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| Catharanthus roseus, torenia, yesterday-today-tomorrow, blue daze |
Here's my flower parade for February 2011 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
My pale lavender coloured Catharanthus roseus (vinca/periwinkle) looks like a mixed breed. The plant had sprouted from seeds scartered naturally on the ground. My YTT plant was subjected to some harsh prunning last month and it is responding well to treatment, flowering in clusters now.
A torenia plant has anchored itself on my potted hibiscus plant. It is blooming profusely now.
Can you see a garden visitor on the blue torenia?
My pale lavender coloured Catharanthus roseus (vinca/periwinkle) looks like a mixed breed. The plant had sprouted from seeds scartered naturally on the ground. My YTT plant was subjected to some harsh prunning last month and it is responding well to treatment, flowering in clusters now.
A torenia plant has anchored itself on my potted hibiscus plant. It is blooming profusely now.
Can you see a garden visitor on the blue torenia?
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| Azaleas, adenium, bougainvillea |
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| Cape honeysuckle, lantana, citrus lime, spider |
I grow this orange cape honeysuckle plant to attract mealy bugs so that the bugs will leave my roses and hibiscus alone. The citrus flower is from my 3-year old plant. The spider looks like those we love to catch and play 'spider fighting' games of long ago.
“Feb 2011 GBBD”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on February 18th, 2011.
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| Kalanchoe, pineapple |
The baby pineapple is about 2 weeks old now.
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| Pussy willows blossoms |
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| Dendrobium crumenatum orchid |
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| Costus woodsonii |
Costus woodsonii is a popular plant during this Lunar New Year of the Rabbit. When two yellow-orange flowers appear at the tip of the bright red flower spike, it looks like rabbit ears. In Chinese (Cantonese) this plant has a nickname, "hoong one tong tow" meaning good fortune has arrived.
When the flowers appear, the bright red cone also oozes a sweet syrupy liquid that attracts the ants. I wonder if we can suck on it?
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| Psyche (Leptosia nina malayana) |
This green butterfly seems to be missing something. It may look quite weird with only the head and thorax visible, without the abdomen. But if you look more closely, you'll notice a sexy head and graceful pose. This reminds me of the legendary Marilyn Monroe and her skirt blown by the wind.
Anyone know the name of this butterfly?
Post update: I have found the name of this butterfly from the internet. It's scientific name is Leptosia nina malayana from the Pieridae family (sulphurs, yellows and whites). Common name is Psyche butterfly, also known as Wandering Snowflake, Flip Flop and Wood White. For more information, visit
a) Learn about butterflies
b) Wikipedia
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| Hydrangea |
My hydrangea is getting too top heavy. The head almost got blown off by a gust of strong wind.
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| Etlingera elatior, bunga kantan |
The Etlingera elatior ginger flower buds were not eaten but allowed to bloom.
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| Etlingera elatior, Bunga kantan |
When tiny red flowers appear among the glossing pink bracts, sweet juice oozes out and a couple of ants came over for a Valentine picnic. Looks like they are kissing anyway.
A vegetable plant has sprouted perhaps from the seeds that has fallen on the ground. I wonder what is this - cucumber or bitter gourd?
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| Christmas poinsettia |
My Christmas poinsettia has not lost all its red colour yet. Some new shoots have sprouted. I have place this plant under the shade of my palm tree.
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is hosted by Carol of May Dreams Garden, her link is here.
This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday hosted by Tootsie at Tootsie Time, the link is here.
You have a lot of beautiful blooms! Lovely post. :) Recently, I have two plants blooming. However, pretty soon they will all start to wake up for spring. Have a good weekend, Autumn.
ReplyDeleteSo many lovely plants on parade! The hydrangeas in my garden do not flower! Any advice? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAll your flowers are so lovely! My pussy willow plant is already half dead!
ReplyDeleteI can see the butterfly's abdomen through it's skirt. It should wear a petticoat.
ReplyDeleteYour bunga kantan is amazingly beautiful.
All of these blooms are gorgeous! The first thing that came to my mind was Cabbage Butterfly?
ReplyDeleteIt is no good to be surrounded by so many flowers.
ReplyDeleteYou will be out-shined by them.
So many lovely flowers! I have been looking for the Torch ginger Etingera, but have not been able to find one.
ReplyDeleteWow what a bunch of great photos showing some great flowers.
ReplyDeleteCher
Goldenray Yorkies
Gorgeous blooms you have Autumn Belle. Great shots of them too!
ReplyDeleteWow! so many beautiful blooms in your garden. So cool to see a pineapple, wish I could have one. Also so nice to see your nochebuena is still red. Mine died back when I left for a trip to hong kong
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blooms and butterflies.
ReplyDeleteColourful bugs and blooms!
ReplyDeleteYou have many interesting plants. I am especially intrigued by the ginger which I can only grow indoors, which means I would kill it. Are all these plants in flower at this time?
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are so beautiful, I just enjoy looking at their lovey blooms.
ReplyDeleteLovely display of colourful flowers. That veggie flower looks like bitter gourd.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blooms and photographs Autumn Belle! Oh My . . . how extremely different from my world of ice and snow. I think I can see the abdomen in between the delicate wings of your little butterfly. Lovely post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these amazing plants and blooms! I like the way you combined them in the mosaic format.
ReplyDeleteOooh I can just imagine how warm it is in your garden Autumn. What is the pretty orange flower in the second photo top right. Thanks
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Autumn Belle. You have a very nice GBBD selection with much color. I do very much like your butterfly photo. We have a long wait to see them again.
ReplyDeleteAutumn Belle, do you know that from the garden sale i went to the other wkend, i only bought a variegated pineapple plant! I put it near my window receiving only afternoon sunlight, with my Hoya. It is giving me delight, so i am sure you are very much delighted with your many blooms now. BTW, that is a bitter gourd,you can put a trellis away from the ornamental and let it have some fruits, it will be fun. It looks healthy and will give you a few healthy fruits.
ReplyDeleteYou put that together so well - lovely colour!
ReplyDeleteWow, your blooms are gorgeous! Your garden must be really lovely with all the beautiful and colourful blooms!
ReplyDeleteThe yellow flower looks like the male bitter gourd bloom, a female would have a small bitter gourd at the other end of the flower joining to the stem, but it has to be pollinated first to become a full fruit! Hope it grows many more flowers and give you some bitter gourd for your dinner!
You do really have beautiful boolms in your garden! Pussy willow? I never seen any in real!
ReplyDeleteHmm...lovely collages of gorgeous blooms! Such timely reward for CNY! Love especially your bunga kantan, so crisp and clear...my first time seeing a full bloom. Is it an easy plant to grow...on the ground, A. Belle? Strange to see your poinsettia taking a purplish tinge, do you think that it's lacking light?
ReplyDeleteWow! Very lovely blooms in your garden this month. The array of colors is amazing. I'm not familiar with the C. woodsonii but yes, it does look like an auspicious plant for the year of the rabbit.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's a bitter gourd that you have.
Your photos are very beautiful...what a lovely garden you have!
ReplyDeleteOh dear..so nice nice nice..fantastic pixz. tQ
ReplyDeleteYou have outdone yourself! Such a wonderful and charming post!
ReplyDeleteI love pussy willows. They always remind me of my Grandma.
I love your collection of flowers, I just can't decide which one I love best as I scrolled down further, the more beautiful the shots are,
ReplyDeleteAutumn Belle, At a time of year when my only blooms are indoors, I love it that my southern hemisphere and tropical gardening friends have so many gorgeous flowers to show off. Thanks for sharing yours. (BTW, congratulations on the recognition for your blog in Home and Decor.) -Jean
ReplyDeleteAmy, I envy your lovely daffodils which I can’t have in my warm tropical garden here.
ReplyDeleteKeats, I read that improper pruning and too much shade are 2 reasons why hydrangeas don’t bloom. I keep the soil moist, fertilize once a week and cut off the flower head as soon as it is drying up and wilting. My plant is placed in an area with bright shade.
Milka, my pussy willow, azaleas and kalanchoes are still blooming now, buds opening and some new green shoots have sprouted. The cool weather in December 2010 helped a lot to lengthen the lives of my temperate plants. My citrus limes are still hanging on the tree and only a few limes have dropped off after ripening and despite the current rain and thunstorms.
One, yes, you are so observant. I like your petticoat remark.
Darla, it is called a Psyche butterfly from the Greek legend of Cupid and Psyche.
Rainfield, blooming flowers make me happy.
Lotusleaf, they don’t usually sell torch ginger plants in nurseries here too. I got mine from my brother’s neighbour in Ipoh.
Sunray, Gardening in a Sandbox, Lavender Cottage, welcome to My Nice Garden and thank you very much for the nice comments.
Debbie, Plant Postings, GWGT, Heather at Dusty Bay, Theanne, thank you very much for your visits and comments. I appreciate it very much.
P3Chandan, terima kasih!
Fer, my pineapple plant is grown from a store bought one.
Patty, the pictures are taken between 16 Jan and 15 Feb 2011. All the plants are still in bloom on posting date. Actually there are more, but these are all I can show due to space and time limitations.
Bangchik, thanks for confirming the name. The leaves of the bitter gourd are beautiful.
Carol, you are so observant and yes, you are right about the butterfly.
Melanie, the pretty orange flower is lantana. It attracts lots of butterflies to my garden.
Andrea, good luck with your pineapple and hoya. Thanks for info on bitter gourd. The bitter gourd is very skinny and doesn’t look good at the moment.
Kitchen flavours, it is my mistake that I didn’t transfer the bitter gourd plant to a better location as currently it is trespassing on my daun keledek (sweet potato leaves) plant, also almost soffocated by the kangkong.
Malar, we only get to see real pussy willow plants during the Chinese New Year season.
Jacqueline, the bunga kantan is our native plant, hence it is very easy to grow on the ground. It need a lot of space, grows prolifically and some people find the clump too big to handle. I have to cut off the branches regularly to control its growth. I don’t think it will flower well if grown in a container.
Bom, C. woodsonii is very popular here this year.
Bananaz, tseh-tseh!
Rosey, it may sound odd, but pussy willow reminds me of my grandma too. Having pussy willows during new year is a tradition handed down from the older generations in my family.
Jama, you are always welcome to my garden in Malaysia to take photos. I shall be very honoured as you are an excellent photographer.
Jean, thank you very much for dropping by despite your very busy schedule. That was so sweet of you!
I am so glad my Feb 2011 garden is doing okay. Thanks everyone for you’re your encouragement and advice.
I am so sorry to have missed this post on the actual week...but I am here ...tardy but here....thanks for linking in this post...I hope you will link in again soon!
ReplyDeleteDelightful!
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, I'm sorry I left out the second part of your question. About the poinsettia, the red coloured leaves are leftovers from Christmas season. Maybe the red leaves are turning yellow due to aging, hence the purplish tinge. All new shoots are green in colour.
ReplyDeleteTootsie, you are always welcome here no matter how late you are. As for FF, I am already your faithful weekly follower, lol.
ReplyDeleteAsha, thanks for the visit and comments. You are so sweet!