A morning at Gunung Jerai, Kedah

This morning, we decided to go hiking again at Gunung Jerai. As it was the year end school holidays, there were more hikers, cyclists and visitors  than usual.  There was a  group of students (about a hundred plus from a secondary school) hiking up for a couple days camp.  This must be the largest group of students we have seen so far ..... looks like it is going to be noisy weekend up there......!

Here are some shots to share....

Half way up...

A  wild berry plant

View from Regency Hill Resort

Fascinating orchids on the tree

Pitcher plants - Nepenthes

Fern Plant

A big bird ....I almost miss it !

I like the foliage of this plant...

Nepenthes again ..

A close up shot

Fern plant....I  like the lacy patterns

Nice foliage......

Orchids on the ground

Beautiful foliage and flowers.....

A caterpillar...

colorful bug ..

The Cypress Vine ( Ipomoea quamoclit)

When I first saw the Cypress Vine  many years back, I thought it was such a beautiful plant with the lacy delicate fresh green leaves and bight red flower shaped in a star.  When we first move here, I wanted to have some fast growing plant to cover up the fence for some greenery in order to have some shade and privacy. This is a  very fast growing plant which is robust and can withstand  the hot weather without getting all scorched despite its rather delicate looking leaves when it started growing. Also it is a fast bloomer and within a month of growth or so, the plant will be blooming...very pretty indeed.  The down side of this plant is it can  be rather invasive as the many thousands of flowers all bear seeds that can start growing  anywhere .......! 

After I had the  Rangon Creeper ( posted June 24 2010) growing very well,  sadly I  had to remove this plant as there is really no space around the fence area.  By then  the plant  was  also showing  rapid  browning and not so healthy anymore. Any gardener will know it  can be a mess to pull out vines !   I presumed this plant has a short life span or perhaps due to the hot and dry spell,  they  started to dry up.  It  was  not easy to  just remove  certain brown parts of the plants as they are all entangled up. In the end I just removed the  whole mess of vegetation  entangled to the fence and the seeds all just dropped to the ground as I cut and  removed parts of the plant bit by bit.....!    Till today  young plants  continue to  shoot up  around  the areas where I had  planted this plant.  I have to keep removing them as I see them.   Perhaps I should try to grow the Cypress Vine in a pot and twined it around some sticks and see whether it can be tamed. ......well just a passing thought, as I do like the lacy leaves and attractive red flowers.....

Passion Fruit .....

The bud .....

I have a wonderful surprise....my passion fruit plant (see blog posted on 30th August 2010) is flowering again .... .....

The flowers are really exotic looking. I hope this round I will get to harvest some fruits....the last time this plant bloomed, I harvested just one single  fruit ...! This plant is about a year and half old. A friend told me that this plant will attract lots of ants since  the fruits are rather sweet. So far touch wood, I am lucky - no ants yet !  

Some months back I trimmed off most of the vine as I wanted to put in a stronger support system, but it looks like it is still inadequate.   Perhaps it is high time I think of erecting a kind of arbor to hold the plant which  is rather  heavy with such  tremendous foliage growth.

Unlike the fragrant  passion flower (posted 13th Jan 2010), this passion fruit flower has no scent at all.  This passion fruit vine is a vigorous grower.   I have to keep cutting off some leaves now and then.  Whenever  I do that how I wish the leaves are edible.....!

Tuber Head Plant .........

The weekend has come and go....and it is another new week ! What have  I learn this past week? I have a chronic problem that perhaps someone out there has a solution. It is to do with the Jasmine Sambac. (posted 23rd August 2010) When they bloom, the fragrance and beauty is really something. However, the downside of the jasmine sambac is they  are vulnerable to attack by unseen bugs  and  some tiny green  caterpillars.  I have picked these caterpillars off the plant as they were sometimes embedded within the new shoots.  The bug, I have yet to see, but they always leave behind small black specks of shit (I think). Sometimes the whole bush is under attack including the new shoots, the buds and the blooms......haiz.  It is a frustrating problem that keeps recurring. Each time I would trim all the infected parts of the plants. Sometimes I am lucky -  I am rewarded with nice blooms and fragrance, but soon the whole cycle is repeated.  Kind of frustrating.  This man at the nursery, he tells me I can try with spraying with the water based mosquito aerosol....would it work?  Well I will give it a try.....!  

Swollen bulb - partially covered

   In today's blog  I would like to share photos of  this plant - I do not  know what is its name .  The leaves are elongated and slightly wavy and it  has a  swollen round white tuber (onion like) that somehow reminds me of the chinese leek. 

Nice wavy elongated  leaves

Top view

Actually I have three of these plants taken from my friend's garden. She has a number of these plants.  I quite  like the look of this plant as I think it is cute.  I doubt it will flower, will it ?   The lush light green leaves are so pleasant .  I am not sure if this is the same plant sold as a Feng Sui Plant during Chinese New Year. I have this plant for about 9 months now.  I planted one in the pot and the other two on the ground. My friend had hers planted on the ground as well.  Like most tuberous plants, it does not need lots of water. It is a slow grower as well.  It seems to prefer  indirect sunlight. 

Planted on the ground

I think it looks better in the pot, so  recently I  removed one plant  from the ground to a pot as well.  I think it did not like being removed from the ground  and it is still sulking.....not showing much growth at all.  Well that is the world of plants...can't please them all the time....haha!

Update : I know now that these bulb plants are the St Christopher's Lily or  Crinium Jagus. One of  the plant (planted on ground) bloomed in March 2011 . (see post dated : 25th March 2011).