Welcome back to Tuysonvien

July is the time when the vine above my gate - Pyrostegiavenusta - busts into blooms.

Got back up to Tuysonvien yesterday and ... wow, the vine was covered in blooms.




How would you feel if you were greeted by such a view? Me? I'm delighted.

White Serissa foetida

I bought a white Serissa foetida from Dalat, intending to make it into a "bonsai" for DH.


But he's a type of person that would never want to trim nor prune a tree so for a whole year we let the little plant grow wild.


A few days ago, I decided to go ahead with my intention so armed with a pruner, I cut off many branches and runners from the main "tree" to tidy it. This is my "creation of a bonsai".




I guess I'll have to watch closely to remove suckers and unwanted branches so that the little tree can become a bonsai as I wanted it.

Nice surprise

I'm so thrilled to learn that my newest hoya blooms turned out to be a different kind of Pubicalyx.
I've already have a pubicalyx with dark colored blooms and oval leaf. It's Publicalyx Red button.




But the new one has lighter color blooms and an oblong leaf. It's Pubicalyx Pink silver.




It's a nice surprise, really!

Azaleas

Azaleas seem to be one of the easy plants to grow in Tuysonvien, where temperature is always cool. I have a few of the plants of different colors.




I grow azaleas in grounded tree fern. They like this medium and bloom for me all the year round, unlike their counterparts in the US who only bloom once a year.

Cassia fistula

This kind of tree is quite popular in Vietnam as shade tree along streets. It seems the tree grows better and produces more spectacular blooms in hotter and more humid regions.


I have one in my cool garden. It's around 5 years old but remains quite small so I thought it doesn't like cool climate.


It's now blooming for the first time. The clusters of bloom are much shorter and the blooms are much smaller than those of the tree in my Saigon garden.


I am so happy that the tree finally adapts to its growing condition and blooms for me.

Orange jasmine season

The orange jasmine shrubs in my garden are really blooming their heads off these days that they could get more water from the steady rains of the season.




The whole shrubs are covered with clusters of white flowers, giving off heavenly scent that fills the backyard in the evening.


Orange jasmine is very easy to grow and to bloom. Just give it enough water and fertilizer ocassionally and you will be rewarded with a healthy green shrub and scented blooms every now and then throughout the year.