Guests in the garden

Plumbago auriculata - lovely in blue

I have no idea what this fairy is called in Malay. I only know its scientific name. Anyway, this fairy loves Mr. Sun very much. And due to El Nino phenomenon, we're certainly having drier weather than normal now in March.

That's why my Plumbago has been blooming furiously lately on the wall at the back of my house....

Mengkudu kudu kudu.....

Mengkudu - its scientific name that I found from a google search says that it's called by the name Morinda Citrifolia. It's planted at the back of my house about 2 or 3 years ago by my brother-in-law. Now, it's pretty big and provides shade for some of my smaller plants. You can see lemon grass (pokok serai) and pokok pandan beneath it.

I know that the leave is very useful. I used the leaves during my confinement period. For Malays, the confinement period is 44 days. After I gave birth to my son via caesarean, I used the leaves to help flatten my tummy fast. I'm sure you know just how huge and bulging the tummy can be for women who went through caesarean. Well, did it work? It surely did the magic!

Malay women also use this daun mengkudu  to wrap the heated stone used for 'bertungku' (to shrink the uterus and break up blood clots) - which I did too. In my case, as I said, I used the leaves along with other traditional herbs and smeared them on my tummy twice per day through out the confinement period.

I'm not sure what we can do with the fruits. But I heard that mengkudu fruits are good antioxidant. The smell of the fruit? A bit yucky...... smells like vomit! That's why I never tried to taste the fruit. Heard that we can add honey and other fruits to help reduce the vomit smell! For more info on mengkudu's nutritious, you can refer to http://www.orangkampung.com/atikal%20mengkudu.html.

I thought of tasting the fruit and so I picked several of them from the tree. Didn't have time then to try them out and totally forgot about them when we went 'balik kampung' (back to hometown) on Sunday. And guess how did the house smelled like when we got back home on Monday? Ya right! Eewwww!

One Fine Saturday Morning

I've been trying hard to at least post a news once a week, but alas... this no-superwoman won't be able to complete all things. I'm a mom with 2 young kids aged 4 and 6, work with an IT services company, a cook, a housecleaner and of course, a gardener and a blogger too! So, you see, that's why I'm not able to post frequently.


Anyway, I had the best Saturday morning, last weekend. I had the time in the garden for weeding, fertilising and trimming.

Heheh.. that's me, cladded in black tudung, and that's the front part of my sekangkang kera garden taken from the side of the garden swing. 


Remember the balsams? Well, they were blown by strong wind last week and I had to trim them to make them look neat once again. Here are the trimmed balsams... sayang dibuang (pity that I have to throw them away)!

Ylang, Plumeria, Muraya (Talk to thou)

Miss Bunga: Hello Ylang or shall I call you Kenanga? I love your smell. It's sooo sweet, especially after rain

Ylang Ylang: Ya, I know. You really helped me to grow healthily with that acidic vitamin that u gave to me weekly. Now I'm bushier than before your sister gave me to you 2 years ago.

Miss Bunga: Hi there Kemboja Putih (Plumeria Pudica). I like your pure white flowers very much.

Plumeria Pudica: Hey there. My flowers will bloom more with more bright sun and of course we do have that in Malaysia.  And don't forget to water me at least once a day. It's very hot in this tropical weather. But, don't overwater me or overfertilize me. That once a week acidic fertilizer is good enough.

Miss Bunga: I remember telling the nursery lady that i want a pink Kemboja (Plumeria Rubra), Alas, u grow yellow flowers instead....ehhehehe. I still love your flowers and their sweet fragrance.

Plumeria Rubra: Oh yes, I'm really growing tall now. I was shorter than u when u first planted me. Now I'm like 8 feet high. Sorry that I didn't flower that much during monsoon season. The fairies will bloom lots with the coming hot hot season.

Miss Bunga: Hey Kemuning (Muraya). Your sweet fragrance makes my garden seems perfumed. I still have no idea how I must care for you.

Kemuning: No worries. Just put me somewhere with partial shade cos it's so hot here. If I'm bigger, then you may put me out in the sunshine and I won't get sunstroke...heheh.

Mekar Keembung (Balsam Blooms)

Keembung is a typical Malay flower which used to be a traditional Malay garden decor (hiasan laman Melayu). Now, we seldom see them in Malay city homes. Also known as Balsam, this flower can easily be grown from seeds. There are several available colours such as pink, red, white, purple etc. I have them here in pink with shades of red. I wonder if there’s any way I would be able to get the red coloured ones. Any idea where I can buy the seeds or the plant?

This plant is an annual, which means it will germinate, flower and dies within a year or a season. No worries, as it will reappear from self sown seeds. Oh, btw, you can pinch the matured seeds and it will go ‘pop’! The seeds will then become scattered.

For care in our tropical weather, this flower requires watering of at least twice per day. Mulch them to keep the supply of moisture. I usually buy a sack of coconut peat from a nursery distributor for only RM5, which is way cheap. So, be nice to the nursery people. And yes, it really thrives in our Malaysia sun!

I tried adding acidic fertilizer and the leaves became very fresh and green, though no blooms. So, I stopped adding the fertilizer and voila! All the fairies appear like no one’s business. This reminds me of a term in Malay ‘Gila Daun’ (Leaves Crazy), which means too many leaves but no blooms. So, in this case, that would be ‘Gila Berbunga’ (Blooms Crazy)!

I guess you don’t really need to add any fertilizer. Just ensure that the soil is enriched with compost (for e.g. dried leaves, trimmed leftovers, coconut peat, grass cut, etc). Any tip to care for Balsam, you are most welcome to add more  .

Beauty in the storm

Hey there,


I've been away for quite some time, AGAIN! Well, been sick and has been going through the 'storm'.. and now I see the sunshine :) . Luckily, my beauty down here has presented me with her fairies for the first time, while I was struggling in the 'storm'. Goodness, I've been waiting for 3 years plus to see her flowering and here she is....


Pictures taken on 1 Feb 2010:

 

Pictures taken a month later, 28th Feb 2010:

 

Desserts in the desert

Not a very good start for a new blogger who simply left for a month without posting any news… I know! Oh well.. I was away for 3 weeks – 2 weeks spent in Dubai and 1 week spent being with my son whose adventure has just begun as a Year One kid and looking after my mom and daughter who fell sick after we got back from our family vacation.

Since I just got back from Dubai, let me tell you how amazed I was with all the architecture of the modern sky scrapers and mosques, Desert Safari, skiing in Dubai, the dancing water fountain, bling-bling-the-eye Gold Souk, the construction of Palm Jumeirah and No. 1 on this list is.......... GROWING PETUNIAS in the middle of the DESERT!

Can you believe it? I mean, petunias can easily wilt in our tropical weather and yet these same petunias are growing beautifully in Dubai!!!! Don’t believe me? Well, see the pictures below and you can see the double-decker tour bus as well just to prove that the picture was taken in Dubai.

Oh.. just look at the alamanda! Indeed a dessert to a gardener's eyes. This really motivates me to grow my new alamanda plant in the same way.

So how did they do it? There would be 2 main issues that I could think of in growing flowers in the middle of the desert: water supply and sandy soil. To overcome these, they installed a series of water tubes so the plants will always have sufficient water to withstand the dry weather.

I'm sure the water bill as as high as Burj Khalifa. Oh, well... Anything is possible in Dubai!