Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Adenium

It's funny how both adeniums ended up in my garden. One was given by a friend for safekeeping while they move to their new house. The other one, which is really tiny, was thrown out by my son after he found it unsuitable for his terranium. It's a highly toxic plant anyway.

The adenium, aka desert rose, sat in my garden for a long time, growing so slowly. Then suddenly, it produced a lovely red flower. Adeniums are known to be heavy flowering plants, so I hope there will be more flowers to come.

My other 'sunflower' plant also started flowering. The colour's a little lighter than the other one.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Sunflower?

I've always wanted to grow sunflowers in my patio. I sowed some seeds expecting to see large big and tall plants with sunny blooms.

I've grown them before in my parent's garden. They were about 7 feet tall and laden with huge flowers.

When the ones in my patio started producing buds when they were barely 1 foot tall, I was rather surprised.

Now that the petals have appeared, I am shocked. These aren't sunflowers! They are small and certainly look nothing like the photo on the packaging!


These below are the real deal. They were taken in France but I have grown similar ones here before.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Female corn flower

JC wanted to see what the female corn flower is like. I've got some growing on my plants now. The silk and ear make up the female flower.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Look out for veggies


I sowed some vegetable seeds into three very large pots over the weekend. They have all germinated. I'm expecting a good harvest in December.

Kang kong seedlings.

Chye sim seedlings.

Spinach seedlings.

What a surprise to find a shiny ball hanging on my Christmas tree. Someone from above must have tossed it down.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Best performer

If I were to give an award to my plants, the chive will win the best performer award hands down!

Ever since I've had one pot in my garden, I could just amble into the patio and cut the leaves off for immediate cooking.

This is what the plant looks like now. Completely bald.

In no time, new leaves will grow and I'll get to eat chives again.

Every cook should grow some in the garden.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

New growths

Recently I sowed some sunflower seeds but only two managed to germinate and grow. According to the description on the packet, it is able to grow to 2-3 metres tall. I've had really tall sunflowers before back at the farm which produced huge blooms.

These are less than a foot tall and I've already spotted a bud forming (below). I guess we can never totally trust what's written on the pack.

The cycad plant was completely bald at one point and suddenly, new shoots have sprouted rapidly.

Only trouble is, the cycad blue butterfly is back. It lays eggs on the cycad plant and soon caterpillars will devour the fresh shoots. They are such a nightmare and can destroy a plant within days!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Joyful sightings


I'm happy to see the gloxinia flowering again. While it is not as gorgeous as before, I think it's doing well in this hot and humid weather.

The yam plant has grown so much recently, I am pretty certain the tuber under the soil is growing quickly too. This is something worth waiting for.