"Winter" has come

Since yesterday afternoon the wind has started to blow so strongly here as if there were a thunderstorm approaching. I had to take all my hanging pots down to avoid them breaking.

The temperature was low this morning.


But these violas seem not to mind at all; they still look so pretty.






Alas, I guess winter has come.

Photo updates

Here are the photo updates of two of my plantings which I did a few months back.
The miniature garden, named The Amazon, has come a long way. Many plants in the 'garden' have thrived and bloomed. I'm glad it looks so lush.
I especially like how the "begonia" that I got from my Singapore friend, KY Foong, has grown. If you look at the "Before" photo closely, you could see a tiny spot of green, in the middle of the front edge of the pot. You can compare that with the one you see in the "After" photo. It has grown a lot, hasn't it?




The second planting I wish to update is the Fuchsia. When first planted, the "filler" and "spiller" plants looked pitiful but they do look good now.




I love to see "Before" and "After" photos of plantings. Do you?

It's a hazy Sunday

I think the weather is taking a new course, ready for "winter" here in TSV. As early as 4pm, it starts to cover the sceneries in a haze, and this morning, up to now 8.17am, it's still all white outside.




I do like this kind of weather; it's so serene and perfectly calm!

Growing Cattleya in Hydroton

I bought a small package of Hydroton from Singapore and now wanted to try on my orchid.

This is a cattleya hybrid I received as a birthday gift from a close friend.


This morning I repotted the plant in hydroton.


Let's see if the plant likes this growing media or not.

Update on my daylily seedlings

I received six packets of daylily seed from a friend in Canada, Annette. I sow them, following the method called "Daylily on the Rock" and all six varieties germinated for me. It was such joy.
Because of my special situation, I couldn't plant the seedlings out in the garden for fear they might get killed by predators and the elements, I prolonged their stay in the shade house for as long as a year and a half after their germination!


Just last July, I planted them into a "nursery" bed and boy, did they take off. They grow very fast so that their fans are quite "handsome" looking now.




Since the day of their sowing, these seedlings are almost two years old. I hope to see their maiden blooms next summer.
Many thanks to Annette for these lovely plants.

First cymbidium blooms of the season

Cymbidiums in my garden often bloom from around late October but this year I'm having this one bloom much earlier. Perhaps due to global warming?


I have no ID for this plant but since it looks similar to Golden Elf, I just call it that for easy reference. I would appreciate correction from blog visitors.
I grow cymbidiums in pure pine bark chopped to small sizes. I fertilize them once a month either with Osmocote or Dynamic lifter; the latter is an organic fertilizer.
I keep them in the shadehouse throughout the year, but when they bloom I bring them into my living room to enjoy their scent.


They last pretty long in my climate here, around 4 months, so even they bloom this early I still have them for Lunar New Year!

Sunflower in my garden

I sow the seeds of these sunflower late March. Now, after 6 months, they are blooming.
I believe sunflower seeds are the easiest to germinate. All those seeds that I sow sprouted but eventually after being planted in the garden bed, many of time couldn't survive the lack of water last summer. Only about 7 of them grew but two were better perhaps thanks to their getting enough moisture from the birthbath.






The two things I like most about sunflower are that their pretty face looks so cheerful in the sun and that they can be grown in both tropical and subtropical climate.
And here's an update photo of the gift I've got from a friend.


I was worrying about this little plant so much but thanks goodness, it's growing and looks healthy enough to sustain.
I'm now waiting anxiously to see the bloom of this little one!

My trip to Chatuchak market in Bangkok

I made a trip to Bangkok this week in order to see the plant market in person. I arrived at the market quite early when vendors were still unloading and making displays of their products. There were hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of plants.
There were adeniums, tillandsias and bromeliads, water-lilies, hibicus, ferns, hoyas... Thousands of plants, everywhere.












In fact, it could be the biggest plant market I guess.
The weather was very unbearable even for a warm-climate person like me. Nevertheless, I managed to make three rounds of the market!
Finally, these are what I bought for myself.






So few? Yes, because I thought the feast to the eyes was enough for me!