An Old Man's Beard for Christmas!

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

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.

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

Thank you Stephanie!

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