My Patio Garden Of Potted Plants

Snake Plant, Bird's Nest Ferns, Spider Lilies and Jasmine Plant.

The Japanese Bamboo Plant that's been growing taller with all the composting over the years, so the flower pot now looks really small in comparison.....

 

More Snake Plants in the corner and the Cheese Plant that's finally looking lush and beautiful after a lot of tlc!  

Feeding Your Plants!

Am still feeding my potted plants with vegetable dregs regularly and quite frequently and I guess this Japanese Bamboo is quite happy to sit in its pot even though the pot really looks like it is getting too small for the size of the plant.  However, I don't think I'm even going to try to repot it at all.

Anyway, new shoots have started sprouting up recently and it looks like there'll be another giant stem.....

Just compare this new sprout to the older stems in the pot and you will understand why I call it a 'giant' and you will see there is a huge difference in size as it is getting a lot of nourishment from the compost.  And it is about the thickness of my index finger, which I found to be quite amazing.

 

And since, I was out there taking photos of the Japanese Bamboo, I thought I'd take a photo of one of the new fronds of the Bird's Nest Fern that had caught my eye...... 

Yeah, I guess I probably have too much time on my hands, eh?

Aroid: Amorphophallus haematospadix Hook. f.

While out kayaking a few days ago, these 'Aroid' flowers caught my eye.  

After all, how often would you see anything of that colour in this landscape?  

That plum-fuschia coloured spadix with the white spathe certainly stood out against the slaty gray of the limestone in the background.  

I asked my guests to give me a few minutes to take a few photos for species identification, then steered my kayak alongside the limestone wall.

These flowers were growing on a rocky ledge.  And with the tide at that time that day, this ledge was about 2 metres above the water level. To ensure I get good photos, I stood up on my kayak and my right hand that was holding the camera was all stretched out overhead.  Meantime, I had several fingers on my left hand pinching onto a tiny root to stay balanced and to keep my kayak from drifting away from the wall.  

And that was how I snapped these photos.

Thanks to Marek Argent of IAS for confirming this plant species to be Amorphophallus haematospadix Hook. f.  

The Amorphophallus is a large genus of subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae).  Anyway, according to the IAS website, this species is found in East Malaysia, Peninsular Thailand and possibly in North Sumatra.  

And now we do know that it is also found in Langkawi, on North-West Peninsular Malaysia.

The larger inflorescence in the above photo is about 16-18cm from the base of the spathe to the top of the spadix appendage.  This is only an estimate based on a comparison to the palm of my hand.  And it looks like there's another tuber or stalk sticking out at the bottom right so another flower will be blooming soon!

 Pretty!

C O M P O S T I N G

I have been composting almost all of my vegetable scraps for quite a few years now.  

And have been even more diligent with it since adding more potted plants to my expanding patio garden.

Apart from the really lush Bird's Nest Ferns and Crinum Lilies, one of the other plants that have shown amazing growth spurts is this Japanese Bamboo or Dracaena surculosa punctulata. 

Looking at the leafy plant in the above picture, if you follow the line of the support pole to the top, you can vaguely see the bamboo-like cane that's shot right up to the roof.  

I've been wondering..... how much taller is this going to grow to?

And recently, I've also noticed a few new spears sprouting out from the soil.  

Am curious if those will be as tall?

I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Meantime, the task of composting all the vegetable scraps continue in earnest.  

After all, it's a great way to reduce the amount of trash you chuck out into the bins and it doesn't take much effort at all.

The only thing you need to do is put aside all the vegetable scraps when you are preparing meals.  And I mean garlic skins, onion skins, carrot peels, broccoli stems, vegetable stems..... the list is endless!
Even better, save these vegetable scraps for making vegetable broth before you chuck them into the compost!

These plants are certainly loving all the food they're getting!

Happy gardening.

Calathea ornata or Pin-stripe Calathea

Another addition to my 'patio' garden is this Calathea ornata or Pin-stripe Calathea that I'd recently brought back from my Dad's garden in Penang. 

According to Wikipedia, this plant is native to Central and South America.


This is still a very young plant and the largest of the leaves measure just 7 cm in length.  It is growing out of a yoghurt tub but am sure I will need to plant it in a proper pot soon.  Anyway, it seems to have adapted quite well so far, after enduring a 3 hour ride on the ferry from Penang in my backpack.

My Potted Plants

I am very well aware that the full moon affects me in many ways...

With the lunar eclipse this past Saturday, I could almost be going crazy with energy! 
And I have certainly been feeling restless for a few days with all the energetic vibes from the full moon.

This photo was taken on Saturday evening just before the full lunar eclipse.

It won't make "photo of the year" but at least I did manage to get one decent photo.

Anyway, there has been some major renovation works downstairs that's been going on like forever!  Since then, layer upon layer of fine dust have coated my car and my plants.  Then, the contractor started painting the walls this week.  When I got home on Friday afternoon after a kayak trip in the mangroves, I realised the doors have been whitewashed.  Out of nowhere, it clicked in my head that this could only mean one thing - no more dust!

Feeling energetic,  I got out a bucket and sponge and washed my car. 
When that was done, I scrubbed my front stoop and stairs. 

Early the next morning, out came another bucket and a smaller sponge.
Then I practically spent over an hour wiping the caked dust off almost every leave on all my potted plants. 

Here's looking at the lacklustre leaves with a layer of dust covering its surface.

After the sponge job, I even used a tissue to wipe the remaining residual dirt off the leaves.  Now you can see a nice sheen on these leaves.

Did the same for the Birds' Nest Ferns too....

These plants need to breathe as well. 

All those layers of dust on the leaves would have been choking the plants, reducing its efficiency at photosynthesis. 

Now that these leaves can breathe easy, I know that I will breathe better too! 

Thanks to the moon!

Call me crazy.

Maybe even peculiar or eccentric, for doing what I did spending hours cleaning those leaves. 

Or perhaps, more aptly, loony or a lunatic!
But..... who cares?  What matters is that I do think the plants appreciated it!

Anyway, have you ever wondered how the words 'loony' and 'lunatic' came about?

A Bit Of Gardening

I don't exactly have green fingers. 

So far, it's been a 50-50 rate of success with the plant species I have tried to grow.  There was a time when I managed to have a few pots of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) growing nicely and I could enjoy fresh herbs from my own 'patio' until my neighbour decided to spray weedkiller to get rid of the stuff growing by the roadside at his place and so it killed all my basil plants.  I suppose it did not occur to him that the breeze would carry the spray mists over to my place as well. 

And he must have had a very strong mixture to actually kill off a papaya tree in the backyard too.  Of course, it looked as if that was his intention as he was spraying directly at it.  I had always enjoyed watching the birds that come and go on that papaya tree.  So there goes the birding activities from my kitchen window!!

That was almost three years ago. 
I have since moved out to another place but it's been a futile attempt trying to grow these basil plants again.

I also had this little Staghorn Fern (Platycerium spp.) bought from the nursery some years ago.  It had probably suffered from some weedkiller too but it did not die then.  However, the fern had been struggling along in a half-dead state and finally I had killed it a few months ago, either with too much watering or not enough of it.

This past year, I have been away from home quite frequently and each time, I had left my potted plants at the mercy of the elements.  During this time, the few attempts at planting anything at all had been almost to no avail.  Each time I went away, some plants would die off by the time I get home again even if it had been less than a week. 

Apart from the Bird's Nest Ferns (Asplenium nidus), Crinum Lilies (Crinum asiatica) and Umbrella plant (Cyperus alternifolius) that I've had for many years, the Snake plants (Sansevieria trifasciata and S. trifasciata laurentii) planted this year have also been growing very well.  That's mainly because these are hardy plants that are easy to grow.




The Umbrella plant. 
I had brought only one cutting from Penang a few years ago and it's been growing beautifully.

The two varieties of Snake plant. 

The 'laurentii' variant is a popular variety with its edges in golden yellow.

The good thing about making frequent visits back to Penang is that I can keep taking a few plants and cuttings from my father's garden and keep trying to get a 'garden' growing for myself.  I have been bringing home several cuttings of the Jasmine plant (Jasminum sambac) since the beginning of the year and have not had much luck with it till now.

Finally, two little plants have sprouted and the young shoots continue to grow!

One of the dead and dried up Jasmine plant still left in the pot.

The two little Jasmine plants from cuttings I had brought back in June. 

The cuttings had started sprouting at different times.

One of the other plants I had brought back from Penang early this year was the young offshoot of the Monstera species.  When I got home from work one afternoon, the pot had been knocked over and the young plant was crushed by the pot and buried in the soil.  It must have been in that state a whole day while I was out at work.  Anyway, I picked it all up and replanted it back in the pot.  It died a week later.  I had left the broken pot untouched and neglected since then as I was a bit disheartened by it. 

That was several months ago.

Several weeks ago, a young shoot started sprouting in this pot and I had almost pulled it out thinking it would be some weedy, invasive species but an inner voice stopped me.  Now that it had grown a few leaves, I have been quite elated because it is the Monstera plant that has come back to life! 

My precious little Monstera plant in the broken pot...

The Monstera plant is a climber and I do think this is a good spot for it.
All it needs now is a new pot...

I had grown up romping around in a garden that's full of fruit trees, flowering trees and plants, ferns... the whole works!  I wish I could have such a garden of my own but that is not to be.  But I can have a "garden" of potted plants. 

Slowly but surely, I hope I will eventually have a nice little cosy patio garden one of these days.

More Species... But Not In Langkawi!

 

I have been away from Langkawi and though it was only for two weeks and I was just across the channel, it had felt as if I was in another world entirely and it had seemed like ages!

Luckily for me, I was based in an area located next to the forest fringe, there were lotus ponds, marshy areas overgrown with cattails and also padi fields nearby. 

It was dragonfly haven! 

Although I did not get to spend all day everyday observing these creatures, I did spend a bit of time watching them whenever I had the chance to do so and I did get a few photos of some common species and also of species that I have yet to encounter in Langkawi.  Other insects and plant life included!

 

Tridax daisies aplenty!

 

Rhyothemis plutonia (Selys, 1883)

 

Lathrecista asiatica (Fabricius, 1798)

 

Rhyothemis phyllis (Sulzer, 1776).  There were swarms of them!

 

Aethriamanta spp.  Need id for this dragonfly...

 

Aethriamanta spp, a pair in wheel.

 

Aethriamanta brevipennis (Rambur, 1842)

 

Aethriamanta brevipennis (Rambur, 1842), a female.

 

Acisoma panorpoides (Rambur, 1842)

 

Brachydiplax chalybea (Brauer, 1868)

 

Urothemis signata insignata (Selys, 1872)

 

Another dragonfly... need id for this fella...

 

Tholymis tillarga (Fabricius, 1798).  Found this dead dragonfly on the ground.

 

Anax guttatus (Burmeister, 1839).  Found this dragonfly with half its abdomen torn off but it was still alive and struggling.

 

Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur, 1842)

 

Ceriagrion chaoi (Schmidt, 1964)

 

Ceriagrion chaoi (Schmidt, 1964), a female.

 

Ceriagrion chaoi (Schmidt, 1964).  A pair in tandem with the female ovipositing into the pond plants.

 

A Stingless Bee out to collect nectar from the Sacred Lotus after the rain.

 

A colourful butterfly.

 

A mating pair of Wasp Moth.

 

A Wolf Spider on the Water Lettuce.

 

Cattails in the evening sky.

Other Odonata species spotted were:

Crocothemis servilia, Rhodothemis rufa, Orthetrum glaucum, Orthetrum chrysis, Orthetrum sabina, Orthetrum testaceum, Diplacodes trivialis and the Ischnura senegalensis.

Also, a blue damselfly.....