Beauty in the Wilderness!

Had I not waited a day more,

this beauty here would end up in the trash can!

I find Texas Sage so unpredictable.

Just when I thought they are dying..

There will be blooms all over the next minute!

But truly, a lovely surprise :)

This desert plant loves being neglected.

I thought those dried out branches were dying,

(as pictured below)

But after watering, new shoots appeared on them.

Now that they are here to stay.

I did heave a sigh of relief actually :)

Poor thing...

They tolerated my long absence gracefully.

Truly, this Thundercloud species is my favorite.

I love its curly and soft velvety pale-green leaves. 

And when combined with the purple flowers, 

It makes an outstanding bush!

Writing about this plant gives me an idea for my garden new outlook.

To plant succulents and drought resistant plants!

Well, what do you know?

I've just came up with a new resolution for my garden.

Do you have one?

Sleep on it and I'm pretty sure you will too :)

Cheers!

New Kid on the Block!

Meet "Den"..

The Mini Dendrobium Hybrid

"Den" is the common abbreviated name for this beauty.

Never thought I would try my hands on orchids.. 

Just couldn't resist the charm of this cutie :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Cat Whiskers

All you cat lovers out there, doesn't this look familiar to you? 

Except that this one is on a plant...LOL! 

I guess that's how they derived the name, Cat Whiskers or locally known as "Misai Kucing".

It sure is a beauty.

Categorized as a local herb, it is the leaves which are sought after by the locals for health benefits. It is known to treat kidney related problems and reduce high blood pressure. Due to this, the Cat Whisker is found in every home garden in Malaysia.

Whilst many boil the leaves and drink it for health reasons, I'm having it in my garden as a pest controller! The plant produces a distinct smell which deters pests from coming near. Fascinating right?

The flowers come in two colors, white and purple. The stocks at the nursery back then were all in white, I was told. I wanted the one with purple flower. It was a baby plant then so I've no idea how they could be so sure of its color. 

Since I wanted this plant so much to 'patrol' the pests in my garden, I've had no choice but to settle with the white ones. When the flowers bloomed for the first time,... in purple!!, I jumped with joy! Thank you God, a prayer I made in my heart for this wonderful blessing and beautiful surprise.

Now that I'm getting the color of my choice, I need to seriously consider propagating this plant and make more 'forts' on my garden front :)

Wish me luck!

Thank you for coming and may beautiful surprises await you in your garden of life :) 

Golden Dewdrops

Have you ever laid eyes on this beauty?

It's the Golden Dewdrops! Also known as "Duranta Repens", this is the 'Sweet Memories' species.

I was drawn to it when I first got a glimpse of it at I-Vision Nursery today. Purple is my favorite color and to see it on this tiny clustered flower, is captivating! What's more, it smells of vanilla!

It is a species of the verbena family, Verbenaceae, so that explains the sweet fragrance.
Check out the foliage and its spiny ovate leaves.

The way the flower arranges itself is awesome, blooming like a chain on weeping droopy branches. You can see here those tiny flower buds waiting to bloom.

Just love the pale lavender borders on the edges of each wavy petal.

This plant is actually an ornamental shrub and it can grow up to 5ft tall or taller!
Wow! Can you imagine this purple flowers cascading down when all the flowers on the chain blooms!
Good thing I have the 2-tier flower stand ready at home to put this flower pot on and to savor every moment of its cascade when that happens ;)

Well, one thing for sure I'm not gonna let it grow that tall. Can't spare the space :)
Will be pruning it often to maintain a compact bush and encourage more flowers.

I'm so glad to have encountered this gorgeous flower. All these years my experience of Verbena comes from L'occitane, the French expert on body and skincare :)

Do contact Ms Angie of I-Vision Tropicana Nursery at 019-3866568 for any queries of this lovely plant.

Have a good day and thanks for dropping by!

Yellow Iris and Purple Shamrock

At last..! My yellow iris is making its debut appearance in my garden, after 6 long months of waiting..
Thank God for that :)
I almost gave up on this plant. Glad I didn't. The flowers are so beautiful.

This is how it looked like on the first day.
It opened during the day and closed towards the evening. That was it. Dropped dead the next day.

Also known as the "Walking Iris" due to the bending over of the flowering stalks to the ground and take root from there. The iris appears to be "walking" as it propagates. A spectacular view once it fills the garden with graceful foliage and flowers. Since I'm planting them in a broad base round pot, I hope to see it do the  walking :)

Then comes the second bloom the very next day.
This photo was taken when the iris was curling up, retiring for the evening before dropping dead. Very short life, just for a day.

Here's also flowers which bloom everyday from my purple shamrock plant. Simply lovely flowers with lilac touch to it.

Commonly known as the 'Butterfly Plant' due to the shape of the leaves.

The Purple Shamrock plant

These flowers open during the day when the heat was intense and close up in the evening. The cycle repeats the next day on the same flower for a couple more days, unlike the yellow iris above which lasted only one day.

God works in mysterious ways, they say...so true :)

Scientific name is Oxalis Triangularis

See also my earlier write-up on purple foliage plants :)