Saturday, June 30, 2012

Buds and Blossoms June-end

Here's what's blooming on a summery June-end. Let's begin with the buds.....

petunia
melampodium butter daisy
torenia
begonia
chrysanthemum

And the blooms... what a beautiful gift from God! What a great day to de-stress! Flower shades range from pink to yellow.

pink petunia
tiny pink medinilla
pink carnation
my favorite pink/yellow dahlia
pink/yellow begonia
butter daisy
chrysanthemum
and of course, the midnight blue torenia

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Seedlings On A Stormy Weather

It's typhoon Dindo that's causing this disturbance. The news had it earlier that northern Philippines is battered by this typhoon (storm signal no. 2). What more can we expect? It's officially typhoon season and another 20-something is coming.

huge huge storm cloud in the morning
These are my newspaper seed starter pots. You can browse Youtube for instructional videos.

...and some stem cuttings too..
But the highlight is my first batch of imported seeds - gaillardia!

woohoo..
yey..
dicotyledon
true leaves...
And then.. the torrential downpour of afternoon rain..

:-(

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Friendly Visitors

This mixed breed Shih Tzu's name is Sakura. She's very pregnant right now. Her daily routine includes knocking on my door early in the morning to get her daily ration of home-cooked meal, watching TV (she likes it though), another knock at night, rummaging around the house... and so on....

7am nap time (this early???)
very pregnant, fat lady
Saki... her nickname

Another staple in my garden is this butterfly. I don't know it's ID but it flits around everyday.

it hides amongst pentas bloom
such a very busy creature
at the dahlia bud
and back at the pentas

Monday, June 25, 2012

Other Potted Plants

Here are some of my potted plants other than the usual flowering ornamentals...

Maybe a lily?
horsetail

We often regard these two as medicinal plants..

Sabila (Aloe Vera)
sinaw-sinaw

And or course, the chili pepper...

the first flower... and then the next day.. GONE!
yey! more buds...

Friday, June 22, 2012

Miniature Houseplants

These are my "mobile" mini houseplants. I just couldn't decide where to put them. I had them all lined up at one point at the outside pane of the window facing east but I only got wilted plants when I come home at night.

purple coleus, caladium, bonsai tree, green coleus
african violet, begonia


So I put them inside where they get only plenty of room light. Well, they're kind of OK... for now.

aligned according to height




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Plant Progress

I had these mini zinnias and petunias (seed packets) bought from a store two weeks ago. These tiny seedlings do love sunbathing I guess. True leaves start to appear in just a short period and I had them transplanted last Monday :-)...... except for my petunias :-(.

mini zinnias from old home..
...to new home... looking good!
puny petunias.. two days ago I got ten seedlings, now.. only two! WHY?
After hard pruning my torenias, I think they're about to R.I.P. I hope not! Anyways, a new life seems to bring promise with these....

...presenting... the self-seeding torenia fournieri!
Yay! I got these marigolds and butter daisies from a local flower vendor's trash. He he he. Seed pods are everywhere, probably thrown away after some deadheading. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Indeed!

butter daisy last May
butter daisies now.... !!!!!!!!!!!
marigolds
neighbors.. competition is in the air.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Buds and Blossoms Mid-June

It's been two days of gloomy and typhoon-laden skies and finally the mighty sun appeared... bright and scorching. Typhoon Butchoy's still on the loose and I was a bit worried my plants would catch "flu".

Yay! Look at what I got!

Sleepy (dahlia)
Tiny (angelonia)
Plenty (medinilla)
Green stealth (hydrangea)
Yellow and ready! (chrysanthemum)

And these... my eyes told me they're gorgeous! I couldn't agree more.

Dianthus
White Mum -  Aww..  a bit sickly.
Dahlia
Rosal (Gardenia) - Sweet sweet scent!
Gumamela (Hibiscus)