Epidendrum stamfordianum

Here in Melbourne it is a rare and pretty orchid plant. The size is much smaller compared to rangy E. ibaguense (crucifix orchid). Hopefully it will grow as easy.

Anggrek Epidendrum – Pembelahan dan Anakan

Tidak menyangka kalau anggrek Epidendrum ibaguense bisa tumbuh begitu tinggi. Anggrek yang juga dinamakan anggrek salib ini (crucifix orchid) disebut sebagai anggreknya orang miskin karena dianggap sebagai anggrek liar dan kurang begitu dihargai. Cepat tumbuh tinggi dengan banyak tumbuh akar di luar pot.  

Garden Late Autumn 2017

This last month of autumn here in Melbourne, the temperature has surely dropped quite significantly. Heavy rainfalls have made the air wet and clammy. Many plants in the garden are still blooming nicely like for example the Hibiscus, but I will only take notes about two plants.

Chrysanthemum:

In Australia, Chrysanthemums are regarded as mother’s day flower. They bloom around the end of Autumn. Before, we used to have many mauve Chrysanthemum plants, but I dug them up when we painted the house and then replanted them. Since then, they did not grow very well. Not long after, some delivery men with a large truck that was parked on the drive way, had to trample the garden bed where the struggling plants grow. That was the end of most of them. I replace them with the double yellow ones and now they flower quite well. The remaining mauve ones that manage to survive only grow few blooms this year. While the old white one is also not doing very well.

Sequential Bloomers

For most flowering plants, after finish blooming the flowers and stems will be wilted, dry and fall off. It is often recommended to remove the spent flowers to encourage new growths. However, there are plants that have sequential blooms where new flowers will grow again for few times or even few more years on the same stems. For sequential bloomers, it is better to leave the flowers alone when they are spent. Not long, another flower buds will grow again, and this can happen several times or sometimes for few years. If the flower stems look dead and dry after they have flowered for multiple times, it is a sign that there they are done and then can be cut off for good.

Crucifix Orchid Seed Pods

Note and Update on Epidendrum ibaguense:

This morning when I was cutting off the spent Crucifix orchid flower stems, I noticed a couple of pods. It really is a nice surprise as the plant never had fruits before. Actually Crucifix orchid (Epidendrum ibaguense) can be readily and easily propagated by using the keikis/pups. If the plant has some seed pods, it will be a bonus, but growing the seeds will be harder and take longer time.

Easter Plants

Blood Moon April 4, 2015:

Blood Moon April 4, 2015 as seen from Melbourne. Picture source: The Age Newspaper

The third Tetrad blood moon (of the four blood moons 2014 – 2015) could be seen perfectly from Melbourne area last night April 4, 2015. When the moon was rising there were many clouds, but it was clear during the eclipse process which took around 5 hours. During the short full coverage about  11 o’clock pm, the moon looked mysteriously dark and distant, the colour was kind of copper red. So it was not blood colour at all.

People in Australia will not see another full moon eclipse again until January 31/February 1, 2018….. as we will miss the fourth Tetrad Moon completely on September 28 this year. I did not take any photos as my camera is not good for taking pictures of the stars and the moon. The picture above was from the Age Newspaper.

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Two plants in our garden are associated with Easter. Both are now blooming to remind us that Easter is approaching.

Crucifix Orchid:

Red Crucifix Orchid

Anggrek Salib – Epidendrum ibaguense

Crucifix Orchid – Epidendrum ibaguense

Sebentar lagi umat Kristen akan merayakan hari Paskah. Ada jenis anggrek yang namanya bisa dihubungkan dengan Paskah yaitu anggrek Salib – Crucifix Orchid atau yang nama Latinnya Epidendrum ibaguense. Kebetulan sekali barusan saya memisahkan anakan (keiki) anggrek salib ini dan menamamnya kembali didalam pot. Rupanya waktu dijaman dulu ketika para missionary Katholik untuk pertama kalinya melihat jenis bunga anggrek ini di Amerika Selatan, mereka mengasosiasikan bentuk bibir bunga anggrek mungil ini dengan bentuk salib. Dari sinilah nama Crucifix orchid atau Anggrek Salib masih melekat sampai sekarang.

Crucifix Orchid – Epidendrum sp.

Few years ago, a friend at work gave me cuttings of orchid plant. She did not know the name. She just said that it was very easy to grow in the garden and the flowers were red.

Only this year, the mystery orchid cuttings start to bear dark red flowers. The flowers are minute in size and grow in small clumps. Later on I identified it as Crucifix orchids as the lip of this tiny flower resembles a cross.

Crucifix orchids belong to Epidendrum sp. like for example E. radicans, cochleatum, secundum etc. They are native to Central America and South America and are usually associated with Easter, the time Jesus was crucified. This small orchid is very easy to grow in full sun position. The foliage kind of thick with white aerial roots hanging from the sprawling branches. Available in many colours from shades of yellow, pink to red.

2.14 PM:

I just finished making Elephant Ears aka. Kuping Gajah in Indonesian…. kind of thin fried biscuits with chocolate swirl pattern. I never made these before, and when I finished frying them, they did not taste as sweet as I thought they would be. Kind of bland….. what could I do? I coated them with sugar and vanilla. Now they taste crisp, sweet and beautiful to eat with a good cup of coffee.

Sugar Coated Elephant Ear Biscuits