Begonia Updates

I started loving begonias when they seemed to do so well in my garden. The best part of these begonias are the variegated colours on the leaves. Somehow another addition of colours takes place that they can change colours when kept in shade (greener tones) and stronger red tones when place in bright sunlight.

Unlike Cane Begonias - these are Rhizome Begonias - they don't stay planted on the soil, rather crawl on the surface top with the thick stem-like branch. Their roots are too fine - hairy looking stuff appear to be as thin as a coconut husk stands.

The danger is that these rhizome do tend to rot when they are exposed to too much watering. And so they thrive on a rocky, pebbled based surface rather than a soil surface. Its just not worth it to plant this one on a deep based pots as they are surface crawlers.
So when propagating - instead of cutting it and pushing in deep into the soil medium. Place them horizontally planting the rhizome half into the medium and half exposed at the top together with the leaves upwards.

I had a good success with Black Velvet Begonia of which many of my gardener's friends had struggling with it. Now with new additions to add colour to my rhizome collections. I have now 4 different types which I bought each less than RM10.00 a piece.

This one was all in shade for few weeks (or close to a month or so) I bought this from Tesco supermarket about less than RM10.00 - Regardless - I had changed the soil mix just in case if it suddenly dies on me sitting on a cocopeat.

Notice the colour difference in the new leaf.
This happened when I placed in the brighter shaded area.

I got this red centred one (or it appeared to be that way) but when it is in shade - It looked exactly like the first one I bought in Tesco. I got another these for RM8.00 from Sg.Buloh. Currently the standard price is RM10.00 - bargain for less.

Don't buy anything more than RM10.00 - its a rip off.
I saw one sold in another nursery near Batu Caves - selling for RM15.00 and he is not into bargaining the price.
Well - you can see the 3 different colours in row (in pictures below)

This is Martin Mystery Begonia.
I doubt they are selling it like hot cakes in Sg.Buloh.
(not that I had noticed any there)

I suspect that most begonias are sold were the tuberous rose types - the ones that are very much loves cold climate. I had yet to find any lowland gardeners who had successfully kept and propagated in a long time span concerning this type of begonias. And personally - I kept off from purchasing them - they are so temporary with a short lifespan.

 Instead get these types.
There are very hardy and durable.
I suspect that these had become a passed on cutting type of begonia. No longer sold in nurseries as they are considered old fashion and become a glut in the market.

I also realised that most of the common plants are no longer sold in nurseries which reminds me that some plants do go out of fashion. Most new aspiring gardeners do not know the secret of having a begonia for life long term may end up constantly buying them off from the nursery shelves and end up getting frustrated seeing the plant succumb to dead with a month or so.
And mostly what had been purchased were from the highland types - not conditioned for the lowland - over-watering raining wet & sudden hot & dry climate.

 Martin Mystery Begonia gives out a messy vine like stem all around the hanging pot, swirling and twisting with the bronze leaves. They are not easy to consider them as clean & neat plant as they tend to get bushy and leggy in a long-term.

Regardless - they are very hardy and I recommend this for any new beginners who want to try their hands on begonias.

 

These are Oxalis.
They are not hardy as seemed and do require replanting time to time.
The tricky part is watering. Too much and it rots the bulb - killing the plant. Too less and the leaves get burn and appear to be unattractive. So the key is not too much and just a quick dab.
These are on hanging pots - and so my secret is water them just so lightly as not to let the water drip all the way down to the pot.
That is enough water on the surface to sustain the plant on a daily water routine.

I truly love to have sprays of colours, quite of the same tones to add volume my garden.
These are the results below:
Oxalis, Martin Mystery Begonia & Zebra Tradescandia.

Plants & Creepers among Pebbles

Have you ever had a sense of abandonment
when it comes to plants?
More often when I find that I'm pressed for time and I truly lack the zeal to garden, and often times its faithfully rains every time I keep aside the time I want to garden.
(it just feel so desperately hopeless)

And in these moments I find that
10 minutes gardening a day seemed to work.
Stash, Poke, Press and Plant Quickly on a Temporary basis
until a plant pick up seemed to work for me.

I wouldn't say temporary abandonment seemed like a true word for gardening. Another person might just that I'm just being plain lazy. (Ouch!)
I wonder if I'm the only one who is going through this ordeal.

Hundred things will be on my mind and when I just enter into my house but it would be the first thing that I would say that I want to water my garden of which I end up doing the very last thing before I go to bed.

Priority shift when I'm rushing to work fighting for seconds in the morning rush while my wife locking down the gate and I will be furiously spraying my plants,
"Just a second dear.. this is the last one"
And yes - I'm running late to send her to work too.

I wonder anyone goes through my ordeal.
I must be a terrible gardener but my plants still forgive me.

I got 2 pots of Fittonia.
Mosiac Plant

The pink one a year back when my son brought a plant for parents day. He was insisting that it was his plant and that I should take care of it. I doubt whether he still remembers it.
(Again -there is another host of other things in my mind now that I need to settle and sort within the family)

The red were bought during Mother's Day this year when I took my mum to the nursery when I manage to get an air plant with it.

(Its Tillandsia Medusa Caput -very much a trunk and bare burned leaves due to the very hot season - I got it for a slash price...Lucky me. I bought roses and another flowering plant for my mom that its name seemed to escape my mind - well - both died in her garden)

So - yeah.. I'm still figuring out why it didn't work for her when she got lots of time to caress her garden compared to me.
Gardening is indeed so unfair.

And these Fittonias didn't have a nice pot yet.
They are indeed poked and pressed in nook,
and corners of few potted plants.
Sharing here with a miniature pineapple.
I had Dyckia years back here before but it died due to mealy bug infestation underneath its roots system.
It got rotten from inside out - by the time if was found - it was too late to safe anything.
(Ohh.. those darn farming ants)

Well for consolation sake - I think it had lived a happy life in my garden - the dyckia was rescued from a dump burning site.

Actually I wanted to write about how you can garden on mere pebbles. That by putting the plant there - it would just thrive without much care.
I wanted to start writing with that note.

But being me - I want to make it sound more human and realistic that all is not so often follow the chain of command - that each and every gardeners do have good times and bad times.
In my case - well.. Coping with hard times and so the result of survival is indeed satisfactory.

A clump of baby tears (Pilea Depressa)

It was sort of rescued from my friend who was giving away his flowerpots and this one was barely clinging unto the dry patched soil that came together with the pot. I was not sure whether this one would survive.
So its in ICU now and I think - well.
Its survived for sometime now.

I would totally admire the resilience of this plant.
Wandering Jew (Zebra Tradescantia)

Totally recommend it to any new gardener who literally have no time gardening. This type has a violet glow when they receive a good sunlight. I have been neglecting this one too seriously and now I have to take some measure to make sure it survives.

Sometimes the problem with this one is that it doesn't stay put in the garden - always crawling and creeping off from their hope planted pot. The other part of its unpredictability is they are quite leggy and messy to begin with.

I haven't found this creeping plant name yet.
It does however share the same survivors instinct.
I once thought I totally lost this plant as it really didn't make it no matter how much care was given to it.
A small sprig was placed here for insurance of having this species in my garden.
And so here it is - still doing well.

The other one is in the hanging pot.
(picture below)

I finally manage to find this one's ID though.
Creeping Charlie (Pilea Nummulariifoia)

I often get friends thinking that it is such a wonderful mint plant only to be fooled that it is not. I was disappointed too when the smile fade from my friends face when they thought they know something and end-up wrong..
Some wanted to proof me wrong - pinch the leave to smell the fragrance - well..
(they are still wrong - no fragrance)

So yeah...
Pilea can be such a deceiver..
it should be renamed as False Mint Plant
but I guess they are better known as Creeping Charlie.

Another deceiver I would recommend are Flame Violets
(Episcia sp.)
They don't do permanently on hanging pots.
Eventually they succumb to maturity and death.
That's why - this one need constant attention of propagation - miss a season and that's the end of this species.

But they do so well as ground covers.
And here is the trick.
They are so happy sitting between pebbles.

This one (pic below)
Is tucked between the gate and the pillar.

Trailing Water Melon Begonia (Pellonia Repens)

Another trickster - they are often sold in nursery where those hanging leafy vines are cascading gloriously layers after layers only to find after few months - those layers tend to wilt or burn or turn soggy with rottenness.

These are conditioned now to withstand that situation.
And just like melons, they live up for the name given to them.
Its all discovering the gardening secrets.

And yes,
Its tough but unlocking them during these time of abandonment and ordeals of tonnes of chores needs attention.
It makes gardening worthwhile.

D.I.Y. Vertical Garden Project

It would have been easy if I had kept this and considered it as a finished work but nature had set it course against me in speeding up the delay factor. Perhaps the materials that I initially thought was classic were against me. Tin-can and a wooden crate are really lovely material to give that exotic time-less piece. I was wrong. Within few months the tin-can eroded and the wooden piece slowly giving away to rot.

This was my first project:  click at the link below
Tropical Vertical Garden Experiment

I was contemplating whether to continue with another project of improving the foundational material, whether they too will crumble due to the weight of time or proof worthy for the next round. Well this time I used the Cola plastic bottles. I found that they are quite durable, the bottles are steady and the dis-integrable factor is very low. This time - I used a wire-mesh which I bought from a stationary shop. Something that is used as paper files.

This is the final product. The bottles are stuffed first with moss to hold the soil from washed away when watering, The plants which I totally found worthy are those which are excellently hardy and able to handle small root space for growth.

These are the ones I recommend:

1) Wandering Jew - Tradescantia Zebrina
2) Basket Plant - Callisia fragrans or Spironema fragrans
3) Bird Nest Fern - Asplenium nidus
4) Trailing Watermelon Begonia - Pellonia Repens
5) Martin Mystery Begonia
6) Dorontheanthus Mezzo Trailing Red or Livingstone Daisy
7) Goose-foot plant - Syngonium podophyllum

These are doing strong for these couple of months now. I'm glad that I had changed the concept here. The plants too are doing OK, except for the Jewel of Opar - it never seemed to pick-up in this collection.
The birds ornaments adds colour and the final touch in this piece.

I doubt you would notice the recycle bottles. Hope this would inspire to you work on with these recycle items to keep our earth greener.