odorata),

the flower buds seemed to drop before the bloom.

Anyone can tell me what went wrong?

Finally my Water Jasmine (Wrightia Religiosa),

I had pruned all the branches and new shots with lots of tiny flower blooms are sprouting out..

Just can't wait to see the glory of this flowers again..

Trailing Watermelon Begonia - Pellionia repens

2010-09-07T10:09:00.004+08:00

If you purchase this plant in a hanging basket from the nursery and will find that the vine tend to overlap one another and give that cascading look of overwhelming burst of growth.Well, it might want to enjoy that "glorious look" while it last and they suddenly tend to change from that condition drastically after few months.

And so what would you want to do to keep the plant alive? Take some cuttings and propagate them separately - sort of training the plant to get hardy in your garden climate. Leave the parent plant alone but have this one as your spare. Later you will find the "spare" tend to do much better than the parent plant.

I got this plant from a friend. It was her pruned pieces - somehow they didn't really thrive nor died. After months of trials and error I finally found a spot for them. They tend to be hardy compared to many plants which I have and so I really have not found their weakness yet. So far, they do great in hanging pots in shady areas. And perhaps they are happy together with their same kind in a collection of pots.

That probably makes the difference in having the few of the same kind together instead of all of different kinds hanged together (I have noticed some of the houses that hangs trailing plants and was wondering what would be the optimum, best presentation would be)

So far, I'm contented with these - they do not require pruning - in fact they don't have the "leggy" problems as some plants where they tend to dry up in the middle or at the root area (on hanging pots) and the whole plant dangles drying up from top to bottom. Flame violets tend to do this.

These can also be planted as ground cover, they do well nicely but you need to watch out for snails and slugs - the damage they cause is disastrous. You might just want to rip the whole half chewed, dangling vine and throw and start with a new strip.
(But hold that feeling - those "naked vine" can be propagated and new shoots do tend to spring back to life - with a little patience, of course)

Once the plant picks up the growth - you will have a lovely bouquet of watermelon skinned coloured leaves adorning your garden. So don't throw away those spend vines if you find them unbearably ugly. Do take that second chance. I did.

Coleus in Hanging Pots - the 2nd & 3rd Generation

2010-09-02T10:14:00.008+08:00

BEFORE: (2nd Generation)

I got excited with all the various colours of coleus. They seemed to do very well in hanging pots and I decided to experiment them with few other variegated species hanged together.
They last about 4 months, easy maintenance and well behaved.
Until.. they start to crawl all over....

AFTER:

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As you can see, the Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina), Joyweed & Coleus had become too leggy.

Weeds started to appear and had taken root and half of the hanging pot. Some of the coleus had died and the pot appear to be barren. All an ugly site to behold at the front entrance of the house.

NEW: (3rd Generation)

I had finally reset these ones and cut back most of the Coleus from the hangers. Its a pity most of them didn't survive & slowly wither away. I had lost few species (those which are not the hardy ones) I had manage to keep aside some cuttings and placed them on ground pots but they don't seemed to bounce back.

Anyway, those that had pull through are Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina) and the white variegated Joyweed. Purple Queen too does well but they tend to rot with too much water.

These compliment very well and quite hardy. They also maintain the non-leggy appearance by growing downwards (instead of upwards) and able to do very well in both extreme (heavy rains and extreme heat)

Hope these last till next year (another 4 month's duration). Alternatively I can hang ferns here which they do quite well actually but I'm not so interested in the monotone green (not at the entrance for show)

Share with me your ideas on hanging pots in your garden - those that give the rich colour, hardy and last long.

Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum Thomsoniae)

2010-08-30T15:55:00.007+08:00

I'm totally overjoyed to see this little bloom turn into a magnificent bouquet. I guess it got a lot to do with the sunshine it receive. I can tell you that this one does very well in the shady area.
So do not dead-head your bleeding heart as more blooms may appear from the source.

Its quite easy actually to propagate this plant.
Just get a cutting and press it in the soil.
Do keep this plant in the shade until it gives out shoots and later place it in semi-shade for them to bloom. Total shade will make the plant grow but without blooms.

Another thing is its a slow growing plant, you will not see any result for weeks when you propagate it, so be patient and do not uproot those dry looking twigs (in the process of propagation) You will see new shots appear (peeling out) from the twigs. These are vines and very much a vigorous climber. So you want to have a proper space for that or you might prefer to keep the plant small but constant pruning.

I'm planning to set all the vine plants that gives out pompous blooms. Right now, I'm thinking of Rangoon creepers, (Quisqualis indica), Shower of Gold Climber (Tristellateia australasiae)
and Passiflorals. All in one bunch of colours.

Anyone got this plant and want to share any stories about this one?

Ylang ylang (Cananga odorata)

2010-08-26T12:41:00.006+08:00

When I first came across this flower a decade ago, I had instantly fall in love with the fragrance. The scent had somehow etched within my soul and I remember looking for that nostalgic aroma.

It was more vivid compared to all jasmines I ever planted or come across. Frangipani don't appeal so much compared to this one (at least to me)

One of the wonderful things about this plant is that it always have flowers and never run out of them. I got them in a nursery for RM20 (something that I cannot even get a bargain for it)
I was told by the vendor that this one is a hybrid type as it always flowers compared to the ordinary one that only flowers during a season. This plant is about few months old in my garden when I first purchased it.

Somehow this one, compliment very well with my water jasmine in my garden, both of the fragrance combined gives a sweet, light note that you would wonder which flower gives their fragrance. Too much of this one somehow gives a lightness and forces you to relax (opposed to what you want to do in a garden - working at it vigorously)

To me personally, I feel really at home with this plant. Sort of my magical plant.
And yes, there are a lot of taboo with this one.

Water Jasmine - Wrightia religiosa

2010-08-20T12:10:00.010+08:00

It feels like ages when I actually started this plant from seed to this point when I can finally enjoy the flower. I never imagine the moment to see these blooms, masses of pendant, tiny white flowers cascade at the end of each branches.

There are many varieties of this water jasmine, this is the most common & the easiest one to maintain compared to rest - the small & medium leaf ones also the double-layed petaled ones.

Often these are used to make bonsai or you can actually find few of these type sold in the nursery in a bonsai pot. My guess is those must be of the small leaf type and they are slow to grow and rarely produce seedpods.

One of the things I enjoy the most is stripping of the leaves of this plant (now its more like a semi-tree) To see the exposed branches and leaving the cascading branches gives that mystical look in the garden. Finally it had blessed me with flowers (which I had almost given up hope - thinking this must be a sterile type - never producing flowers)

Probably it must be the change of location - where it get a good amount of sunlight compared to the eariler location. I had placed dumbcanes at the background giving this one a very good focus point of depth and colour. (if not, it would be the boring green..green..green)

I might strip off the leaves again, probably after they have finished their flowering.
Do let me know if you have any tips to share concerning this plant.

Amaryllis Bloom

2010-08-02T10:51:00.008+08:00

I was thinking about the name "Amaryllis" and
it was playing in my mind for sometime.
whether:

"I'll marry Liz" or
"A Mary List" or
perhaps... " A Merry Least"
maybe the last one - when they never seemed to bloom in the tropicals.

I remembered about an experience about putting all these bulbs in the fridge in the vegetable compartment. My sister thought it was a vegetable when she came by and waited to help in preparing lunch.

So this is a WARNING:
AMARYLLIS BULBS ARE POISONOUS!
DO NOT MISTAKEN THEM FOR A VEGETABLE AND COOK IT!!!!
(That is if someone would have thought - Hey! That's a pretty exotic looking onion!!!)

My wife sort of grumbled for 3 months for taking half of the vegetable compartment space.
So, its another thing you may have to "negotiate" if you are a guy.
(Probably show her these pictures and the last one on how to prepare it - It might soften her heart in agreeing in "leasing" the fridge space for you.. perhaps?)

I guess a woman gardener who prepares meals and "owns & manages" the fridge do not face this problem. All she have to do is mark on the package:
WARNING! DO NOT TOUCH THIS!!!

Anyway, these are the beautiful pictures I took last weekend - hope you enjoy them.
I'm totally mesmerised by the blooms and two more waiting.
Though, I'm a little excited as I guess the other two spikes are the same type like the first one.

Another thing, do not bloom them during the raining season - the flowers tend to get overweight and with the constant showering the whole flower and spike gets too heavy and well...
"Fall on the ground". I had to put a stick and tied it for a support.
So keep it in mind, the best time would be the hot season.
It would also keep the bulbs from rotting (wouldn't want to take that chances)

Blooming Amaryllis in the Tropical.

2010-07-30T09:34:00.015+08:00

Do you have a pot of Amaryllis plant that never seemed to flower for years?
Have you seen any sitting by the corner of your garden, forgotten for ages and you really can't remember how the flower looked like?
Wondered how the bloomed ever looked like when somehow hands over the bulb giving up on them, and taking them thinking that one day - just one day - luck will be at your side and you might just perhaps enjoy the bloom one day?

Well, this is my side of the story with the Amaryllis flower.
I have been keeping them for years and never once saw any bloomed. All the more some of my gardener friends passed me their bulbs giving up hope in seeing their blooms too.
The closest bulb blooms that I ever got to enjoy are those rainlilies but that's it.

And so, the experiment goes - I had tried few different methods:
The first was the trimming off all the leaves just above the crown.
This worked exclusively for the Rainlilies but was not successful for the rest of the other types.

Then the 2nd experiment was giving them a heavy dose of organic fertilisers.
Still nothing happened except for their beautiful boring leaves, apparently there were little bulbs sprouting from the main bulb.
(I want flowers not offsprings!!!)

And so I went with the 3rd. uprooting all of them, turning over the soil and replanting them - removing all the little offspring and adding more soil and fertiliser. I thought just probably when they go through the process of uproot and replanting - the shock might just cause them to bloom.
Few months passed and nothing happen.

By luck, I chanced to come across a gardener who put in details about forcing the Amaryllis bulb.
Imagine the joy that I had in getting them to bloom!

I must thank Ha Xuan from Veitnam (Tuysonvien - Where I Garden)
for the force blooming details.
You can click the link (name above) for more details for this information.

If you have a pot of Amaryllis bulb in the tropical region and they never seemed to flower for ages, you can force bloom them with this simple process:

1) Before selecting the bulbs for the processing, inspect that they have at least 6 healthy leaves and must not have bloomed for the last 10 months.

2) The whole process may take around 4 months, if you would like to have these blooms appear during a festive season like Christmas or Weddings - you can start prepare them 4 months ahead to get these blooms appear.

3) Dig out the bulb from the soil or pot. Make sure you don't damage the roots in the process. (note: its better to plant it in a pot as when required all you have to do is overturn the pot and knock out the soil carefully, this way - you can shake off the soil with minimum or no damage to the bulb and roots)

4) Cut off all the foliage leaving a "neck" of about 3cm above the bulb.
(Again alternatively, you may also choose to leave the whole plant from the soil and let the foliage to dry up naturally - that way all the nutrients will be stored back to the bulb but this may take another few weeks and sometimes months for them to dry up)

5) Wash off all the dirt from the bulb and hang it upside down, in the shade to dry for 1 week.
(picture below)

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The ones above are Blood Lily - not successful with this process
(well, I have to try it and see if it works right?)
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6) After 1 week, wrap all the bulb in newspaper and place it in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for 8 weeks. Remember to mark the newspaper with the date you wrap the bulb so you remember. Also, don't store any fruit in the fridge during this time lest the bulb can be damaged by the gas from the ripening fruit.
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Do check the bulbs time to time, (like once a week) sometimes the newspaper may turn soggy and may rot the bulb. You may have to transfer them to a new set of wrapping. I had done this couple of times. (And please make sure you wrap with with several pieces of paper - one big piece won't do)
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7) Finally take out the bulbs after 8 weeks, cut off all the dried roots but leave out the fresh ones.
(I had placed them for 3 months due to lack of time to tend on them)
You may have to start collecting all the little bottles to hold the bulb (during the 8 week period)
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8) Place the bulb just rightly above the rim of the bottle but not let the water to soak on the base of the bulb. you may need to be cautious on this as totally submerging the bulb in water may cause bulb rot and all your effort is lost. So, do check on the level of the water after an hour later as strangely as it might appear to be - the level change time to time.
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9) You can leave the roots on water from 1 - 3 days. Better keep it in a day at most.

These are in water for 3 days. (this was my problem with time management)

10) Once this is done - plant them in the pots, you need to prepare the soil first before planting.

Make sure that the soil is moist but not wet & soggy. Plant the bulb 1/3 buried on the soil but 2/3 exposed. Do not water for another 2-3 days but lightly keep the soil moist and place the pot in a shaded area.

11) Start watering (again sparingly) when you see new sprouts of leaflet appearing from the centre of the bulb. Also you will notice that the bulb may just shoot out the flowerscape from the side of the bulb. (you can notice it in the pic. below)

12) Once this progress takes place, transfer the pot from the shady area to a brighter location.

This process may take within another month.

These are my bloodlily bulbs - they didn't bloom in this process.

Well, it was another trial experiment.

These are too young and small bulbs (plantlets and off shoots from the main bulbs)

I had kept them here until they grow bigger for the process.

(notice most of them have only one leaf or two - these are not successful for force blooming)

Notice the flowerscape without their leaves?

I'm so excited everyday in seeing their progress.

Can you see the leafscape in the centre and the flowerscape coming out from the sides?

These pictures taken after few weeks, 3 flowerscapes appeared from the whole process, others are still dormant.

Finally this one bloomed yesterday. I took these picture using the handphone camera, by the time I reach home - I was getting dark.

Finally after all these years - I got the chance to enjoy the bloom. Never dream this was possible.

I guess this "force blooming" is necessary for those who are having it in the tropical climate for they do not go through the natural process of the four season here.

I got another 2 more flowerscape to bloom and not very sure how they are going to look like.

(Just to inform you - I have collected a lot of these bulb from many friends who had given up on them, I'm hoping that all of these bulb are different from each other)

Between Want and Forbidden - A Banana Story

2010-07-27T10:15:00.011+08:00

I was sending my wife to work and spotted these dwarf banana growing freely along the roadside. I was so tempted to uproot few of them and plant them in my garden. And when I mean tempted - I could literally just do it in a few seconds. These plant are barely not taller than a meter high. And being banana plant -their roots are not that deep.
But.... (yes, there is a but here)

I just didn't feel right..
Really???

What could possibly stop you from taking something that is freely growing wild by the streetside. All you know,
one day a grass cutter is going to come any day and chop the whole thing in one morning.
I had contemplate upon this thought almost everyday,
I guess its more than a month now.
The bananas are gloriously blooming fervently frequently with gracious bouquets.
Yet.. I feel something so wrong...

Have you ever felt a sensing..
like a weird feeling that some plants are forbidden?
Strange that in might sound -
I'm a person who don't believe in these folklore -
all the more, I make a point to prove the matter wrong.
Often times, I dare because I believe that no harm can come to those who are pure hearted.
There were many tales and many "no-no's" coming from my relatives and few friends,

for example:
don't garden in the night,
don't disturb the fragrant flowering plants,
don't pluck or cut the jasmine at midnight..
etc, etc...

Somehow, I didn't feel all these warning as a threat,
rather its for the faint hearted who chose to believe
and feel confident in what they believe is true...
sort of like a heirloom garden stories
brought down throughout the generations
(perhaps - I may be wrong)

Coming back to the banana's story...
really this one is one of a kind, small - cute and easy flowering.
Yet, there is a great sensing of "forbidden-ness" written all over it.
Everytime I change my mind
and when I arrive here to take it...
my heart races and my "senses" give a red alert sign
- like there is a fierce dog watching and waiting to pounce
or that feeling that you get when you see a swamp of red ants!

I remember taking the picture upfront.
But the picture is (missing!!!)
Its a picture of an abandon house which really look very eerie.
From the background you can note that these banana plant
had somehow had crawled from the premises to the roadside.

Again - strange.
There is so many thing wrong with the picture of this house.
(but I spare you the eerie-ness)

OK - so what's is the deal here.
I ask you this questions:

Would you dare take this plant?
Would you go against your inner senses and take this plant?

Share me your thought on this matter.
Really appreciate another gardener's thought on this matter.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I guess I have not mentioned few things concerning this topic, probably its very much sounds like an urban legend or perhaps a folklore ghost story. I'm actually running out of words in order to bring my storyline here - keeping it interesting and the same time factual.

I'll begin my story by mentioning that there is a belief among the old folks and that few generations before that concerning spiritual things that its believed that spiritual beings do reside in trees. And above all specifically few special trees that one have to be watch out for as they are more sensitive and prone to these kind of matters.
Failing to follow the culture will lead to a series of problems, often times it would appear as disturbance, ill health and in worst case senerio - possession.

I had asked around casually and chanced to hear a real life account concerning a banana ghost story. This story belongs to an old man whose mother loved gambling and somehow she chanced herself into some dark arts to get the prediction for the lottery that is to strike.
She struck a needle upon a banana tree and strung it with a string and pull it all the way to her bedroom. Apparently she had a dream or vision of a very beautiful female spirit being and she gave a favour for whoever ask of her.
And his mother did strike the lottery and won the cash prize. But eventually his mother got greedy and did the same thing over and over again until one day she had gone mad.
Now, this is a true story based on the account of his life story.

And his advice, yes - do grow a banana tree, do tend the tree and enjoy the fruits and its yield.
But keep this strictly gardening & that's it. Nothing less and nothing more.

This is another similar story line concerning a Banana Ghost Tree, its funny though the way the movie is taken, but the details of summoning is somehow similar to this videoclip.

Begonia Rules!!!

2010-07-22T09:33:00.011+08:00

After the period where the dinosaurs once ruled, the earth was filled with ferns and so it happened to my garden when the reign of the ferns fall short of its glory. It happened when I decided to reduce all the evergreens into coloured ones and the best candidate that fit the bill was begonia. I had sold all of my ruffle ferns except two pots hanging by the roof corners and most of my maiden hair ferns died due to the change of weather - they seemed to be a very sensitive plant. While these were going on with the ferns, the begonias decided to expand their territory.

And so the champions:
1) Black Velvet Begonia. (1st pic)
2) Cane Begonia (2nd & 3rd pic)

My Black Velvet Begonia had grown very huge and for some strange reason the stem started to rot by the base, and the poor plant just barely survive dangling by the rotted base. I had re-set the whole thing but they didn't rejuvenate back to the former glory, most of them shrink and died. And so I have 2 - 3 hanging pots of it compared to the earlier 5 - 6 ones.

Those extra empty pots where fitted with my flame violets - they are doing well so far.

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The Cane Begonia never seemed to stop growing, it had already reached to my roof.
I'm still contemplating whether to trim it down or leave it and see what happens.
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These are known as Trailing Watermelon Begonia.

They are not actually from a begonia family. One thing for sure, they are really drought resistant. I found that the soil was as hard as dried clay but this survivor seemed to thrive in that condition. (in comparison with coleus which all of it had dried up)

And so I have decided officially to plant this one at this region, they seemed to do so well and look pretty with the watermelon coloured leaves. Also found that False Philodendron (Peperomia Scandens) does well too in this condition.

Its also due to my lack of interest in watering these plants and the whole row of hanging plants suffered and died. And one of the casualty was the curled leaf begonia - now, its considered extinct from my garden.

The same plant: Trailing Watermelon Begonia

They change colour when exposed with too much sunlight.

This one known as Begonia 'Looking Glass'

One of the rescued plants which I had collected way back many months ago. The growth progress was very slow and it really took a lot of patience and care for it to arrive to this stage.

I really thought this one is not going to survive.

This is another type of Cane Begonia. It got spots.

Also rescued and I really thought its not going to make it when I saw the whole plant dying in stages, somehow it had managed well and progressing.

Finally these are the extinct ones. I really don't know why they never seemed to make it in my garden. This one (top) was given to me by my mum. She got few in her garden and she too don't understand how this one grows - as she mentioned, this one is very unpredictable.

I got the other one (below) from a nursery and bargain it for few dollars. I tried to revive by cuttings and feeding but it just won't grow, finally the whole thing died in stages.Guess not all begonia behaves well. As for now - I'm very certain that there are some which are very hardy and there are some which are extremely sensitive.

Also my Wax Begonia and slowly died and never recovered. I have collected their seeds and probably sow them towards September when the weather is most cold and wetter. They seemed to grow very well by the drain side. Probably will experiment on this when I really have the time.

And so before you make your pick in getting your begonias, always choose a hardy one. You will not regret as you can propagate more by cuttings in your garden.

A New Arrangment

2010-07-19T10:44:00.007+08:00

These are the update of my garden. I had set the rescued orchid in this pot and positioned it here together with my Chinese Croton and Aluminium plant. I had trimmed off all the burnt and dried leaves (you can note the spiked short leaves)

My Palm Orchid is still surviving - still waiting for the next bloom. I'm contemplating of resetting this pot (replanting the whole plant into few pots) Still wondering if its a good idea. Of course, time is another anticipated issue.

I have manage to plant the spotted begonia here too, I think its known as Angel Wing Begonia. It look very poise with the rest of the plants. Don't you think so?

This is my collection of Golden Hanni together with the Purple Queen Plant. They seemed to compliment very well with their opposite colours.

I forgot to mention that I had reset my garden again. I didn't like the earlier setting as its not accessible for easy watering and the snails and slugs were having jolly good time feasting on all my plants. My Dumbcane plants suffered the most - it had literally became a cheese leaved plant with so many holes in the leaves that I have to cut off all of them leaving just the stalk.

I had placed two pots of my Winter Jasmine Plant which I had planted it by seeds. It had really grown tall - still waiting for the flower to bloom.

Not much of changes here except for the resetting of the stones and pebbles. The Cane Begonia had grown taller than me this time reaching for the roof. I have decided to plant more Flame Violets to attract more sunbirds - they usually come for their nectar.

I had minimise all my ferns and just have these hanging at the tip of my roof top. I guess too many green plants are a little boring in my very limited spaced garden.
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This is how it was earlier before the new arrangement. Most of the plants had crawled out from the pots and had become leggy. The Coleus plant had become so matured that it may not survive for another month. I had given away some of my plants to my office mates who were very eager to get them in their garden.

Right now, there is a strong sense of satisfaction and a feeling of zeal returned to realise that my garden is back to its original sense of worth. Seemed to made some positive effect on me as I find myself very much eager to water and watch the progress.

I still have a lot of touch up to do, but its really OK now as the major once are already completed.

Orchids - Slashed and Cut Down

2010-07-14T11:11:00.002+08:00

I couldn't help myself from not picking them up. Its a pity most of the parts where actually cut and slashed at the centre of their bulbs, their chances of their survival is very slim as they will tend to slowly rot and dry up. I manage to collect and safe these, still wondered if they can actually survive as they have to pull through the initial shock and weather abuse.

These leaves are at least a meter long and bringing back from where I found them on a bike is a feat. Found them in a pile of pruned mango tree branches, I doubt they would have grown together in the same tree, its a good thing that I was able to put all in my motorbike basket, if not, I have to let this one go and let nature take its course in turning them into compost.
Somehow, its a joy and treasure to behold if they manage to pull through in my garden.

Its been about few weeks now, some of the leaf tips had turn brown but I had pruned them.
I bought a big round pot and place the plant with charcoal (which I bought very much earlier)

The leaves are now lush fully green. Hope to see new shoots emerge soon.
I'm yet to identify the species of this orchid. I'm guessing it might be a necklace orchid and a very common one easily found in my region.

Some White about Bougavillea's

2010-07-02T17:10:00.008+08:00

I normally take an afternoon walk during my lunchtime (sort of making up for my lack of exercise during weekdays) and so I spotted a wonderful looking immaculate bougainvillea.
Again, this is one of my blind spot (until I just realised how wonderful they actually look in these pictures)
They are actually the variegated bougainvilleas - somehow in the midst of the variegation, the pure ones stood up in the heavy shrub.

These pictures are taken by the riverside leading the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC)
I have also taken the pictures of the man-made shallow waterfalls together with the weeping willows.

Its sad to note that this place had not been maintained properly as I notice garbage everywhere.
And a little eerie (a kind of ill-feeling) that I didn't venture further in discovering this place.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed a little afternoon view that I had experience. I had spotted some guys fishing, (actually he got few large fishes) a tortoise and a heron - but they all very far and fast to be captured in my mobile phone camera.

Common plants along the Roadside

2010-06-28T15:14:00.005+08:00

Something common that I see almost everyday. And because they are too common too often I tend to ignore them, not realising that the create a blind spot for me. I guess I really have to see and notice it, because this is the effect of what you call glut. When you get these too often everywhere - they really don't seemed to matter. (regardless how pretty or beautiful they look)

And the sad part about it the abuse they go thru. The first is the grime mixed with dust. An oily substance just seemed to taint the whole plant (What do you expect when these are planted just by the roadside). Next, the abuse of heat and rain - When its hot - its very hot and when it rains, it pours. On top of it, you will find all kind of garbage collected in between them.

Regardless to all these abuse, they still continue to flower and shine, no matter what situation they go through - the beauty of plants. If only we can learn from them - the world be a better place to live with.

For now, I leave you with the beauty of these spider lilies in the midst of alocasia & dumbcane,
together with ixora and the Ti plant. Something white & something red to brighten your day.
Have a nice week.

Sabah: Sunday Market - Part 1

2010-06-21T17:16:00.023+08:00

It was Sunday morning.
One of the special occasion that takes place here.
The Sunday Market in Gaya Street.
We had breakfast here and
had the window shopping in this unique place.
Personally, there is nothing much to shout about.

It is very hot and humid,
you can drink all you can and still feel that heat.

(and its very uncomfortable,
as you sweat and the sweat dries up in an instant
and you feel that sticky oily feeling)

I have manage to capture what
they actually sell in this special market.
(only open on Sundays from morning till noon)
Most of the pictures here are basically plants.
You can literally find someone selling plant
material at every 3 - 4 intervals.

I had just captured the ones that look unique and interesting to me.
OK - Let the picture do the talking now.

Additional Notes:

Do click for the next post for the PART 2
- it had followed up below instead of the top.
(sorry, my mistake)

.
Orchids sold in bunches
.

.
Miniature orchids.
.

.
These are moss rose - not sure why they are sold like these.
(probably its a norm)
.

These are local vegetables (they are not salads)

These requires to be cooked properly before eaten.

The lady is selling avacadoa and mangoes, in front are chinese medicinal herbs

Another Moss Rose plant

Seemed to be cheap - a bunch for RM1.00 (without soil or pot)

Madagascar Periwinkle - this is a white version.

Seen it around but forgot its name.

Varigated bougavilleas

Coloured hedgehog (hope they don't release this in the wild)

They are not native here & saw in documentaries that they create havoc in the wild invading the native animals especially destroying the endangerous species (bird nest)

Some of the varities of the star bromeliads

I really can't remember this one...

Varigated Bird Nest Fern

Nice collection of cacti

Some bonsai plant

Lovely chinese croton plant in hanging basket

I don't have this type - Flaming violet (even the flower is in pink)

Few varities of pothos.

So many cacti - lovely.

Oh.. How I wish I got this mother in law tongue - varigated plant.

So innocently pure.

Cactus.. cactus.. and cactus....

They even sell water lettuce here

I got this trailing watermelon begonia in my garden!

Varigated dumbcane

Bromeliad in flower

This is a loofa

Lime and some herbal vine (medicinal)

Another variety of lime known as limau purut.

Tree plant sold with their labels - this one is also known as Ylang Ylang

(Michelia champaca) I really love the scent.

This is a curry leaf plant (I also got this in my garden)

Orchids..orchids.. and more orchids..

These are water apples (few different varieties sold here)

Pomeloes

This is a locally known as "pinang" - bettel nut, notice the older ones had already sprouted.

Sabah - Gaya Street - Sunday Market - Part 2

2010-06-21T12:46:00.016+08:00

This is the continuation of the market scene.
These are grass - sold in a patches.

Geranium - very much identified as mosquito repellent (exact translation)

Avacados

Love this collection of waterlily, you can just carry it back, the root and all in a plastic bag.

(the rootball is tied in a plastic bag)

Ahhh.. African violets - lovely

More bromeliads

Can you see the plastic bag? (the root ball)

Varigated Bird Nest Fern

These known as air plants.

Wonder if these are Azaleas or Peony?

A lovely bunch of spider orchids in just a stalk

I got this one in my garden

A hot pink alamanda!

This is a white version

Another type of air plant

Orchid

Red Guava

.
Avacado

Medicinal plants (Mushroom)
.

Another medicinal plant

This one is known as "Sarang Semut" translated as Ant Nest.

I wonder whether they are actually ant rest or a plant that resembles like it.

Again, its a medicinal herb plant.

(more below)

Some polished seashells.

Is that a jaw of a shark?

I got more pictures fully detailed and arranged in my family blog.

I wanted to put all the pictures here but looking at my capacity (80% already occupied)

I doubt I may able to put everything here.

Do check it out if you have the time and have the thoughts of visiting Sabah. (North Borneo)

I have put in all the details there for anyone who is contemplating of going for a holiday there.

Click here: Sabah Holidays

Sabah - Foot of the Mountain

2010-06-21T12:29:00.011+08:00

Recently we (my wife & I) took a break from our daily heavy schedule. We planned to go for a short holiday to Sabah. Sabah is still Malaysia but the part across the sea in the Borneo region.
It took us 2 and half hours just to get there by flight.

I always wanted to have the touch of a mountain (even a foot will do). Anyway, cut the long story short, these are some of the pictures taken with all the flora experiences relating my holiday here.

Me - have a little taste of the mountain flower (hibiscus)

Surprise to find an angel trumpet growing here (a poisonous plant)

Some iris plants growing here & there.

This is a different location, its near the foot of the mountain, Kota Kinabalu Mount Entrance.

I spotted a buttercup like flower plant (below)

A friend of mine took a pic of me, while I was taking the buttercup flower pic.

(talk about irony)

Some lovely flowers around the foot of the mount area.

Bamboo Orchid, Medinilla plant, Coleus & Morning Glory

Had a chance with a close encounter with a squirrel.

There was a hotel nearby (didn't notice the name)

Somehow they had a lovely lobby with a beautiful balcony adorn with fushias.

The Bougainvillea Experiment

2010-06-07T14:47:00.011+08:00

It feels like ages since I updated my garden blog.
Though there was this particular thought which constantly reminded me like an alarm bell to maintain & follow-up with my blog and (my comments) with other fellow gardeners,
somehow the fact of procrastination had overtook and eluded me in a state of belief that there is always tomorrow.

Finally I had to face my demon.
(or in this case - my garden)
My garden have more weeds than my prized plants.
I had just managed to uproot weeds last week just at a portion of my garden. And weeds - somehow they just don't uproot alone, they grab 1/3 of my soil from the pot and I have to reconsider re-using that soil as it may contain more weed seeds.

It rained when I started my weeding project.
And guess what. It always rains when I just get my hands started in any of my gardening job. Any moment I start to set my garden tools - I could see the darkening of the clouds followed with the rumbling in the sky.

And when I think its wise to pack-up and clean up before the downpour...
- Guess what: Its a sunny day all over again.
Again, thinking its sunny,
all is not too late and I arrive myself to garden
(you guess it again)
It started to drizzle...followed by a heavy rain.

God must be funny,
or probably he intended to water his garden same time as I garden.
Perhaps, who knows...

This has been happening for these few weeks
and had totally wrecked my mood in gardening.
For now,
the weeds are enjoying their moment of their lives & the garden look so terrible.
Unkempt like a unshaven beggar on the streets,
a showpiece of what takes place when annuls had finished their season and taken over by weeds and the last remaining surviving ones barely pushing their flowers in the tall heavy mass of weeds.

I have also noticed whitefly had invaded my garden,
they had infested on most of my plants, (begonias & roses).
Most of my coleus and joyweed had come to a matured stage,
if I don't replant them - they will start to rot and dry up.
(probably I will just maintain the hardy ones)

Oh.. what a sore eye.
And on top of that - it rains...again.
And I can here my wife laughing, "I told you so.."

Well, all is not at loss.
I did have a moment of joy when I discovered that my bougainvillea experiment turned out good.
Good as in a sense - out of 6 pots only 1 survived.
Again, I didn't have pots
(I had reused the plastic water bottles as a temporary plant containers)

My orange jasmine started to bloom.
For some strange reason all of the ixora flowers had turned out to deep blackberries.
(probably its a berry-ixora)
Wishbone flowers have been sprouting very nook & corner of my garden. To date, I have 3 different varies and I really have no idea how they came from.

And of course -
I can take the luxury of forgetting to water my garden.
Well, almost everyday.

The not-so-successful bougainvilles experiment.

Mosquito Repellent Ideas

2010-05-20T14:21:00.006+08:00

I have come across many gardeners who had stopped gardening for the fear of mosquito's. Though it sound like a laughing matter but not so funny when someone in family dies having a denggi fever.

The war with these mosquito's are real, not to mentioned few of the other deadly species of this kind. And so, what can you do to combat with them - these are some of the tips, mostly had worked for me - to date, none of the mosquito's had ever invaded my home (regardless how jungle-like my garden may appear to be) but somehow my neighbours seemed to be having series of mosquito attacks. (Somehow, they have not planted any plants nor believe in a garden)

1) Plant Strong Fragrant Foliage plants.
Mosquito's are attracted to CO2 breathed in the air, that's how they find their prey. One of the ways to repel them is to knock out their sense of smell. These are some of the tropical plants that you can plant in your garden to deter them:

a) Wormwood (Artemisia capillaris)
b) Marigold
c) Indian Borage
d) Lantana
e) Any Mint family plants (Peppermint, Spearmint, etc)
g) Lemongrass
h) Neem plant
i) Garlic / Onion plant.
j) Holy Basil (Thulasi)
k) Common Rue

Many of these do not work to the full effect unless the leaves or flowers are damaged somehow, and no one wants to hurt their plants. Occasionally you can rip a leaf off and crush it up and that should do the trick. I would also recommend that when you go to trim your plant, or if you need to remove any drying out leaves, etc., remove them and place them back into the pot with the plant. Not only will this biodegrade and be good for the plant, but the oils released from the crushed leaves will repel them.
Alternatively place these plants where there is a strong wind as the fragrance will linger around your garden.

2) Aquatic Garden & Plants
These are the remedy for those who are in love with your aquatic plants but fear of having mosquito's breeding in your water garden:

a) Copper Coins: Place as many copper coins as possible in the water pond - the copper coins apparently give out some leached chemical that kills the mosquito larvae.
This is one of the ways of destroying mosquito breeding grounds.

b) Breed Frogs & Fish in your aquatic garden. These will deter the mosquito from laying eggs and also control those flying menace becoming food for the jumping friend. Also include Spiders as their webs are very much helpful to trap them too.

e) If you have a very big garden, do find the means to breed dragonflies, bats and swift & swallows - they all eat mosquito's. Its may be difficult and challenging to house these in the garden but if you have the creativity to keep them - its sure a task worth introducing in gardens.

f) Aquatic Plants: Bladderwort
Also introduce bladderwort in your aquatic garden as they are carnivorous plant and may feed on mosquito larvae.

g) Avoid plants that hold water.
There are some plants that just attracts mosquito's. I had discovered that mosquito's just love to sit and buzz around plants that hold water and these are mostly aquatic plants.
Unless you are diligent & constantly check whenever it rains and that mosquito doesn't breed on them, I recommend that you don't introduce them in your garden.
Plants that hold water:
a) Bromeliad (check the central crown)
b) Heliconia & Banana (sections of the leaves)
c) Ginger (some species hold water in their flowers)

I'm sure there are a lot more to add about mosquito as more and more discoveries have been made. A lot more of speculations made where real scientific study is yet to be verified. I'm sure for now for those who are seeking for mosquito free garden - this information may help.

Finally, these are my Wormwood plant (Artemisia capillaris) in my garden.
(For those who are wondering how wormwood looks like)

Garden Oh Garden....

2010-05-13T12:49:00.006+08:00

These are the moment I'm scratching my head and wondering what to say,
"Ahh...Hmm..."(sigh!)

Its ridiculous actually, I just reset the whole thing and its not what intend it to be. Another few weeks & I'm sure the whole thing would turn into a blob of plants, I hardly can see the base of the pot now (making it more difficult for me to water)

Somehow, it look pretty in their own mess but should I make it neat and tidy?
Again, I really don't have the time & energy to do it.

What do you think dear gardeners?
Share with me your thoughts & ideas of what should I do concerning this.

Would consider this beautiful & keep it or prefer otherwise? (neat & tidy)