Gardening Dream Inspire

A flowering Agave plant in the neighborhood.

2012-02-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

I had been observing this plant from a far for almost a couple years now. Off and on when I travel in the bus that took this route, I would turn my head at the window seat, and my gaze would fall on this huge plant that seemed to be significantly towering over all the other plants that the gardener grew round it. A couple of months ago I noticed a huge spike that grew .... and slowly it did grow huge almost 4 stories high. It was after one of my tea time with dear husband around the neighborhood that I finally got a chance to inch close up on this plant. It's pretty amazing ..... many of my gardening friends couldn't help but commented on this beauty when I shared the photos here at a social networking site :-)

According to a friend the ID is Agave atrovirens . It may have taken 40 years for the plant to grow this size big. After flowering, the mother plant will produce hundreds of offsets and then it will slowly die off. Such is the cycle in nature to propagate the plant.

Agaves

2012-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

When I first came across these plants they were only palm size. After growing in the CG for about a year they are now larger than palm size ....LOL Pot size to be exact and if they are planted into the ground they can grow larger than human size.
Agaves are desert plants which can take hot and cold temperatures but not frost. Over here they are perpetually under hot temperatures and hence they grow pretty well and fast too.

In Life Storeys ...Life in the HDB Heartlands

2012-02-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

In issue 2 -Dec.2011 , the CG was featured in a write up In Life Storeys .... Life in the HDB Heartlands, Live Green .... Power to the Youth article. The link is here ....
http://lifestoreys.hdb.gov.sg/power-to-the-youth.html

EARLY BLOOMERS
An even younger batch of Heartland Ambassadors from Xinmin Primary School also got to put what they learnt to the test on 12 November, at the official launch for the adoption of Wu Wo Yuan community garden at Hougang Avenue 4.

The project is also a Community in Bloom – in the Heartlands initiative that aims to encourage green enthusiasts to actively participate in the community via gardening.

Fourteen of these primary school ambassadors guided and briefed Grassroots Adviser Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, the guest-of-honour and MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, as he explored the community garden. They also showcased the results of the blossoming garden — among them were sweet potato, bitter gourd, and sand ginger — to residents from the neighbouring blocks who had dropped by.
These ambassadors also set up a recycling booth to share simple recycling tips with the residents. Prior to this, these students had participated in HDB's 'I love my Community Garden!' — a one-day learning trip where they learnt more about gardening in the heartlands.

Fruiting Veges Updates

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

The vege garden grows and changes too fast for me to write about them. So here's just some updates on what had grown and are growing in the vege patch.

AMK - In Bloom Awards

2012-02-09T03:24:00.000-08:00

Wu Wo Yuan received a Gold Award for it's efforts.

Cannas

2012-02-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

A friend decided to donate most the the cannas from his garden to the CG cos' his garden was getting too shady for them. They were grown in their pots at the staircase before they were transferred to the present location. They grew tall and managed to flower. So here's a pretty yellow canna bloom. Enjoy!

Bromeliads

2012-02-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

A couple of these ornamental pineapple plants were donated to the CG about a year ago. They have grown and fruited a couple of times. They look pretty with the way the striations are colored on the leaves but they fruit cannot be eaten. While repotting them I got my two arms scratched quite a bit.
Nevertheless, they are lovely to look at but got to be careful when handling them.

Bittergourd Again.

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Another CGer loves bittergourd. Another attempt to grow them and it was successful with the huge fruit harvest there.

Giant Yams in the CG.

2012-01-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

My favorite CGer here planted the Giant Yam plants here when it was only less than a long ruler length.It took more than six months of growing to reach human height. Looks like it will still be a while before we can harvest the tubers. Meanwhile more baby yam plants seem to be sprouting out from the patch. I found out from the internet that the tubers are huge and they don't look anything like the ones we buy from the supermarket. I am so looking forward to this.

Another Brugmansia Bloomed.

2012-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

This post is long overdue. It's a pretty pink bloom and all too soon it was gone.

Heartland Ambassadors at the CG

2011-10-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Twenty Heartland Ambassadors are chosen from Xinmin Primary School to help the CG volunteers to conduct the CG programme for their schoolmates.
They came over to the CG to plant at the Hibiscus Patch.

The students scooping out the compost in their pails to bring out to the Hibiscus Patch.

Students weeding out their planter bed and loosening the soil before planting

Getting the water ready

Fencing out the Hibiscus Patch area using the planter guards.

Happy students with their hibiscus plant.

Iris giving a session on recycling pet bottles for containers on the fence.

Happy Heartland Amabassadors giving the thumbs up for the activity

New Nepenthes

2011-08-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

In the program "I Love My Community Garden" I noticed that many students get pretty curious about the pitchers of the pitcher plants. They keep getting distracted when we conduct the sharing sessions near the hanging pots of pitcher plants. Since quite a number of them get curious over these pitchers, I usually have an informal sharing session about the pitcher plants just to get them interested about plants after their formal lessons were conducted.

The CG has only two kinds of pitcher plants .... the N.x Ventrata and the N. Miranda were donated to the CG. Since they do interest the students I decided to try to increase the collection in the CG to show to the students different kinds of pitchers in future sharing sessions in the CG.

I have some kind members of the GCS forum helping me increase the pitcher plant collection. In an exchange of plants I managed to get another 5 pitcher plants and I have two cuttings rooting too. I am thankful to have the forum which allows me to do plant exchanges with plant lovers and appreciate their generousity to help the CG through their donation of plants. Thank-you very much Lam and Butterfly Pea.

The above pic shows how the pitcher plants are grown in the CG.

N. Rafflesiana .... pretty speckled pitchers.

N. Viking X Amp.

Three pitchering ..... N. Rafflesiana 'squat' , N. Viking X Khasiana and the N. Mirabilis 'red

Taiwanese Mulberry Update

2011-08-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

After about one and a half years of growing in the ground the tree has fruited a couple of times. The fruits seem a little larger than the old mulberry tree in the CG. Now I can share the cuttings with others. Please refer to the GCS forum under give away section regarding request for cuttings. Cuttings are available for a limited time only.
http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/index.php?/topic/18604-taiwanese-mulberry-cuttings-sase-open/

Please do not request for them here.

Mini Watermelons

2011-08-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

Flowering Hoyas

2011-08-06T01:15:00.000-07:00

Ornamental Pineapples Fruiting Again

2011-08-05T00:54:00.000-07:00

Pineapples

2011-08-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

Finally after more than 9 months of growing on the slope, the three planted crowns fruited.

Nepenthes Flowering

2011-08-03T00:26:00.000-07:00

This pitcher plant is known as Nepenthes miranda. I grow these two plants from a cutting given to the CG by a neighbourhood friend. Somehow the recent weather triggered both plants to flower. The flowers are unique and quite cute. I think the cg nepenthes produced male flowers only. No female flowers mean no baby nepenthes.

Flowering Episcias

2011-07-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yellow Climbing Rose

2011-07-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

I just realised that the CG has a pot of yellow climbing rose when I discovered it. I assumed that the climbing rose given to the CG were all Cecile Brunner's. It's a nice surprise and I will be watching this together with the baby pink ones. Later may decide which to one is to be planted into the ground and then let it grow up a trellis.

Bicolored Rose

2011-07-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

This rose has a pretty dual coloration of yellow and pink. It's a nice surprise and I like it. It's a pity that I don't get many blooms from the plant. It's always a single bloom at a time ....haiz!

Hibiscus Orange 2

2011-07-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I believe this cutting was given to me by a friend and this is the first bloom of the orange hibiscus. It's different from the other orange hibiscus in the CG. Petals are a lot rounder and thicker and the bloom is sort of held nearer the stem, not the free hanging type. Looking forward to more blooms but it's rather a slow growing plant.

New Trellis

2011-07-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

The hoyas, nepenthes had spent months hanging on the green fence and finally a new metallic trellis was constructed for them. No more hanging on the fence!
One of our regular CGer exclaimed her first impression of the 'new' trellis .... "it's just like the pasar malam tent where they sell plants" .... and it's quite true .... LOL The CG had sought the help of our regular RC tentage guy to help build the trellis and also several ones in the CG and cos' we were lacking funds and we will be paying him in installments. I must say it's better than nothing and hanging on the fence.

Below is another trellis built at the Episcia Corner. The bamboo trellis had broken and the episcia pots I hanged between the Jambu and Chempedak trees will soon be transferred to this area. The area is now bigger ... thanks to having a bigger metallic trellis constructed and I continue to use the green netting for allowing a higher light intensity through. Over here I place all the hibiscus cuttings to grow too. It's also sort of a nursery area for new cuttings to root and grow.

I Love My Community Garden Learning Trip Pt.2

2011-04-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

In the learning trip the students had the chance to taste first hand some kaffir lime leaves and the rose cactus leaves. They also had the chance to touch the various kinds of leaves with different textures at the episcia corner. Some students gamely tasted the raw leaves and didn't like the taste took to gulping down some water to wash away the taste. They surely look a sight as their friends were laughing at their expressions.

Here was the display of other ways of using the pet bottles.

Students were grouped together to plant their vegetable seeds in their 'adopt-a-pot' project.

Students taking a breather to pose for a group photo. A bird's eye view of the community garden in the hot afternoon.

I Love My Community Garden Learning Trip Pt.1

2011-04-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

On the 30th of March the CG entertained a class of Primary 4 students from Xinmin Primary school. This visit was part of the Community in Bloom - in the Heartlands ..... to bring the students closer to the community. The students were introduced to the garden and were given a briefing on some of the vegetables , medicinal and flowering plants that grew in the garden. After that they had a chance to do some hands on .... weeding the pots and watering the vegetable plots. Then they also had the chance to plant vegetable seeds in their own 'adopt-a-pot' program. After planting the seeds the students would take the pots back to school to nuture the germinated seeds and then harvest their vegetable. A booklet was prepared for the students to do an exercise to help them remember what they had learned about the CG. This exercise had given the community gardeners another dimension of community gardening to reach out to the young in the community. This was possible through the liason officer from HDB who made the first contact with the CG. This was indeed a positive experience for all of us ... so thanks Jessica for making this possible. Arrival of students to Wu Wo Yuan ..... Aunty Iris briefing the students about the vegetable plot.

Watering activity using a recycled pet bottle.

Pink Hibiscus Bloom

2011-03-02T07:01:00.001-08:00

This was grown from a cutting given to me by a friend. Cuttings were taken from a huge bush that's at least a story high. It took about six months before the plant has it's first bloom. It is a pretty bloom. Can't wait for the plant to grow larger to have more blooms. The bloom is not pure pink and it has some white speckles near the edges of the petals with a dark red centre.

The Adenium Flowered at 17th Month

2011-01-19T19:13:00.001-08:00

Finally got to see the adenium bloom ..... :-)

White Hibiscus Flowers (Updating)

2011-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

The hibiscus cuttings have grown into bigger plants by now. They have also budded and bloomed a couple of times in the CG. I noticed that the plant can flower at such a short height (30 cm tall). During the last round of fertilizer feeding, I pushed some frozen banana skins into the soil. Banana skins are high in potassium and this is good for growing better quality flowers. I noticed that the white flower petals are not as thin and translucent as the orange hibiscus I grow in the CG.
To my hibiscus cutting donor .... looks like many of the cuttings turned out to bloom the white flower with the blood red centre. I believe I have about 8 pots of them ... LOL

The Hoya'd Fence

2011-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Hoya Trellis in the CG has been deconstructed all because of a thunder stormed that happened some time ago. The significant bamboo pole broke into two and the whole trellis came tumbling down. So now the hoyas in their bottles hang on the green fencing and I don't know how long they will do that cos' there's simply no budget to buy better materials to build another trellis. But I must they do actually look so much neater this way and I really don't mind them hanging like this.

Pic below show some hoya leaves getting a red coloration. They do bring out the contrast against the green majority.

Pics below show the hoyas blooming away. They do like the shaded area where the afternoon sun shine for a couple of hours.

Episcias Corner in the CG

2011-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

I have set up an Episcia Corner in the CG and here I hang my pots of episcias which are grown from stolons. Some of them like the spot and some don't. Those that can thrive here will also flower here eventually. Let's see how the episcias like the environment since they have been growing here for about three months. Some them them need to adapt to the environment by growing new leaves and deteriorating the old ones. They sort of 'resurrect' from a short stalk and give you a nice surprise.

Below are the ones that flowered over the three months under the green canopy. Enjoy!

Pic below is Episcia Kee Wee.

Pic below is Episcia Warpaint.

Pic below is Lady Amazon.

Pic below is Episcia Burning Embers.

Pic below is Episcia Lil' Lemon which is grown under a tree in an old rubber tyre planter.

Pic below is Episcia Faded Jade.

Pic below is Episcia Pink Panther which was resurrected after the leaves were masively pruned down to get rid of the mealy bugs.

Pic below is Episcia Tropical Topaz.

Adenium Update 17th Month

2011-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Finally after waiting for 17 months the first signs of an adenium bloom surfaced. I believe there are a couple more coming up too. Rejoice!
Just for the record .... this batch of adeniums had undergone a couple of times being botak because of caterpillar attack. This is especially so during the rainy season cos' usually after the rains the butterflies would come to lay their eggs on the leaves.

Brugmansias are doing it again !

2011-01-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

The rainy season at this time of the year and the cooler temperatures are helping the brugs to bloom once again. This time I see four bushes having blooming buds and there are still more to come. My CGers are so excited this time cos' they are buying 4-D based on the buds appearing on each bush. Well I wish them good luck and hope they will strike 4-D too.

TIFE Pt.9 The Immortal Flower

2010-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is my first encounter with the Immortal Flowers. The process is described here below and of course the trade secret is not revealed. What I saw were life like flowers and plants in sealed containers. I wondered how long have they been in those containers. I asked again... how long will they last till the first deterioration sets in. Really immortal .... well no one was there to answer those questions.

TIFE Pt.8 Rare Plants in Pavilion of the Future

2010-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sharing here some rare plants displayed at this pavilion. Some of these plants displayed here are found in the Tropical Forests and the Mountainous and cold zones in the region. When I saw some these 'rare 'plants , I thought to myself ..... "gosh .... I see these every day here at home."

So those I will not show case here in the blog .... LOL

Pics here are those that I rarely, seldom, never or hardly see ..... LOL

The above description for the pic below .....

TIFE Pt.7 Bonsai at Pavilion of Regimen Gate 4

2010-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Although I am not a Bonsai Fan, I queued to enter this garden to see the medicinal herbs that grew together with the bonsai displays. I am impressed with they way the bonsai plants were displayed. There is a long history about the bonsais there and the age ranges from 60 years old bonsai trees to a 300 years old bonsai tree. No one was allowed to take a photo of the three hundred year old Bonsai Tree.It was kept in the main display area and there was a guide stationed there to explain it's form.
it was a huge and beautiful Bonsai Tree.

Below are the pics taken in the bonsai garden where the supposedly less impressive specimens are left to grow in their time. The pots of bonsai take turns to bask in the sun throughout the year. Noticed I never mentioned anything about the herbs growing in the garden ? Well when herbs are grown next to a majestic bonsai plant .... what would you be impressed with ?... LOL

TIFE Pt.6 Xinsheng Park

2010-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Entrance to this park is at Gate 4. The main attraction is the two whale plant sculptures and one of them has a red belly made up of entirely red Earth Stars.

What I see special about this park is the different types of Lillies that are planted along the walkways. They all emit a fragrance which is intoxicating. When you walk past them, you can smell the fragrance around you.

TIFE Pt.5 Gardening Competition

2010-12-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Took the bus shuttle from the Yuanshan Park station and alighted at Gate 5. This was where the Taipei Gardening Community had their landscape competition displayed. Some ideas are new and some are traditional. Still there are ideas to gain and appreciate.

TIFE Pt.4 Global Gardens

2010-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

We crossed over to the Yuan Shan Park Area and visited the Global Garden Displays and Singapore participated in this segment.

Entries from ......

Malaysia ........................

Philippines ................ I was taken in awe by the way the Bromeliads were displayed. They definitely attracted my attention.

Thailand ......................

Indonesia ............

Singapore .... Steel Cities Moving Gracefully To New Horizons.

Very disappointed with this display. The three red balls are no landmarks to Singapore. Maybe the Esplanade durian shaped domes could have done better or the Merlion displaying its chracteristic sputting of water. Bougainvilla blooms could have provided a better color scheme except that I wonder if they can keep their blooms here in the winter season. I did see a bonsai bougainvilla bloom in the bonsai garden here in the Pavilion of Regimen.

Oman ......

Amsterdam .........

TIFE Pt.3 EcoARK

2010-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

On my first visit on a Saturday morning at the expo, many people were forming a very long queue to get into this ECOARK. My estimate was that the last person in the queue had to wait at leat 60 mins. to get to the entrance. So we changed plans and returned the next day in the evening at about 8pm and the queue was much shorter. Still we had to wait for 20 minutes before we could enter the ark. So here is an entire building which had the outer walls made out of pet bottles.

Below .... the hype of the pet bottled walls lite up using LED lightings and the walls can change colors. It is a pretty sight seeing the colors alternate between blue and white lights.

The inside had these bamboo poles constructed to form barriers next to the pet bottled walls.

As it was Fashion Week ..... the displays had these themes and I saw three get ups put on mannequinns , all made from recycled material. They were showy pieces but what left me wondering was that they were placed somewhere away from the centre of attraction. They should have been put together with the attractions on the first floor and there should have been more pieces to show off the creativity of the Taiwanese Fashion Designers using recyclable material. I felt let down by the displays on the first floor .... put together by Vogue magazine using multimedia .... haiz!

TIFE Pt.2 Gold Award For Floral Display

2010-12-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

This entry has been given a gold award. It has tillandsias, cactii and succulents on their vertical walls. Interesting ideas and feast for the eyes .... on shades of green.

Below ...... are some perculiar displays seen in the same area .......

Look at what they do with Earth Stars ...... when combined with so many of the them together and also with the orchids displays ...... they do catch my eye.

Taipei Int'l Flora Exposition Pt.1

2010-12-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Had a chance to visit the Taipei International Flora Exposition and so we found ourselves at the entrance of Yuanshan Park buying tickets for a three day visit pass.
On our way there we already saw signs of massive flora and foliage displays lining up towards the entrance.

Below ..... vertical garden walls seen on almost every wall that advertised for the Expo.

Begonias growing so well on the grounds and it's already the beginning of the winter season for Taipei.

The Coleus varieties color up the pathways leading towards the Expo. sites.

We visited the Expo. Dome which housed the Floral displays by the commercial artists.

Below .... Orchid Flasks stacked up as a centre of attraction ....

A Musical Fairy balancing on a ball of flowers .....

Deorated Harp .....

A 'Coffin' of Orchids .....

Cups of Anthuriums and Bromeliads ....

Brugmansias Buds Bloomed!

2010-11-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

I remember it was only in August this year when I planted the one foot high plants into the ground. I thought I had to wait for a year before I could see flowers. But last week when I checked the plants I noticed that one of them had something different growing and realised that these were flower buds. Due to the rains I noticed that some buds had also dropped off. On Sunday evening I was greeted by two CGers who were working in the CG and they said that the flowers are very pretty as they had never seen such kinds of flowers before. One of them even asked if she could have a pot of such a plant and I just frowned at her ... LOL

These blooms greeted my dd and I when we visited the CG to do weeding. Dd was so curious and even took one of the flowers to sniff for fragrance .... it's sort of lemony she said. I did like wise and well .... the fragrance was very light. Maybe got to sniff the flowers sometime in the night to breathe in the more concentrated scent. Who knows ... and maybe then you find some strange on goings in the CG in the night ..... LOL

(It was written somewhere that the brugmansia flowers when eaten or sniffed at can produce a high in the human brain. The plant is not edible.)

Rose Center In Cameron Highlands

2010-10-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am never tired of looking at roses and smelling fragrant roses too. So when we visited CH again we made it a point to visit this Rose Center. This time round this garden center has a lovely view at the top of the hill.The walking journey up the hill
made the experience a visual treat. Here are some mandatory pics of the roses growing there ... ever so large and blooming ... seldom seen in this size in Singapore.

So here below our walking journey began ......

Rest point to admire the view and to catch our breaths ....

Finally we reached the top .... behind us the Equatorial Cameron Highlands where we stayed.

Cactus Valley in Cameron Highlands

2010-10-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

Cactus Valley is situated up on a hill and from afar we could see this huge structure displayed prominently in it's majesty :-) The garden centre doesn't only grow cactus and succulents but many other plants to. Let's show case the beauty of cactus and succulents here first. I believe that these cactus and succulents have been growing here for many generations and they are all huge, gigantic and majestic. Pots and pots of them and thorns and thorns of them too ... LOL I can only imagine my tiny, puny cactus and succulents that I bought could one day grow into some of them like those here :-)

Hibiscus Progress Pt.2

2010-10-10T22:35:00.001-07:00

Finally one of the two flower buds opened. It's a white hibiscus with the blood red centre and the petals are papery thin. The other bud was lost during a rainy afternoon.

Mexican Sunflowers Encore ....

2010-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

I got the seeds from the first batch that I planted in pots. Now I grow the second batch into the ground. After four months they have flowered for me at a shorter height. Enjoy the pics ....

Hibiscus Progress Pt.1

2010-09-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

It has been three months since I started growing hibiscus from the stem cuttings given to me by a forum member. Some of them have been re-potted into 6 inch pots and a couple of them are growing flower buds. The two flower buds below seem to look like the white or yellow variety and they seem to be blooming at such a small size. Stay tune ....

Bulbs Progress Pt. 5

2010-09-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

I see the blooms of the gladiolus Peter Pears .... and a couple more buds coming up .....

Ornamental Pineapple Fruiting

2010-09-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

Bulbs Progress Pt. 4

2010-09-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, the bulbs are budding and blooming this time round. The one below with the pink blooms is called Gladiolus Cindy.

More blooms coming up .... a likely red bloom .... let's see ....

Brugmansias Progress Pt.1

2010-09-23T00:58:00.001-07:00

The five brugs are growing taller by the day. They are also getting more leafy and once in a while the leaves get bitten by some kind of insects but no great harm done.
I understand that I need to grow them for about a year to get the stems to branch out to the Y configuration before I will get the flowers. OK ... so I need to be patient and just keep watering , feeding and insect control the plants for the entire rest of the year till next year.

I believe I see the Y configuration in the stem branching in the brugmansia above. Maybe this will flower sooner than the rest.

Bulbs Progress Pt. 3

2010-09-21T06:34:00.001-07:00

I had some time last week and so re-staked the gladiolus shoots. I believe this is definitely one easier way to make the shoots stand up. Well now if the shoots need to flop, they flop around in a circle within the red strings. .... LOL

Bulbs Progress Pt. 2

2010-09-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

Gladiolus shoots are shooting upwards without any doubt. I had feedback that there were too many corms planted in the pot. so I got them separated and now there are not more than four corms per pot. The shoots tend to flip flop all over and I tried staking them the way I did below but it didn't help much cos' they were still flopping around. Stay tune to a new way of staking them. Also the corms were planted too shallow .... so now got to put more soil into the pots and hopefully they won't overflow.

After repotting the dhalia corms, the pot got attacked by snails ...haiz! Managed to save one of them and changed the position of the pot so that the dhalia gets a little shelter from the rain.

Adenium Update 13th Month

2010-09-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

I had changed their pots to a bigger size and fertilized them with vermicompost and the latest flowering fertilizer but they are still not flowering yet. So Just got to wait a little while longer.

Meanwhile check out their caudex. They are getting bigger by the day and very soon I will have to change pots again. Maybe this time round I will wait a little longer to get them to root bound the pots so that they have a chance to flower first .... stay tune!

A Vegetable Farm in CH

2010-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to visit Cameron Highlands again during the September holidays.
We visited a vegetable farm in front of our hotel. Vegetables seem to grow big and juicy so easily in CH and most of the farms are covered overhead with a transparent plastic sheet to keep the rains away. Well it rains almost everyday in the evenings in CH.

Tomatoes growing this way without any branches and leaves. The branches are trimmed away and the leaves are allowed to grow at the top. This gives me an idea how to handle my tomato plants next time I grow them :-)

Spring onions are juicy here!

These are the apple melons of CH. They tasted a tad too bland in sweetness for my liking.

The farmer harvested fresh corns for us to eat raw. He sliced them thinly and gave us each a thin piece to try. I was really surprised that raw corns can taste so good .... juicy and sweet.

The farms are terraced into the slopes of the highlands. We had to climb a lot to reach the planter beds. This activity is definitely not for those with weak knees.

Korean Visitors

2010-09-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

In January 2010 we had some garden visitors from Korea. They were the lecturers and students from Handong Global University. The visit was hosted by my RC chairman who is a member of the Silver Ribbon Group in Singapore.

The Silver Ribbon Group promotes positive mental wellness and has youths to champion causes to promote mental wellness and to adopt mentally healthy life styles. Community Gardening is being one of the mentally healthy life style considered.

Weeding Platoon

2010-08-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

Once in a while the leader of the elderly exercise group would bring her group of people into the CG to help do some weeding activity. All would be given a plastic bag to fill up with weeds from the garden and then if there were harvests from the CG, they would be given some. Just last week the RC chairman gave them a breakfast treat for the National Day Celebrations. I took some pics and all were happy to smile for the camera.

Hoya Section Update

2010-08-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

This section is slowly getting filled. There is still room for more :-)

Bulbs Progress Pt.1

2010-08-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

The gladiolus bulbs are shooting up, fast !

The dahlia bulbs finally show signs of shoots .... :-)

Episcia Lil' lemon

2010-08-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love the foliage of this family of plants. I am trying to find a suitable place to grow them in the CG. They need bright shade with some morning sun and love moist but not wet soil. So here I have tried growing them under a tree with some red leaf plants surrounding them to give them some more shade from the late afternoon sun and also humidity too. It seems to be working for the moment. Let's see how they grow.

Bulbs (gladiolus N dhalias)

2010-08-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

I bought these corms from a member who hand carried them from Amsterdam back to Singapore. I shared the corms with some members and we are planting them together at about the same time to help check each other's progress on the corms.

I see the first signs of life here ... a couple of green shoots in two of the pots with gladiolus corms.

This grey pot contains the dhalia corms, three of them and no signs of shoots yet. Now I just have to wait.

Five Brugmansias On The Ground

2010-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Finally I found the ground for them. Thanks to a couple of kind GCS members who gave me cuttings to grow them in the CG, I now can only wait in anticipation for the flowers and heavily feed them till they flower maybe in a year's time.

Hibiscus Propagation Update

2010-08-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

The leaves have grown bigger, some roots are already growing out of the bottoms of the cups and I suspect a couple of them even had flower buds because I saw some underdeveloped buds fell on the ground next to the cups during the rainy days last week. The pic below has a bud developing there if you look carefully.

Succulent Dishes

2010-08-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

I revamped the succulent patch cos' it was growing wild and weedy. Put up these two succulent dishes for the smaller plants.

Succulent Dish 1

The pic below was taken last week and this week when I checked the dish the two Kalanchoes have disappeared. Looks like snails had a feast with the Kalanchoes. Somehow the pebbles don't seem to deter snails from crawling into the dish and they sure know what succulents to chew on. Now got to patch up that empty spot.

Succulent Dish 2
This is still intact and I put the Earth Star there to see how it does in the dish at the growing area. So far so good .....

Pineapples

2010-08-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

These are the ones we planted using the chopped off heads from the pineapples bought from the market. They have been growing for a year and we are still waiting for the fruits.

The two pots below were brought into the garden by a CGer and they are the ornamental pineapples. I believe we will get mini pineapples from them. Their leaves are really pretty when they turn reddish after they receive enough sunshine.

Red Hibiscus

2010-08-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this pinkish red hibiscus growing in the ground outside the house of a friend and fell in love with the big flower. The size of the flower was as large as my palm stretched out. I am rooting cuttings now .... :-)

The hibiscus bush is huge and almost two stories high but it is flowering quite profusely.

A Solitary Bowl Gourd Fruit Harvest

2010-08-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

The vine was doing pretty well after I added in the compost and the vermicompost fertilizer. There were many tiny fruits forming. My CGers were looking at them in anticipation of their harvest. However the rains that came almost everyday in the last two weeks dampened all hopes cos' I noticed the area where the vine was planted didn't drain out the water well. So the vine started to rot and the baby fruits also started to rot and the leaves turned browned. Only one fruit despite all odds managed to grow a good size.

Winter Melon Babies Sleeping In The Garden

2010-08-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

We have three growing on the vines this very moment and they are huge and heavy. One of our CG helper decided to make three mini hammocks for them to lie down. Many people passing by the CG fence often gaze in awe at the 'babies'.

SGF Potted Beauties

2010-07-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier before the SGF, I was sent an invitation to participate in one of the contests that was held during the festival. It was called "Potted Beauties" Contest. There were some instructions and specifications given but I didn't pay attention to them cos' I wasn't going to participate. Two or more of the GCS forum mates did send in their entries and they are below ..... they look good, yes?
On hindsight, maybe I should prepare to learn how to prepare my potted beauty for this contest two years down the road .... LOL. Maybe to make it a little more interesting, they should have two other categories ..... like growing a two- plant combination in a pot category or growing three or more plants in a pot category. But I know that growing one plant well enough for a contest is already hard enough :-)

SGF Putting Plants Together

2010-07-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have always admired the way landscape artistes put plants together to make little corners here and there to look attractive and interesting to the eye. So here are some pics of plants that caught my eye.

Bamboo, grass and sedum with ......

Anthuriums, marigolds, coleus ....

Begonia, coleus, periwinkle, globe amaranthus, ferns

Mini roses (red and white), begonia

I was staring at this for sometime .... a palm tree with orchids and nepenthes wrapped round the trunk using sphagnum moss and coir.

SGF Orchid Display

2010-07-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am still learning about orchids and the variety that was displayed there was just mind blowing. Really I had difficulty trying to focus ..... so here it's just a number of mundane shots I took cos' I was already dead tired walking and looking at the other displays. May be two years down the road, I'll be a little more knowledgeable about orchids to capture great pictures of interesting orchids for you to see.

An Award For Community Gardens

2010-07-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

So after volunteering in this CG for almost 2 years .... we've got ......

.... at Hougang Aljunied Zone 1 RC CG .....

SGF Bonsai

2010-07-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about these plants but they do look beautiful in their own way. I know it takes a lot of patience and skill to create a look using the species of plant.

So enjoy some of the pics here .....

SGF Community In Bloom Gardeners

2010-07-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love this corner of the display hall. On my second day at the festival, I spent the entire morning chit-chatting here with the community gardeners. Some are pretty friendly and we almost chatted like old friends while others are rather reticent. It was quite enlightening to listen to some stories that went into their displays and I had the pleasure to listen to a member who used the car that was cut into half in their display.
Ideas galore again here for how the CGers use old and plebeian objects to make interesting displays for plants in the garden.

SGF Apartment Gardening

2010-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here we have ideas galore for apartment gardening. Fancy having corners in your apartment looking like these below ..... many fall in love with them. Some ideas I can only dream to have, other ideas can be a possibility.

SGF Landscape Gardens

2010-07-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's a visual treat here in this display hall. Foreign and local talents in collaboration with our local nurseries showcase their landscape ideas. I'll just let the pics do the talking .....

Singapore Garden Festival July 2010

2010-07-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

Once in two years this festival takes center stage in the gardening community. This year it's my first time attending the event which is held in Suntec City. I went visiting there for two days of three hours each. Two tickets cost me $14.40 and made me poorer by a hundred dollars plus, plus... LOL

Below you see are pics that lead to the entrance of the halls ...... and they are already beautifully decorated. So what comes after blew my breath away. Just standing there at the entrance to take these pics made me intoxicated. There were many orchids surrounding the area and I keep having a whiff of so many lovely flower fragrance as I walk past these areas.

Ring Of Roses Around The Tree

2010-07-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

My CGer and I decided to put the pots of roses around this tree in the CG. She thinks it's the best place in the garden for growing the roses there. For the past couple of months I can see the rose stem cuttings grow strength by strength and with the recent rainy weather in the afternoons the roses are doing pretty well. We are rewarded with blooms now and my elderly CGer keeps saying that she's so happy to see the roses blooming around the tree.

Oh, my dear friend .... if you are reading this, recognise this pot of rose below? Thank-you for making the elderly CGer happier by the day :-)

Longan Fruits

2010-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, the tree is fruiting but we in the CG have yet to taste them because ..... the bats always get to them first ..... HAIZ! Now we are looking into how to protect the fruits from the bats. Maybe try to cover them with plastic bags or to cover the whole tree with a netting ... LOL

The batch of longans below were protected by a cloth cover by a CGer and we managed to get the fruits intact. One of the very rare branches with fruits intact.

Bowl Gourd

2010-07-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

The bowl gourd vine is finally fruiting. The leaves on the vines are huge and they have invaded the entire fence ... well almost :-) So many baby bowl gourds .... my CGers are full of expectations with regards to this vine.

Star Fruit Bushes

2010-07-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

We have two such bushes in the CG and they have fruited quite a number of times.
The fruits are not the large type we get from the supermarket The bush is relatively maintenance free and I always see them flowering. But not all flowers will turn to fruits.

Some More Brugmansias

2010-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

A kind GCS friend of mind passed me three brugmansias some months ago and here they are in the CG growing in their individual pots. I thought the brugmansia plant had some kind of poisonous substance but it doesn't seem to deter grasshoppers and beetles from feeding on their leaves. My two earlier brugs had been attacked by these insects and somehow the growth of the plant is slowed down. I really hope the ones here would do better since they are the local growing variety. Maybe need to feed more compost and chix dung to them.

Below are photos taken from the GCS forum. These brugs are grown in Singapore by GCS members. Look how well they do in our weather here. So it's possible to grow them here. It's important to find the right spot for them to grow in the garden. They need lots of sunlight and a cooling place somewhere in the CG. They are heavy feeders too.

Hoya Trellis

2010-07-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Just last week I managed to strengthen the existing bamboo trellis near the area where the hanging pot trellis is. Now it's ready to take in the recycled pet bottles of hoya stem cuttings that I have been rooting for the CG. In addition I also have some common Nepenthes hanging in their pet bottles. These are pretty young vines and they need a year or so of growing to do before they will flower for the CG. So sending out lots of best wishes for them to grow well.

This hanging pot trellis used to be the so called vertical garden trellis that I tried to build. However the idea didn't work out well and the idea was abandoned. So now I can hang pots of hoyas, nepenthes and even Euphorbia mili to grow here. I must say the Euphorbia mili grows well here but not in other parts of the CG. I tried growing them in the ground but the ground is usually too wet during the rainy season and they usually rot away. So I grow them in hanging pots away from the ground. They even flowered for me here. So now I try to grow more pots of Euphorbia mili to make the area a little more colorful while waiting for the hoya vines to grow.

Hibiscus 'Coppertone' False Roselle

2010-07-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I got this from a friend as a cutting and planted it in a pot and then transferred the plant to the planter bed after about half a year. The leaves are beautifully reddened under the sun and that is the reason it's called Coppertone Hibiscus. During these couple of months the plant had flowered and fruited a number of times in the pot. I sowed some of the seeds when I found some tiny seed pods and two plantlets grew beneath the mother plant. I transplanted the baby plantlets and now I have three ..... Coppertone Hibiscus plants :-)

I heard that the leaves of this hibiscus can be eaten. They are usually eaten in salads and have a tangy taste to them. Will try some one of these days.

These baby plants below were grown from seeds of the mother plant.

Hibiscus Orange

2010-07-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last year during a GCS gathering another kind friend gave me a number of her orange hibiscus cuttings. I was just learning about growing the hibiscus plant. Many of the thin cuttings failed to root and on my part with so much to do in the CG I neglected them too. Some how the thicker and stronger cutting manged to survive and I repotted it into a larger pot. It has even flowered a couple of times for me but I did not take photo of the blooms. Now I got to wait all over again for the blooms cos' the plant was infested with mealy bugs again. Somehow I think this plant is a mealy bug magnet. So out with my garbage enzyme washed and washed off the bugs, trimmed off the shoots that were badly infested. Now gonna watch this plant like a hawk till it flowers for me again.

Update on 19th Jul 2010 ..... the plant has a single bloom and another couple of buds growing.

Hibiscus Oiseau Bleu

2010-07-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am blessed to have another friend in GCS who gave me a rooted cutting of this lovely hibiscus.

The leaves are so different from the normal ones that I usually see in a hibiscus plant. So I treated it with garbage enzyme to rid it off whatever bugs if there were any and then repotted it into soil rich in compost material. I even fed it twice with rich protein soy milk .... LOL I really hope it will grow well for it to flower in a year's time.

Below was the pic taken from my friend's thread. The hibiscus flower in purple blue. such a sweet color.

Hibiscus Propagation

2010-07-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

With the many cuttings my friend passed to me I separated them into four bottles hoping to put the same kind of hibiscus looking stems together but it was difficult. Nevertheless I soaked the stem cuttings for about a week till I see the whitish looking stuff growing out of the stem bark.

I changed the water when it turned smelly which was on alternate days.

Here below you see the whitish looking stuff and the old leaves on the stems had all dropped off and the new leaves emerged.

The stems that were pencil thick like this one below I potted into individual cups using well drained soil.

Those that were not as thick I was advised to pot them up all together like that below.

They are all in bright light under a green netting and the waiting begins ......

The last time I checked they all looked good and I have shifted them into an area where they will receive direct morning sun for a couple of hours.

Lovely Hibiscus Flowers Pt.2

2010-07-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

To continue ..... some more hibiscus blooms from my friend's JB home garden .....

Hib 06 Yellow

Hib 07 Pink

Hib 08 Peach

Lovely Hibiscus Flowers Pt.1

2010-07-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

A GCS friend grows some lovely hibiscus in his garden in JB. I read his hibiscus threads recently and fell in love with the hibiscus flowers. I copied his hibiscus flower pics here for reference as he gave me many cuttings of his hibiscus plants. It was a last minute thing that I managed to get the cuttings but they were all mixed up ..... LOL So here lets enjoy the blooms first before I get to try to identify what kinds of flowers I will get from the cuttings he gave me :-)

Hib 01 Pink

Hib 02 White

Hib 03 Yellow

Hib 04 Red

Hib 05 White

Roses in the CG Update 1

2010-06-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

One of my friend from the GCS forum passed me four pots of roses cos' they were not doing well at her balcony during this time of the year. Also the roses had spider mites problem. So when she passed them to me I cut off all the leaves and let them regrow the leaves while leaving them under the young Mango tree in the CG and since then, many new leaves have grown and one of them even bloomed. So here is the pot with the red, red rose.

How To Dehusk A Coconut With A Changkul

2010-06-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

A forum friend shared how he dehusks old coconuts using a changkul. This is absolutely useful cos' I picked up four coconuts in the CG and now I have some idea how to dehusk them. Shall try this one day.

Rose Valley Snippets Of Interests

2010-06-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Besides roses, the place also grow other many interesting plants as a combination to enhance the roses display ....
Here is a yellow species hibiscus ... the bloom larger than my palm and this is not the only one.

Purple Datura below.

Interesting bottle gourd and many of the brown ones were hanging over the pond to make an interesting display.
There were many species of Begonias and flowering ones too.

Fuschia.
Water feature garden ornament. Love the little porcelain containers.

Garden in Rose Valley

2010-06-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

The garden here has got quite a number of interesting nooks and corners for one to relax and maybe smell the roses too.
By the way notice there's no crowd? Well we were there about an hour before closing time. No need to jostle with the crowd to take pics and smell the roses too. I can't imagine if there was a crowd cos' the paths were really narrow to walk two by two comfortably.
Enjoy the pics .....

Rose Valley in Cameron Highlands

2010-06-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to drive up to Cameron Highlands earlier in the year. Arrived there at 5pm and only got to visit this place before heading for dinner. Even though the visit was for about an hour before the place closes for the day, I got to see a visual treat of roses growing everywhere and also the garden centre. So here enjoy the beauty of these roses as we walked down the pathways ......

Adenium Update 10th Month

2010-06-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Leaves are growing healthy but still not blooming yet. Maybe I would need to add some MSG into their fertilizing routine. Let's see how long more to bloom the flower.

A Single Bulb Blooms

2010-06-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Finally I see a bloom earlier on in the year but now the bulbs are only growing vegetatively.
I wonder if I need to give them more sun as the area where they are planted gets partial shade.

Mexican Sunflowers

2010-06-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I got the seeds from a GCS member and planted them in the CG. Out of ten seeds, six seeds managed to grow into plantlets before the fungus got to two pots due to the rainy afternoons.

So here I have four pots left and I see flower buds forming in two of the pots. Finally they bloomed for me and I jumped for joy.

Custard Apple Tree

2010-06-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

This was planted in Nov. 2008 but it was under insect attack for a couple of months. Now it is in recovery mode as new leaves are formed. I find the tree grows very slowly and yes there is a fruit buy it is hard and it seems to take forever to ripen .... Haiz! Now someone has brought in another custard apple plantlet. Looks like it's going to be a long wait again.

Melon Fence Harvest

2010-06-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

I managed to get my first harvest from the fence a couple of days ago. About two xiang gua rotted away before I got to it but there are still a couple of the mini melons hanging there and turning a tinge of yellow. They are about the size of tennis balls .... some are slightly bigger though.

Had my first taste of the melons below. My first time eating such small melons. They were crunchy with a refresing taste but not as sweet as I would like them to be. Perhaps it could be due to the many afternoon rains that could have affected the sweetness during harvest time.

My fellow CGers are looking forward to eating them but I am afraid that they would be disappointed about the level of sweetness these melons have to offer.

Hoya Corner

2010-05-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of setting up a Hoya Corner in the CG. Many of the hoyas started as stem cuttings in my bright balcony. I had quite a number of successful rootings too and it seems that they are quite easy to grow.

The Hoya multiflora below was rooted by my friend who passed it to me and it flowered it my bright balcony. I have transferred this to the hoya corner in the CG . Let's see how well it grows there. This hoya is very easy to flower according to my friend.

Below is the Hoya imperialis . The vines are thick and long. This was passed to me to hang in the CG cos' it was not able to flower easily at my friend's apartment corridor. After a couple of weeks of shaded sunlight .... you see the flowers blooming huge :-)