What’s New?

If this blog could speak, it might probably say, “you left me all alone”.

“I am sorry, I am really sorry. I got carried away updating my main blog I forgot about you.”

Maybe, that would be our conversation early this morning. There was a time when at least I get to update it once a month but being engrossed in updating just one particular blog is truly pathetic.  For one thing, the reason why I created this is to show my garden and my garden blooms, more pictures than words in the process. When you are into a free platform,  there is a limit to everything.  You can’t just upload hi-resolution photos to your heart’s content, they eat up the space allotted to you. hence, this separate blog.

The rainy season has set in and along with it are sometimes drenched plants and over watered pots in one’s garden. I am grateful though that I still see the sun shines every morning although thunderstorms are a daily occurrence now. Unwanted weeds grow by leaps and bounds too. Shame! Every day, I would visit my small garden and look at the plants and the budding flowers which are mostly the lilies now. I noticed my amazon lilies are in bloom again so with my orange lilies and rain lilies in purple and white.  The ruellia never stops flowering. it used to be only in purple shades but now I have it  pale pink and white.

This is an African rose. I used to have lots of it in a corner of my garden but it is too invasive. Last year, I opted to remove it because it was growing wild until a few days ago when I noticed  a bloom on one that was left in the ground before. It produces lovely blooms actually but the stems are full of thorns.  I wonder if I will let it grow wild again.

The sense of fulfillment cannot be quantified when you see tiny shoots and flowers that give color everywhere you look.

I love the smell of newly cut grass and the pearl-like sheen of water droplets every time it rains. How I wish I could capture everything here. And they say that you bury a lot of troubles digging the earth.

 

 

The Rewards After

After a few days of a back-breaking job, it’s finally done. I’ve finished trimming the carabao grass and replanting some plants. There is still one corner though that I haven’t touched. I wonder if I could manage to do it alone.  I took a few shots yesterday morning of the Vietnam Rose.

Vietnam rose and prayer plants. One corner of the garden.

 

This is how the flowers look in the early morning…still buds.

 

Once the sun shows its face…..

 

I love all the colors. Planted a red one early this morning.

 

In clusters, they look like this….

 

In front of the house, across the street.

 

Vietnam rose and white Vinca.

The rewards of gardening. When Nature shows its face, you can only smile and say,  “I am blessed”.

It’s A Nice Morning To Garden

It’s so wonderful that listening to music at 3:50am would give you that much-needed lift to face another day…..gardening! I am excited though, even if my hands look like gnarled roots from an old tree, rough with age.

The Ruellia I planted outside is thriving well. My Vietnam Rose blooms every day with so many colors of flowers. I haven’t taken photos of them yet except these:

Another attempt at macro…my lovely purple Ruellia.

 

More purple blooms . they also come in pink and white.

 

Pink Ruellia

 

Pink Vinca…

And my pink rain lilies are showing those tiny shoots. again. They are nice grown covers but they produce flowers during the rainy season.  Next on the agenda, I have to repot these too. The bulbs are overcrowded.

My Amazon Lily in bloom.

 

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. “ This is a lovely quote by Alfred Austin.

 

Time To Garden Again

Promises broken and often neglected. How’s that again, you ask? I promised myself that I would at least update this blog by posting once a month but two months are gone with nary a few words.

Anyway, I think the rainy season has officially started so I need to overhaul  my garden before it gets drenched by so much water. It rains every day now, sometimes at different times of the day and night.  One good thing that we won’t have to do is to maintain cleaning our outside garden with overgrown weeds. The subdivision finally decided to cement some portions of the sidewalk so two sides of my perimeter wall is now concrete but I asked them to leave space to plant shrubs and some low maintenance plants.

Three days ago, I started replanting some of my prayer plants, they have now occupied a row beneath my lone Gardenia. They get the morning sun though so it’s okay.  Yesterday, I removed the dead roots of some plants we planted before and it was  quite hard to do it. At least now, I could plant a few annuals which are easy to grow.

I started trimming the carabao grass very early this morning bu the sudden rain ruined my day. When the rain stopped, the sun was hot on my back so I have to postpone gardening again until maybe late this afternoon (if it does not rain). I took a couple of photos. They are not as good as those I normally take with my camera.

I still have to arrange those pebbles and rocks later.  At least my prayer plants are all thriving well. By the way, on the center is a seven-pot planter container made of terracotta. I bought it several years ago but forgot all about it.

I planted it with several colors of Portulaca (Vietnam Rose) and a purple shamrock. There are more things to do, more plants to repot and transfer. I wonder if the two sacks of gardening soil would be enough.

What’s New In My Garden?

“It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.”  – Kate Morton

Such a shame! I only have about ninety posts here (this one is the 91st). I think this is the most neglected of all my five blogs here on WordPress.  Anyway, I am again sharing some new blooms and newly planted ones in my small garden. Took all these shots from my tab so some  are a bit grainy.

This plant is attractive when the young leaves have that orange hue,   the leaves  change back to all green as they mature.

I am thinking of uprooting this shrub altogether  then have some stems replanted. It is growing wild but the flowers are just lovely.

Aren’t they lovely?  They are my dwarf plumeria.  I bought a little pot three years ago and  it is nicely flowering. It is summer and  the plants love the heat.

Josef bought me two of this last Sunday on our way to Church. It’s a cross between a fern and a palm but I don’t know its exact name.  Come December, it might be big enough to use as  Christmas tree in the garden.

Grown from seed, this blackberry is nicely thriving in the sun.  I have five of this. a friend sent me some seeds  a year ago. I wanted to plant them all but I don’t have enough space in the garden so they are just behind the house where they enjoy early morning sun.

And this is another surprise, my sweet-scented Gardenia. This is an early bloom since my lone shrub usually produces  flowers during the month of May.

Our two Jackfruit trees  are bearing fruits again.  We have about nine big fruits now.  Last month, I picked two young ones and cooked them in coconut cream.  There are still so many small buds growing in  all the branches. I hope they would mature like these.

And the nice surprise?  Look!  Josef discovered them only yesterday because they were covered by our potted Bromeliad.  They are growing directly from the ground on a small branch  sharing a small space with our other plants. I have to transfer some pots so they could breathe.

The joys of gardening, it really made my morning.

Gardening Blues

It’s been two months since I posted here. Unlike my main blog Dreams and Escapes, which I update almost  every day, I have neglected updating my other blogs. It is even harder now to post  since I am just using my tab. My PC  has completely given up on me, what a shame.

Yesterday, I started gardening again uprooting weeds, removing dried leaves , pruning  and doing the whole rigmarole of tending a garden. I was excited to finally transfer my blackberry seedlings  to the ground. I am wondering when it will bear fruits. A friend who gave the seeds to me said that it is not a high-maintenance plant. I also planted two onion bulbs in pots  and transferred a few shoots of pandan.

I finally learned taking shots of my garden blooms using my new camera and my tab instead of my Canon camera.

The joys of gardening – chasing thoughts in your head and listening to silent words while pulling a stubborn weed – priceless moments savouring the language  of silence.

Capturing A Moment

Life’s simple pleasures. A brilliant green Taro leaf against the blue sky. A moment captured in a photograph.

Garden Blooms

It was one of those mornings when you just can’t help but hold garden scissors in your hands. Some of my plants needed trimming so I spent the early morning replanting some plants too. The morning would not be complete without taking a few shots. I always document every bloom, something to think about when summer is gone.

The front garden bathed in early morning sunlight. I love those pockets  of shadows that an early morning brings.

 

Those are our three dogs in the distance. Camera shy? they’re just done romping around, it’s their early morning exercise.

A row of my Crossandra blooms in one corner of the garden. I love these flowers because they self-propagate and I just uproot some of them to transfer to this corner.

I trimmed this Eugenia shrub two weeks ago, look at the new leaves. it’s rather colorful, orange on green.

Newly planted Vinca in two colors.

 

There are more of these jackfruits in several branches.

 

In a few days, that big one is ready for harvest.

Remember this sweet Basil which I planted a month ago? It’s flowering now….lovely!

Ornamental Pineapple plant and Caladium…

A cluster of pink angel flowers.

My remaining Cactus….used to have them in different varieties before.

All these years I thought they are simply called butterfly plants. It is only now that I’ve learned that they are Shamrocks.

 

Shamrocks…I have them in purple and green. I do love combining them together in small pots. They are best as hanging plants and just like Crossandra, they are self-propagating.

 

 

Life In Our Neighborhood

This is just lovely. I gave about half a kilo of freshly picked calamansi (Philippine lime) to one of our neighbors and she gave me back two lemons from her backyard plus a pot of Korean ginseng. This is the first time I’ve seen a Korean ginseng plant and she told me that the flowers are red like berries. She’s been growing this pot for about a year now from the mother plant. Ginseng has lots of medicinal value. What I’ve only seen in pictures are the roots of  matured plant. Really looking forward to seeing it grow. Will take some pictures tomorrow and attach them here.

Last week, another neighbor gifted me with a Zamia plant. I re-potted it into three pots. Aren’t I lucky? These are quite expensive when you buy them in garden centers. Early Christmas gifts, what do you say?

Zamia…I love its shiny leaves.

I put them out in full morning sun everyday  until around 10am. The three pots are thriving pretty well. I am planning to transfer some of my Crossandra plants tomorrow  and use them as ground covers outside my bedroom window. I hope I would be able to wake up early to do a little gardening.

Seeing Is Believing

I feel guilty.

For several months now,  I’ve neglected updating this blog. All I got to show were some reblogged posts  from my main blog here at WordPress. I’ve finally finished trimming, weeding and replanting  – the whole rigmarole of maintaining  a small garden. Of course, this post won’t be complete without some pictures I recently took of the flowers growing there. No  matter how small a garden is, it takes much of your time but it is always a delight for those lovely surprises that  it  brings.

Red Mokara Orchids

Can’t wait for these buds to bloom 🙂

I took this close-up shot early this morning. Would love to document everything here. Months from now, when it blooms again,  I would remember this, the time I wondered how the flowers would look, the times I repeatedly looked out of the window to admire it. Gosh, i’m crazy  when it comes to flowers 🙂

Oh, there is a bonus.

His name is Noki.

This is Noki, a gift from a friend. He is a half-bred Labrador/Japanese Spitz. So playful and naughty. When I’m in the garden, he would inch his big body near our fence and bark his lungs out at the passersby.  I also just harvested more than a kilo of Calamansi (Philippine lime) and gave some to our neighbors.

The joys of gardening…..so priceless!