Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

Notice Board

Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11
Welcome to our exotic world of everlasting summers and tropical rainforests!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

UFO on a UFO


There is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) on this leguminous Unidentified Flowering Object (UFO). The photographs are taken at the Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama.

“UFO on a UFO”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 31st, 2011.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

3 Amazing Asystasias - Pick Your Favourite


1. Asystasia intrusa (Common name: Asystasia, Ranong) - A scrambling plant with slender wiry stems

“3 Amazing Asystasias - Pick Your Favourite”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 29th, 2011.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Asystasia gangetica - A Chinese Violet from Mafia Island


Asystasia gangetica flowers attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Some cultivars are sweetly scented.
The flowers have a diameter of about 1- 1.5 inches.
They are white, yellow and purple flower varieties.

Asystasia gangetica - Chinese Violet from Mafia Island”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 27th, 2011.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Torch Ginger Flower Seeds Germination



I have a Torch Ginger Plant (Etlingera elatior) which we call 'bunga kantan' in Malaysia. Though it takes up a lot of my garden space, I have never regretted growing this native plant for I love its beautiful blooms. Once started, it never seems to stop blooming. This is the plant that has won me many new friends from far and near. It is the 'ice-breaker' and attention grabber in my garden.

This is my 9th blog post about the plant. My article about "The versatile bunga kantan plant" appeared in the New Straits Times on March 27th, 2010. The link is here.

Torch Ginger has many other common names, e.g. Ginger Flower, Ginger Lily, Torch Lily, Wild Ginger, Stone Rose, Combrang, Bunga Siantan, Philippine Wax Flower, Xiang Bao Jiaing, Indonesian Tall Ginger, Boca de Dragón, Rose de Porcelaine and Porcelain Rose.

"Torch Ginger Flower Seeds Germination”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 20th, 2011.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Nelumbo nucifera - The Sacred Lotus


First, I'd like to wish all Buddhists a Happy Wesak Day!

The lotus is one of my favourite flowers. It is so beautiful no wonder many Chinese girls are named after this sacred and lovely flower. They have this word, 'Lian' or 'Lin' in their middle or first name. We regard it as an auspicious flower that is holy and pure. It is also the devine symbol of Buddhism

The pink and white lotus is the national flower of India and Vietnam.

“Nelumbo nucifera - The Sacred Lotus”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 17th, 2011.


Sunday, May 15, 2011

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2011


Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for May 2011. Leading the bloom parade is my bread flowers (Vallaris glabra) which we locals call it Kesidang. It is difficult to photograph the flower as they always seem to be drooping downwards. Well, this vine just loves to climb high. Whenever it flowers, we will first sense the fragrance, then we look up or around us, we shall see the sweet, starry blooms.

It has the scent of Pandan, our favourite aromatic herb and also that of 'nasi lemak', our favourite coconut flavoured rice.  Many Malaysians who grew up in a 'kampong' or countryside will have fond childhood memories associated with this plant. The fragrance is very pronounced in the mornings and evenings. A whiff of pandan always reminds me of home cooked food.

Rumphius (1628-1702) wrote about it as one of the perfumed flowers which the peoples of the Malay Archipelago were fond of using back in the old days, once upon a time, long, long ago.....

Saturday, May 14, 2011

A Tribute To Trees

A tree is home to other plants

“See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
we need silence to be able to touch souls.”
- Mother Teresa

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Help! There's a Bird Nest on My Hydrangea Plant!


On the Friday morning of May 6th this month, while my friends in the USA were still in timezone 5th of May, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, I noticed an untidy mass of straw among the leaves of my hydrangea plant.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Asystasia gangetica ssp. micrantha - Useful Wildflower or Noxious Weed?


Asystasia intrusa is a common weed in Peninsular Malaysia. You can find them along roadsides, in rubbish dumps, vacant residential lands, wastelands and open areas along jungles. This one that I photographed is growing beside a drain in Ipoh. It looked like some people are growing it in flower pots for their own use?

It grows prolifically, has high shade tolerance and produces many seeds. Once established, it spreads rapidly. It can become extremely invasive and difficult to control or erradicate, hence it is regarded as a noxioius weed by orchards, oil palm and rubber plantation owners where chemical pesticides are needed to deal with the problem. It is a major problem here where it competes with the main crops for soil nutrients, affects yield and increases crop management costs.

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