Cactus Garden - Update

Cactus fascinates me.

Regardless those intimidating thorns and spikes,
one must say the plant literally screaming out,
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

But yet, somehow many had drawn into this siren only to kill them by over-watering.
These I must say that they should be cared with utmost neglect
in order for them to thrive.
(neglect in a sense not to put them outdoors if you get rain frequently out in the open)

Again - even with that,
I had killed many with my silly mistakes.
Something that I had learned a lot of lessons a long the way.

One thing that I realise that I dare say:
people tend to have short-term relationship with cactus.
I often find them dumped and thrown away at burning sites.
Some barely surviving in that neglected spot - all torn and mis-handled.

Perhaps its because cactus are sold cheap.
You can easily get 3 for RM10.
And they are often neatly arranged in a bigger pot with coloured pebbles,
adorning coffee tables or office work station.
And the time ticking away when they are not build for indoor environment.
One after the other will start falling due to root rot.
(Ah.. I remember - the slimy rottenness when the whole plant gets squashy)
I guess that's what put these newbies off from starting another cactus experience.

Most of these cactus,
needlessly I must say were picked up, rescued or received as give-aways.
(Gardeners who no longer want to have cactus in their plant list)
It must be the thorns that might had put people off that they got thrown off.

I still wonder why people buy them at the first place
and later decide to get rid off them.
Many were placed directly at open weather,
few survive the ordeal of daily watering of tropical rain.
I guess the gardener thought that direct sun was good for them
forgetting about the heavy rain part.
And those that manage to survive somehow had well adapted to the tropical zone.
Only to adapt together with the terrible spiky dragon look
intimidating & terrifying all those who comes through the door
(nor not)
I guess, I might feel that way:
Seeing some with huge thorns and spikes that
I wonder whether the owner was trying to keep everyone at bay.

In some cultures - planting cactus at the entrance or in the garden is considered a bad omen..
Thorny, spiky or poking plant spells as a keeps away good luck
rather than a welcoming warm spirit.
(again - I wonder why roses don't fall into this category -
I got bruised, poked and stabbed by these darned roses in my garden)

Anyway, I have yet to make a beautiful arrangement with my cactus garden.
Until I get a nice beautiful collection, guess I have to be content with these.

My Cactus/Succulent Plant Garden in my balcony.
I water them once a week.

Let me know what you think of them.

Succulent Leaves - Propagation

One of the things about succulents
which can be frustrating is that moment you find them accidentally
that they are rotting at the base.
By then, its considered too late to safe anything.
In most cases,
the rot would had infected with a fungus infestation that spells doom to that only species:
Your one and only plant!
Experience taught me this lesson and therefore,
I always make sure I have spares - planting them into few pots just in case one dies.

Here the method I propose:

1) Break / Snap off a healthy leaf from an existing plant.(Succulent plant - of course)
Wash them lightly from whatever stain/dirt or debris.
And dry it off.

2) Place them horizontally (like the pic)
On a small pot using sand (or any fast draining medium)
Water them lightly - once a week. (spray better)
And watch the tiny red root sprouting out together with baby plants at the base of the leaf-end section.

3) Wait for the plant to grow bigger and establish itself into a mature plant.
That's it.

Simple tips don't you think?
a) Fast draining medium - here I use sand.
b) Water lightly on weekly basis (not daily!)
c) Watch them grow...
Yeah..
the downside is the patience part - you will only notice the difference on the weekly basis.

One thing for sure.
By then - if the parent plant manage to die (if that happens)
These babies would had established itself by then.
And yes its true:
Its that long.

These are (pictures below)

1) Ghost Plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense)
2) Mother of Millions (Bryophyllum daigremontianum)
3) Donkey's Tail (Sedum morganianum)

and various different types of sedums. (unknown)


Let me know if you had tried this method before and your success story.
Good luck.

Creative Gardening with Broken Pottery

I didn't want to throw away this nice vase.
It wasn't expensive nor memorable but something that I bought many years back
and I would consider its a bit rare to find a clay vase these days.

I also found that mother of thousand seemed to be the best candidate
to work on this experiment.
Experiment?
Well - few plants didn't get too well adapted to this shallow surface growing.
This one worked so far.

After few months, these seemed to be thriving.
Let me know what you think about this.

This is the beauty of the plant.
The plant-lets seemed to lightly attached itself at the edge of the matured leaves.
And sometimes, these plant-lets have the orange stripes - like leopard.
Something that I enjoy having this one as it is very hardy and resilient.

Red Blooms in My Garden

A lot can be said about this collection.
One thing for sure - they truly colour my garden with loud shouts of red, violently screaming for attention. Somehow they had become permanent residents where they bloom constantly without any extra care (except for daily watering)

I had few times failed to water them few days and still managed very well.
Here in this collection:

1) Indian Head Ginger (Costus woodsonii)
2) Firecracker plant  (Russelia equisetiformis)
3) Powderpuff plant (Calliandra species)
4) Thai Ruellia - (Ruellia elegans)
5) Bleeding Heart Vine  (Clerodendrum Thomsoniae)
6) Ground Orchid  (Spathoglottis plicata)
7) Cane Begonia
8) Ylang-ylang - drawf variety
9) Ice plant - Dorotheanthus sp.
10) Jewel of Opar - (Talinum paniculatum)

I would say that these are truly hardy plants and I would recommend them in your garden.
(cxcept for the Ground Orchid - they are a bit tricky but once you get them established - they bloom continuously)