Technical Problems.....

External hard disk drive failed and there goes all my precious collection of photos for this blog.....hard luck!  Means I have to start all over again!!! It is hard to get moving again.  Well this blog will have to wait till I regain my energy and enthusiasm! Perhaps it is a sign or what, but today I caught some hummingbirds 'admiring ' my plants and a young man taking pictures of some of my plants with his expensive looking camera. Perhaps he is practising his photography techniques...but he seemed abit embarrassed caught in the act of taking photos.

Wrightia Religiosa

"Sui Mee" or Water Jasmine is one of my favorite plants. It is easy to handle, and practically pest free. All it needs are water and sunshine. Feed some fertilizer (any type, as it is not fussy)  if desired to promote faster growth. The dainty, hanging white flowers are  so delicately scented and the plant blooms perpetually.  One should smell the flowers first thing in the morning, and their fragrance awake one's senses. The leaves are ever green. This plant is a favorite for people keen on bonsai.

My mother gave me my first Sui Mee and since then I have propagated many plants from this plant.  I propagate them from cuttings trimmed off the plant. Not easy, but each time I trimmed the plant, I insert the cuttings in a small pot of well drain soil. It takes about 3 weeks to a month before I know if these cuttings will grow. Trimming the plant makes it grow more 'bushy', so it looks healthy with new leaves sprouting out. Just don't trim the buds.

My mother told me to place the Sui Mei plant at the house entrance so that one can smell the flowers. The plant she gave me was dry and looked rather sickly  as it needed re-potting and more watering. The leaves were small and drying out,  the branches brittle.  I  re-potted the plant in a bigger pot and it flourished in the fresh soil. That was almost 3 years ago. Since then I have again re-potted to an even bigger pot and it remains my favorite plant on the porch.

Waterlilies inBloom

I love waterlilies. Period.  A friend taught me how to plant it some years back. When we moved house, I could not take my waterlilies with me so I gave them away. Now with the plants that TLY dug for me, I am contented to have waterlilies again in my garden. There is no doubt that waterlilies when in bloom are  fascinating.  The delicate looking and graceful  flower rising above the water is very appealing  The fragrance it exudes is a bonus.Waterlilies will open around mid morning, sometimes earlier,  a light  touch of sunlight will wake it up. In the afternoon when it gets abit too hot, the flower will close. This will happen over the next 3 to 4 days. When the flower stalk droop, the flower will fall back to the waters. In a week or so, the flower will rot, then 'burst'.  Tiny seeds are dispersed, after a week or more, tiny baby lily plants will float around the pond. Eventually they will settled down to the soil and start to grow properly.

All one needs in order to grow waterlilies are some garden soil (if it is the loamy type, better still.) and  a  pot to hold the water.  However the soil have to be washed  and settled a few times  to ensure that the water remains clear once the water lily is planted.  Push in a fertilizer tablet that is prepared specially for aquatic plants. into the soil slightly away from the plant.  Aquatic fertilizers can be purchased at the local nurseries or even in the Hypermarkets at the gardening section. The local nurseries will sell it cheaper though. Nurseries or even those outlets that sell pots do provide a good selection of waterlily pots. 

Once the water is clear, (leave it overnight for a day or two) , release some  guppies or  small fish that eats larvae  into the mini pond. We do not want mosquitoes breeding!   The water will  become green with algae, but not to worry. The water will turn clear after some time by itself. I prefer to change the water when it gets too dirty. Water used must be chlorine free, otherwise the fish will die. So leave water to stand in a pail overnight before using the next morning.  To get the water out from the pot, I bought a small manual pump.  After a couple of weeks I release a 'Bandaraya' ( sucker  fish ) to help clear the excess algae and debris.  Mr Bandaraya will work like a vacumn so in no time, the waterlily pot will be clean and free from too much algae.


The waterlily pot can be placed somewhere in partial shade. Waterlilies like sunshine, but the water might get too warm in direct sunlight, killing the fish. As long as the waterlily gets a dose of sunshine for an hour or two daily, it is good enough. Allow the pot to stand on a higher level, so one can smell the fragrance  better .  I normally  trim off old leaves  or excess leaves now. I do that at least once a week, depending on how the plant progress. If the water is clear, I enjoy watching the guppies swim happily around. It is very relaxing to follow the graceful movements of the fish playing in the water.  Too much foliage crowd the pot. Top up with water when the water drops low.  Waterlily leaves float on the surface of the water. Water lotus leaves will leave the water surface.  Without water, the waterlily leaves will dry out. So keep at least  4 to 5 inches of water above the soil level. I tried growing the waterlily in a small pot  of filled with loam and then submerged this small pot into a waterlily pot filled with water. So far this method seems to work as well.

Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia Millii)

Blue Passion flower

Somehow this flower just fascinates me - the fragrance, the delicate petals, the striking color - note that each flower is so round - each flower is so perfect !

water lily

TLY dug out a total of 7 or 8 waterlily plants from her Uni pond.  When she collected the water lilies, they were tiny babies, but being fast growers  the water lilies start  blooming only after a month. I have three colors, white, pink and lilac.

Water lilies are so beautiful and fragrant. 

I have learnt alot about growing waterlilies from practical experience. More next time.....