Cymbidium Golden Elf

Hellooo!!!

It's good to be back :)

Meet,

The Golden Elf.

Also known as the "Sundust",

This wild orchid has the most gorgeous sunny yellow color I have ever seen :)

I love this stage of blooming.

 When it slowly wakes up from deep slumber.

Yawning and sheepishly opening up all the 'muscles' of the petals.

Before coming to a final stretch of a full bloom!

And this is when its mild sweet fragrance starts drifting into the room.

And me, as always, 

Being ignorant that this is a scented flower,

Will only realized that,

 When its fragrance filled up the living room at night!

And what a lovely surprise it was :)

"Au natural" air freshener!

Here it is, 

All buds in a row..

If you notice, the bud at the most bottom bloomed first.

I love this scene when they are basking in the sun.

This shot is taken from the top where some buds have yet to bloom.

Don't they look pretty under the sun?

If you have been wondering what happened to me,

Because of no posting for quite a while,

Well, I have been busy with my new blog

And cleaning up my home.

Don't worry.

I'll be back with more flower story

...............................soon!

Sun Shiny Day..

I went out looking for Daisy,

But end up meeting cousin Chris.

a.k.a. "Chrysanthemums"

Looking pretty much like a sunflower.

I thought they look gorgeous!! 

Somehow this also reminds me so much of Black Eyed Susan.

Except that it is not black.

How these tiny petals grow into buttons amazes me.
And they are Chrysanthemums too.

Fancy seeing a field of yellow buttons in your garden?
Spectacular, isn't it.

Never knew this flower comes in so many shapes and sizes.

Not to mention the many exciting colors!

Unfortunately,
The ones in yellow is all they can spare me.
Which I say is..
Simply beautiful :)

Lantana

"Lantana"..
As it is commonly known,
Are very unique flowers.
Its scent, colors and shape are one of a kind.

Coming from the Verbena family,
Lantana flowers carry a distinct aroma.
Some people don't like it at all.
But I love it.


Buds awaiting to bloom looks like stars..

I chose yellow color to add zest to my garden :)
The broad spectrum of yellow,
From pale yellow to rich, deep royal yellow is outstanding..

With dainty and tiny florets shaped like trumpets.

This bloom has matured.
And its color has turned into rich royal yellow.

I can't resist buying the ones in shades of lilac and pink too.
They look so delicate and pretty.

 Even the 'twinkle star' buds look gorgeous!

And guess 'who' dropped-by while I was busy in the garden..
Little Swallow!!
Looking so fancy in dark 'sunglasses'..lol!!

Since I took pictures of Swallow for my last post,
I see them everyday same time at the same spot.
And ever willing to pose for me :)

I don't know much about birds.
But from my experience,
I must say Swallows are very friendly birds.

Have a good week ahead :)

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.

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 :)

How it all started...

never thought i would be gardening, now i am

never thought i would have a blog, now i'm writing on it

-the houris-

Going down memory lane....
I have always loved the smell of fresh fragrant flowers. I would go to the florist every week to pick out some nice sweet scented fragrant flowers for my home. But it got more expensive by the week and at times it was  inconvenient for me to get out of the house just to replace those wilted ones.

Then I was wondering if I could have fragrant flowers in my home without ever having to leave home. 

My mind was telling me to start planting fragrant flowers at home. But where do I plant them? Will it survive? I live in a high-rise condominium with no balcony. What seems to be like a patio at the end of my living room was framed by huge windows. I looked at it with the strong sun soaking in it from morning till the afternoon everyday and realize therein lies the answer. Gardening by the window! I had doubts, of course, but I had to give it a try :)

Come, come, whoever you are,
-Rumi-

Welcome to my Garden!

It started with 3 pots of plants (jasminum sambac, evodia and yellow rose) stacked on a bench which I bought from Ikea and placed at the corner of my patio. The 4th pot (orange jasmine) had to sit on the floor because it was too heavy, and also no more space on the bench. 

After 3 months, the frenzy of having more plants set in :)
I guess it happens to all garden lovers! And what do you know?! My garden expanded!! There were more than 10 pots! Can you believe it? I can't either but that was it. 
The bench had to go to create a softer look. Not to mention the curtains! All gone for the love of my garden.

See what I mean...

Close-up view of the garden at the center of my patio.

I have enjoyed gardening ever-since and never looked back. The houris has left her magic touch in every plant that I brought in. I wish I could move to a house where I could actually garden to my hearts content. But for now, I thank God for blessing my tiny garden.

Now, lets have a closer look at all the flowers which have bloomed beautifully in the houris garden, shall we... 

"Murraya Paniculata" or commonly known as Orange Jasmine

Locally known as "Kesidang" or Bread Flower

Our local rose, known as "Ros Kampung" in yellow

Pentas or Egyptian Star Cluster

Plumeria Cultivar Rubra (pink)

Hyacinth in lilac

Mona Lavender

Angelonia (purple) or Summer Snapdragons

Daffodils

Our national flower, Hibiscus, in yellow

I wake up every morning to the sweet smell of freshly-bloomed fragrant flowers in my garden. Dream come true, really.

So, if you live in a high-rise condo and have passion for gardening, the houris have this to say, 'go for it'. All it needs is direct morning sun and plenty of tender loving care. Don't worry if you have a green thumb or not, actually, does the term really exist?

The houris can't help noticing the similarity fragrant flowers have on spirituality. Among flowers, the most fragrant ones are the ones in white. Highly spiritual people are usually very 'fragrant' people. They carry pleasant smell and people found themselves attracted to them. Their hearts are pure just like white flowers, with no black specks of dust. And their faces beaming with Divine lights or 'nur'.

Have a good day and may God bless your garden!