My Lunar New Year Garden

I was overjoyed to see this blooming Jade Plant (Crassula ovata) at my fave nursery and instantly fell in love with it. It was the only blooming Jade plant there. Now this lovely houseplant is sitting in my living room. I am learning how to grow a jade plant. I wasn't successful during my previous 2 attempts due to overwatering.


My ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) has been blooming non-stop since early January. Maybe the weather conditions (changeover from rainy to sunny) are just right now. ZZ plants love well drained soil and bright shade like near a window or under the porch. It is actually very easy to grow if water and light conditions are right. Make sure the soil is dry before you water it thoroughly again. I like to use the slow release Japanese humus as fertilizer. It is easier and faster to propagate by dividing the plants and repotting them. Growing from leaves takes a very long time. Once in a while, I will wipe off the dust from the leaves one by one, using a wet cloth or sponge and the leaves will appear shiny and glossy again. During the festive season, we will tie red ribbons and/or gold coins/ornaments on the stems to activate good chi.

I put my ZZ plants, one on each side of my main entrance door.

We can find lots of blooming kalanchoes during this season. This is a double flower type with striking pink. I am also learning to grow kalanchoes this year.

This looks like the single flower kalanchoe with bright red blooms. I am looking for a kalanchoe with yellow flowers now.

My anthuriums are pinkish white.

This is the Torenia fournieri (blue wings or wishbone flower). My brother's neighbour in Ipoh gave it to me. I started with a single blue Torenia. It had bloomed and died and disappeared from my garden with no offspring. Months later, I begin to notice baby plants near the area where I had placed my pot of Torenia plants. I had planted a blue Torenia but now I am pleasantly surprised to find some pink ones too. I have 2 colours now. Ms Neighbour did inform me that she has the blue and pink ones in her garden. When she dug out a seedling and gave it to me, she didn't know what colour the flowers will be.

Now, I am wondering how can a blue flower parent give rise to pink flower plants?

The flowers of my pineapple plant has finished blooming. This is the fruit as I photograph it today. It is not big but from my experience it is about the biggest it can get. I am growing it in a flower pot. I am extra happy whenever my pineapple plant blooms. In Hokkien dialect, pineapple is "ong lai", meaning that good luck is coming. This is the first time it blooms during the lunar new year season, so this fruit is very precious to me.

My curry leaf plant (Murraya koenigii) has also bloomed and borne fruits. Some of the fruits which had earlier dropped to the ground has given rise to a few baby plants. This is a native plant of Sri Lanka and it is easily grown in South East Asia. We grow them in our backyards for the fragrant curry leaves which is used in cooking.

Post publication update:
If you are growing this plant in the temperate climate and have written a post about it, can you please put your link to your post in a comment here?

The links are as follows:

1. Dave's Garden - plant details and comments from temperate zone gardeners

2. Cal's Plant of the Week - Cal Lemp and University of Oklahoma Department of Botany & Microbiology info website. Planting details here.

3. The Exotic Garden by Will Giles, as recommended by Andrea.

I had a pleasant surprise just as I was getting ready to start my prayers on the morning of Lichun Day, 4th Feb. I was overjoyed to see this dendrobium or dove orchid flower. It usually only blooms for one day. There were 6 flowers this time. I have written a post about this orchid here.

This is how the dendrobium looks when viewed from above.

Doesn't it look like a dove?

I have another pleasant surprise during my Lichun prayers. Blastoise, my pet tortoise has stumbled into my living room and positioned himself at the altar of my Earth God. Now he looks like those auspicious tortoise feng shui ornaments that people place at the Earth God altar.

I wonder what he is looking for?

My post today is dedicated to Andrea from the Philippines of Andrea in this Lifetime blog, the first commenter of my previous post on the "Solanum mammosum". Andrea recently used the word 'serendipity' to describe ourselves. We met as strangers in cyberspace and somehow one thing led to another. We corresponded via email and supported each other in blogging and now we are communicating like old friends. The most recent coincidence was quite stunning. She had took time off during a meeting to photograph an unusual plant called the nipple fruit and posted it in her blog. I read her post and bingo! She had just identified the plant that I had earlier drafted a post on but couldn't publish it because I didn't know its name. Is this what we called fate or Yuanfen (缘份) ?

This is my entry for the 1st Blooming Friday of February 2010. The theme this week is "something growing that makes me extra happy right now. Well, well, I am extra happy with all the blooms shown here. My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.

This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday. My grateful thanks to Tootsie at Tootsie Time for hosting Fertilizer Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, visit here.

Curry Leaf Tree

This is my curry leaf tree. I bought the sapling at the nursery near my house for 6 dollars. I planted it in a flower pot because I am not sure whether it will survive long. It is quite lean and looks small. Quite a number of times, it has been infected with pests that looked like tiny black flies. So I sprayed my homemade concoction of chilli potion on it. A friend had taught me this. While preparing the fish for cooking, do not immediately discard the inards. Instead, use it to make a solution and water it on the plants. It will make a good fertilizer. How true.

If this tree is grown from the ground, it can reach to a few meters tall. The leaves of the curry leaf tree (also called sweet neem leaves) are very fragrant and can be used in many asian dishes e.g. curry laksa, kam heong lala & crabs (or spicy clams, and crabs), etc. Yummy! Yummy!

However, dried curry leaves is not as fragrant as fresh curry leaves, hence the dishes will also taste different, i.e. without the 'kick' or 'oomph'!

My curry leaf tree has started to bear flowers. Its tiny white flowers are also very fragrant.

Scientific name: Murraya koenigii

Family: Rutaceae

Common name: Karivepallai, Kadipalla

Malay name: Daun Kari (malay)

Origin: Sri Lanka

My curry leaf tree has started to bear fruits and what a great surprise! I feel so rewarded. Look at the tiny green berries. It will turn to pale yellow, then to reddish brown and finally deep purple. The colour change process somewhat resembles the chilies that grandma used to plant in her pots. I was very tempted to try eating these ripe berries. However, I was told that the seeds are poisonous, so I didn't take the chance.

Propagation is by cuttings, seeds or suckers that grow from the grown. We can also buy the saplings from nurseries.