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?