Romping about

While I was romping about with Cookie (below) at my parent's farm yesterday afternoon, I was so shocked to discover that my favourite bauhinia kockiana is gone. Yes, vanished from the face of this earth! Just last week, I blogged about how beautifully unkempt it was, and then it was gone!

As it turns out, Mum had instructed the farm workers to 'trim' the plants and they could have misunderstood her intentions. They terminated it! Afterall, they're foreigners who speak very little English or they simply don't care. Whatever it is, the plant that took years to grow to such a spectacular sight is no longer around. See for yourself!

Where have all the flowers gone?

The bauhinia before it was chopped down.

They left the dracena untouched but they killed my bauhinia, alamanda and this gorgeous hibiscus plant. I don't know what to say!!

Let's leave the unfortunate incident aside and look at other more inspiring things. This is a tiny shoot that had sprouted from discarded watercress stems (below). I have discovered that watercress is a very difficult plant to grow in our hot and humid climate. The ones that have sprouted from seeds remain stagnant for a long time while the survival rate of those from stem cuttings is low.

My father's lady's finger plants are doing so well, they produce long, curly fingers! Here, a pretty flower is about to bloom.

He also grows several huge wild brinjal (eggplant) plants that are as tall as I am. These plants produce pretty white flowers and tiny fruits that are edible. I guess that's why you don't see these plants very often, they're simply not commercially viable since they take up so much space and produce so little!

He grows this strange looking bitter gourd too. We've cooked it several times, it's both crunchy and bitter, but I like it.

Here are a couple of capsicum plants given by our neighbour. Cute isn't it?

One of our tenants grows basil commercially, an entire field of this!