Hoya Australis oramicola

I got a cutting of this plant from a friend in Singapore when I visited him last May, so it is actually about 2 months old. Yet, it is producing a peduncle.


It is very difficult for me to have named varieties of hoya in Vietnam. This plant is, therefore, much loved indeed!
I'm looking forward to seeing the blooms.

Yellow epiphyllum from Orange County

The cutting I brought back from Orange County almost 3 years ago has grown and grown but refused to give off bloom until this week.
When I spotted the bud on the plant, I worried that I might miss seeing the bloom as I would be going back down. Luckily, the plant has decided to open its maiden bloom for me while I'm still here.
These photos were taken late yesterday afternoon.




And these are taken this morning.




The bloom looks so lovingly delicate!

Big question about water lilies

Some time back, I had an entry about the white water-lilies in my pond. I thought that the pH level in the pond had changed the color of the water lilies from other colors to white.


But I was so mistaken as I later found there were some purple blooms in the pond too.


And just today I found another water lily with a yellow-cream bloom!


Now that the purple and yellow water lilies have shown up, I wonder where have those white water lilies come from? I know for sure I threw in some purple and yellow lilies but not white. Big question.

Orchid parade

These days I'm enjoying the blooms on the orchids I keep in my Saigon garden.
This is the Mokara


the Ascocendra


and the Brassavola

I have found these orchids very easy to keep; they like to be mounted and kept in bright light.

New bloom & Old blooms

The new bloom is from the pink Morning glory vine which I just planted about 10 days ago. Actually the vine was rescued from a roadside. When I got it, it already had some buds but looked very dehydrated. So I replanted it and gave it some TLC. After about 10 days and this is the first bloom. It's cute.




The old bloom is from the purple Morning glory vine I planted last year. Though someone from GW identified it as "Grandpa Tot", I'm not so sure of the ID because the leaves on my vine don't look similar. Perhaps, it's a clone.


Other old blooms are the Fuchsias.




I really love these blooms which look like a ballerina and want to plant some in my Saigon garden but Fuchsias don't like the heat!