White "Senduduk"

The intense white in this flower..

is a perfect reflection of

innocence and purity,

this "White Senduduk" as it is locally known,

had me mesmerised
throughout my visit at the Secret Garden!

With its unique flower pods..

and dark green foliage,

this wild flower is here to stay!

Unmistakably beautiful..

in any garden!

Ruellia Brittoniana

"Ruellia Brittoniana"...
What a lovely name.
And why not..
It is after all, a lovely flower..

Commonly known as the Dwarf Mexican Petunia.

This plant is known to tolerate heat and drought.
Yet it bears bigger and brighter blooms under shade.

Comes in three colors viz. white, pink and purple.

I was told that white color is rare around here.

I guess I was lucky to get hold of it :)

The flower buds which comes in a bunch are attached to the stem.
And at that same point grows the thin and long sword-shaped leaves.

This is one of the most fragile flower I've known.
Its ultra thin and soft petals feel like Kleenex rolls.

I love to see these flowers competing with each other just to be seen!
With so many buds bunched together there,
It is fun to see which one gets the first peek and attention :)

Love the stem!
It reminds me so much of a palm tree trunk...
In a miniature form.
Those marks are actually the part of the leaves and flowers which have withered and fell.

Aahh..here is the lovely part.
From pure white the flower gradually changes to pale peach color as it withers..
All in one day!

Before it entangles itself..
Such magnificence from a tiny plant!

This plant is an evergreen perennial.

And with so many buds in various blooming stage,

It gives a succession of new blooms everyday :)

Before I sign off, my thoughts are with my friends living in Italy right now.

Especially those who are affected with the floods yesterday.

We are experiencing peculiar weather everywhere.

Stay safe.. 

Gardenia

Gardenia, the Queen of Fragrance!

Little did I know that gardenia comes in a variety of species and the ones that I bought and shown here are Gardenia Augusta....sweet yet powerful fragrant flower.

This is how it looked like on the first day of bloom. Thick white petals and looks like a rose at first glance.



At full bloom...resembles a white rose except for the stigma inside.

 Leaves are glossy and evergreen.

The amazing development as it matures, on third day of bloom, it turns yellow! Not just any yellow..thick bright and bold yellow with a waxy texture feeling.

Fragrance becomes more intense as it matures on. At this stage, red ants are all over the bloom, probably sucking on its sweet nectar.

When I brought this plant home from the nursery, it has plenty of buds awaiting to bloom. After a few days, some of the buds did bloom whereas many others just fall to the ground without blooming. My heart 'fell' too. Oh dear..what happened, I was wondering. Definitely its the pests, as gardenia are prone to redmites, spidermites and white flies. And I only knew about this after purchasing the plant. This is the mistake I always make. Should have researched about the plant before buying them. But then again, if my heart are set on it I just gotta have it, no matter what they say. Are you like me?

When I spoke to the owner of the nursery about this problem, she recommended me "Albarol" to spray on all my plants. According to her, this spray works for condo-garden as it is an oily based pesticides which works best on white flies. Seems that white flies loves condo garden!!!! She received many feedbacks from her customers who are mostly living in condos.

I also observed that the sun is not on my side these days. Very little sun everyday. This is the limitations of having a garden in a condo. You never know when and for how long the sun will shine on your side. But I was informed that gardenia can survive under shade.