GBBD March 2011

1. Miniature roses

For March 2011 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, I have miniature roses.

Can you see the sun reflected on the water droplet?

2. Costus woodsonii

When the tiny flowers appear in this Costus woodsonii plant, it usually attract a lot of ants with its sugary liquid. The flowers are edible. This hairy caterpillar seem to have cut open the defensive wall of orange bracts that protect the yellow flowers and shifted in. The critter seems to eat the flower but not the leaves of this plant.

I wonder which butterfly/moth this baby belongs to?


“GBBD March 2011”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ for Autumn Belle on 16th March 2011.

3. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivars - double petaled vermillion red.

4. Tawny coaster butterfly on a palm tree.

This tawny coaster butterfly was drying its wings when I found it near my vegetable plants in the late evening. It walked on to my fingers and momentarily rested on my palm tree just before taking off in its maiden flight.



5. Blue throated sunbird



This looks like a blue throated yellow breasted, olive-backed sunbird sitting on my neighbour's longan tree.
Do you know its name?

6. A Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cultivar - single petal yellow with pink veins.

7. Turnera ulmifolia or yellow alder flower.

8. A pair of pigeons/quails on my neighbour's same longan tree. One was posing like a supermodel while the other one was very shy and somersaulted away when it saw me pointing my camera. I guess he doesn't like the paparazzi!

9. My azalea is still blooming.



Malvaviscus arboreus 



10. Malvaciscus arboreus flowers are always half-opened and pointing upwards. The leaves remind me of grape leaves.

11. Heliconia 'American Dwarf'

12. Anyone know the name of this bug on the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis plant?

My grateful thanks to Carol of May Dreams Garden for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. To view what's blooming around the world, visit here.

Heliconia collinsiana x H. bourgaeana cv. 'Pedro Ortiz' (Hot Pink)

This heliconia cultivar named "Pedro Ortiz" (Hot Pink) was exhibited at Floria 2010. It is thought to be a natural hybrid between pendant Heliconia collinsiana and the erect Heliconia bourgaeana.

Notice how its inflorescence neither points up nor hangs down but is formed in a somewhat twisted shape or 'intermediate' manner.

“Heliconia collinsiana x H. bourgaeana cv. 'Petro Ortiz' (Hot Pink)”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 19th, 2010.

Scientific name: Heliconia collinsiana x bourgaeana "Pedro Ortiz"

Family: Heliconiaceae

Order: Zingiberale

With such a lovely silhouette, it no doubt lives up to its exotic, sexy name of Pedro Ortiz "Hot Pink".  The leaves are large, lush and green. The plants can reach a height of 6-8 ft.
 
 

 

Well, they are beautiful and voluptuous, aren't they? 

 

 

The bracts are a solid red in colour. It has a red rachis while the sepals are golden yellow.

The tiny true flowers are yellow too.

 
I have never seen this cultivar in a home garden and I wonder if anyone is growing it.

Now that you have seen a few versions of heliconias, which do you like best - H. chartacea Sexy Pink, Bright Red-Yellow H. rostrata or this Pedro Ortiz Hot Pink?

The theme for this week's Blooming Friday is "Dream". So I wish you sweet dreams tonight and maybe you can visit the exotic world of heliconias again in dreamland.

This is my entry for Blooming Friday, 3rd week of November 2010. My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.

This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday. My grateful thanks to Tootsie at Tootsie Time for hosting Fertilizer Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, visit here.

Heliconia rostrata The Hanging Lobster Claw

Heliconia rostrata, also commonly called the Hanging Lobster Claw is the regarded as the most beautiful and it is also the most popular species of heliconia grown in home gardens here. "Rostata is a Latin adjective for beaked, curved or hooked and this refers to its likeness to a parrot's beak.

In my previous post about Heliconia chartacea "Sexy Pink Lady", many people mentioned about the beautiful red heliconia. Perhaps they are mentioning this one.

The above is a picture of  the Heliconia rostrata Ruiz & Pavon "Ten Day" exhibited at Floria 2010.

A budding Heliconia rostrata inflorescence in my sister's garden.

Scientific name: Heliconia rostrata

Common name: Hanging Lobster Claw

Family: Heliconiaceae

Order: Zingiberale

Origin: Peru and Ecuador

Category: Tropical perennial herb

This species can be grown on the ground and in large flower pots. The inflorescences  are pendulous, with the bracts coloured bright red and yellow at the sides. Notice that their leaves look like banana leaves.

A clump of Heliconia rostrata Ruiz & Pavon "Ten Day" exhibit at Floria 2010.

H. rostrata is a medium sized plant that can grow to a height of between 2-2.5 m tall.

“Heliconia rostrata The Hanging Lobster Claw”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 12th, 2010.

This clump is located at the landscaped walkway leading to the Putrajaya Shangri-la Hotel.
The inflorescences are elegant and spectacular and they last a long time. Notice that H. rostrata and H. chartacea has inflorescences that droops like a pendant. In my previous post on H. episcopalis "Arrow Red Orange Spears", the blooms are erect and pointing up.

They are also excellent as cut flowers. Andrea in This Lifetime is posting H. psittacorum spp today. In her post titled, "Drooping Beauties" and you can view a picture of H.rostrata used very creatively in a buffet table centrepiece.

Now that you have seen both H. chartacea "Sexy Pink Lady" and H. rostrata, which do you think is more beautiful?

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all ?????

This is my entry for Fertilizer Friday, the link is here.

Heliconia episcopalis "Arrow Red Orange Spear" - Wordless Wednesday

“Heliconia episcopalis "Arrow Red Orange Spear" - Wordless Wednesday”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 10th, 2010.

This is my entry for Wordless Wednesday. To view other entries, click here.

Heliconia chartacea "Sexy Pink" Lady

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all???

I think Heliconia chartaceae "Sexy Pink" is the most beautiful of all the heliconias I have seen.

The inflorescences are showy and spectacular, in fact very enchanting. It has a hot pink rachis with the waxy bracts fading from frosty pink to pale greenish white at the edges.

Scientific name: Heliconia chartacea "Sexy Pink"

Common name: Pink Flamingo Heliconia

Family: Heliconiaceae

Order: Zingiberale

Origin: Guiana and Brazil

Category: Tropical perennial herb

In its native place, it is often found near human habitation where it can grow to a height o f 7-8 m fall. In cultivation, it can grow to 3 m tall.

Heliconia chartacea blooms the whole year round. The inflorescenes are long and pendulous, facing downwards. The true flowers are green in colour and they contain nectar that attracts birds.

“Heliconia chartaceae "Sexy Pink" Lady”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 7th, 2010.

"Sexy Pink" is a cultivar selected for garden planting. They look so elegant and graceful.
Notice that leaves have a characteristic shreded look.

The cut flowers can have a vase life as long as 10-14 days. The above is a floral arrangement at the buffet table of the 5-star Putrajaya Shangri-la Hotel. The centre piece has pink anthuriums resting on split leaf philodendrons or Monstera deliciosa (my guess only) leaves at the base. On second thoughts, it also look like the leaves of the sexy pink lady.

All the other pictures are taken at floral festival Floria 2010.
I am so excited to see this lovely Sexy Pink Lady Heliconia growing happily in the garden of Africanaussie in North Queensland, Australia. She has written 4 posts about this heliconia. In her recent post "Making Those Flowers Last", she has a great tip on how to make heliconia cut flowers last longer.  You can also view the small green flowers and seeds there.

This is my entry for Today's Flowers # 118, a meme which opens every Sunday, 2pm GMT. My grateful thanks to Today's Flowers team members; Luiz Santili Jr, Denise in Virginia, Laerte Pupo and Sandy Carlson. To participate and view other gorgeous flowers around the world, click here.

GBBD Oct 2010

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for October 2010, the time of the month where we get to show off what's blooming in our gardens. So, what are you waiting for? Let's head over to May Dreams Garden and join in the fun with Carol!

It has been raining almost everyday here for the past week or so. My Tunera ulmifolia yellow alder was completely drenched. Just look at those thin, delicate petals.

However, our weather has suddenly turned very hot today.

My pomegranate is ready to be harvested. This time I'll leave it on the tree because I want to see its bottom split open. Dad used to tell me that when a pomegranate fruit splits open it signifiies happiness and a smiling face.

My yellow hibiscus flower has a 'dirty look' because of rain splash.

I was overjoyed to see this tiny chili flower because I have been hoping to get some chilis from these plants which I had grown from some seeds I saved from the chilis I used in my cooking. But so far, no luck yet. Is there such a thing as male chili flowers?

Chili flowers always droop downwards, so I push up this beauty just to get a shot. I think the stamens in the centre look like purple diamonds. I wonder if jewellery designers get some of their inspiration from the chili flower?

Muraya paniculata flowers emit a very strong and nice perfume.

“GBBD Oct 2010”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on October 15th, 2010.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
.....Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the only British Prime Minister with a Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sometimes I am amazed at what a weak vine can do. Just look at this Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea) plant. Without support it can't even stand on its own but within a few months, it had managed to scale to the peak of my Lipstick Palm!

Hypolimnas bolina jacintha

Even butterflies like my butterfly pea plant.

I wonder if anyone knows the name of this butterfly?

The butterfly has been identified as Hypolimnas bolina jacintha aka Blue Moon Butterfly, Common Eggfly.

Caterpillar crawling, ouch! ouch! ouch! ..... This extremely hairy and prickly little fella can move very fast. It is taking a brisk walk going round and round my flower pot. It is also giving me some goose pimples. A few of them have finished up my lavender and blue Angelonia plants.

Angels? Definitely they are not!

 Hopefully, the cuttings I saved from the bare cut branches will sprout some shoots.

At the moment, this is still classified as a UFO (unidentified flowering object) in my garden. I just love its frosty pale green leaves. Hopefully it will flower again in December so that I can pretend that it is snowing here.

This Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis double petaled variety is full of surprises. The unopened buds are yellowish in colour but the blooms are a pale pink.

My Sansevieria trifasciata has started to bloom. I consider this a foliage plant so it makes me very happy when it starts to flower. The flowers have fragrance and last for a few days.

It has many common names which include Mother-in-law's Tongue, Snake Plant and Sharp Tongue. It's Chinese name is hǔwěilán (虎尾兰), meaning tiger's tail orchid. In Malay, it is called, "Pokok Lidah Jin" meaning gennie's tongue.

Because the leaves look like sharp blades, we do not place it inside the home. My late dad had always advised me to keep it outside the house or put it near the gate to ward of evil. He said the leaves resemble a sword that the masters use for ghost-busting and driving away evil spirits and charms. You can say that I have this plant as a fengshui protection. My dad gave it to me.

Recently a neighbour asked me for some leaves which he would make medicinal herbal drinks or soups. Frankly speaking, I have never tried consuming it yet, neither have I ever heard that the leaves can be eaten, so I told him to be careful but he was adamant that it was the correct plant as the leaves have a yellow edge.

This is the result of my second attempt at growing the highlands wild sunflower from seeds given by a friend. My Miniature Sunflowers post link is here. I have followed the advice of my commenters and placed the pot under full sun from germination to blooming stage. I think the solar energy helped a lot even during this period of rainy weather and cloudy days. Here's my sunflower's new vital statistics:

Height = 2 ft (60cm)
Sunflower head diameter = 9 cm, centre = 3 cm
Stems = 0.5 cm thick.

This is an improvement from my first attempt. Now the flowers look more like sunflowers.

This is my Cat Whiskers plant with purple flowers. The white flower variety is easier to grow and more hardy. I am now trying to propagate some of these from stem cuttings.

To participate and/or view what other gardeners have for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - October 2010, please visit Carol at May Dreams Garden, the link is here. Thank you very much to Carol for hosting GBBD!

I am also participating in Fertilizer Friday. To enjoy the season of Thanksgiving, do visit Tootsie here.

For Blooming Friday, this week's theme is "Wild & Beautiful". Hopefully my flowers can fit in. To view more wild and beautiful blooms today, please visit Katarina at Roses & Stuff here. 

I would like to welcome my new follower, Leovi from Spain of Abstract Photos blog to My Nice Garden. Leovi, thank you very much for being my 202nd follower!

TQVM to Andrea for being my first commenter! Hope that your laptop will be up and running smoothly soon! Goodnight and sweet dreams!

Blooming Friday - Week 3

Hey, today is Blooming Friday, Week 3 and the theme is Leading Ladies and Figurants. My Leading Lady today has to be the senduduk. Its scientific name is Melastoma Malabathricum. It is an evergreen shrub, sometimes regarded as a widespread weed in tropical forests. This plant has multiple medicinal and other uses. For example, if you are lost in the jungle and get a small cut or minor wound, you can pluck the leaves of this plant, crush it and use it to stop the bleeding. Some people put it into their mouths to chew before applying it onto the wound. In the old days, villagers used its dried branches to make brooms and used it to sweep their house compounds.

I bought this senduduk seedling at a nursery in Sungai Buloh for RM 5.00 a few months ago. It has started to bloom now, eventhough it is only about 3 ft tall. Their purple flowers are very pretty and looks something like your clematis flowers. Bangchik, my fellow Malaysian blogger of My Little Vegetable Garden has dedicated quite a number of posts about this plant. Like him, I too have fallen in love with this beautiful native inhabitant of our swamps and forest motherland. Besides purple, there are also those with white flowers.

Next comes the Figurants, the hardy plants with many flowers that have not stopped blooming. My choice would be my Cat Whiskers (Orthosiphon Stamineus) plant. This is also our native plant, my faithful bloomer. It is an everygreen woody shrub and blooms the whole year through. Mine produces white flowers now. It started with purple flowers during the first batch but it has been white flowers ever since. This plant is very very easy to grow. When its stems touches the ground, roots will form. It makes a very beautiful groundcover. Cat whiskers are also known for their medicinal value.

Well, does it ring a bell when you look at the header of my blog again? It is a picture of the leaves of the cat whiskers plant!

A biotech company in Malaysia has started commercial production of cat whiskers herbal tea bags using the leaves of this plant. Many people also started growing this plant for their leaves (fresh or dried) which is steeped with hot water and drank. Have you heard about it or tried this before?

This is my coral white vinca plant. It has not stopped flowering since the day I bought it and now producing seeds. I am planting some of its seeds to see whether all the plants will bear pure white flowers. Can you see a dragonfly resting on one of the blooms?

My portulaca grandiflora in shocking pink. Both buds will open as the day gets warmer or brighter.

This portulaca shares a container with my pomelo plant.
Its bud is half opened now.

This bud is going to open soon too.

Fully opened, the petals look like 5 hearts or love notes in pastel pink and white. I especially like the pointy stigma that makes it look like a 6-point star wand. Can you imagine a beauty queen carrying her victory wand?

Here are four friends. Usually the bi-colour ones outnumber the whites.

This is my marigold. Their heads are getting too large for their own good. They are now suffering from droopy head syndrome.

This is my Torenia Fournieri (bluewings or wishbone flower). I got this from a neighbour in Ipoh. It is growing wild lie a week in her garden. She just pulled out one of them and handed it to me in a plastic bag. I put some water into the bag and it travelled with me in a 2 and a half hour journey to my home. As I arrived home late at night, I only planted it in a pot the next day. I think it has the same survival instincts of a weed!

This is my heliconia flower. It requires minimum care and flowers the whole year through.

I came accross this little fella during my photography rounds. So I might as well include him in. He has just jumped from my bamboo plant to this palm leaf. He thinks he is very clever and hidden from my view since his whole body is in camourflage. I think he loves the leaves of my torch ginger. You should have seen the zig-zag patterns he has made to their leaves. I think he has a sharp cutter in his mouth. Anyway, I have no heart to kill him.

This time the cape honeysuckles are not blooming in big numbers. Maybe its because I have trimmed it almost bald. But I like this solo picture.

Finally, my bunga kantan, the torch ginger. I didn't cook it, so now it has opened up all its petals and showing me how happy it is.

I hope you like my parade of blooms this week and I wish you a wonderful weekend.

This is my entry for Blooming Friday. My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.