[S] Okra (Lady's Finger)

On Monday, I put in 16 seeds of Okra into two trays. The seeds were from a packet (Horti) bought from NTUC Welcome. It said that they would germinate in 10 days. But ohmigosh! on Wednesday 13 of them had germinated and by Friday, they are pretty vigourous and more than 2 inches high.

[S] A seven-month hiatus

Oh my goodness - a 7-month hiatus - not only of posting in this blog but also a 7-month hiatus from doing much gardening - and the result - my garden is completely overrun with weeds - I don't think there is much chance of salvaging it - the garden was originally planted with Pearl Grass. It was expensive but was supposed to be low maintenance mainly because the Pearl Grass does not grow vigourously. And its very low vigour means that weeds have a field day when the owner is negligent. See picture of Pearl Grass (above) at its best. (This is not a picture of the Pearl Grass in my garden ha ha)

[S] Luohanguo 罗汉果

This fruit is Luohanguo 罗汉果 (scientific name is Siraitia grosvenorii) and it is primarily grown in southern China, mainly in Guangxi Province, with most of the product from the mountains of Guilin.
During our visit to the neighbours during Chinese New Year, we were given 2 of these dried fruits because of its medical properties (I was coughing a bit). According to a website, the extract from this fruit is 300 times sweeter than sugar and the fruit has been used as a sweetener in China for a long time.
I will describe its taste when I get round to trying it.
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Chiku - one of my favourite fruits

I like most tropical fruits - be it papaya, banana, rambutan and even the durian. But the chiku remains one of my all-time favourite. And this fruit is not easy to come by in the local fruit stalls. I bought some today (at $5 a kilo (approx USD $3.50)). Here in Surin, we used to have a chiku tree which gave us decent fruits. But when the family was touring UK, the wind broke the tree and we had to remove it. I intend to buy a chiku plant from the nursery in the near future. Actually Ah Soo Garden should have one as they have enough room in their garden.
I found that the chiku has a variety of names in various countries - one name is Sapodilla.

Colours of Chinese New Year (Part 1)

Mandarins (and kumquats, oranges, etc) by virtue of their gold colour is a MUST during the Chinese New Year. In this photo, you can see the two small citrus plants with Michaela and Luke. By the way, this is my favourite photo of the season. This photo was taken at Jalan Mengkudu where Great-Uncle Francis, Great-Auntie Irene, Aunt Marie and Stephanie and Emily live.

Colours of Chinese New Year (Part 2)

The colours of Chinese New Year are red and gold - and these are relected in the plants and flowers !!! These are flowers at Grandma Neo's house - look at the kelanchoes in the foreground and the yellow and red Celosia (known as Feng4 Wei3 凤尾(Phoenix Tail) in Chinese)in the background.

More orchids at Ah Soo Garden

Three more orchids have arrived at Ah Soo Gardens! Unlike the first one (which was a Dendromium) these three are all Vandas - two of them are semi-terete and one of them is a strap leave Vanda.

Update on Chinese New Year bulbs

In January, I asked what the 4 bulbs that I bought at the market would turn into. I haven't had much success as only one of the 4 bulbs has sprouted (1st photo). The second photo shows the bulbs of my friend, Joe Tan, who bought his bulbs at about the same time as me. The red things are Chinese New Year decorative touches. Yong Seng said his bulbs have grown even taller than Joe's. I think I know what went wrong with my bulbs (1) I did not buy enough (my friend uses 8 bulbs in a bowl) (2) I have to keep them cool (Joe uses ice cubes and keep the bowl in his living room) (3) I need to keep the bulbs completely immersed in water. Never mind, I will do better next year. By the way these bulbs are known as Chinese Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) and they can be used to make delicious chips.

Water lilies (Nymphaea Sp)

Water lilies (Nymphaea sp) bloom on stalks that rise above the water. Lotus flowers bloom on the surface of water. These two lovely water lilies are at Jalan Lepas. That lovely girl next to the blooms is pretty Michaela Kate Lim !!! From an article at the Sungei Buloh Nature Park website http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/water_lily.htm I read that one can harvest seeds from these flowers. Agatha should give it a try.

Poor little plant !!

Here we see another example of a little plant badly treated by its owner at Jansen Springs. It joins several other plants sent from that place to Surin for treatment and rehabilitation (some came too late and could not be rescued). Lena claimed that she took good care of this little plant (the pot is 3 inches in diameter) and to quote her words "it is either over-watered or under-watered". HUH !!! From its weight, there is hardly a drop of moisture in it. We shall see whether it will recover in the next few weeks.

[S] A lovely water feature @ Jln Lepas

This water feature is lovely. At night, there is a light that shows off the mini-fountain to good effect. This type of water feature can be put together very simply but of course Ta-ta spent big bucks to get it done (as usual).

A new orchid @ Ah Soo Garden

This lovely Dendrobium was acquired yesterday by Nigel's dad for (Singapore) $11. It has lovely white flowers. As usual when one buys orchids outside of established nurseries, no names are given.

What is a weed?

What is a weed? It is a plant that is not wanted in a particular place. By definition, a rose bush is a weed in a field of paddy. I found this weed alongside an untended area along Eunos Link. I pulled out a section and planted it in a pot - it soon grew into two pots. Against the bright light of the bathroom window, these two plants give some nice greenery, the stigma of being a weed long gone.

Bananas @ Ah Soo Garden

... and the same WAIT goes on at Ah Soo Garden (see previous post about waiting for papayas to ripen). These two bunches of bananas have been on the trees for a LO-O-ONG time. Tina said that she wondered how on earth people could make a living out of growing bananas if it takes so long to get the fruits to the market.
Incidentally, looking at the first picture, we will have to find a way to hold the that banana plant up as it looks like it is going to topple over.

Papayas @ Surin

Growing papayas is easy and it takes no time at all to grow the papaya tree but it takes FOREVER waiting for the fruits to ripen. These fruits were on the tree before we left for our China trip in mid November 2009. They are still green in late January 2010. And in the meantime, I am suffering from Vitamin C deficiency. (Posted January 26, 2010)

An unknown orchid

Saturday, January 23, 2010
Two years and 3 months ago, I wandered down to Mandai Orchid Garden. At the cafe, the owner sold me this orchid assuring me that it would bloom soon. It has finally done so - but by now, I have forgotten its name (or maybe I was never told what orchid it was from the start). Looking at its leaves, it is most probably a Vanda.

Chinese New Year Bulbs

Saturday January 23 2010
My friends (Yong Seng, Goh and Joe Tan) told me that it was customary to buy these bulbs and grow them for Chinese New Year. I honestly don't know what they are and I honestly have never heard of this custom before. But since they cost only 25 cents each from Lorong Ah Soo market, I will give them a try. It has been 2 weeks and they have developed some roots. I have since planted them in a glass bowl using aquarium soil. I can't wait to see what will develop.

Tulips from Amsterdam

Friday Jan 21 2010
Shuying flew in from Amsterdam and she gave Wendy this beautiful bunch of tulips. A pity they will not last long in Singapore's harsh climate.