This is my one and only water lily plant. I has not stopped blooming since the day I bought it from the nursery. The boss selected the plant for me. She look for one with many shoots and buds growing from the bottom. She told me that it is important to put it in a place with the full sun and the plant must always be submerged in water.
If my observations are correct, the flower seem to open in the morning when the sun is shining and closes in the late evenings. It does this 2 times before the flower withers off. This picture above shows the flower when it opened on the first day.
This is the flower on the second day. It looks a bit different, especially in the centre. The petals are lighter in colour.
Usually water lily leaves are round with wavy edges but this one is split into 3, as though it has been cut by a special art & craft zig-zag scissors. This is the first time I see such as lily leaf and I didn't cut it like that.
This one looks like a verbena plant. I bought 2 of them thinking it was a lantana! Only one survived. The other one was blooming profusely before all the leaves dropped off and died.
This is my bunga kantan, the torch ginger flower. Many times, I was very tempted to use it as cut flowers to decorate my home but it ended up in my pot of tom-yam or asam laksa noodles. I usually use the unopened bud like the one on the right for cooking. If the bud is left to open to the stage like the one on the left, I'll leave it alone to let it beautify my garden. It looks like a pink lotus when opened further which is quite pretty.
This is the same chrysanthemum plant I bought for Chinese New Year in late January 2009. At that time it was in full bloom, the flowers almost twice as big. Usually, these types of plants do not last long and will die off just after the celebration is over. At least, that was what would usually happen to mine. But this time, it survived and I have 2 flowers with many buds. It should be purple in colour.
This chrysanthemum looks more white than purple.
Katarina asked us whether we have almost lost and recovered a beloved plant. Yes, this is the dendrobium left behind by my late mum. It was all dried up and dying when I took it back with me. Now it has multiplied to 2. Shy to say, this solo bloom is the best I could get at the moment. There are no tell-tale signs of flowering. One day the bloom just appeared and it lasted less than a day.
My adenium (desert rose?) is starting to form buds. This plant also nearly died due to the wet season. I moved it to a sunny place but shielded from the rain. Now it is growing more and larger leaves.
This looks like portulaca judging by the succelent leaves. I saw a whole bunch of it in a hanging flower pot. It was for sale at quite an expensive price, so I beg the nursery owner to give me a few cuttings. After some persuasion and sweet words, she plucked off 2 main branches and gave them to me. When I reached home, I cut them into 3 - 4 inch lengths and planted it on the soil. Now it is starting to bloom. The main colour is yellow interspersed with red in the flower centre.
This is my portulacas planted by 'pluck and plant' method from the mother plant that I bought from the nursery. I planted two plants of different colours in the same pot and this is what I get. I have never planted any portulacas from seeds.
This white portulaca was very happy to pose for me. Its petals are very thin and fragile.
This is supposed to be a yellow hibiscus. I bought this at a nursery along the highway somewhere in Sungai Buloh. The owner told me she 'maried' the plant herself, meaning she crossbreed them. She assured me that it was a yellow one. From the look of the bud, I had to agree with her. After all she only charged me RM 5.00.
Look what I got. It is a fat big red hibiscus flower with yellow at the edge of the petals and the centre stamens. The stigma which is orange reminds me of the ebiko in Japanese sushi. The red colour is very striking so I said to myself, OK, I can forgo the yellow one now. So here ends the story of my flower parade. Hope you have enjoyed my post and do have a wonderful weekend!
This is my entry for Blooming Friday. My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.
This is my entry for Blooming Friday. My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.
