Unceasing rain and winds

Rained for hours (day and night) coupled with strong winds; seem to mark its presence of the coming "wet" season, the yearly monsoon from Nov until Feb. Temperature throughout the day, 75 to 79 degrees F.

The Flowerbed, relieved from long hours of blazing hot sun (Marigold leaves and young buds were singed, Zinnia flowers and leaves looked tired), now they will face unceasing heavy raindrops and winds. The poor things in a state of disarray. Everyday over a week, I was straightening Marigolds with rafia strings and re-anchor Zinnias stems at the base in the soil. Little Yellow-Flame Zinnias gets flattened often and not enough sunshine. Really poor things.

Notice a Pink Zinnia bloom at the bottom? It has a deformed growth hence limiting its bloom size and flowering period.

Saturday, I bought foldable plant supports to anchor Pink Zinnias, same time it provides some support to Marigolds. Leaving good spaces in between and air circulation for little plants to grow and bloom more; Yellow-Flame Zinnias and Purple Gomphrena Globosa.

Gromphrena seedlings germinates well during rainy season. They are enjoying the wetness.

** You'll climb higher if you take a straight path. Doubt not the supports in life during stormy rains.

Gerberas & Hydrangea

Gerbera daisies - planted into flowerbed, replaced 2 Yellow Marigolds that didn't do well, just 2 days before the unexpected long and heavy rains. Daisies' flowers were mostly bent to wilt. Noticed its leaves became soft (less lively) so I re-planted to lift its crown above the ground level. Gardeners advised to do that to prevent 'crown rot' and diseases.


When replanting, I noticed the bed soil is sufficiently moist so I better reduce daily watering.



Daises' leaves started to look perky.

Meantime I'm leaving both Gerberas to try established themselves until I could find something suitable to replace Gerberas' space and re-pot.

Bought a plant from Tesco - what seems like a Hydrangea (I hope so, finally!), still in buds so we don't know its actual species and bloom colour. Both Hydrangeas and Gerberas prefers afternoon shade, so I'm hoping the tall Zinnias and bushy Marigolds will help *fingers crossed*.

Beautiful Desert Rose blooms

Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) bloomed today! OMG a success story, oh-joy!

It hasn't re-bloom since June, this majestic flowered plant we've bought at a nursery near Hicom mid-May. It has been growing lush green leaves, and more leaves! At least I'm watering less correctly, otherwise result to yellowing of leaves which eventually drop off.

Folks say "Fu Gui Fa" (plant's name in Cantonese) blooms in the hands of lucky people; so if it doesn't bloom it is fated. I could not accept that because it had 7 or 8 buds in the nursery and bloomed in our garden - so it has to be something that I'm not doing right.

Patiently waited. 2 months passed, unhappy with the result; I surfed the internet to research, read blogs, sight-seeing neighbour's Desert Rose; to understand "why" some blooms and some don't.

I find most bloggers and forums discussed about "prunning" the plant. The best illustrated demonstration on pruning back a Desert Rose by Mickeys Rose.

Early August, I replanted to lift its cauldex, trimmed some roots and pruned away 4 stems (had the heartache doing all 6 stems). 2 weeks later, tiny buds appeared on 2 pruned stems while leaves on the rest. Growing buds takes 2 weeks before finally bloom.

I snapped the swelling buds this morning. The largest is bigger than my index finger.

Later that evening, when we reached home after a day's outing, we were pleasantly greeted by blooms.

Ahhh ... perfect.

*** No pain, no gain. Do not be disheartened by minor losses, for they may lead you to major gains.

Caterpillars [update]

Green caterpillars spotted on our 5.5 feet tall Periwinkle Vinca. Next 2 days, we've collected total of 8 caterpillar and feeding them fresh periwinkle leaves 4 times a day. They nap sometimes for about 15 minutes before munching again. Heavy eaters as well as "shitters" so need to clean out the glass bowl periodically. The fun part is when enticing them with fresh leaves to retrieve them from the bowl. Very sporting

A pair of bright 'False-eyes' formed on each caterpillar a day laterOnce they turned brown, they stopped eating (and shitting as well). They vibrate themselves as if electricity shock if we ply them with food or any touches. Pretty sensitive buggers. This change took about 2 days from when we caught them, as they were already matured in size, 4-inch long x half inch wide.

Next stage, we think they turned into 'pupa' after 3 days of inactivity. This snapshot taken a week after.

5 surviving pupas, they wiggled a bit when moved. They seem to be sensitive to sounds as well.

Bottom pic is its head that came off when they changed into pupa.

I'll be adding a video of these wigglys soon. Stay tune!

Too hot to handle?

We had intermittent showers day before yesterday; expecting a muggy weather until suddenly sunny shining so brightly for 3 hours before the sunset.

A sight of Gerbera Daisies bending downwards; had me to removed it from our window sill to seek shade temporary. Gave them sprinkles of water after a few minutes and left them.

An hour later, Yellow Gerbera daisies springs up happily again.

Evergreen shrub tiny blooms

Pentas are wonderful bloomers in any weather. Grows lots of leaves and clusters of flowers, easy maintenance shrub - require no deadheading.









A close up on its cluster; 70% bloomed and rest are buds.














A close up on a few clusters; (left) pinkish buds soon to bloom in 2-3 days, (center bottom) budding soon, next to a cluster of recently finished blooms. (Right) not-yet-buds forming, as green as its leaves.














Lastly a close up of its cluster with finished blooms that fell up 2 days ago. Looks like seeds to me, don't you think so?

Orkid Pinang

Spathoglottis plicata or 'Ground Orchid', native to Philippines and Southeast Asian. In Malaysia, it is know as 'Orkid Pinang', grows well in hot climate. It prefers damp soil, high humidity and light shade - or else it will be cooked in full afternoon sun. It blooms repeatedly year round.


It bears fruits; propagate from tuber division and can be germinated from seeds. Long and narrow green leaves, pleated or fluted - similar to Pandanus when it is not flowering. Leaves emerge from round pseudobulbs, as the orchid matures, will grow more and larger leaves.



More information on growing Spathoglottis P., click here. Prefers full morning sun in rich soils, good air circulation and water daily. Wa2n blogs on other orchid species as well and beautiful pictures!



Click here for a detailed view of Spathoglottis P. from blooms, fruits until its bulbs.




This orchid didn't seem to do well in our courtyard so I transplanted into the flowerbed where I digged out what's left of the Marigold orange (pic below).



Notice Turnera's seedling? It was growing wild at the fringe of the flowerbed. I pulled out and transplanted it to sit into the flowerbed comfortably because it matures with thicker roots system.

Gerbera Daisy catches eyes

Down the neighbourhood street, we fondly call him 'Indian uncle' who is as obsessed with gardening like me - his obssession with gardening overtook the public 5-foot ground green space accross the street and surrounding his house. Many young plants with green leaves, a couple of mini rose plants - many not flowering except his pretty pink Barbeton Gerbera Daisy. It has only one flower stalk swaying along with the breeze as if nodding as you drive by. Really cute!

We bought Gerbera Daisies (Gerbera Jamesonii), also known as Transvaal Daisy, yesterday. Striking yellow and Coral-pink, both with black hearts. Could be that both are Gerbera hybrids - a cross between Gerbera Jamesonii and Viridifolia. There are 4 to 6 flowerheads each and 2 to 4 small buds in the center. So many? So pretty!

Gerberas comes from sunflower family (Asteraceae), smaller version of sunflower - notice how similar the capitulum, flowerhead and flower buds?

HortChat.com has the total gardening advice on growing and caring (sickly) Gerberas, great for beginners - checkout the FAQs and comments below. Save this URL into your favorites for your future referencing.

Caterpillar turned brown?

Wow they finished those leaves in the container by early morning - looked tired and very hungry.



Retrieved 3 more from the shrub and into the container. Heavy muchers and shitters *LOL*.



That's my finger to show how fat, juicy and big these creatures. They're glorious feast for birds.















This caterpillar turned brown and we saw it trying to weave a cocoon, maybe. Did you notice that it has 2 spots of startling colours disguised as eyes? Green ones has pretty 'false eyes', not the brown though. That would be its' head, you could tell while it devours the leaves. The tiny elongated orange is the tail-end. Glitters of shiny white dots at the side of its body.


Do caterpillars sleep? They're busy eating to sleep, growing and molting (process of shedding skins to allow them to grow bigger) but I saw them taking naps like 15 - 30 minutes. All motionless together (had me almost thinking that they died) then starts eating again. When they eat, you can hear "crunch, crunch, crunch". A caterpillar molts 5 times then its skin transformed into a chrysalis; a moth or butterful will emerge from the chrysalis.






















Did you know Butterflies dances in the air in courtship? Like humans, it is to discover the suitability of the potential mate. Part of this process to know if the female butterfly's eggs already fertilised then the female will release a pheromone to discourage the male butterfly. The female butterfly uses its legs to detect suitability of leafy plants for her babies to feed on. Usually eggs are laid on the foodplant, some lay nearby. It takes about 7 to 20 days for eggs to hatch, depending on the type. Young larvae will eat up its eggshell.



There are 4 stages in a butterfly's life. To watch slideshows of how caterpillar pupate? click here. It takes some time to load. How long does a caterpillar pupate? A few hours.



The final metamorphosis after 2 weeks from when the caterpillar transformed into a pupa. The pupa is camourflaged from predators. When the pupa has grown into a butterfly, it will secrete liquid to soften the shell. Its body will expand and crack the shell. Within the hour, the butterfly will pump air into its body, blood begins to circulate and ready to fly away. Anotomy of an adult butterly, click here.


How fast can a caterpillar eat? Watch it devouring a periwinkle leave - finished the whole leave in less than 3 minutes.

Green Caterpillar

Neighbour's maid, wide-eyes frantically calling out for me and pointing in panic at our Periwinkle Vinca; there were huge and green ever-hungry green crawlies. She saw 7 of these caterpillars; so far we had 4 in a container, missed out one camourflaged so well later to be killed because in contact with pesticide.

The biggest fella about 4-inch long and nearly 1-inch big in dia - so fat, juicy and slow moving.


Ladies were grossed out at the sight of it.

Finally it made sense of those green balls stuffs on the concrete ledge - caterpillars' waste (shit). Hmmm it's fertilizer time anyway. ;-P

Exotic - Ground Orchid

During our usual grocery shopping, I chanced upon the weirdest looking tiny Orchids. Well naturally I avoided Orchids, although there are some fragrant species and thrives in tropical climate, just that they seem 'too clingy' and high maintenance to me.

But this seem different; it has Pandanus-like leaves, bloom size an inch wide and whole plant 12-inch above the soil. It is grown in black soil instead of stones, bricks or charcoals. Looks as if its roots bulbous. There were 7 leaves' stem and another one stem with flowers. I wonder if it grows similar habit as Heliconia.

Giant hypermarket's trolley terribly worn out (Kelana Jaya), causing the poor plant to vibrant the whole time. Some petals fell off.

I'm calling it tiny Orchids for now until I could find its actual name. Cheers!

Well whadaya know? It's Ground Orchid or Boat Orchid (Spathoglottis Plicata), is the common species of Orchid that blooms year round. Fluted or pleated leaves emerge from round pseudo bulbs, which will multiply as the plant matures. Ground Orchids can be grown in pots, beds or borders. Experts advised regular watering but don't over-water. It requires good air circulation and humidity, in bright light but careful against prolonged direct sun. It will spread slowly and could bloom for 2 - 3 months.

Wow, did I mentioned about Orchids - high maintenance?

Gleeful Surprise

A morning surprise to see an unusual growth on Desert Rose's tip of its stem - usually we'd get new leaves but this time, our fingers crossed, could it finally be new buds?















We counted 3 on separate stems. Our Desert Rose underwent pruning and replanting process 5 days ago.














































We will patiently wait while our Desert Rose's surprise unfolds.

Glimmer of hope for our mini roses. Dutifully giving them specialised time-release fertilizer pellets on every 2 weeks.