"Antelope" Dendrobium

 After I returned back from my stay with my parents at Borneo Island, I got very upset seeing how the edible garden became like when I left it on my husband to look after it. I can't say my blood pressure when up since I never had problem with my blood pressure. But the colour red was very significant. So I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw this orchid/dendrobium species blooming at first. Why are the orchid flower petals has horns? Is it because I was getting really mad and growing a pair of invisible horns myself made me started to imagine things. So I got closer to the blooming orchids and inspected. I have never knew that there were orchids species with a horn-like African Antelope petal flowers before.

 Sean owner of Half A Pound Of Treacle helped me again to identify this dendrobium. I think this flower is so cute like some animation characters. It does really look like an African Antelope face.

 I think I will have to put a tag on the plant, it might be easy to get it mixed up with other orchids in my mother collection. I don't think she even remember what type of orchids she has and which is which. This is the tree that my mother has train the "Antelope" Dendrobium plant at. I don't think there are only one type of orchid but several variety on the same tree. 

 One of the reason, I have not started getting any new orchids is that I might bought several plants that is already in our garden just waiting for its turn to bloom. At the moment, I think it is best if I just record the orchids we already have in the garden collection for future reference. I also need to increase my knowledge in the Dendrobium world.

Peace Lily

 The peace lily is a plant that really thrive at our garden without any care. It is also a plant that blooms all year round when the clump of plants is well-established. This peace lily plant white spathe has a greyish stripe mark when closely observe. The photo was taken during wet season, so some soil has jumped onto the spathe indicating very heavy rain. But what fascinated me the most regarding this plant that the blooming flower of the peace lily specifically on the spike (spadix) are surrounded by this insects as shown in the picture. Actually before I got really close to the plant to take some photos, not only 3 insects but the whole spadix was covered with this insect. Can anyone help me give a name to this insect? somehow today the name does not pop out from my head. It is not just this one day that I have seen the whole spadix covered by this insect but quite frequent. So I guess this insect must be really attracted to what is oozing out from the bloom. It made me think whether the peace lily plants will be a good companion plant attracting this insect, not sure why I think this insect will make good-pollinators. Just a theory will be nice to see how the result will be.

 The white bloom will turn to green as its get older. The spike or actual flower is more apparent when they are old. I found many peace lily plants on places it should not suppose to be growing. The white anthurium plant must have been able to produce viable seeds which the reason we found many volunteer plants, many thanks to its pollinators.

 Peace lily plants are able to live happily as long as they received plenty of moistures, 70% humidity is very ideal for this plant. Warm, moisture and humidity the plants grows really well here in the tropics all year round. The peace lily plant can develop aerial-root, as pointed with white arrow on the picture above. The aerial-root of the peace lily plant is capable of catching moisture, they can also somehow found their own spot growing on solid stone or even on a tree bark instead of soil. For light growing condition, the peace lily plant ain't picky, they seem to do just fine either on full light, partial light or shade here in the tropics. For example, peace lily plants from picture above are growing under pergola and not receiving any direct sunlight, they are in shade or the most they get is filtered light.

The peace lily plant seems to multiply much faster growing in full sun compared to other location. For example, I have to transplant some of peace lily plants in this area to other location as it looks like it  is starting to choke other plants.  A small space but so many different plants are doing their best to mark their presence ~ rangoon creeper plants, hippeastrum bulbs, self-seeded bird-eyes chllis, balsams, papaya and others.

 These peace lily plants are growing in partial shades circling a roof climbing bougainvillea plant. More needed to transplant away from these area getting too dense. Pointed white arrow shows seeds found on the spathe.The peace lily plant can also be grown by divisions.

 The white spathe is not really the favourite colour that beckon pollinators to drop by like bright orange or yellow colour. However, I remembered my gardening friend Sean mentioned to me about the uniqueness of some white colour flower method of attracting pollinators attention is by the flower fragrance. Yes, the peace lily plant does have a fragrance of its own. I remembered when I snipped some peace lily flower stalk early in the morning for last year heart charity event display , on the way in the car suddenly fill like some  kind of a perfume smell. After awhile, I realised the perfume like smell came from the peace lily flower. No wonder, especially in the early morning , the sighting of insects on the peace lily spike is one of the usual activity in our garden. Peace lily plant is also a good air-purifying plant which probably be a good indoor plant as well.

At first, I wrongly ID this plant as white anthurium. Thank you for blogger friends for pointing out my mistake that this is peace lily plant.

Water Hyacinth

After a hot spell and now with some rain we had, has helped to trigger water hyacinth plants to bloom once again. I have noticed that the water hyacinth after a couple weeks of a hot humid weather without much rain and then finally followed by some consecutive rainy days will make the water hyacinth plant starts to produce flowers.

Today we are fortunate to see 4 plants bloom at once. The water hyacinth flower only bloom for a short time. Water hyacinth plants multiplied very fast and the plants does not required a deep pot fill with water to grow well. As long as the roots are soggy and wet. Later, I probably will have to throw some plants away as it is getting overcrowded. I could not convince my mother yet to add some on her koi pond as she is worried about the pond filter system got clogged with these plants. Water hyacinth is also a good water purifying plant.

I spied some water hyacinth buds which will make a succession of flowering water hyacinth these next few days.

Have a Nice Weekend!

Golden Torch

 Imagine if one of the international sports events during the night the torch that athletes are holding while running have a designed like this 'Golden Torch' shining in the dark. The Heliconia members is surely very showy, striking and exotic plant to look at. It does very well here in the tropics thriving without care in full sun or partial shade, provided the soil is moist. The plants is very appreciative of the wet season. The golden torch has been flowering non-stop since we went back. The blooms are like step of ladders, one by one it gives you a beak before fully bloom like the first photo. It is no wonder why it is also known as 'Bird of Paradise'.

Here is how the 'Golden Torch' journey begins.

Climbing towards the peak....

Almost there.... to full bloom.

Some spent blooms...

My parents came back for a few days from Borneo island. My mother gave a really good whacking like a Kung Fu master to her 'Golden Torch' plants. Well she is the professional in the house anyway. It took her less than 5 minutes to prune this one whereas I would probably take half a day. Because I will be very worried whether I am careful enough or damage her plants. So the above photos were collected from the ahem 'pruning'.

Peeping inside...looks like sweet corn kernels.

 It seems at the other side of our fence which is an empty lot has been populated by this 'Golden Torch' heliconia plants as well. I wondered whether this is due to seeds that has been dispersed from the plants or the rhizomes went really deep and across the brick fence. Heliconias is usually much easier to propagate by rhizomes or plant divisions.

Scarlet Passion Flower

 I did not realised on my mother's pergola, two type of passiflora made their home there until finally the scarlet passion flower made a debut. The other passiflora species also has very showy flowers.  However, the late bloomer is shockingly scarlet when it made a showy entrance from afar one of the pergola corner seems to be in blaze (probably exaggerated too much).

At the centre of the flower, forms very tiny fruit not as big or palatable like the other passiflora. These two passiflora has very different shape of leaves which makes it easy to differentiate when both are not in flower. The red ants like to play around the scarlet passion flower. Don't be alarm the red ants are like bodyguards not a pest unlike other type of ants that host aphids.

 Each string of stems fill with buds. But on the same string of stem the bud does not bloom at once. Instead they opened one by one making the blooming season long and if you miss them or away, you still have a chance to enjoy them.

Cymbidium finlaysonianum

 I am not very good with orchids and my knowledge about them is close to nothing. But my mother likes to collect them if any caught her fancy. Once she had a spot in the garden especially for orchids. But now none of her orchids are growing in pots but attached to tree barks all over her garden. She said it looks best this way more natural and I agree with her. The main problem is now that I am the caretaker and the boss meaning 'mama' not around since she is living in Borneo island currently. I have no idea which type of orchids she is growing on which tree plant unless they bloom. This orchid has started blooming the second season since I have been back and caught my eyes. Thank you to Sean and Sophie Mohd for identifying this orchid as Cymbidium finlaysonianum.

 Living on a tall plant, makes blooming flowers of the cymbidium as falling from the sky. My simple and naive observation compare to other orchid type plants around the garden is that this one had longer and bigger leaves. I should cut off the spent stalk but will need a tall ladder to be able to do that. Another task list will be dividing some plants and allocate to other plants in the garden (with labelling).

 Buds and young blooms.

 Lacking knowledge in the world of Cymbidium, I did not know that some actually produce fruits until Sean informed me about it. So here one dried up fruit of the Cymbidium finlaysonianum that I managed to find. Fresh fruit will be greener and a little bit fatter I suppose. Length roughly guessing about 5cm~ 7cm.

Hen and Chicks

 It took more than 3 years after I have adopted 3 hens and chicks plants at the same time that they decided to bloom for us. It was really sad to leave them since it took so long to finally enjoy their lovely bloom. Now these plants have been safely adopted by other gardeners in Adelaide.

 Hen and Chick plant is very easy to grow and can live with neglect at our previous dry Adelaide garden. This succulent plant is easy to propagate and does not need much soil to grow big. A very drought-hardy plant. It needs well-drained soil to live happy. The plant leaves form a rosette which resembles more like a flower itself.

 The flower bud jutting out from the leave rosette centre.

How the flower stalk form from this angle. I waited so long for the flower bud to finally open and bloom. I was even very worried that I will miss the chance to watch the bloom before I have to part with it.

 Alert alert when you found black ants exploring your hen and chicks plant, make sure to get rid of them. Those black ants will only cause problems to the plant as it usually a sign that it has bring some pest along with them and give shelter to unwanted pest. The presence of many ants on the flower bud can damaged the buds from being able to open and bloom.

Not just me, but bees were also enjoying themselves with the blooming flower of hen and chicks plants.

I think those gave-away plants must have more blooming flowers now. 

Sigh, wish I still enjoy looking at them.

Succulent Flower

This year it was the first time all of the adopted succulent plant in our garden produced flower after 3 years growing them in our garden. We only have 4 different succulent plants in our garden. We don't really need to take care of them. The succulent plant seems to be happy provided with sun and does not require much water to grow well, with these the plants do grow really fast and needed re-potting or divide in dormant season. It is a new experience and fun learning to watch how these plant have grown. Most of these succulent flower colour interestingly are bright orange-red. 

 I think this is an aloe plant type flower, I might be wrong since I adopted them without knowing anything.This is a new bird which adopted itself in our garden since autumn. The birds like to follow us around in the garden and caught our attention. The bird did not fly away as I get closer to take a photo.

I am not sure what succulent plant this is but it has grown quite large. Almost 50cm in diameter. Do you know the name of this plant? 

Sue from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotment has helped me to identify this cotyledon plant. 

Not sure either what succelant plant this is. A volunteer calendula plant sharing the same pot caught in between.

A memory photos of our succulent plants, as I might forgot how they flower.

Have a lovely weekend.

Growing Gerbera by Divisions

 I just remembered that I have not give any update the result of our adopted gerbera that we made divisions and transplanted 2 years ago. It was a success and the plants still live on till today and now we know the colour of the adopted gerbera plant bloom as well. Gerbera or also known as African daisy is a perennial plant in our garden which bloom twice a year in spring and autumn preferring the milder weather. Gerbera is a very drought-tolerant plant. Prefers well-drained soil and does not like its feet to be wet in a long period of time. Likes the sun very much, although still produce flower in partial shade not as profusely as the one receiving more sun. Needs a good air flow and dry condition in partial shade or the leaves tends to be sickly or caught some disease.

 Two years ago, my boys gave me 2 pots of gerbera plant for Mother's day. Since we will be moving by the end of this year, I wanted the plants to be in a place that I can always take some with me whenever we have to move to a new place. So the safest place will be transferring the whole plant to my parents house all the way to Malaysia. I am one crazy girl I know, probably not an expensive plant but reminds me of the difficult days of trying our best to make sure Rayyan be strong until he goes for his complete corrective surgery. Rayyan rarely goes out to public places to avoid infectious diseases. So the garden is where he spent most of his time outdoors playing when he was a baby and toddler. You can divide gerbera plants which has grown more than 2 years old especially if the pots look really crowded during dormant season. For my climate will be winter through early-spring to propagate new gerbera plants by divisions.

This is how I basically did when my sister help me transported our gerbera plants back in Malaysia last May. Carefully lift up the plant with all its root intact, washed out gently all the soil away from the root, wrap the plant gently with newspaper. Plant as soon as you reach your destination. The gerbera plant was bare-rooted for 2 days wrap in newspaper before it got planted. As you can see on the photo above, the plant on the right can be easily divided to several plants with a sharp tool (roughly about 4 plants, probably more since that is just the front). Those gerbera plants were divided before it was planted in my parents garden.

Here is one of the new gerbera plants growing a few weeks after making a new home in my parents garden. Liking the warm weather after leaving the cold winter growing really fast. Some of the new plants has already producing bloom in my parent garden. Growing gerberas by division saves a lot of money and you can also swap with other gardeners too.

Does gerbera have seeds?

Yes they do have seeds.

But gerbera is not a plant that grow easy by seeds.

Not impossible just difficult.

Need to find the right season and requirement to have successful germination perhaps.

I tried several time in my first year in gardening from the seeds I bought.

Not one germinate.

Used fresh seeds from our garden in different season still did not germinate.

I forgot to continue the gerbera seed sowing experiment for more than a year now.

Maybe someday I will continue with the experiment again.

Another Adopted One ( Cotyledon)

 This is another plant that we adopted together with Arum Green Goddess blooming side by side in the garden at the moment. I still have no idea what plant this is. Not very good with this type of plants. I thought it does not produce any flower, how naive can I be. Still am novice in this part of group plants. I hope you can help me identify this plant. The flowers are slightly reddish and in a shape like bell. 

This is how the plant actually look like growing in pot.

A drought-hardy plant and thrive without care.

Never got any fertiliser since we adopted this plant.

Suddenly a flower stalk appeared in the middle.

Just noticed that there is a yellow insect nestling between the bud.

Do you know what it is?

Apparently not a good bug.

Infested the flower stalk and causes it to rot and not blooming.

Weird never seen this bug on other plants before.

Lucky some flower stalk were save and free from that bug.

The flower does take a long time to bloom from the emerging buds.

It took several months before the buds finally open and bloom.

New Blooms.

Have a lovely weekend!

Are you staying indoors for Olympic or outdoors gardening :).