A Cheerful 2015 with Gerbera

Welcome 2015!

I’m hoping that everyone will have a cheerful new year…

so I’m sharing a variety of vibrant Gerbera flowers to brighten up the first day of the year.

This year is promising for my new garden residents – the beautiful Gerbera plants.

(My long time plant buddy/dealer Fronia delivered eleven of these beauties last December 1 and an additional seven last December 9, 2014 straight from a flower farm in Davao.)

Some curious people think the blooms are made of synthetic materials because the size of the flowers are 7.5 cm to 10 cm…

I really hope the blooms will be larger after they have adapted to their new environment.

Anyway, I’m glad that the stingless bees love the vibrant flowers…

These plants have no name-tags so I decided to name them with descriptive colors.

What I like about these plants are: [1] They bloom in a variety of colors – whites, creams, yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, purples, and bi-colors (except true blues and purples);

[2] They produce pretty large flowers;

[3] They are low maintenance plants;

[4] They grow well in a tropical garden (like mine);

[5] They look good in containers as well as in flower beds;

[6] They are nice cut flowers… florists say Gerbera ranks number 5 in the most popular cut flowers;

[7]  They are perennials… that is, they bloom many times in a year;

[8] They attract birds, bees AND friends (old and new)…

Thanks for Visiting

and

Have A Prosperous New Year

My new African Violets

One of my new year’s resolution for this year is NOT to buy plants. I even warned my orchid dealer Sopronia to refrain from bringing me new varieties of orchids. However, I was unable to keep this resolution when my plant buddies (Hermie and Tasing) dropped by late afternoon last Sunday. Hermie was back from the U.S. (she was there for more than 3 months) and it was nice of her to bring me these beauties from Manila – five pretty varieties of Saintpaulia.

photo of me unwrapping my new African Violets

I didn’t mind that each small pot was unlabelled… I’ll look up their names later on the internet… Meanwhile, enjoy these beauties with me…

light pink petals

maroon colored-petals

lavender petals with purple colored-edge

purple petals

another shade of pink

Dendrobium nobile (purple)

this flower opened its fragrant petals early this morning

My grandson thought that this orchid is a “he” because its scented purple flowers  seem to have beards. In reply, I told him that it’s a distinctive look of Dendrobium nobile orchids… These showy orchid flowers could last up to 8 weeks or more (12 weeks maximum) depending on the care they’re given. (To prolong its blooms in my tropical garden, I have to transfer the plant to a safer location away from rain, direct sunlight and snails…)

P.S. – For nearly three months now, I was unable to post photos and stories due to some login issues. I told my daughter about it and she contacted Support the other day; they promptly replied and told her what to do. So, let me say thank you to Happiness Engineers of the WordPress Support Team for the help… More Power! 🙂

Purple flower

Purple is my favorite color. My eyes automatically zoom in to anything or anyone wearing this hue. Maybe that is why I noticed this plant on a rainy morning last August 6, 2011. (It’s not the first time that this plant produces flowers but every time it does, it always looks fresh.) Honestly, for five long years I still don’t even know its name but I know that my friend Tasing gave it to me.

I just put it in an area where it could get morning sunlight and partial shade. Also, I potted it with loam soil and watered it regularly, except for rainy days. I observed that its shoots grow from the base of the plant and each slender stems are about 0.5 cm in diameter. The 3 to 6 inches long stems hold patterned-leaves and purple flowers. The ovate-shaped leaves have green, greenish-gray and black markings.Meanwhile, the purple flower had a cruciform shape (that is, 4 petals are in right angles to one another) and the bloom lasted for about 2-3 days.

So if you know the name of this plant, I would really appreciate if you’ll tell me so I’ll know how to care more for it…

Mammillaria zeilmanniana

For six years, Mammillaria zeilmanniana is the most  active of my cacti when it comes to producing flowers.  It shows off 2 cm wide pinkish-purple flowers all throughout the year even when I seldom tend to it. This cactus is also commonly known as the Rose Pincushion Cactus. Coincidentally, I bought it from Rose (a succulent-dealer) last June 2005.

The body of this cactus is glossy green and full of tubercles. You need to take a closer look because the spines cover the whole plant.  The white ones are the radial spines, which are about 15 or more found on each tubercle. (Their main function is to collect moisture.) Then, there are also the four reddish-brown central spines on each tubercle — 3 straight and 1 hook. (These fend off little birds that covet its whitish-green fruits and humans.) I always watch out  for the hooks when I tend to this cactus but I guess I just couldn’t avoid them.

I’ve heard that in its natural habitat, this cactus rarely branches out. However, it is not in the case here in my garden; from a single plant, it initially produced a cluster of offsets that  became clumps later on. I say this plant is very generous that I need to re-pot it every two years.

The offsets thrive well in pots with good cactus soil (I just mix sand, loam soil and rice hulls). I put them in an open area where they get full sun exposure and lots of air. During the dry season, watering is only needed when the soil is hard to the touch. However during the wet season, I refrain to give it water for this plant is prone to rot. Overall, I like this cactus because of its purple flowers and that it is easy to care for.

Tilandsia stricta

“It’s lavender!” I exclaimed when I saw the three-petal minute flowers about 0.7 cm width of my Tillandsia stricta. It never occurred to me that the blossoms would look so dainty. I thought the tough peach things were the flowers, I realized they were just bracts.

It’s foliage has a rosette form. (See the photos. I featured the top photo in my post last June 23.) The leaves are grayish-green, needle-like, somewhat tough and leathery. What I loved about Tillandsia is that it doesn’t need soil to survive and fertilizer to flower. I attached it to a driftwood and placed it in an area where it could get sunlight and partial shade. Since it came to my garden during the wet season, I just watered it when necessary to avoid drowning

This air plant came to my garden via my friend Hermie. She found this at a garden show in Manila last June. The lady selling her this plant told her that it came from Brazil. After two months, I guess it had finally adjusted to my garden. I’m still observing its growth and habits though.

 

Torenia fourneri in bloom

double purple

hot pink on white

blushing pink on white

I got my wish granted. The other week as I was tending my orchids, I saw a single flower peeking in between the pots of Vanda teres. I was so glad for it is a hot pink variety of my Bluewings plants (Torenia fourneri). So, I immediately secured and bagged the herbaceous bluewings surrounding it. And surprise, surprise… After a couple of days, a stalk bloomed with a paler version of the hot-pink. It’s the palest pink I’ve seen so far on Torenias and I have to get closer to it to see its tint.  This species is a perennial; yet, somehow the plant manages to give surprises every now and then. Its flowers are white-plus and the plus could be a variety of hues from blue, purple and pink.

bluer and blue

just lovely flowers in bloom

blue on white

free-blooming perennial

Sopronia’s basket of flowers

Aug 2, 8AM, TUBOD — Sopronia, my orchid dealer since the 1980’s, brought me a basketful of flowering plants this morning. She drops by at my house once a month or once in two months carrying a basket of exotic or new hybrid plants from an Orchid farm in Davao. It’s sweet of her to put me in her itinerary for she travels around Mindanao, (Davao Region, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula).

This lady knows that I’m still into orchids and that I like purple, so she always brings a variety of purple flowers for me to choose from. Expectedly, hybrid Dendrobiums with colorful blooms fill the spaces on her basket for they are still in season… So lovely and pricey too… I have to restrain myself from “pure, unbridled greed”…

So aside from what I ordered from her previously (a miniature Anthurium, a mottled leaf Phalaenopsis, and a Vanda ‘Udom Gold’ ), I chose a purple variety of Dendrobium King’s Dragon as a latest addition to my collection. I’m going to be busy for the rest of the day repotting but at least I’m happy…

Care Tips for growing African Violets outdoors

1 inch width double flowers

Back in 1970’s to 1980’s, I had an African-Violets fever. I would travel for almost half a day to Camp Phillips, Bukidnon to get specimens or cultivars of Geraniums, Anthuriums and African Violets. I would buy these plants from the private gardens of Mrs. Lopez, Mrs. Male and others.

heart-shaped leaves

However, all of my African Violets (Saintpaulia) from Bukidnon suffer under my care. Most of them wilted or rot despite the  care tips I got from books or fellow plant enthusiasts. I mean, the plants were not supposed to die because they’re easy to care. Fortunately, I was able save some leaves to propagate new plants, though. For tips on how to propagate African violets, see my article on Peperomias. 

purple buds

Presently, I have 2 rosette types of semi-miniature African Violets; one has double-petal purple flowers while the other produces single-petal blooms. From the leaf cuttings, I now have 7 potted young plant, two of which are currently in bloom (see the photos).

scalloped leaf blades

So far, these are some of the things I’ve learned in cultivating these herbaceous plants outdoors. First, plant them in a sandy-loam soil. Potting them is preferable than planting them on the ground; I’ve initially used black plastic bags on young plants.Second, place them in areas where they could get enough morning sunlight. Exposure to midday sun would scorch their leaves and dry them out. Also, aphids would infest on light-deprived African violets.

semi-miniature African Violets

Third, water them regularly except on rainy days; African violets like to grow on moist soil condition. Last, these plants require a dose of complete fertilizer once a month. Plants need food too to grow strong and healthy; skipping on nourishment would often end up with disease-prone plants. So far, these are some of the things I’ve learned in cultivating these herbaceous plants outdoors.

Dendrobiums in bloom

After months of rest period, most varieties of my Dendrobium x Cattleya hybrids are in bloom this month. Most of the colorful flowers are 4 inches wide and some even have sweet-smelling scent like the Den. ‘Burana Pearl’. Their beautiful blooms are too good to keep so I’m sharing these photos.

sweetly scented flowers

multi-color flowers