Delightful surprises in our tropical garden, August 2010
Gardening is food for our body, heart, mind and soul! We just love surprises! Garden plants simply love throwing surprises and we simply enjoy receiving them! Such cheerful givers they are! Oxalis triangularis : Our potted plant was dead! We were pretty sure of that and thus just discarded the pot with its soil still [...]
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 [...]
Mid-year 2010 in our tropical garden, Malaysia
The last few months from mid-May were spent giving our garden a facelift, trimming off excess fat so to speak. Hmm…still can’t get used to its slim look but what must be done has to be done! After facelift: a major section of our frontyard garden in July 2010
Clivia miniata (Bush Lily) with catchy flower clusters
Clivia miniata (Bush Lily, Kaffir Lily, St John’s Lily) An attractive plant with clusters of brightly coloured trumpet-shaped flowers, standing tall above its elegant and symmetrically arranged foliage. It’s considered as the ‘Queen of Houseplants’ for its striking beauty, durability and reliability. Typical floral colour is a brilliant orange with yellowish throat that contrast fabulously [...]
Gerbera jamesonii (Barberton Daisy), in an explosion of dazzling colours!
Gerbera jamesonii (Gerbera Daisy, Transvaal Daisy, Barberton Daisy) Want an attractive and colourful floral display in your home? Choose the Gerber Daisies that will surely lend beauty and brightness, inside the home or out in the garden. They’re such a cheerful and vibrant lot and you’ll be spoilt for choice of floral colours that come [...]
Passiflora miniata (P. coccinea hort.) with flaming-red passion flowers
Passiflora miniata Vanderplank (syn: Passiflora coccinea hort.) (common names: Red Granadilla, Scarlet/Red Passion Flower) What a beautiful sight indeed! Live and flaming red flowers decorating the vining stems of Scarlet Passion Flower that were draped on a trellis built of dexon steel bars!
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 [...]
Easter garden joy in April 2010
Alleluia! Jesus Christ has risen, He has risen indeed! Let us give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever! Let us rejoice and be glad! Wishing one and all, “A very blessed and joyful Easter Season!” May the triumph of the Lord strengthen our soul and grace us with [...]
Decorate indoors with Sinningia speciosa (Florist’s Gloxinia)
Sinningia speciosa (Florist’s Gloxinia, Brazalian Gloxinia, Violet Slipper Gloxinia) Spectacular plant with large colourful blooms sitting atop its handsome green foliage. These eye-catching beauties in such a marvelous array of colours are usually offered for sale as gift plants or decorative houseplants around festive seasons in garden centres and hypermarkets. Hence, I grabbed the opportunity [...]
Our garden flowers in February 2010
February had been an extremely hot season in our country, Malaysia! Eeek, too hot and humid most days, with very infrequent rainfall. Of course, sun-loving plants in our tropical garden like the Bougainvilleas, Madagascar Periwinkles, White Mussaenda, Euphorbia milii, Ponytail Plant and Yucca, to name a few just love the heat while the Norfolk Pine, [...]