Dieffenbachia bowmannii Carriere: a floriferous beauty!
Dieffenbachia bowmannii Carriere (Dumb Cane, Spotted Dumbcane, Leopard Lily ) Dieffenbachias are very much loved as houseplants for homes and offices, simply because of their irresistible foliar beauty and their great tolerance for shade. Their splendid foliage variegation is so extensive that gardeners are now spoilt for choice! One cultivar worthy of mention is Dieffenbachia [...]
Fittonia albivenis (F. verschaffeltii) in a marvelous mosaic display
Fittonia albivenis (Mosaic Plant, Nerve Plant, Painted Net Leaf) No wonder this showy Fittonia species is aptly nicknamed Mosaic Plant! Its intricately-designed leaves with contrasting coloured veins will provide a marvelous mosaic display that will attract and captivate all season through! These beautiful ornamental foliage plants make great houseplants, especially if displayed on bathroom shelves [...]
Cyperus involucratus (Umbrella Plant/Sedge), an ornamental waterside plant
Cyperus involucratus (Umbrella Plant, Umbrella Sedge/Flatsedge) These Umbrella Plants are really beautiful and attractive as the involucral bracts are symmetrically arranged in an umbrella formation and held atop elegant stems that sway with the breeze, giving a tropical touch to the landscape! We’re smittened by their beauty! Our fascination with this plant started as early [...]
Our belated garden news for March 2010
Humph! A very much delayed post…blame the lightning that snuffed out our computer and rendered it unserviceable for more than 3 weeks! Nevertheless, better late than never, yes? Kalanchoe uniflora (probable ID) : Lovely unexpected addition to our garden! We walked into a nursery mid-March, hoping to get a pot of Christmas Kalanchoe blossfeldiana at [...]
Dracaena deremensis ‘Lisa’ and other cultivars
Dracaena deremensis ‘Lisa’ (Dracaena Lisa, Dracaena Lisa Cane) An attractive evergreen and shrubby plant with dark green foliage that is popularly grown as an indoor houseplant or outdoors, as a specimen. It can be potted or otherwise. Interiorscapers just love Dracaena deremensis! With statuesque beauty, great tolerance for low light conditions and resistant to diseases, [...]
September 2009 joy in our tropical garden
Gardening is truly food for the soul and its rewards are endless, a tonic for stress and a sight for sore eyes! We’re absolutely delighted to be maintaining a garden blog here that gives us the opportunity to share online the many treasures seen in our tropical urban garden. They may look very ordinary to [...]
Gouty stem of Jatropha podagrica (Buddha Belly Plant)
Jatropha podagrica (Gout Plant, Buddha Belly Plant, Bottleplant Shrub) Here is another unique and fascinating herbaceous perennial plant like the Adenium obesum (Desert Rose), that will develop an attractively swollen and knobby caudex as it ages.
Sparkling foliage of Dracaena surculosa
Dracaena surculosa (Gold Dust Dracaena, Spotted Dracaena) Stunning variegated foliage that sparkles among a crowd of greeneries. Dracaena surculosa is a much-loved ornamental foliage plant in our garden that really thrives on neglect, once established. Currently, we have the ‘Florida Beauty’ that is super slow-growing, just perfect as a potted plant as seen in the [...]
The bulbous Proiphys amboinensis (Cardwell Lily)
Proiphys amboinensis (Cardwell Lily, Northern Christmas Lily) Mysterious no more! Our hosta look-alike plant has finally been correctly identified as a Cardwell Lily, no less beautiful than the Hostas! Incidentally, just came across online that its common names in Chinese are Crystal Lily and False Hosta. Hmm…no wonder, our plant got us fooled!
July 2009 Garden News
Wow! We got to grow a Passiflora vine finally! The right image shows our first seedling, recently repotted (on July 23th) into a large pot and located against the chain-link fencing at our backyard. It’s growing very well and is now about 38 cm tall, growing too vigorously, I’d say! Pearly surprised us after the [...]