Quirky

Strange plant, is it a weed? Grows slower than ordinary grass weeds. Quite cute, seems evergreen to me because no buds at sight.

Stranger still, Gerbera daisy in half ?

Torenia fournieri (Bluewings) bent into 2, circled in white. It has been 2 days and still green, fresh looking. It has a bud, I wonder if it will bloom?

Whaddaya know? 4 days later, the crippled Torenia stood up!

Blooms purplish blue in real life but the photos shows them in striking blue despite Periwinkles still looked pink on photos. Amazing.

Countless buds :)

Blooms 4 days later :)

Self seeds sown early June.

Seedlings emerged late July (shown in pic) and when they've grown, I've replanted into planter box mid-Sep for bigger space. Spotted buds in late Sep only then did I realised they were Dot's Torenias, given to us last June.

Of course we were delighted :)

Raindrops glisten

Rain! It's 24 deg C (74 deg F) this morning.

Very strong rain started at 2 am and lasted probably more than an hour. Found one of my Torenia fournieri (bluewings or wishbone flower) bent into 2 :( ... luckily 5 or 6 others are still ok with a pretty bloom still intact.

Will post their pictures soon :)

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!

Lipstick red roses. We believed it's Cameron highlands breed from the size, colour and texture of its leaves compared to the localised environment. Weather in Cameron Highlands lower by 10 deg C (50 deg F) day and night compared to the low lands - that is a lot of difference!; makes a wonderful vacation for families and friends to get away from the hot, humid and polluted cities.

For Roses, a different matter. Many argued that it is impossible for it to thrive or home gardeners to create full sunlight at cooler temperatures. Perhaps it could grow in East facing homes? Or to plant in areas with East sun and shaded from West sun - which is what we did. Noticeably this Cameron highlands rose will bud and bloom at year end during the cooler season.

The China Rose (Cramoisi Supérieur) or a Bourbon Rose (Louise Odier) tiny bud bloomed this morning, sweet fragrance for Deepavali. Wonderful to be at home.

Counting in Malay, Chinese, Indian. I used vowels for languages Chinese's PinYin and Indian's Tamil.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe.

If he hollers make him pay,

Fifty dollars every day.

courtesy of children's counting rhyme

Photos 2 days later, beautiful petals fall off :(

Was careful when watering, not to knock the pot but the wind beat me to it.

I didn't trim the flowerhead yet cos it still looked good and slight fragrant.

Propagating Pentas

This morning at 82 deg F (27 deg C) with breeze, a beautiful time in the garden. I took James Missier's advice "plant short cutting with 2 nodes in the soil and the crown at surface". Firstly, what is 2 nodes? That prompted me to know more on anatomy of a plant. Wikipedia has a better illustration of a plant stem. At top of a stem is divided into a few 'nodes', usually a pair. Each 'node' holds an inflorescence (or cluster) of buds sometimes a pair of leaves instead. I think Mother nature has a wonderful way of dividing weight of each bract of buds/flowers in stable manner (fork-like) and branching on each stem encourages more inflorescence. In the end, you'll see the main stem branched out to a few new stems then compounding pairs of nodes carrying clusters of tiny Egyptian stars.

1st pic showing 2 plants, one had succumbed to aphids, the other hanging tough. I tried pesticides and heavy pruning when I spotted the weak plants mid-Sept. Leaves turned yellow with red tip and reddish veins. 2nd pic for illustration only, that stem was spared has it has new buds on it. Next pic showing 4 trimmed Egyptian stars (Pentas Lanceolata) in a pot, now placed at the nursing bay in shade to root with daily light watering for the whole week.

This is my 2nd attempt in propagating Pentas *fingers crossed*.

Happy Deepavali !!

Update Oct-20: 3 days since potting. Leaves looks good :)

Seeing Pink

I see "pink" this October.

Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) buds are blooming.

Haven't a clue if it is China Rose (Cramoisi Supérieur) or a Bourbon Rose (Louise Odier). Anxious to a whiff of it as soon as it blooms, I'm thinking tomorrow, soon. To savour its fragrance again.

Bachelor Buttons (Gomphrena Globosa) thriving well in this humid weather. It's purple (giggle) well it does blend with the pinks, ya?

In succesion

Spotted little flowerheads of Gerbera Daisy's (Gerbera jamesonii) late Aug, pic showing a week later.

Couple days later, 2nd Gerbera grew matching petals, catching up with the 1st. Oh look! 3rd petiole a peekaboo (left)!

 

2 weeks since late Aug, 1st Gerbera bloom is getting tired.

Closeup on 1st and 2nd bloomer. Notice the center called 'capitulum' contains tiny floret bud. You will know the daisy will fade, when all the florets bloomed and petals wilting. 

Pic left, 1st bloom starting to fade and 2nd has its florets blooming halfway on right.

Left pic, 3rd bloom and next our 4th a peekaboo baby.

Amazing Gerbera Daisy, they bloom in succession hence seemingly endless. A fun to be prying into its masses of huge leaves everyday, on lookout for little petiole with a flowerhead. I call them peekaboos :)

I think Gerberas will flower beautifully & vibrant in filtered sunlight although its label (when purchased) instructed "in full sun". Coral coloured Gerberas took 2 months to establish in the flowerbed, yet to see signs on our Yellow coloured Gerberas (which is our keen interest *fingers crossed*).

Meantime, I'm having a field time at snapping fat swelling green caterpillars. Counted today, 4 noticeably large and 1 skinny caterpillars. Will post their pics soon.

A lotus alternative?

Alisma plantago-aquatica, I think this is an alternative to water lotus flower or water-lily. Don't you think so?

Well ... on the mini side ;-)

Blooms once. About 2 days after the bloom day, grows new leaves to be rooted. Fairly easy to grow as long as they are shielded from noon to evening direct sun. Bloom pic taken from our guppy pond, fertilised well naturally by our guppies and catching outdoor light and air.

Alisma P. in our open courtyard. It grows according to the size of their pot. So the bigger pot, the bigger leaves.

2 new stalks carrying buds. Very productive Alisma in a guppy pond in filtered sunset.

Finished blooms will sprout young leaves and roots. Ready to be separated from mummy-plant, but I decided to let it float to shade some part of the little pond.