Jun 18, 2010

To the cute Couple!

Hello everyone,
It’s been more than a month since I’ve posted anything here, which was due to a progression in my career that kept me away from writing posts, but I just couldn’t keep myself away from the Blogland, so I did manage to read some posts (there’s still a lot to read though). The training for my new position is really hectic that I couldn’t spend much time for my plants except for watering them and somehow managing to transplant the seedlings.

I have so much to talk about the updates in Plantville, but I’d like to dedicate today’s post to a good friend of mine and her husband (B & S). They got married this month and here’s a gift for the cute couple.

May the two of you who have accepted this sacred relationship in front of the primeval element – fire live your lives as One!
May the colorful differences in you merge into a peaceful white that bonds you both together!
May love sprout in your hearts and wide open into a bosom that’d give each other resort at difficult times!
Forget all the inhibitions and smile at each other that speak a dozen words more strongly.

I wish you a great married life and may lots of colorful blooms smile up at you!

May 4, 2010

Rain - don't go away!

Disclaimer: This poem below was written by nic Leisure that I found online and so is not mine, so the credit goes only to that person. If the author finds that I do not have the right to use it, please let me know. I was so at loss of words when I woke up on May 1st to find it still raining from the previous evening and I had to borrow this poem to describe my delight and feelings...


Arabian Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Maid of Orleans' - Jâtî
Rain, Rain don’t go away

Arabian Jasmine 'Belle of India' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Belle of India' - Jâtî
Rain, Rain I hope you stay
You make my friends think what they have lost
 Oleander - Nerium oleander - Karavîra
Chinese Ixora - Ixora chinensis
You make my friends happy for the one wish they made
Groundcherry - yet to be identified
 Black Lentil - Vigna mungo
Rain, Rain don’t stop falling
 Cannon Ball Tree - Couroupita guianensis
 So they can feel something one last time
 Asoka - Saraca indica
Rain, Rain I hope you kill the one who put pain in-
Mealy bug on Cape Honeysuckle
my friends of shame
Sugar Melon (scientific name anybody?)
Rain, Rain stop my friends from falling
Green Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris
Rain, Rain.I hoping it’ll put my friends pain in-
Gaura lindheimeri 'The Bride'
someone else's vase before it's too late
 Barbados Lily - Hippeastrum puniceum

Rain, Rain help them out so they will be amazed
Buds of Arabian Jasmine 'Belle of India' - Jasminum sambac var. 'Belle of India' - Jâtî
for there is no pain

Lantana - Lantana camara var. aculeata
 Amaryllis Lily - Hippeastrum hybrid
nic Leisure

Apr 28, 2010

I'm tired of white

Since the arrival of Vasanta, he hasn't given me much color except the sparsely blooming Ixora,
Cape Honeysuckle,
and Indian Licorice. I was tired of seeing white everywhere.
Not that I don't like them, but I would appreciate some color for a change, which is why I am desperately trying to germinate cornflowers, calendulas, and other ornamentals, but it's sad that they aren't germinating at all!
Dear Seeds,
I am greatly offended by this behavior. I tried by sowing y'all directly out in the sun, but you never showed up your green heads. Thinking you resented the white hot sun who's heating up the climate up to 34 degree Celsius (93.2 degree Fahrenheit), I put you guys in paper cups and fed you with spoon so as not to flood you and placed you under the gentle Fluorescent light, where the temperature is about 30 degree Celsius (86 degree Fahrenheit). Is that still hot for you guys? Well, I have setup something else for you guys - the baggy method - I now placed you guys in wet paper towels in ziploc bags. Hope you guys germinate now at least. Please don't offend me this time...
By the ways, what was I saying?

Oh yea, the color in Plantville. After almost a month of white (Don't get offended Jasmine  and Leucas - it's nice to have you around, but I just want some color is all)
something showed up its beautiful, big, bright faces!
Suddenly Planville was all pink and smiling! What a surprise! This plant surprises me again this year as it did last year by blooming unexpectedly. I thought the bulbs were overly crowded and needed repotting. The other day, I thought of removing the bulbs and diving them, but to my surprise I saw a tiny stalk emerging from the soil!
In a matter of two days another stalk rose up
and third showed up the next week.
AND a fourth few days later! Isn't that superb? That too in a pot that was fertlized badly. Well, I don't remember spraying this pot at all!
I think this is the fifth stalk... Now that'd oh-so awesome!
Now I can enjoy the show for at least two more weeks!

YAY!


Following cue, the Dwarf Ixora sent out a profusion of blooms. I just wish my seeds germinate and give Plantville some color.
Update on my Tomatoes: Two berries have swollen to about an inch or more and there are more berries forming!

I need an advice from you: This pot that houses the tomato is really small and I doubt if it can hold the plant. To make if worse, there's another seedling in it. I can't divide them as their roots must have twined with each other already. Is it wise to repot it to a bigger pot now? I'm afraid of disturbing the fruit production by repotting.
Update on the grass/Muscari: I did want to let the grass or Muscari grow and give it a chance as I do with all the weeds - as you all know, but four days ago, I saw that the cup had only a little piece of the grass and the root seems to have gone! Poof! So was there a bulb inside? Did the pesky, danged, words-that-cannot-be-typed squirrels eat it up? They seemed to have played around with my Sugar Melon seedling, but luckily it survived. It killed my Swainsona seedling by toppling the cup over while trying to reach the Muscari.
I'm sure it's a squirrel as I've seen two squirrels always playing around. Should spray the garlic around to keep them away. So was it Muscari really? If so, is Muscari edible for squirrels? Hmmmm....
I've never seen squirrels attack grasses that grow on other pots... I guess I'll never know what it was.
Update on the groundcherries: Many have  ripened now - not enough to make a bottle of Jam, but I guess I gotta use them up somehow. Have any recipe for me? Most of the recipes that I search online suggest Jams.