Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Meeting up

This is simply gorgeous...the red frangipani given by One of Onenezz! Its worth waiting for and meeting her at IKEA last week for the plant after postponing it for so many times! So sorry One, you have to carry the heavy bulky plant to meet me there.Thank you so much, it really brightens up my garden with those lovely red hot blooms! Too bad cant show her photo here as she is camera-shy like me...



Then here is another plant worth going all the way to Pusat Bandar Damansara to get it....the Bunga Kantan (torch ginger). After meeting One, my friend Noni and I made our way to see Keats of Keats The Sunshine Girl at her lovely home.







bunga kantan (torch gingers)

Torch ginger has a strong spicy fragrance and used mainly in Malaysian and Thai cuisines especially in the Malaysian laksa dish (spicy rice noodles soup). Keats gave me not one but two pots of the plant and she threw in another pot of a type of hibiscus, the Malvaviscus arboreus for good measure! Offered one pot of bunga kantan to Noni but she said her garden is too small to have it! Thanks so much Keats for the Bunga Kantan and that particular plant which was actually in my wish list.







two pots of bunga kantan

Malvaviscus arboreus

We loved Keats' house with its well-kept beautiful spacious garden flanked by big shady
trees, ferns, plants with lovely blooms especially the different types of Heliconias, and those from the ginger and galangal families, in different colours. They looked so exotic!





Keats' lovely home from my car parked outside the gate





the house from the left side of the garden






I particularly loved this part of the garden with staghorns cascading down a big tree and mixtures of plants at the bottom....felt like Im in a rain forest, shady and cool even in the hot sun!







there were green and lush plants like Impatiens, Kaempferia, Spathiphyllum like the above and others that thrived well under the shade of a big tree





the sunny part of the front of the house were planted with ferns and angelonias on the ground




Then there were these two spectacular bright red blooms from the ginger family, Zingiber Spectabile which were my favourites because of their unique and exotic looking blooms







the galangal (lengkuas) family Alpinia purpurata - pink

red Alpinia




two colours of Heliconia psittacorum (Sepit Udang) - orange







yellow one







another type - Heliconia mariae








also these two attractive colours of Canna on the sunny side of her garden




Rangoon creeper




Here is the ever friendly and cheerful Keats showing Noni a very tall tree in her backyard (sorry I forgot the name of that tree Keats)

that tree has unedible berries looked like the chiku tree (Manilkara zapota)...Keats called it her 'Christmas' tree





My friend Noni and I enjoyed our meetings with both One and Keats that day and of course thank you so much for those plants. My small car was full to the brim with 4 pots of plants, so much so that, our prior plan to stop by the nurseries in Sg Buloh was abandoned! Thanks again Keats for your warm hospitality and welcoming us to your lovely home and garden. Hope to meet you both again some other time! Sorry to post this so late because this old pc of mine was having so much problem and still is (I didnt go for holidays Milka)......this post took 3 days to complete!

13 comments:

miruku said...

I admire Keat's house! So many beautiful flowers and so... white! You have so many gardening kaki so good :)

rainfield61 said...

Wow, you have met so many people in one day.

I do not know what to offer if we are going to meet at Penang.

p3chandan said...

Love to meet you someday Milka! Yes I knew you like Keats' white bungalow - your favourite colour right?

Rainfield...love to meet you too someday! Well, how about showing me around your favourite haunting ground Cerok Tokun!

Aquascape Your Landscape said...

Beautiful plants!

Cat said...

What a great day trip! Sounds like you enjoyed your excursion and have some beautiful new plants to show for it along with new friendships!

Lrong Lim said...

My missus loves frangipanis (more than I do)... the ginger torch always amazes me with its beauty... and taste of course... so nice to hear that you met up with each other...

p3chandan said...

Jennifer thank you!

Cat, it was an enjoyable trip to meet other bloggers since we are in the same state.

Mr Lrong, frangipanis always remind me of exotic Hawaii with its lovely colourful garlands and swaying hips! Torch ginger is not only beautiful but love the unique taste. I love meeting new friends and exchanging plants and see their lovely gardens too. Wish I could go and visit Japan to meet you and missus!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

oh wow So jelous you got One's red frangipani that I like very much ;-). I wonder if One will propagate for me too...hehehe...gardeners are always so generous. Mama dekat Sabah, I will ask her to look if she received the seeds when she comes back. Thank you so much.

HolleyGarden said...

How wonderful to be able to meet up with others gardeners and garden bloggers, and to see a garden in person, not just in pictures. And to get new plants, too - what a bonus!

Plant Chaser said...

Wow! Malaysian bloggers unite! It must have been very enjoyable.

Alistair said...

Oh my, how exotic can we get, and as for Keats house, wow.

p3chandan said...

Diana, Im lucky to have that red frangipani from One!

Yes Holly, indeed it was a joyous meeting to finally meet those you knew and met on the blogosphere before.

Indeed Bom, I wish I could meet more of them!

Thank you Alistair, Keats' garden was lovely with its exotice plants!

Malar said...

Beautiful red flower of Frangipani! I can't wait to see mine flowering too!

Keat have a lovely garden!