Messy Garden - The Series

One of the most difficult factors about gardening is frist: 
Trying to keep the plant alive.
 If you have managed that well then like me - then you are faced with another worst challenge - keeping the garden neat when "they" decide to go "jungle". 
Well, that happens all the time at every 3-4 months period. 

These are the collection of pictures which I took and that I never uploaded as I really do not no how to make out of it. Whether to compile a series of before & after in the arrangement (which I finally found that I have too many of them in the collection) or delete and start all over again. (which I did too)

What I like about this space is that I can see and manage and decide which plants I want to keep & others which don't really fare well. 

Here - I really love Indian Head Ginger ( Costus Woodsonii) & Coleus in this collection. They do a superb job in keeping the floral & foliage colours well in a small tight space.

Others like Angelonia gives sprays of colours which really brightens up the place. The only setback is the unpredictability of propagating them that in most cases the survival of the next generation is 50% success rate. Nevertheless - out of all that is planted, some Angelonias blooms.

This is the overall picture together with hanging pots. They do tend to get leggy and ugly - these variegated Joyweed are really hardy as they can withstand strong blazing heat & sun also during the raining season where water literally wash down from the roof scallops. 

However this time, I found that Orchid Cactus seemed to complement well together with Joyweed to give the wholesome effect. The Spiderplant also had invaded in some of the space in between the Joyweed of which I think they still complement well.

Another set of earlier selection of plants which I never managed to upload.
These are during the rain season where Wishbone flowers bloom gloriously.

I find that this Fire Cracker Plant (Russelia Equisetiformis) is also very hardy but they do give a challenging factor where they don't seemed to obey on where you want to go grow. They can be very bushy and giving out sprays here & there in an untidy manner.

Regardless - I love the flowers together with the Indian Head Ginger (Costus Woodsonii) gives a good selection for the nectar loving birds (Sunbirds that often visits my garden) around this garden space.

Picture Above
Spicy Jatropha (Jatropha integerrima) 
A challenging plant where mealy bugs and ants seemed to be constantly attacking this plant. Currently the whole plant is invested with snow-like  bugs where ants are farming on them. I need to trim off all the infested branches which I have yet to do.

Picture Below
Snowflake (Wrightia Antidysenterica)
Truly a lovely flower - I really never managed to write about this one. One setback is that its is scent-less, otherwise it would make a wonderful complete bloom to consider this as a jasmine but sadly it is not.

Somehow the common name seemed to be rare for this one. I doubt anyone is going to call this a snowflake. 
(Really? I mean people like us would prefer to get acquainted with simple & easy names like jasmines or white something - Wrightia anti..something.. is just too much a tongue twister)

And I thought the only thing was messy was my garden.

False Heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia)
You won't believe it that this manage to grow at the side of the gate. There is a very tiny hole by the gate and this plant decided to make its residents there.

Recent Garden Blooms

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!

New Year Blooms

Perhaps I have been working too much in my garden and that had caused me to see my garden as a chore and not so much as a source of beauty and wonder. Of course, all these are blooming right in front of my face but lets face it.

There is too much to prune, repot, replant, re..re.. re.. and water that time passes by just giving enough time for maintenance. And the day goes by from morning till night that I can only summon some extra time just to breathe the freshly watered garden during weekends.

And in this case for my Hibiscus, having a nice fresh flower for snack and enjoying the pollen. Thanks for Autumn Belle, I can enjoy my hibiscus without caution. You can read more about it here in her blog about Hibiscus.

Let me walk you through my currently garden blooms.


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I got this Angelonia from my mum. She passed a pot to me as she was clearing her stock.
I'm amazed at this beauty, I never really paid much attention to it. I guess I need to propagate this one more as it has beautiful flower which continuously blooms.
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What I really wonder is, why is this one known as angel flower or angel face. I have been figuring that out, what I really notice is that it look more like a skull.
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I wished I got more varieties of colours from this species, seemed to be very hardy compared to other short-term flowering plants.
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Garden Balsam (Impatiens balsamina)

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I guess it seed got escaped from my mother's garden as I don't fancy growing this plant.

Not that I don't favour this, its because this plant need good amount of sunlight which I really lack. I had another balsam plant which did grow furiously but never flowered.

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Regardless, this one did manage to bloom (Its been very hot these few weeks) and the blooms are very lovely just like a rose floral.

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False Heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia)

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Its been said that this plant is quite hardy but somehow I had many failed attempt with this one. I guess its hardiness is based on draught resistance whereas my environment is very much shady and moist. (Over watering can kill the plant)

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Rescued from abandon area, together with Ixora which I'm still waiting for its bloom to appear.

You can notice the small leathery leaves which both are growing together in a planter box.

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I have also placed my Dianthus cuttings here and they have just recently bloomed, the blooms lasted few days. I realise that I have few of the cuttings stashed in some other few pots sharing with flame violets & begonias. It happened when I urgently need to transplant them before the whole plant dies.

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I never expect to see my Dumbcane to bloom. Sad to see when most of the leaves and even the flower had not been spared by slugs and snails. This one was taken just I was doing my cleaning & remodeling.

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There is something mystically about this rose, it does mesmerise me whenever I see this one as it greets me by the entrance gate. I found the best time to take white coloured flowers are during early morning just before sunrise as it shows all the tones in the right places. Too bright and the whole flower turn paper white.

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I heard that roses are edible but somehow I don't have the heart or the stomach to eat this one.

Its just too beautiful.

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Additional Update:

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Sorry for the lack of description on the Angelonia. I would like to show you what I see in the Angelonia flower.

Do click my earlier posting when I first saw it in my mum's garden:

Garden Beauty: Mum's Garden.

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