Sansevieria trifasciata Golden Hahnii

Sansevieria trifasciata Golden Hahnii

A dwarf cultivar of the familiar houseplant Sansevieria trifasciata (Mother-in-laws tongue), the 'Golden Hahnii' is much mini sized and has thicker leaves. When well fertilized, its thick luscious leaves are glossy and beautiful.

Preferably with full sun, the plant does tolerate low light conditions. Requires little water, and is very drought tolerant. I did cause some leaves rot when I kept it moist all time.

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Today's the end of yet another year. Amid all the running about; the distractions and exhaustion, gardening always bring me back to the fundamental truth. And peace.

Spanish Moss!

Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish Moss)

This is a gift from Sis when she visited the 41st Chiang Mai Flower Festival during the CNY. Pretty?

Named the Spanish moss, it is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients and water through its leaves from the air and rainfall. Commonly known as an air plant. A semi-desert plant which loves plenty of sunshine, and requires minimum care.

We left 2 larger ones to hang naturally on the plants in the garden. (Pics below).

  

Marimo Moss Ball - My Furry Pet

Through the Filtered Morning Sun 

In Japanese, Mari means bouncy ball and Mo is a term for plants that grow in water. So, Marimo means bouncy water plant. It doesn't actually bounce. The green algae ball is found in lakes in the northern hemisphere and now quite readily available from our local aquariums. This is a gift from Sis.

The quiet plant provides the Zen, or calm as it breathes silently, producing tiny dreamlike bubbles. Left on my work desk, it was often just me and it. So it immediately felt affectionate, as i wanted to protect its seemingly vulnerability. I especially love looking at it in the morning sun, where it is safe to bath in. And its soft, velvety appearance becomes obvious and exotic under the orange light.

Tap water is left to stand overnight before use for the weekly water change. During which, i would squeeze the moss ball dry to facilitate cleaning and also to make it float and bubbles excessively! In my boredom, i would swivel a mini tornado in the bottle and watch it spins!

After a Water Change and Squeeze - It Bubbles and Floats Up!

The Istana - Home to Rain Trees and LKY

Snaking queues for security checks at the Main Gate

This is our first visit to The Istana - the official residence and office of the President of Singapore, also the working office of the Prime Minister of Singapore. Singaporeans will forever remember our aching hearts when a gun carriage conveyed Mr Lee Kuan Yew's body from the Istana to Parliament House on Wed, March 25. That was the last time he is leaving the office he had worked all his life for this little red dot.

So when chances come for members of the public to register for SAF50@Istana, organised by the Singapore Armed Forces, i jumped on it. I want to see the ground the great man walked.

Singapore Crest on the Main Gate

Benches fabricated from timber planks recycled from the former National Stadium, as part of URA’s project to commemorate the national icon. For more information, visit http://ura.sg/pickabench

Visitors for the day took part in interactive games and activities, including flight simulators. Kids have fun with bouncy castles, face painting and have their photo taken with little SAF uniforms! While i enjoyed browsing through SAF artifacts on display and exhibits highlighting the SAF's contributions and capabilities, including stories of how past servicemen and women built the forces. Performances by the SAF Band and the Music and Drama Company kept us spirited.

Now i just wish children can be gentle to the badly scraped benches, designed and fabricated from timber planks recycled from our former National Stadium.

The Swan Pond - largest among the 4 ponds in the Istana grounds. So called because of the swans which inhabited it 

in the 1970s, it lies at two levels with an island in the midst of the main body.

Rain Trees lining both sides of Edinburgh Road shade the half-kilometre walk from the Main Gate to the Centre Gate.

The Istana Main Building

(Purple-Colored) Misai Kucing, Cat's Whiskers, 猫须草 at the Istana Front Lawn

Singapore's National Flower - Vanda Miss Joaquim at the Villa

Lastly, let me share this tribute song for Mr LKY... named '1965', the year of Singapore's independence. He had left us for four months now, but the feeling is still raw. Thank you, Mr Lee our nation's dad.

Red Love Seed, 相思豆

Red is the symbol of love. 

In the south, the Saga Seed Tree buds in Spring. 

The red seeds spill from the pods, scattering on the ground. 

Pick them up, as many as you can, 

as if gathering thoughts and memories of those you love. 

-- Wang Wei

The Sage seed tree (Adenanthera Pavonina) had been so familiar in old Singapore; none of us bothered to closely examine it, nor collect the tough polished seeds. In old Singapore, couples in love picked up the scattered red seeds, bottled them in pretty glass container as their memoir of love.

Today is my first serious look at the 'love seed' with a young child beside, and she was fascinated!

Am going to start locating the few surviving Sage seed tree in Singapore; embarking on my first and only, love in a bottle.

Coffee Grounds for the Garden - Oh, the Flowering!

Duranta erecta or Forget-Me-Not (2015)

Precious from the dump. If nobody ever told you about the wonders of used coffee ground on gardening, start believing now and read benefits of coffee grounds for your garden! By reducing waste, you'll be saving Gaia too.

I'm currently getting a constant supply of coffee grounds from my neighborhood's kopitiam - i provide the reusable container and the boss gladly save them for me instead of discarding. Even Starbucks is happy to share their excess grounds! So, go ask around.

It does wonders for the garden!

My 10 years Duranta erecta which flowered only once in Nov 2012, finally put forth a shower of purple blossoms! My thrice yearly flowering Murraya paniculata is super productive now - flowering comes monthly and the blooms are larger, more lasting and in abundance. Compare the pic below to the one in Sept 2010! Even the new leaves are luxuriously waxy!

Simply mix 1/3 of the coffee grounds with your potting soil, or add them as a topping to your existing plants, it is this simple. Sitting back now, i'm just waiting for more butterflies to come visit.

Murraya Paniculata, or Orange Jasmine (2015)

Rare Looking Blooms - you don't see on the streets of Singapore

The Chinese Lunar New Year bought us back to beautifully flourishing National Orchid Garden; admiring the beauty of flowers is quite a New Year thing to do as we welcome Spring. You may have notices the sculpture - this being the year of the goat.

Having blogged about the orchids here previously, let's just look at some amazing plant species which we are seeing for the first time. And i was surprised that these which flourish under full sun condition, were not planted along the Singapore's roadside?

Callistemon citrinus 'Little John'

Callistemon citrinus 'Little John' - A small bushy shrub 1-2 metres tall; blue/green foliage. Masses of amazingly soft, red brush flowers sprouting from individual speal that forms the sphere of blossom!

Acalypha hispida (Chenille Plant)

Acalypha hispida (Chenille Plant), Red Hot Cat Tail - A very striking plant with soft, bright red furry flowers that hang down like a cat’s tail.

Now, i couldn't locate the name of this tulip-like, dark red colored flowers plant with thick green foliage. It doesn't take our tropic heat, and so is staying comfortably in the Cool House. Pretty yeah! I will find out its name soon.

Flowering Fertilizer for Bougainvillea

With all rational, Bougainvillea easily blossom in the tropics, that includes Singapore. But in our house, they don't. We have the violet, yellow and pinky white; only violet's getting the neighbors' attention - it blooms all year, without fertilizing.

Well, that wasn't the case, many years back.
The yellow and white were doing really well back then, together with violet. Then we had them uprooted, shifted to the adjacent ground; that was when the 2 boycotted till today.

We tried several flowering fertilizer from Malaysia; helpful neighbor also chipped-in to provide good fertilizers, but to no avail. Until a leftover pack of "Flowering Fertilizer for Bougainvillea" from an old neighbor came along - an old and tattered plastic package, i disposed of it as soon as i emptied the bag to a container.

Little do i expect it to work this time! It all happened within 3 weeks, with 2 occasions of light rain and minimum watering, when we finally saw the precious sight of yellow and pinky white flowers. Reunion with violet!

Pity i fail to document this fertilizer that worked. I'm sure it wasn't Bougain which is advertising so aggressively. The packaging looked more local with a few Chinese wording; and its granular, red feeding looked just like the Serbajadi 48. I'll try source it out locally and post it here. Meanwhile, try using the remainder sparingly...

Natural Fertilizing with Worm Castings - Easy!

This is how all my planting pots look like - you see no more of the soil surfaces, for they are fully piled up with dried leaves. Beneath the layer of dried leaves lay our kitchen scraps of mainly banana skins, apple, carrot peels and odd vegetables ends; all waiting to decay and become feed for my earthworms! I love them for their visible benefits to the plants!   

Since each of my planting pots act as a worm bin, i save the trouble of having to harvest worm casting and had the worms help loosening up my hardened potting soil. This is more straight forward than Composting.

And where do you get the worms? They are there. Always there, in your potting soil, surviving on any organic matters that's left in the soil and the watering liquid. When you start taking care and feeding them, you would see them getting fatten up and leaving you their precious faeces for your gardening without artificial fertilizers... :) 

But in most cases, our soil might just consist of thinly, small red wrigglers with poor appetite. So we bought fresh worm casting and spread them among the plants. Worm cocoons in the poo poo contain between 2 and 10 eggs that will hatch within 2 weeks! 

Start feeding your pot NOW!

Dark, grainy sized Earthworms' casting left after feeding

One of my 2mm fat worm, trying to escape from the lights.

Bitter Grass, 苦草/ 穿心莲

It is well-known that this Andrographis herb is especially effective for heat-clearing - easing sore throat or swollen tonsils from too much heaty (fried, dry) food. But we seldom resort to applying it because of its extreme bitterness!

Bite into a leaf of it, and you will be knock off with the most unforgettable bitterness! It is almost brain freezing!

But i had my worst this month - all started with a swollen gum on my left cheek with a slight fever. Ignoring it, it gets worse after a week with a swell that becomes so visible, i felt embarrassed. By this time, my left tonsil had bulged also, resembling that of a Mumps virus infection. I was alarmed and in serious pain; it is unbearable! - desperate, i places all hope on my most unsweetened friend.

We found that the most comfortable way of taking the bitter grass is through drinking; cut 2 leaves and make tea out of it, letting the bitterness slowly sip in. Refill with a second cup, washing down the leaves finally. And i actually felt noticeably better after 3 hours. By the next morning, half the battle is won!

If you want a seedling of this plant, give me a jingle.

Carambola Tree - Star Fruits!

I am a sweet Carambola tree, 

young and mature at 2.2 meters tall.

The ants love me.

Butterflies and bees too.

Can't help blooming full blossoms

with such strong sunshine blazing on me each day!

Oh! And the delightful rain showers! 

I am growing up to be large and sweet like this!

 Just this morning, i'm being photographed at my home 

-  Bukit Batok West Avenue 4, Blk 409

by someone who is all the 'wows' and 'woos'

about my flowering tresses.

Yes, I am beautiful.

Desaru Fruit Farm - a mature fruitland!

Farmosa Holiday took us breakfast at Gelang Patah before we arrived at the 180 acres land of the Desaru Fruit Farm. What i thought might be another hot and boring plantation visit turns out to be really enjoyable and educative!

Complimentary fruit packs with visit: 

- Banana, watermelon, passion fruit, dragon fruit, guava, rambutan, pineapple and honey jackfruit!

If you are driving in to purchase their fresh fruits and not to visit the plantation (like so many of the visitors here), you do not pay the entrance fees. We caught glimpse of the fruits on display, and can't wait to lay our hands on them!

But our plantation guide says we tour the farm first, followed by some honeybee honey tasting. And we were taught to drink the pricey Cat's Whiskers tea! I like it!

Our plantation guide with a gigantic Honey Jackfruit

Honey Jackfruit tree

Passion Fruits

We were especially grateful that the mature plantation offers much shade for comfort - under the canopy of passion fruits and cooling alley of leafy fruit trees, we strolled!

Papaya trees and Banana trees, aplenty

Pisang Seribu, Thousand Finger Banana, 千子蕉

Pisang Ornata Pink, 指天香蕉花

Roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa, 洛神花

Misai Kucing, Cat's Whiskers, 猫须草

Kopi, Coffee beans!

Mulberry, 桑树