Blooming

The weather is hot and humid, no relief even when its cloudy in the evening, hoping for rain that never came, well at least these few days....But when it came, it rains cats and dogs, with lightning and thunder! The flowering plants in the garden are a happier lot, showing their blooms to brighten up even a dull uneventful day. These are some of my favourite blooms in my garden.

water hyacinth blooming with its delicate bluish purple clusters

locally known as lembayung or keladi bunting

mini frangipani (kemboja) though not as sweet smelling as her big sister,

the plant is popular nowadays as part of a tropical or Bali theme garden,

it can be propagated using cuttings of mature

stems

I love petunias!
a variety with crinkly edges and a mix colour of red and white patches

deep purple and white variety

a common variety with a profusion of flowers

not sure of the name of this plant that goes well in

a hanging pot

sweet delicate begonia flowers

peacock flower or sepit udang?

Water plants

Water is the key to life itself and one of the most captivating elements that can be added to a garden. Just combine water, stone and vegetation and you have a time-tested way to create a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.

The reflection of a sky, clouds or landscapes on a pool offers a beautiful and ever-changing spectacle. Here I often sit and contemplate about life, resting my tired bones after a back-breaking weeding session, while feeding the fish, admiring the lotus and other water plants....

my lone lotus

The sound of trickling water from the urn, can be heard from my bedroom window, soothes me with its soft melody and lull me to sleep.....here water hyacinth are placed in a tempayan
bcos the koi fish loves to feast on their roots and soft bulbous stems

Water orchid with its soft delicate white flowers dangling, in a tempayan
placed under the awning of my bedroom window, to catch the rain water....

A decorative pegaga which I was told can't be eaten as ulam

Water cabbages as I know these are called, the fish love them too...

Since I have the small pool, when in season the frogs make loud mating calls at nights which drowns the trickling sound of the water from the urn, and make me sleepless somtimes!

The long spiky plants on the left is where the frogs love to lay their eggs
and the koi fish congregate to feast on them...

False lavender?

I dont know exactly the name of these flowering plants I planted outside my fence. I came across these plants long before they are sold in nurseries. My aunt used to plant them in her garden way back in 1960's. One friend called them "false lavender" because at one glance, they do look a bit like the real lavender (English or French lavender) esp the colour lilac-blue and they give out a kind of fragrance just like the real one. But the real lavender is a woody plant and the false one has soft stems. The real one is a type of fragrant flower or herb while the false local ones, not exactly fragrance, more like the smell of marigold though not as strong!...and you know marigold is known locally as 'bunga tahi ayam' literally translated as 'chicken shit flowers', so you get the idea of their fragrance....hahaha!

English Lavender (real lavender)

local false lavender outside my fence
growing wild and blooming

If you touch these local false lavender, your hands will feel sticky because the whole plant feels that way, sticky and rubbery kind of feeling. Their flowers come in dark blue, lilac blue, dark and light pink and also white. But at one glance they also look like foxgloves.

A good start

My flower seeds are germinating well!

Im not sure the name of these flower seeds given by one

of the vendors at Floria Putrajaya FOC but the flowers looked

like marigold, the colour at least, but only one layer petals,

more like the flowers of ulam raja

Also happy to see the sunflower seeds given by Bangchik germinating well under my mengkudu tree. Hope to see the proud bright orange flowers in my garden later on. Bangchik gave me 2 different sets of seeds, 1 set the seeds are bigger than the other. So Im not sure whether they are of different types.

sunflower seeds growing well, though they are leaning towards the full sun.

have to move them to a new flower bed soon..

this is the seed of a honey jackfruit (nangka madu)..hoping that it
will grow well and fruitful, my favourite fruit..Im lucky I dont
get 'wind' (angin) after eating them even though I eat
them everyday!

cuttings from variegated Japanese Bamboo (not sure of the correct name though),

part of the flower arrangements from my son's wedding,

and let them stand in a glass jar of water..

happy to see them giving out roots after 3 wks...

daun pandan cuttings after a month...will transfer them

later in a low porcelain pot with pebbles,

as a decor on my coffee table