Some More Brugmansias

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hib 06 Yellow

Hib 07 Pink

Hib 08 Peach