Tuesday, June 14, 2011

June 2011 GBBD - Blooming Snake Gourds

Its been a while since I joined in the monthly Garden Bloggers' Blooming Day hosted by Carol of MayDreamsGarden.
I was pretty busy with so many things besides gardening...being a first time Grandma and all! So today Im posting some photos of whats blooming in my garden though not all the flowers since I have shown them before in previous posts.



Im fascinated with the delicate blooms of snake gourds (Trichosanthes cucumerina) , their white lacy flowers are nature's work of art. At the moment they are blooming profusely in my veggie patch which I hope will be able to see at least one fruit in my pot soon!




the delicate lacy white petals reminded me of a ballerina's tutu...




the new bud is white but slowly will turn very pale pink/peach as it opens up...




male flowers of the snake gourd








the female flower which will grow as gourd later if its polinated or else it will just drop off

more female blooms








new flower buds coming up








snake gourds so called because of its shape - longish like a snake, here shown the plants are supported by trellis or poles
I was sure I planted bitter gourds or angled luffa but then they turned out to be snake gourds when they started showing their delicate lacy flowers (thanks to Antara of Garden Jewels)





a sweet frangrance is coming from my pink/white Plumeria Acuminata (pointed frangipani)







these tiny 'morning glory' are in fact the Jacquemontia Pentantha fighting for climbing space with their big momma the Morning glory on the chain fence










Yellow Walking Iris



this tiny white flower is the star of Bethleham (Laurentia Longiflora) although considered as a minor weed, I love seeing these in my garden which at first I mistook it to be the herb rocket as the leaves are similar







I just love the double layered bunga talang or the sweet peas looking like miniature blue roses, also competing for climbing space with the morning glory and the tiny Jacquemontia - all blue in colour!












....and last but not least, the pink Rain Lily is blooming after the rain yesterday


Go over to Carol's blog to see whats blooming in her garden this June.




25 comments:

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Snake gourd bloom are very unique different from its other relative which is usually yellow. Dah plan ke nak masak apa dengan snake gourd ni?

Nic said...

Beautiful flowers! I planted some bunga talang - we call them butterfly peas in American English - this spring as well, and hopefully they will start flowering in a little while, even with the not-quite tropical conditions of the American Midwest.

The Sage Butterfly said...

I hope my plumeria blooms as nicely as yours! And thank you for featuring the snake gourd blooms...very nice, very interesting. Happy GBBD!

HolleyGarden said...

Very interesting! I've never seen a gourd or flower like that - thanks for showing it off to us!

Malar said...

Snake gourd have white flowers? I thought it's yellow like others! They do ave pretty flowers! Hope you get a lot of snake gourd!
How is your grandchild?
That's a lot of bloom in your garden to welcome the baby!

Larry said...

The individual florets on your plumeria look amazingly like the blossoms on my rhodohypoxis... I've enjoyed all your photos and the snake gourd blooms are extremely interesting as well... Larry

miruku said...

Your vege beds are very tidy and the trellis you made for your snake gourd is what i admire most. Yo.. congrats to your newborn grandchild, no wonder so bz la :)

Stephanie said...

All so wonderful p3chandan! Lovely blooms. I love the plumeria the most. And I hope you will have plenty of gourds later. The plant looks really healthy. Have a great day :-D

Andrea said...

I also saw those snake gourds at the university garden when i last visited. That was my first time to see those flowers. However, since they are the whitish type, the flowers are a bit different than what you posted. I took photos at midday so they are not as nice as yours. I was also very fascinated by it. How does the fruit compare in taste to Luffa?

kitchen flavours said...

Geramnya! Your snake gourd are gorgeous! Hehehe!
Your flowers are all so pretty! Bunga talang, we nyonyas call it bunga telang! Do you dry the flowers? It can keep for a long time.

greggo said...

gourd blooms, very unusual.

Anonymous said...

You always have so many colorful things going on in your garden. Happy GBBD.

Anonymous said...

The snake gourd makes a very interesting flower with the pronounced veining. It makes a pretty picture too.

p3chandan said...

Diana how true, most of the cucurbit family have yellow blooms, that was why it was such a mystery when I first saw the first white lacy flowers of the snake gourds. I suka Indian food, so dah tau dah nak masak apa..just tumis a bit of tumeric powder,biji sawi with onion and garlic!

Thans College Gardener.I love the blue blooms of the sweet peas, once they start flowering, there's no stopping them...they make my ordinary looking chain fence so lovely!

Thank you Sage Butterfly!

You are most welcome Holley!

p3chandan said...

Thank you Malar, my cucu is doing fine. Yes those flowers are really something...hope I have the fruits soon to cook them Indian style! I love to eat them with banana leaf rice.

Thank you Larry, yes the white/pink plumeria does look a bit like rhodohypoxis blooms of similar colour, though they are bushy prennials great for borders.

Thanks Milka, yes a bit bz at times looking after my cucu. Tidy? That was when I first planted the gourds, still looking very neat and orderly but now they climb everywhere and interwined with the pumpkin..so unruly! I love your veggie beds, so neat even the poles are painted white...spick and span!

Thanks Steph, hope I will have plenty of gourds for my pot!

Andrea, at first the flowers are white, then slowly they turn very light pink/peach. They taste a bit different from luffa and the texture is also smoother.

Joyce thanks. Im trying to dry those bunga talang for future use in nasi kerabu, my first time!

Thank you Mr Greggo, they are indeed a work of art!

p3chandan said...

Thank you Carolyn!

Thank you Donna..I find it fascinating too.

Thanks Petersam, will visit yr blog soon.

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

I had terrible problems leaving a comment here today - this is the 3rd time so hopefully it will go through though maybe not as concise a comment as the original.

I have never smelt a Plumeria before but I think it must be wonderful considering how beautiful the flowers look.

Rosie Gan said...

Your bunga telang is a double, that's lovely. Haven't planted mine yet. Waiting for the right time. Your garden betul2 blooming now.Luverly!
Rosie

p3chandan said...

Leavesnbloom, so sorry about the comment problem, I think after your comment, they will asking you to type in their passwords. The plumeria has such a sweet smell, always reminded me of the flower garlands in Hawaii. Thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog.

Rosie thank you, the bunga talang is so easy to grow, they germinate well, though you have to give them support with poles.

A. said...

p3 this is lovely. the flowers of the snake gourd are so lace like. nature is really beautiful

Sunray Gardens said...

Some beautiful blooms you have going on right now. The blooms on the snake gourd are really interesting too.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Alistair said...

The snake gourds certainly do have interesting blooms. A yellow walking Iris, Gorgeous, I suppose this means they spread themselves around freely.

p3chandan said...

Arati, yes the lacy flowers are really fascinating, nature's work of art!

Thanks Cher.

Yes they do spread easily Alistair.

pxshashi said...

The flowers are not of snake gourd. They are bottle gourd or calabash gourd. Snake gourd flowers are hairy webby around a central solid flower. They are extremely ornate.

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