My Year End Awards

My post today is dedicated to Nell Jean of Secrets of a Seed Scaterrer, my first commenter of my previous post, Mussaenda philippica 'Queen Sirikit'. Reading her posts always put a smile in my face. She is a great writer, photographer and presenter. She also has a great sense of humour.

Christmas came early for me. I am looking forward to enjoy the spirit of the season with my blotanical friends around the world. Hey, I have received some presents already! I have just been given an Honest Scrap award by James Missier of Garden Chronicles when more presents arrived. These are prized possessions given by my blogger friends from Blotanical which I will treasure and display at my sidebar.

1. On 22 Nov 09, My Nice Garden (MNG) has received a second Honest Scrap Award from Babara_elaine of Gardening in Mannheim, Germany. Her post is titled, "Proud to be an Honest Scrap. "

2. On 23 Nov 09, MNG received a Best Blog Award from LeSan of Blue Gate Gardens. Her post is titled, "The Red Carpet Needs Shampooing".


3. On 27 Nov 09, MNG received a Best Blog Award from Wendy of Greenish Thumb. Her post is titled, "....... why someone would consider this blog "best".

I would like to thank Babara, LeSan and Wendy for having me in mind when giving out the awards. It feels great to be appreciated. Here's what I need to do:

Duty 1: Brag about the award.
Duty 2: Link back to the originator of the award
Duty 3: Write ten honest things about yourself
Duty 4: Pass on the award to 10 fellow bloggers you admire.

Duty 1 & 2 - already done.

Now, the 10 honest things about me:

1. I have never seen snow in my whole life. Rosey Pollen of Dung Hoe has taught me how to put virtual snow in my blog.

2. Neither have I even seen a real apple, peach, orange or cherry tree.

3. When I was little, I wished that someone will give me an autumn maple leaf of which I will keep in the story book I am reading as a bookmark. I thought all maple leafs came from Canada. That was until it saw real maple leaves in Korea.

4. I just learnt what is an advent wreath for Christmas from Babara_elaine and Diana of Elephant's Eye's recent posts.

5. I just learnt what is a christmas pickle ornament from reading Wendy of Greenish Thumb post today. Now I know its significance. Before that I didn't even know such a thing exists!

6. I still do not know/understand what is the 'allotment' that gardeners in the US talk about.

7. I felt funny when I received my first virtual hug from blotanists. I felt even more weird when I go overseas and get hugged by strangers. Hugging is not commonly done here, maybe because Malaysia is so hot and humid, so everyone is sweating (just joking). Now, I think virtual hugs are fun, friendly and nice.

(8-10 is how I learnt a lot from bloggers who comment on my blog).

8. I recently saved MNG from disappearing by using a test blog to practise my HTML kungfu. Thanks to Joanne. You see, I did my stunts, rehersals and auditions using a test blog. When I took too many chances, with many changes, my test blog was quarantined by google as a spam blog for more than a week.

9. It is only recently after my first scare (no. 8) that I learnt how important it is to backup my blog regularly. This I learnt from Diana (Voice in the Garden). Diana commented on my post and taught me how to do it. Her most recent post today talks about the Best Blog Award. Do check out this factual and very interesting read.

10. I learnt how to backup my blog, template, sign artistically at the end of every post from Jacqueline. I even learnt the code for typing copyright symbol on my photos. Join me in tutorial class at Jacq's Blogger Tips. Jacqueline is a newbie blotanist at John & Jacq's Garden. She has detailed classification of many plants which I find very useful.

I'm sure almost all of us have received such awards already which makes it meaningless to give out to them again. Moreover, why give headaches and what some call a double whammy? I spent a few days doing this post which took a lot of my time. Now, as we are nearing the end of the year, I'd like to take this opportunity to give my awards to everyone who has touched my life in one way or another.

I wish that James Missier, Babara_elaine can accept the Best Blog award from me. Wendy and LeSan already has both, I think. Otherwise, I'd like to give the Honest Scrap award to them.

I wish to thank all my friends in the Followers List here at the sidebar, all who have faved me at blotanical and also those who came and took time to comment on my silly posts.

a) Commenters who regularly dropped by and they are my main source of inspiration and motivation
b) Commenters who once in a while dropped me a line to encourage me
c) Commenters who made a special appearance to drive home an important point

Here is a list of my commenters, from my 5.5 months blogging history with 90 posts. I must confess that I have copied this idea shamelessly from my blotanist friend, Tatyana of My Secret Garden.

1. A Home Far Away
2. A.M.I.N.A.
3. Accidental Huswife
4. Among Trees
5. Amy
6. Andrea (Europe)
7. Andrea (Philippines)
8. Andremoller
9. Angel.Pearls
10. Anna
11. Anne
12. Anya
13. Arati
14. Awarewriter
15. Ayie
16. Azplantlady – Noelle
17. B:)
18. Babara
19. Balisha
20. Bangchik
21. Barry
22. Bay Area Tendrils Garden
23. Becky
24. Bengbeng
25. Beth
26. Beth F
27. Bettyl
28. Blossom
29. Bonnie
30. Boo-Bah
31. Bradzio
32. Bren
33. C
34. Caite
35. Calico Crazy
36. Cameron - Defining Your Home
37. Carol
38. Carolyn Ford
39. Catherine - Gardener in Progress
40. Catsynth
41. Chang Boon
42. Charlotte - Galloping Gardener
43. Cherry
44. Chubskulit
45. CIELO
46. CiNdEe
47. Cinj
48. CK Ng
49. Corner Gardener Sue
50. Crix
51. Daricia
52. Darla
53. Deborah Elliot
54. Denise
55. Diana (Voice in the Garden)
56. Diane AZ
57. Digital Flower Pictures
58. Dirt Digger - Tessa
59. Dirt Princess
60. DoanLegacy
61. Donna
62. Dot
63. Dragonfly Lady
64. Dragonfly Treasure
65. Easy Gardener
66. Ebie
67. Eden
68. Eileeninmd
69. Emokid.xd
70. Elephant's Eye - Diana
71. Erin
72. Evelyn Howard
73. Evergreen Tree
74. Evolution of a Gardener
75. Fickleinpink
76. FJL
77. FlowerLady
78. Flowers
79. Flowrgirl1
80. Flyingstars
81. Frances
82. Gail
83. Garden Frisk
84. Garden Girl
85. Garden Gnome
86. Gardenfrisk
87. GardenMom
88. GartenGrl at Cool Garden Things
89. Gittan
90. Goldcoast at bigfoot.com
91. Green Thumb
92. Gunilla
93. Heather
94. Helen - Islandgal246
95. Hootin' Annie
96. Irene
97. J Bar
98. Jackie
99. Jacob Royer
100. Jacqueline
101. Jama
102. James Missier
103. Jams O Donell
104. Jan - Thanks For 2 Day
105. Janean
106. Janie
107. Jay
108. JC
109. Jen
110. Jessica
111. Jo©o
112. Joanne
113. Joanne MV
114. Joey
115. John
116. Joops
117. Judys424
118. June
119. June Art Studio
120. Kaija
121. Kanak Hagjer
122. Karen - An Artist's Garden
123. Katarina - Roses & Stuff
124. Keats The Sunshine Girl
125. Keewee
126. Kerri
127. Kiki
128. Kilauea Pottery
129. Kilbournegrove
130. Klivengood
131. Laura Livengood Shaub
132. Laura Z
133. Leia Brown
134. Lena/isis
135. Les
136. LeSan
137. Life Ramblings
138. Life.in.the.tropics
139. Life's Journey
140. Lili11
141. Lillebeth
142. Linda
143. Linda MacDuff
144. Linda May
145. Linnea W
146. Lino Ruiu
147. Liz
148. Liz & The Professor
149. Lona - Hocking Hills Gardener
150. Loree
151. Lori
152. Lotusleaf
153. Louise
154. Lynn
155. LynnS
156. Magical Mystical Teacher
157. Manang Kim
158. Mania
159. Margaretta
160. Maria Berg
161. Maria Cecelia
162. Marice
163. Mary Delle
164. Mary/theteach
165. Maurice
166. Meems
167. Meredith
168. Mia
169. Michelle
170. Miss Daisy
171. Moa
172. Mosaicqueen
173. Mother Natures Garden
174. Mr_Subjunctive
175. Muhammad Khabbab
176. My Mother's Garden
177. Nancybond
178. Nell Jean
179. New Nork City Garden
180. Nice A
181. Nightfall00
182. Nurse Mommy
183. Pamhubbard
184. Pams English Garden
185. Patsi's 'Garden Endevors'
186. Perrenial Gardener
187. Philip
188. Photo Cache
189. Pittsgrove Farms
190. Poetic Shutterbug
191. Rainfield61
192. RainGardener
193. Rajesh CTR
194. Randi
195. Re
196. Rebecca Sweet
197. Red Studio
198. Roses & Lilacs
199. Rosey Pollen
200. Sandee
201. Sandy Carlson
202. Sandy W
203. Shadowy Steeds
204. Sharkbytes
205. Sharodindu
206. Simon Eade
207. Smiling Sally
208. Snowcatcher
209. Spotofgardening
210. Stephanie
211. Stopwatch Gardener
212. Sue
213. Sue Swift
214. Sujata
215. Sukhmandir Kaur
216. Sunny
217. Susan at Stone River
218. Sweet Bay
219. Sylvana
220. Sylvia K
221. Tabib
222. Tammie Lee
223. Tatianak
224. Tatyana
225. Teresa
226. Terra
227. Tes
228. The Explorer
229. TheUrbanFieldGuide
230. Thoughtfully Blended Hearts
231. Tootsie
232. Town Mouse
233. Urban Green
234. Villager
235. Vilt og vakkert
236. Vincent
237. VP
238. Vrtlarica
239. Wacky Mummy
240. Wendy
241. Wise Acre
242. Xinex
243. Yan

This looks like a list of names for baby boys and girls!

Hopefully, I didn't miss out anyone.

Choose your toy. Santa Claus is coming to town!

I wish to be thankful for all the little things in life that means a lot.

If I have wrote something inappropriate or hurt anyone in the process, please accept my sincere apologies:

I AM SORRY I WAS WRONG! A gazillion apologies.

To those who came into my life and inspired me,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KINDNESS!

Now this is my award to you,

A

Wonderful

And

Refreshing

Day

Mussaenda philippica 'Queen Sirikit'

Today I am going to talk about a flower of mixed parentage that has a glamorous and grand, royal name. She is the Miss Universe of Planet Mussaenda. During the winter seasons in temperate zones, you have poinsettias. Here, in Malaysia, we have the evergreen mussaendas that bloom the whole year through. However, poinsettias and mussaendas are under different family classifications.

Tada! My flower for today:

Scientific name: Mussaenda philippica 'Queen Sirikit'

Family: Rubiaceae
Common name: Queen Sirikit mussaenda or peach mussaenda
Origin: Tropical Africa and Philippines
Our local name in malay: bunga janda kaya merah muda (pink wealthy widow)

My post today is dedicated to my blogger friend from Southern California, USA, Ms Mary Delle of Secret Cottage Garden for being the first commenter of my previous post, Yellow Mussaenda Flava. Incidentally, her latest post is about my favourite flower, the night blooming cereus. It is interesting how we gardeners are connected with each other.

According to the University of Connecticut's webpage here dated 20 Nov 2009, Mussaenda philippica Queen Sirikit is a hybrid plant from work done in the Plant Science Department at Univeristy of Connecticut. 'Queen Sirikit' resulted from the backcross of the F1 hybrid, M. erythrophylla x M. philippica 'Doña Aurora', to M. philippica 'Doña Aurora'.

In layman terms, I would interpret that Mussaenda philippica Queen Sirikit (MPQS) was the love child from the following process of marriage:

Mussaenda erythrophylla (Africa) & Mussaenda phillippica (Philippines) married to produce F1 hybrid.

FI hybrid married a descendent of Mussaenda philippica to produce 'MPQS'.

Am I right? How very romantic! Peace to the world.

Mussaenda erythrophylla - Ashanti blood is a native of Africa. It has white flowers and red sepals. It looks similar to poinsettia.

Mussaenda philippica - Kahoi dalaga is a native of the Philippines. It has orange-yellow flowers and white sepals.

(Click on the links above to view the pictures from John & Jacq's Garden).

The leaves have clearly defined veins and there are hairs on both surfaces. The dimensions of the mature leaves are about 21 cm by 8 cm.

Flowers come in terminal clusters. Each small (¾ inch diameter) flower has a yellow corolla and 5 sepals which are often enlarged. These enlarged sepals are usually mistaken to be bracts. Usually sepals are green but sepals of the mussaendas can be white, pink, salmon, peach or red. The sepals of Mussaenda philippica 'Queen Sirikit' are peach in colour.

According to Michael Ferrero, a commenter on TopTropicals.com website, Mussaenda philippica 'Queen Sirikit' was named after the current Queen of Thailand to commemorate her first visit to the Philipines in the 1970's. This is the only mussaenda ever to be given a name of a person not of Filipino extraction.

The blooms lasts for extended periods. Prunning is recommended to remove dead flowers and to encourage flowering. Mussaendas trive well in our hot, sunny and humid equatorial climate with adequate rainfall. They prefer moist, well drain soil and full sun but can tolerate some shade. Mussaendas will not grow well in arid conditions. The flowers attract bees, butterflies and birds.

I have now posted 2 less common mussaendas, the Mussaenda flava which is a dwarf or smaller shrub of 3-5 ft height . Today's 'Queen Sirikit' can reach 5-10 ft.

Generally, mussaendas are classified under the Rubiaceae family and they are sometimes referred to as "Bangkok rose". These evergreen perrenial shrubs have showy blooms, the colours of which may be white, pink, salmon or red depending on the species. In Malaysia, mussaendas are grown by our municipal councils along road dividers, road shoulders and in many landscaped gardens of government departments.

In temperate zones, some gardening experts recommend planting poinsettias with mussaendas. This is because mussaendas drop their leaves and become dormant during winter while poinsettias bloom best during the cold months. Hence, they complement each other.

Acknowledgement:

1. The photographs were taken at The Secret Garden of 1-Utama - my ever grateful thanks to Dr. Francis Ng for his hard work on many species of rare plants

2. The facts are obtained from:

(i) Top tropicals.com - origin of the name

(ii) The Plant Science Department of The University of Connecticut publication - origin of the plant

(iii) Blotanist Jacqueline of John & Jacq's Garden - images of Mussaenda philippica and Mussaenda erythophylla

(iv) Book titled 'Tropical Shrubs' by Horace F. Clay, James C. Hubbard and Rick Golt - details about origin of names, plant description and propagation methods.

This is my entry for Blooming Friday, 1st Week of December. The theme this week is 'The Scent of Christmas'. Mussaendas looks like poinsettias. Maybe this is our equatorial version of Christmas flowers. 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.

This is also my entry for Today's Flowers #69. My grateful thanks to the TF folks: Santilli, Denise, Pupo and Valkyrien for hosting Today's Flowers. To participate or view other floral displays around the world, click here.

Yellow Mussaenda Flava - Wordless Wednesday

Scientific name: Pseudomussaenda flava
Family: Rubiaceae

Synonym: Mussaenda flava, Mussaenda luteola, Mussaenda lutea, Mussaenda glabra

Common name: dwarf yellow mussaenda, white wings

Origin: Tropica Africa, Asia, Malaysia

Our local name in malay: bunga janda kaya daun puteri (wealthy widow princess leaf) or adap-adap

This post is dedicated to Ms Deborah Elliott of Deb's Garden, the first commenter of my previous post, Torch Ginger Etlingera elatior - Full Bloom.

Photographs taken by Autumn Belle at The Secret Garden of 1-Utama
Grateful thanks to Dr. Francis Ng of The Secret Garden of 1-Utama.
You can visit Dr. Francis Ng's blog here.
To view other WW posts or to participate, please click here.