White Angel’s Trumpet

 

Colour of white

An appearance of purity

They are hanging there

Dancing

Rocking

Blown by morning breeze

Brugmansia candida

What a beautiful name

The pretty angel

But beneath its beauty

Something sinister is hidden

Poison is flowing

Dangerous

Deadly…..

 

 

 

Thoughts:

 

The angel’s trumpet plant on the side of my house is blooming. From my window I can see the large white pendulous bell flowers dance following the rhythm of morning breeze. Who has ever thought that such beautiful flowers contain deadly poison? It is not only the flowers that are poisonous, but every parts of the plant are deadly.

 

I adore flowers and very often I compare them with human and mostly women. So many flowers out there. They have different look and different traits and personality. So have women. What kind of women portrays the look and characteristics of Brugmansia candida? Pretty on the outside but nasty on the inside…….

 

Have you known a woman who is sweet and friendly in front of you, but nasty behind you? This type of women enjoys gossips and cruel innuendos. They enjoy talking to everyone. Behind the friendliness, they are vindictive and envious. To get what they want, they will do everything, even if it means hurting other people. They are tricky, deceitful and dishonest.

 

Oh, pretty Angel’s trumpet blooms, I still see you gently dance out there, blown by the morning breeze………………

Our Garden History

Our house is an old weatherboard house which is well over fifty years old. In the past the garden was very basic with untidy lawn that had several fruit trees such as apple, pear. apricot and plum which was a very common garden style in 1940s. Along the driveway there were five massive trees; a camphor laurel, a soft bark gum tree, an English oak and a twin needle- pine trees on each side of the carport entrance. While the back yard had nothing but an old clothesline and overgrown grass and weeds.

The top images: Front Garden and Drive Way. Bottom images: Back garden.

 

 

 

The first project that we did was in the back yard. In 1993 we made a tiny rock garden which nestled in one corner of our small back yard. We bought the rocks somewhere near Werribee. This way we could buy straight from the owner who had dug up the rocks from their property, and it was much cheaper.

The real progress of making the front garden only started in 1998 after we cut all the huge trees along the drive way and most of the diseased old fruit trees. Without these trees the other plants in the garden will enjoy more sunlight and more of the scarce rain water. We made a new garden bed along the footpath. After digging up all the grass, we mixed the existed soil with topsoil and compost. We planted many new plants. Slowly our garden was transformed from a boring suburban garden into a colourful and well trim display of plants and flowers.

The Art Of Bonsai

WHAT IS A BONSAI

Bonsai is a miniature tree. It is kept small by planting it in a shallow pot and by regular trimming of the roots, branches and new growth.

 

HISTORY

Chinese first began to transplant naturally dwarf trees from mountain and cliff terrains into ornamental containers, as early as the Han Dynasty in 206 BC. However, it was the Japanese who perfected the art of cultivating bonsai plants. Bonsai itself means a dwarf tree in a pot.

 

BONSAI STYLES

The most common styles are:

• Formal upright: Straight trunk with evenly spread branches.
• Informal upright: The trunk is not perfectly straight which has unevenbranches.
• Slanted: The main trunk grows slightly bending sideway.
• Semi Cascade: The tree grows cascading down to the side of the pot. The pot usually is high (not flat).
• Cascade: The cascade is lower than the height of the pot.
• Roots over rock: The roots of the tree are exposed and they clasp tightly around the surface of a rock.
• Group planting (Sakai): More than one plant are grown in one pot, usually are in odd numbers.

 

THE SUITABLE PLANTS

Basically almost all plants which are suitable for bonsai     

can be grown in Australia. For those from cooler

climate, the trees need protection from summer heat

and for tropical plants, they will need protection from

frost.

 

 

Plant examples commonly used for bonsai are:

• Maples : Trident maple, Japanese maple
• Ficus: Choose those with smaller leaves like for example F binjamina, F benghalensis
• Azalea: A kurume, A satzuke
• Conifers: pines, spruce, junipers
• Elms: Chinese elm, English elm
• Oaks
• Birch
• Cotton-easter
• Lilli pilli

 

CARING FOR A BONSAI

 

Like any other trees, a bonsai needs water, nutrients and sunlight to survive. All bonsai plants have to be kept outdoor preferably in the position where they receive morning sun. Caring for bonsai trees will include all these procedures:

• Training: A good bonsai will have a certain look and it is achieved by shaping the trunk and branches. Special wires in different sized are used for this purpose. Deciduous trees should be wired after the leaves have matured and the wires have to be removed in autumn to avoid damage to the bark.
• Feeding: Use a weak liquid organic fertilizer at the intervals of two weeks during spring and summer. Solid organic fertilizer may also be used.
• Pruning/Trimming: It is done to create and preserve a desired shape. It makes leaves grow smaller and compact. Heavy pruning is done in autumn, winter or early spring. While general pruning is done through out the growing season, by cutting back new growth.
• Repotting: Generally it is done yearly, every two or three years late winter or early spring. For an easy guide, lift the plant from the pot and inspect the root once a year. A pot of the same size or slightly larger should be used. Root ball has to be loosened and it has to be trimmed to get rid of the excess. Repotting is done by always using fresh bonsai soil.
• Watering: In summer, the watering is done at least once a day. In the winter, it will depend on the dryness of the soil. Avoid watering in the heat of the day.

 

I’ve found that growing bonsai trees is relaxing and it teaches you patience. Bonsai also makes you learn that “GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL SIZES”

Chrysanthemum, The Mother’s Day Flower

I’m not sure about anywhere else, but in Australia Chrysanthemums are Mother’s day Flower (Mother’s day in Australia in the 2nd Sunday of May). My husband and son always give me potted Chrysanthemum flowers for Mother’s Day. I prefer the living chrysanthemums. This way I can stick them somewhere in the garden when they have finished flowering. I have a patch chrysanthemums plants that always flower every year.

Traditionally, white chrysanthemums are used for Mother’s Day presents. But for me I love the colourful ones. I’m not sure why they use chrysanthemums as Mother’s Day flowers, but I think because Mother’s Day is in May and during this month Chrysanthemums are in season, they are abundant and cheap. Maybe it is also because Chrysanthemums are long last thing flowers both in the garden and in flower arrangements.

Plant Details:

The botanic name is Dendranthema x grandiflora. There are about 40 species of chrysanthemums, mostly are from China, Japan and East Asia. Some are single petals, some double and the rare ones are so exotic and large they resemble a pompom, and some are spider shaped. To day many hybrids have been produced with magnificent brilliant shades of red, pink, salmon, yellow, orange, bronze and green. The sheer beauty and versatility of these flowers are the reason why the Chinese people have been growing them for 2,500 year. Chrysanthemums are also known as the national flower of Japan.

Planting guide:

The easiest and cheap way is to buy Chrysanthemums in pot and make sure when you buy them they have roots. You can check underneath the pot to see of there are some roots poking out through the drainage holes.

When the potted chrysanthemum has finish flowering, pick a sunny spot in the garden with reasonably rich and well drain soil. The best is you add compost into the soil. Take the plant out of the pot and plunge it into a hole that is slightly larger than the size of the pot. Cover it with soil and add more compost on the top. It will die down, but if alive, it will promise you more flowers each year when they are in season. They are hardy, even during the draught. What they need when they started to grow is a little bit of complete fertilizer. If you prefer short compact bush, then pinch the top when they start to grow leaves in December (in Australia). After few years, you can dig up the plants and divide them. They are very easy to grow and practically disease free.

 

Usage:

• Flower arrangement: long lasting and provide many different sizes, shapes and colour. Today, the flowers are available all year around as they are hybridized and cultivated in green houses. Naturally they flower in late summer through autumn.
• Chrysanthemum tea. It is made from the species called Chrysanthemum morifolium or indicum. It is a popular beverage in East Asia. The tea is available in dry form or in powder. The dried flowers are brewed in a teapot or in a cup with a bit of rock sugar, normal sugar or honey. The hot water is perfect around 90 degrees C or slightly cooled after boiling. It is believed that Chrysanthemum tea has a cooling effect in a hot day.
• Medicinal purposes: It helps to relieve symptoms of influenza. Also used for sore throat and to reduce fever. Some believe the tea is good for alertness to keep you from falling asleep. In western herbal medicine it is used to treat circulatory disorders like varicose veins and atherosclerosis. The tea is also good to keep healthy eyes with sharp vision and treat dry eyes. 
• Natural Insect Repellent: White Chrysanthemum Tanacetum cinerarriaefolium flowers produce a natural insecticide called pyrethrum. It provides safe fast acting insecticide to kill most insect pests. Non toxic to human and warm blooded animals and easy to break down in sunlight to prevent build up in environment.

Note: It has been very dry here in Melbourne this summer, so I’m not really confident that the chrysanthemums in my garden will have good flowers this year, and currently we are under 3A water restrictions here. There was a good rain last night after almost 3 months without any rain. Hopefully there will be much more rains so that they will bear reaonably good flowers this year.

A Rose for World Peace

When my Peace rose blooms profusely in Spring this year, I was really captivated by it’s beauty. Then I started to wonder why they named this particular rose “Peace”? Was it to remind us of peace? Then later on I looked for the answer online. How perfect is the name for such beautiful flowers with the softest colour blend. 

For those who like roses, should grow a Hybrid Tea Rose called “Peace”. With the cultivar name Rosa “Mme A. Meilland”, this hybrid tea rose has stunningly large and beautiful flowers. The colour is light yellow and cream with a hint of pink on petal edges. It was developed by a French horticulturist  Francis Meilland  during the years of 1935 and 1936, by cross pollinating and grafting some rose hybrids.

When Meilland saw that Germany started to invade his country during the WW II, he sent few cuttings of this new rose to friends in United States, Turkey, Italy and Germany with the hope of preserving it. Later on when the war ended in 1945, Meilland made a special request  to a war hero Field Marshal Alan Brooke to use his name  for the rose. However Viscount Alanbrooke declined and suggested a better name “Peace”. Since then Rosa Mme A Meilland  has a trade name “Peace”.

Every delegation for the first meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, were given Peace roses with a note that said: “We hope the ‘Peace’ rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace”

Since then it was no doubt that Peace rose has become the most beautiful tea rose ever. It is available both in standard or climbing form.  The very large bloom was sweetly scented and it is fully double with more than 50 petals. It is disease resistance with strong and vigorous branches and has very attractive dark green leaves. The long stems will be perfect for cutting flowers

This new year of 2009 has been tainted by yet another troubles in  Gaza. Let us hope that the efforts for peace negotiation work.  To follow the purpose of the naming this historical rose, let us all remember the horrid  of all wars to mankind and let us all pray for Peace of Our World……………….

Winter Melon

 

I remember long time ago when we used to grow winter melon in the family property in Central Java. The trailing plants crept as far as they could reach and the rounded fruits, which looked like as they were excessively covered by talcum powder, were sitting there on the ground ready to pick.

 

Winter melon flesh is white and it is not sweet. They are used for cooking rather than eating fruit. Asian people cook winter melons to make soup, curry, stir-fry and some preserved them with sugar to make candied winter melon. But my favourite is winter melon stew! It is so refreshing and cooling in a very hot day. We boil chunks of peeled melon flesh together with palm sugar and few fragrant pandan leaves. We let it cool and we serve it with ice cubes as at that time we didn’t have a refrigerator.

 

    

Winter melon (Benincasa hispida) is also known as white gourd, ash gourd, wax gourd or fussy melon in English. In Indonesia people call it beligo. It is a vein that has strong tendrils and when the fruits are young they are furry. But as soon as they have started to mature, the smooth green skin is covered by white powder-like substance. In colder climate countries like China, they use these long lasting mature fruits for cooking during the winter. This is why they name this versatile fruit “donggua” or “tong qua” which means winter melon.

 

Winter melons are grown from seeds. This plant needs full sun position, warm weather, rich soil and good watering. The pollination is depended on insects. Many people prefer to let the vine grow on the ground but the others built trellises for the plants to climb on. In this case the trellis has to be strong as the fruits can grow quite large.

 

When I was small girl, one of my aunties used to make candied winter melon. In Indonesia we call it Tang Kue. After cutting the melon flesh into identical strips, she would soak these white bland tasted melon peices in ash (or lime) solution to harden them. Then they had to be blanched in boiling water to get rid of the traces of ash/lime. After all these were done, they were boiled in ‘sugar and water mix’ until the sugar crystalized and the melon pieces were well coated. The result was this snow white (crystal-like) candied winter melon that was very sweet and a little chrunchy in texture. The Chinese will serve this candied melon during the Lunar new year celebration or use it as gifts for family and friends together with the other celebration sweets.

 

………….”A sweetheart cake or wife cake is a traditional Chinese pastry made with winter melon and almond paste.
There are many classes held in Hong Kong for making sweetheart cakes. The sweetheart cake, though it has such a long history, is still popular among many in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Many people in Hong Kong, as well as professional chefs, are reportedly modifying this pastry to make it more “modern” and better-tasting

Legendary Origin:
There are two legends that attempt to explain the origins of the Sweetheart cake. One tells the tale of a couple that lived a very poor life in imperial China. They loved each other and lived in a small village.
Suddenly, a mysterious disease spread. The husband’s father became very sick. The couple spent all of their money in order to treat the man’s father, but he was still sick. The wife sold herself as a slave in exchange for money to buy medicine for her father-in-law.
and with a crispy crust. His cake became so popular that he was able to earn enough money to buy his wife back.
There is another version where the man was eating at someone’s house and recognized his wife’s pastry and was reunited……….” (Quoted from Wikipedia)

 

 

 

My Baseball Plants

More than ten years ago we went to Western Port Bay (Mornington Peninsula), Victoria Australia and we stopped at a Sunday market in small town of Hastings. There we bought  two unusual plants called Baseball Plant. The friendly man who sold the plant told us to buy two of them, the male and the female one. This way he said we would have a chance for the well rounded cacti to flower and produce some seeds. Unfortunately, up today, eventhough these plants are still alive, they never produce the valuable seeds.

What is a Baseball Plant?

Baseball Plant is also known by the name of Euphorbia obesa or Klipnoor. Originally it is from the Great Karo land in South Africa. Over collecting for many years has made this unusual plant rare on the wild and now is strictly protected.

Growing Need

(from: http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Euphorbiaceae/Euphorbia_obesa.html)

Recommended Temperature Zone:   Sunset: 4-9, 11,13-17, 31-34   USDA: 9b-10   Frost Tolerance: Hardy down to 28°F (-2°C) Minimum Avg. Temperature: 45°F (7°C) Sun Exposure: Light shade, morning sun Growth Habits: Succulent, up to 8 inches high (20 cm) Watering Needs: moderate water in Summer, keep dry in winter Propagation: Seeds, sexes are separated, so a male and a female plant are needed for the fecundation

 Cultural Practices:
This species is dormant in winter, keep it totally dry at or around 40°F (4°C).

Blooming Habits:
The tiny flowers are delicately scented. They form at the top of the plant. This species is dioecious (meaning that there are male plants and female plants).

 

When the plant is still young it is symmetrically rounded and resembles a sea urchin shell. When aged, it tends to have a longer shape. Like many other succulents and cacti, it produces milky sap that can irritate sensitive skin.

This is the picture of my Baseball Plants (over 10 years old):

Corpse Flower

 

There are things in life that we never forget. I still remember that time when a corpse flower bloomed in the middle of our sugar-cane field next to our house in Central Java. I remember vividly that day when I was still young. It was a very hot day, my older sister and I, wanted to eat sweet juicy sugarcane. We sent one of the men who worked for our parents to go to the field and cut few of the canes. Our Mom didn’t let us go to the field because sugar-cane leaves are sharp and furry, it could irritate our skin. Not very long, the old man ran back and called us to go with him. He said that we have to see the corpse flower.

There it was, standing big and tall among the sugarcane plants. A strange flower that I had never seen before in my life…. And the smell was nauseating, worse than a dead rat.

 What is exactly this strange flower?

Corpse Flower or in Indonesian Bunga Bangkai (bunga = flower, bangkai = corpse) is known botanically by the name of Amorphophallus Titanum or Titan Arum. It is related to calla lili, arum lili and philodendron. This plant was discovered for the first time by an Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in the island of Sumatra in1878.

Plant Descriptions:

• Plant: 6 meters high (19,d ft)
• Flower: Up to 2.9 meters (12 ft)
• Leaf Canopy: 4.5 wide (14.6 ft)
• Tuber: up to 100 kilograms (220,5 pounds)

This plant has 2 phases of life which occurs one after the other alternately: Vegetative (Dormant) Phase and Generative (Productive) Phase. During the generative phase, a single trunk with large leaves will grow. After a certain time/years, the plant will die off and enters a vegetative (dormant) stage where the giant tuber remains under the ground. If the tuber gets enough nutrition and water combined with right condition, in the next generative phase it will grow a massive flower. After the flower wilted away only after 3 days full bloom, the leaf buds start to grow. The tuber produces only one leaf at a time.

The colour of the flower is somehow mimics the colour of fresh dark red meat. It is always opens during the night and it will increase in temperature. The heat of the flower will cause it to steam and spread the foul rotting flesh smell to attract insect to the flower and help with the pollination. When the pollination occurs, it will produce small red fruits with seeds.

 During my childhood many times I saw Titan Arums grew around our large property, but they were only the trunk and the leaves. It was an odd plant that had a soft green trunk with whitish grey irregular mottles. In our childish imagination it resembled a snake so my sister and I nicknamed the plant snake food tree. It was only one time in our life that we saw the flower, and it was on that hot day when we saw it there in the middle of the sugar-cane bush.

Titan Arum Trees at Bonn Botanic Garden

Edit - Thursday July 15, 2010:

I was so surprised that today this old blog is coming up the first on my Top Posts list…. and I also noticed a related post:

Rare, really smelly Sumatran “Corpse Flower” to bloom at Houston museum: http://www.gadling.com/2010/07/13/rare-really-smelly-sumatran-corpse-flower-to-bloom-at-houston?icid=sphere_wpcom_inline/

After reading about the Titan arum that is now blooming in Houston, Texas….. My reaction was “OH NO!” I don’t know if I have to be happy or horrified. They nickname the flower ‘LOIS’. How could this be? I know it is just a coincidence… but Lois is my name not a very smelly flower! He, he, he………

Smelly King Of Fruit

Smelly King Of Fruit

Will you eat fruit that taste like heaven, but smells so disgusting? For those that not familiar with this fruit, will think the smell is like over ripe cheese, unwashed stinky socks, or uncollected garbage on a hot day. The odour is overpowering it fills your house in a matter of second. So strong so it is required to be stored in a sealed container during the shipment overseas.

Durian The King Of Fruit (Durio zibethinus)

Widely known as the King of Fruit, Durian (Botanic Name: Durio zibethinus) is unique and exotic. The shape is round to oval; it can be symmetrical or unsymmetrical. It has greenish yellow to light brown in colour. The size is ranging from the size of a cantaloupe to bigger than adult human head. Durian is covered all over by sharp pointy spines, so it needs to be handled with care.

You have to open the fruit carefully along the segmented hard spiky skin (shell). If the fruit is properly ripe it is easier to split the segments. Once the shell is open, it reveals soft light yellow pulp that thickly covers a seed (pip) as big as the tip of our finger to a small egg. The smaller the seed, it is the better, because the pulp will be thicker.  It is this aromatic sweet and creamy pulp that we eat. For those who love durian like I do, will describe the fruit as sweet, creamy custard like with a very distinctive and lingering aroma. It is a taste to die for.

The Tree:  Durian trees can grow as high as 165 ft (50m), and they are commonly found in South East Asia. The tree will start to bear fruits in 4 years and it is said that if given the right condition, a durian tree will grow practically forever. Once the fruit is ripe, it can easily detach itself off the tree and fall hardly on the ground. So it is better not to sleep under the tree. The large fruit grow straight from the trunk in clusters.

Nutrition Values and Products:  Durian fruit contains a high amount of sugar, Vitamin c, potassium, amino acid and is a good source of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. In South East Asia, like in Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore, people cook durian pulp in coconut milk and palm sugar and serve it together with sticky rice. Also there are various lollies/candies, ice cream, biscuits, cakes and wafers with Durian flavour.

The biggest exporter of durians is Thailand. Although it is seasonal , this exotic  king of fruit is available all year around (frozen) in most big cities all over the world, especially in Asian or Chinese  food shops. To know if a durian is ripe is by the smell. However if you buy the imported ones usually it is quite good quality. Being kept frozen, it will reduce the aroma, but usually it will not change the taste and the sweetness.

The three of us in my family love durian (especially my son and I). People say either you like it or you hate it. But once you taste it and you like it, you’ll be hooked to the sensational taste the rest of your life. Some people also believe that eating durian will increase body temperature and it is also regarded as aphrodisiac. It is advisable for pregnant women and those suffer from high blood pressure to avoid eating this fruit.

Tuberose

  

After I posted an entry about Jasmine flower sometime ago, I’m thinking about another white flower with beautiful lingering fragrance. I grow them in my garden, very hardy and easy to grow.

Besides jasmine, tuberose  is another flower that releases beautiful perfume, especially in the night time. In my area around Melbourne (Australia), it is usually flowering around late summer to autumn. It is very surprising that this year, mine  flowered in the middle of winter …even though the quality was inferior.

Pure white petals… can be single or double grow on long slender stems. They have a tinge of pink in buds but they will be pure white when open. The perfume is released during the evening and night time. This is why some different languages share the same meaning for naming this elegant flower which all mean: “night fragrant”. In Indonesia people call it “Sedap Malam”, while in in Hindi it is Rajnigandha. In Bangladesh it is called Rojoni Gondha. Part of South India it is Sugandaraja which has a slightly different meaning – king of fragrance. In Persia they call this flower Maryam which is also a very common lady’s name. While Singaporeans express this flower in a strange way…. they name the flower xinxiao which means where the moths sit. 

Tuberose perfume is too overpowering compared with jasmine. Some people don’t like it, and it includes my husband. He can’t stand to have these flowers inside the house as it gives him a shocking headache. Described as having a heavy sweet floral with a touch of spice, tuberose are perfect for the making of fine perfume, incense, soap or floral arrangements.

About the plant:  

Tuberose has a botanical name: Polieanthes tuberosa. The bulbs grow into long and slender bright green leaves which are clumping together.

 

Planting:

• Full sun position

• Rich and well-drain soil

• The clumping bulbs can be separated into smaller clumps and should be grown 5 – 7 cm ( 2-3 inches) under the ground and  20 – 25 cm (8 – 10 inches apart).

• Although it tolerates drought, it needs good watering during the growing season to flower well.

• Complete fertilizer combined with diluted  fish/seaweed extract are good to use.

• After finish flowering cut the long stems off but it is better to leave the leaves for photosynthesis purposes to nourish the bulbs.

• In warm climate, you can leave the bulbs under the ground after flowering. For those in zone 8 or colder, it is better to lift the bulbs off the ground before frost. Air dried for several days and then keep them in paper bags with a bit of peatmoss until the next planting time in spring.

• It is also possible to grow them in pots and the benefit is that you will be able to move them around to get as much sunlight as possible and to avoid frost.

Tuberose is very easy to grow and the flowers will fragrance your courtyard with lingering amorous perfume through the night…or if you like, just few stems of them will surely perfume the whole house when the evening comes.