Sunday, October 18, 2009

Frangipani

Love the fragrance of the frangipani flower.



11 Oct 2009 - Gorgeous foliage

Basals!!!


Basals have developed in the William's Red ampullaria pot!! I can't wait to see a rosette being formed. Basal rosettes are, to me, one of the key attractions of growing nepenthes. I just cannot get enough of pitchers popping up from their growing media.

17 Oct 2009

17 Oct 2009

garden - October 2009 update

Snapshot of the garden in October 2009. Of significance are the departure of a flourishing pot of thyme as well as a pot of mottled red coleus.


17 Oct 2009 - Backyard

17 Oct 2009 - This caladium remained small for awhile and has recently been on a growth spurt.

17 Oct 2009 - This caladium has finally regained its colours after I held back on watering for three days.

17 Oct 2009 - Alocasia x Amazonica

17 Oct 2009 - Episcia 'War Paint' cutting


17 Oct 2009

17 Oct 2009

17 Oct 2009

17 Oct 2009 - Iron Cross

17 Oct 2009 - 'Oil Painting' - with more leaves

17 Oct 2009 - Sweet Basil leaning towards the sunlight

17 Oct 2009 - the Hi Lo Beauty has put out an even bigger leaf than before.


17 Oct 2009 - These caladiums went dormant for awhile and are now back with new leaves.

17 Oct 2009 - Mini Portulaca - flowering

Periwinkle


I was starting to miss the multiple blooms on the periwinkle, which had suffered a trimming earlier this month. Over the weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see a new bloom and a few other buds.
17 Oct 2009 - Periwinkle

17 Oct 2009 - Periwinkle

Live Sphagnum Moss


About 3 months after these live sphagnum moss were brought into my backyard, they are slowly finding their grounds and creeping out of their pots...

17 Oct 2009 - Live Sphagnum moss co-existing with the hookeriana

17 Oct 2009 - Live Sphagnum in hookeriana pot

17 Oct 2009 - Live Sphagnum Moss in N. Viking pot

17 Oct 2009 - Live Sphagnum Moss in another N. Viking pot

Sedums Sedums Everywhere


Sedums are such hardy and sun-loving plants requiring minimal care.

17 Oct 2009 - Mixture of Sedums

21 Sep 09 - Sedum Mexicanum

17 Oct 2009 - Sedum Mexicanum flourishing in the growing tray

17 Oct 2009 - Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Sexangulare in a pot of caladium

17 Oct 2009 - Sedum Sexangulare in a HiLo Beauty pot

17 Oct 2009 - Sedum Sexangulare and Sedum Mexicanum in another HiLo Beauty pot

17 Oct 2009 - Sedum Mexicanum in the Thai Basil pot

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Episcia - Pink Heaven


Growing episcias is a fulfilling endeavour.

19 July 2009 - 2 small cuttings.
17 Oct 2009

17 Oct 2009 - Second bud

17 Oct 2009 - First flower


Tuesday, October 6, 2009

FAQs

Q: How did you get started on gardening as a hobby?

I started gardening because I wanted to have at my disposal various herbs, in particular the sweet basil. This was in November 2008. So I grew only culinary herbs for a good six months before I started getting distracted by the carnivourous plants, followed by begonias, orchids, alocasias and caladiums. Recently, I have also been attracted to cacti and succulents.

Q: What do you grow in your garden?

Due to space constraints, I grow mainly plants which do well in container pots. Broadly speaking

Q: Have you grown any plant from seeds?

I have only ever grown two plants from seeds – one is the sweet basil and the other is the pak choy.

Q: What plants have you propagated?

I have progapated various plants through stem cuttings – episcias, nepenthes Viking, artemisia scoparia, sedum mexicanum, spearmint, kala mint, lemon balm, citronella and rosemary. Martin’s Mystery is easy to propagate via rhizome cutting.

The aloe vera is an easy plant to propagate – via separation of the rooted pups.

Q: What is your first favorite plant, and is it still your favorite? Do you have favorites that come and go, but one all-time favorite that you've always loved?

My favourite first plant was the spearmint for its boundless life-force and its ease of propagation.
My current favourite is hi lo beauty alocasia.
Sweet Basil and Rosemary shall the position of being my all-time favourite.Q: What's your favorite gardening chore?My favorite gardening chore is propagating plants / re-potting plants which have outgrown their pots. Q: And your least favorite?Treating diseased plants.

Q: What have you learned from gardening?

Life is a miracle.
Plants are hardier than they appear.
Local growing conditions matter.
You won’t know if a plant can grow under your care until you have tried growing it.
Some plants are pest-magnets.
Some plants are high-maintenance.
Most, if not all, plants require sunlight in order to grow healthily. But some plants love the sun.

Q: Are you trying out anything new this year?

Growing cacti and succulents.

Q: What is your current wish list of plants?

Begonia Brevirimosa ‘Edinburgh’
Agave
Brugmansia – white flowers

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Gardener's List

As no garden stays stagnant, there are always chores. My current list of "chores" reads as follows:

Trimming:
1. Trim the periwinkle which is fast growing out of its pot. DONE!
2. Trim the stolons off the two pots of ‘war paint’ and propagate these.
3. Trim the stolons off the pink episcias in the kitchen and propagate these. DONE!

Repotting:
4. Re-pot the pink episcias which have been grown in smaller pots into one big (hopefully) bushy pot. DONE!
5. Repot two nepenthes into sphagnum moss.
6. (Deep breath - Dare I do it?!) Repot the two pots of cephalotus into deeper pots and in sphagnum moss. DONE!
7. Repot the hydrocotyl into two pots.
8. Repot the hilo which is sitting in a shallow pot into a deeper pot to encourage the growth of bigger leaves. DONE!

Propagating:
9. More friendship plants - mexicanum sedums, episcias and artemias. DONE!
10. Take a few cuttings of Martin’s Mystery for propagation in one or two small hanging pot.
11. Separate the fittonias into two pots.

Removal
12. Remove one strangly pots of mint. DONE!

Purchase
13. Purchase another metal rack so that another three pots of “coral” ferns can be placed out into the sunlight. DONE!
14. Purchase a bag of burnt earth. DONE!
15. Purchase a bag of perlite. DONE!

On-going maintenance:
1. Anti-mossy granules to be topped up into the pitchers and water trays: Beginning of each month.
2. Every weekend: Diluted phostrogen.
3. Anti-fungus treatment on the frangipani: Beginning of each month.
4. Neem treatment: Beginning and middle of each month.
5. BE-1 treat: Middle of each month.