Front Garden Update - July'09

At the front garden , a species of our local orchid seemed to be doing very well after being planted in early June just before we left for Bintulu.

Today - when it has grown big

Before - when it was just small

To the right of the front garden, the Drunken Sailor ( Quisqualis indica) meets the Blood Banana ( Musa zebrina). It appears now that the Drunken Sailor vine has twined itself to the banana stem. Interesting move.

Update on Kuching Garden

It has been a while since my last post (30/4/09). I have been very busy in May with my doctorate studies. May was my 1st semester with Asia e University where I'm taking up a doctoral study in Business Administration. This learning adventure will last for at least 4 years from now on i.e. according to plan. Thus after the 1 st semester exams I rushed back to Bintulu to spend a full month there to relax and look after the farm too. On Monday ( 29/6/09) we checked in at our house in Kuching in the evening after a 10 hours journey by road from Bintulu. Thus with the first available light the next morning I had a good look at the garden. The above picture shows the side garden with the grasses slightly higher than usual. However I was pleasantly surprised to see the Sassy Pink Heliconias showing off their long inflorescence's. Beautiful.

July- we would be here for the rest of the month. The 2nd semester will start next week and will end early August. This stint in Kuching will give me time to develop the garden further, especially the back portion.

Anyway, from today I'll do as much updates on the garden as possible.

Heliconia stricta

Last week while in Bintulu, I spent a considerable bit of time thinning the Heliconia collection at the Heliconia Valley area. All seemed to be doing fine. They are sufficiently established now and in particular I was busy making cuttings of the Heliconia stricta. Since I was planning to go to Kuching I might as well take a couple of cuttings to be used later in Kuching . Below is shown the result of my morning's harvest. Then I used one stalk and mixed it with other flowers to make a simple composition of the day( inset right). I have now made a considerable arrangement of floral display using heliconias. For more examples see here.

I'm Blogged

Me at the Mid Hill Footpath at my eco-farm ,Bintulu. Note the Staghorn fern that grows naturally at the top right hand corner of picture.

I was lost for words. I was so honoured when Deb Peterson blogged about me. Deb is from About.com which is an online company belonging to the New York Times group. Her blog is here.

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Trailing Parasol

This is the view towards the south of my Kuching garden. A few months ago I started to plant the Cup and Saucer ( Holmekioldia sanguinea) by the south fence. On this trip back to Kuching

I was surprised by the stunning display of the Cup and Saucer colourful bracts . It has now somewhat fully established itself and begin trailing the fence. Now my idea of having bright orange to red colours all day long to decorate the fence is achieved. In full sun the parasol-like calyxes will grow fast especially having the fence as support. In some quarters the Cup and Saucer plant is called the 'Chinese Hat' which is also quite appropriate but where is the Dragon Girl?