Flora : Dragon fruit

Dragon fruit

Red pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis)

 

The evening before then bloom.

Flower blooms for a single night; hand polinate for maximum fruit size.

30 days from fruit set to harvest.

350g ~ 400g maximum weight per fruit.

Heart breaking... dropped flowers.

Yellow pitaya (Hylocereus megalantus)

1.5 years old yellow pitaya plant germinated from seed.

Flora : Pineapple

Pineapple

Plantlets at the side ready to be separated for planting.

Sarikei pineapple

Flora : Durian

Durian
The king of fruits - either you love it, or you hate it.

1.5 years old tree; another 3 years to go...

How to choose good durian?

Simple  ;)

- fruit's shape                    

- thorns' appearance          

- weight's appropriate-ness 

- smell                               

... or just ask the seller to "pau ciak", pry it open on the spot. No "pau", don't buy.

Flora : Duranta

Duranta ?


Not sure if this flower falls under duranta family. It's flowering behaviour is similar to duranta but does not produces the round, golden coloured fruits. The fruits are longish and smaller than duranta's. But one thing it does well is attracting lots of bees in the morning.



Flora : Strawberry

Strawberry

Species 1. The fruit is roundish, flower stalk is short. Fruits ripen within a week from setting.

Species 2. The fruit is longish, flower stalk is long. Fruits take more than a week to ripen.

Wild strawberry.

Easy to grow. Fruits are small and tasteless.

A three-tiers shoe-string budget strawberry planter project:

(Species 2 strawberry plants)

Ended up a disaster. The new location in the shaded car porch was too hot/dry (even though shaded). I lost the two mother plants but manage to save the daughter plant when I move the planter pot back to the former shady spot under a shrub with filtered sunlight.

I am still coaxing the surviving daughter plant to thrive and produce runners.

A hanging strawberry planters project:

(Species 1 strawberry plants)

The idea of having the strawberry plants high up from ground, free from snails and millipedes infestation sounds great, but ended up a disaster. The exposed sunny location is just unbearable. The leaves were getting burned and withering. Moving the pots to a more shaded spot under my passion fruit canopy also did not help. Lost all plants. Luckily I still have the mother plants snucked away in a corner under dense foliage.

After having 2 experimental disasters, I will KIV the idea of having rows of strawberry plants laden with yummy red fruits in my garden. Well, at least under my fruit trees are more mature to provide sufficient covers.

Cool micro-climate is a MUST it seems, with exposure to the morning dew and rain. So shaded car porch is a no-no.



 

16 Dec 2011

Flora : Water lily

Water lily


Waterlily is an alluring plant when in full bloom; bright petals emerging out of the murky depth, inviting you to take a closer look.

One might think planting water lily is as simple as sticking a plant into muddy water and leave it alone. Well..., unless that muddy water happens to be of correct depth, with correct amount of nutrient, exposed to full sun, and with water organisms to control water vectors (spelled m. l-a-r-v-a-e).

Water lily requires full sun.
Under full shade it will just wither back and dies.
Partial sun is ok, but after a while you will notice the plant growth biasing towards the sun. It will not wither and dies nor will it profusely grow and bloom. In the monsoon season when Mr. Sun can hide behind clouds for days and the frogs come out to sing, the less established plants can start withering.

Water lily needs regular fertiliser feeding in the right amount. Too much fertiliser and the water will turn murky green with algae growth. Too little fertiliser will result in stagnant growth or even some leaves to die back.

With sun and fertiliser requirements taken care of, you will need aquatic organisms to control mosquito larvaes. In a small confined setting, fish is not a good choice. However, prawns/shrimps will thrive happily. An advantage of prawns is they eat algae. They eat almost anything in the water that does not eat them.
Occasionally, prawns will even share the space with tadpoles.

Water lily is propagated via plantlets produced at the stem end of the leaves.



"Pamela" water lily - this is a dwarf species with purplish blooms.

"????" water lily - this is a mid-dwarf species with red blooms.

Rescued from certain doom after placing it under full shade out of ignorance. I manage to coax two new plantlets out of the withering leaves.

A frog decided to call home.
(After the putty kat decided to quit hunting frogs, the frogs are back with vengence. Breed and prosper, Kermit.)





11-Dec-2011

Flora : Gooseberry

Wild gooseberry


Bird-aided propagation into my garden. Not exactly nice to eat; rather tardy.