Amaryllis ( Hippeastrum ) in Bloom

As far back as I can recall in my childhood days, the small onion sprouting leaves (placed in a basket in the kitchen to be used for cooking) was the earliest fascination I had on plant growth. To actually see the kick start of  a baby plant ! Wow, the sight was something so wonderful it played on my young mind - how did that happened and why did it happened ? 

Now the question that often plays on my mind is why the Amaryllis bulbs refused to bloom when left to themselves ? I have these bulbs plants but they hardly ever blooms, just keep propagating small plants and sprouting healthy foliage. Then maybe, just maybe.. if I get lucky, perhaps one or two blooms in the whole year.  Yet at the highlands like Penang Hill, Cameron Highlands, Fraser Hills, etc  where the temperature is cooler these bulbs bloomed in abundance! The large showy and beautiful blooms are a sight to behold ! Some avid gardeners have recommended putting these bulbs in the refrigerator in order to force the blooms. Interesting. However is it worth going through the tedious process (for 4 months or so) just to enjoy some blooms for a week at most ?  Hmmm....perhaps...

Well the month of April is a lucky month for me, despite the heat getting on my nerves, and no rain in sight since end Jan or so ...! I spotted one flower scape (flower bud) coming  up from one of the bulbs. I had transferred them to the ground after feeling disappointed on their reluctance to bloom. So I decided to dig up this bulb with the scape, potted it, placing it just outside the doorway in anticipation of  enjoying the bloom. Each day I take a photo to check its progress. Since January, we had hardly any rain, and I noticed most of the bulb plants were 'suffering' - losing their healthy green foliage. I decided to dig up some of  those with the big fat bulbs and repot them.  I noticed another bulb sprouted a scape after about a week of repot, what an excitement !  That was so amazing, but my luck apparently ran out with this second bulb. So far none of the other bulbs showed any signs of a flower scape coming up. But for now I am contented and I would like to share the photos I had been taking in the last few days. 

Something I thought worth noting is that despite the heat and excessive dry weather, these bulb were able to produce the flower scape. Is there a lesson here to be learned ?  I suppose I will try to water sparingly these bulbs and see what happens next. 

Gorgeous ... if only they bloom all the time !!

The second scape is about to bloom !

Adenium (grown from cutting)

This post is about sharing my adenium grown from cutting.

As mentioned in my earlier posts I initially find the adenium hard to care for, but now I have grown to love them and realize they are not so fussy after all and a joy in the garden with their beautiful blooms . As they say, somehow plants do grow on one!  

My adeniums tends to grow tall and slender instead of bushy and short. I kind of like those I see in other people's gardens or in nurseries where the adeniums are short and bushy with so many blooms ! These days the popular ones are those with multi-petals blooms as well as different colors in one plant. People tell me I have to cut the stems, so I did whenever the plants seems too tall and fragile to hold their own even with some kind of support.. However each time I cut these healthy stems after the blooms are done,  I felt it is such a waste. So I stick these cuttings into some soil on the ground or in pots.  Sometimes these cuttings grow, sometimes they just rot away, I stopped checking. However I do notice that thosE plants grown from cuttings do bloom pretty fast, within a couple of months or so once established.  I was pretty delighted of course, since I enjoy the blooms as they last a few days! 

Friends tell me that adeniums grown from cuttings will not form the caudex (thicken stem or 'potato' in hokkien) unlike those grown from seeds. These caudex are unique for each plant, some growers make them into interesting shapes ( don't know how they do it ) ! Well their techniques are beyond me, I would be just happy with a healthy blooming plant !  

As the soil depleted in one of the pots where I had this adenium grown from cutting,  I did notice that the stem had thicken  somewhat where once they were covered in soil. It was high time for me to change the soil in one particular pot, so I decided to take some pictures for this posting  to share with readers. This plant is roughly about 4 to 5 years old. This is the first time I decided to change the entire soil for the pot.  On and off I  just topped up the soil material.

Rather nice looking I think. Next step would be to cut off the upper stems once the roots are established again in the new soil.  Notice how they tend to grow long and tall ?  Ahh   hopefully this plant will  soon resemble a little of those interesting bonsai plants !

Oleander Hawk Moth (Daphnis nerii)

It never fails to amaze and delight me whenever I spy 'visitors' to my garden.  This is an example !

Oleander Hawk Moth

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Well camouflaged !

It is at times like this that I do not regret my plants looking horrible whenever they were under attack by these caterpillars. These hawkmoth caterpillars can be such ferocious feeders ...and to add insult to injury, discharging lots of black round shit like nobody's business. Of course I do get upset but seeing these beauties flying around happily or resting in my little garden....aiya, well worth the cleaning up after them !

For further reading ;  http://myneurons.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/oleander-hawk-moth-daphnis-nerii/

The Mysterious Night Blooming Cereus, Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

I have two plants propagated from cuttings my neighbor gave me. They have bloomed a few times before, but I was never able to see them actually bloomed, just the very attractive large egg shaped buds. The reason being this plant only blooms at night, thus the name "Night Blooming Cereus". For some reason or other, somehow the opportunity to see the buds bloomed to the much touted beauty eluded me ! I believe this is the Epiphyllum Oxypetalum but there are so many of these epiphyllum varieties around, it can be a bit confusing.  

Imagine my positive delight when for the first time I managed to take photos of this beautiful elusive bloom! Now I  understand why once having seen it bloomed, there is this burning desire to see more of these beauties! A camera somehow is not able to capture its full glory nor the haunting sweet fragrance from this special mysterious flower!  So as I read more on this fascinating plant, the more caught I am ! As they say, when hooked on a subject, it just grows on one, ahhhh.... Well, let me share with you some photos that I snapped of this "Queen of the Night" recently ! 

Now the motivation is to take better care of these special plants and  thus  more midnight magical delights to look forward to .... lol! 

Ah yes, one point to take note, although the bloom starts to 'open' around 9 that night, there was no fragrance at all.  I was rather disappointed. As the night progressed and even as the flower was almost full bloom I hardly detect any scent at all. In contrast, my potted gardenia nearby was happy filling the air with its beautiful perfume ! Then  almost giving up,  I  moved near  it for one more time (at almost midnight) ..... bingo .... the elusive beautiful haunting fragrance much touted about fills my nostril ..... wow ! From that point onwards the fragrance  just gets stronger !  Strange plant ! A "Flash in the Pan" as they described this bloom.... so apt.  So it did not last, by morning, the bloom has returned to its egg shaped bud,  a rather dejected wasted looking thing (see the last photo). Ahh the glory when it lasted ! But not all is lost .... according to what I read, some people boiled the flower in soup to drink !  This plant from what I gathered has its medicinal value much untapped. 

Red Ginger Plant

My brother picked a bloom from this plant for me from his golf course. He told me this plant can be propagated by planting it. Strange, I thought, but no harm trying. Anyway I did just that. After some time I noticed, true enough the plant was growing.  Finally after three years (or  more perhaps), it has started to bloom. It looks like the red ginger plant to me, but it remains short - not more than 2 feet tall.  The first couple of times I caught sight of promising bud, but somehow  the buds never bloomed - just stay furled up and eventually die a natural death - rotting away. This must be the third time the bud opened up and fascinating - the bloom lasted more than 1 month plus, staying fresh and  a vibrant red. Another small  white bloom appeared at the center of the  red bloom which is the true flower according to the posts I read on this red ginger plant. Interesting. 

The buds n white flowers at the right hand side are  from the chilli plant.

A second bud

Bloom is vibrant red that is rather striking

Not so clear, the white bloom at the center of the red

After almost 2 months the bloom is starting to dry up.  Well the second bloom will soon  take over.

Cactus Blooms

When one thinks of a small rounded plant that is covered with prickly thorns,  immediately the cactus comes to mind. Why do people like cactus or bother to cultivate them ?  Personally I am drawn to  the cactus for their beautiful and colorful blooms . When I was a teenager someone gave me a book on desert cactus - since then I was hooked and dream of nothing but cactus and their gorgeous blooms !  However after many bad experiences of trying to cultivate and get a cactus to survive or worse to bloom results in only heart pain.  But my other half  think otherwise. On our last trip to Cameron Highlands he bought three small cactus. And wonder of wonders two of them actually bloomed after almost a year !

 Unfortunately these yellow blooms lasted only  a day or two.

This  orange bloom lasted for almost a week.

Yes, both were beautiful blooms - what is the secret ? My theory ?  Cactus need to be neglected then to draw your attention they will bloom! My other half is not a gardener and his three cactus were soon neglected except when occasionally he remembers to spray some water on them and that is all the care he gives them. Then comes my role - I sometimes spray the foliar fertilizer left over from spraying my other plants.  Perhaps the third one will bloom, just keep fingers crossed.

Melastoma malabathricum

Senduduk - that is the common name for the Melastoma malabathricum (what a mouthful !).  It is a rhododendron plant commonly seen all over the place. So when I noticed this plant sprouting up in one of my flower pots, I decided not to pull it up, but allowed it grow naturally. It is one of  few flowering plants that  was commonly seen growing wild in the rubber plantations where we liked to roam during our childhood days. Feeling abit reminiscent I was eagerly looking forward to seeing this plant bloom. Boy, little did I know - I was in for a lovely surprise ! 

Yes, this is the white variety (alba)  aside from the more common purple (or mauve) version. The alba Melastoma malabathricum  is rare and seldom seen ! What are the chances of  it sprouting up in my garden ?  Certainly  I must thank the flying carriers of the seed to my garden  ! So many of them around now, and I really love they way they announced themselves with their bright cheerful tweets and twitters .......!

 Apparently the Senduduk is a medicinal plant ( fascinating as always) and  more interesting is that it absorbs contaminants from soil (http://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/july08/july08_melastomam.pdf) ! Yes, as I read more on this plant, the more it grows on me beyond just  the feeling of childhood memories !  Now I am still hoping that the more common mauve senduduk will one day sprout up as well ....a bit too wishful, huh ?

Ready for another wonderful surprise? Yesterday morning I spotted this white wish bone flower (torenia) in my garden --- take a look !

White Beauty !

can see the white ? just a single bloom !

The normal color

Fine beauties - graceful and small !

These blue torenias grow 'wild' all over my garden - they bloom well and are real delicate beauties, so I seldom pull them up ! Occasionally I see the pink ones come up but they are rare - so these whites are really, really rare ! Mutations of the genes?  Perhaps.

It has been raining on and off ...... so not surprising  the Rain Lilies (Koo Chai Hua) are thriving as well. Check them out.

 They certainly bloom beautifully whenever it rains .....!