Finally, finally...
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
I was so happy to have spotted a little bunch of blooms on my Petrea volubilis (commonly called Sandpaper Vine) last week. It was the vine's first blooms! They are not scented but look superbly delicate in blue and violet :-)
Earlier, I almost wanted to give this vine away but I am so glad I didn't. The plant was propagated using a stem cutting about five years ago and never flowered until now!
Hope you can spot the small bunch of light purple flowers from the pic below. It is on the left (hint: don't look at the Aranda orchid!). The vine is currently planted in a medium-sized pot and supported by two inverted U-shaped bamboo.
And here are plants that have 'resurrected'...
First of all is the Verbena, a Superbena. The plant shrunk in size, to a small little bush during the prolonged rain. When I repotted it earlier, I notice it was left with very little roots as well. I am surprised to see it able to bounce back and now blooming again!
My Justicia fulvicoma is also re-blooming. Its small spike of red bracts and orange flowers are surprisingly striking and showy.
Also my Hoya publicalyx's old flower stalk is re-blooming as well. It has re-flowered continuously since its blooms first appeared. Shortly after the old flowers have spent/dropped, new buds are starting to form now...
Meanwhile, the Hoya kerrii that I was trying to 'revive' is slowly turning green again - a promising sign but I am still keeping my fingers crossed.
Btw I was nominated for an award from Bernie of Bush Bernie's Blog. A veteran gardener who grows many types of plants in her wonderful garden. All her plants are always in incredibly good conditions.
Thanks Bernie! :-D
Here are the rules upon accepting The Versatile Blogger award:
- Thank the person who gave you the award.
- Include a link to their blog.
- Select 15 bloggers that you follow or have just discovered who you would consider fit the bill of a 'versatile' blogger.
- Tell 7 random facts about yourself.
- Include this set of rules in your post.
- Inform each of your nominated bloggers of their nomination.
1. Malar of My Little Garden. Although she has little spare time, she still managed to grow many beautiful ornamental plants as well as edibles (herbs and vegetables) in her garden.
2. James of Garden Chronicles. A person who grows as many plants as he could in a small garden. Exactly like me, haha... And he really knows all his plants really well.
3. Diane AZ of Desert Colors. An excellent photographer who knows and grows many plants herself. I love to check out the many wonderful pics she snapped and posted in her blog.
4. Rohrerbot of Las Aventuras. I enjoy seeing and knowing the diversity of flora and fauna in his posts.
5. Brad of Here to Ann Arbor. I love the dishes he cooks for the many festivals and celebration he plays host to.
6. Mia of Mias Hageliv. She lives in a place that has really cold winter. I am amazed by how she could turn her garden into a thing of beauty during spring and summer... in such a short time.
7. Gudrun of Gudruns Keramik. She makes really good ceramic pieces, mostly using heart-shape motive and I love her pretty and tidy garden.
8. Bom of Plant Chaser. His collection of tillandsias etc and knowledge in plants amazes me.
9. Wendy of Greenish Thumb. She is one busy bee, grows beautiful plants, cooks many delicious food from scratch and has pretty daughters.
10. Diana of Kebun Malay-Kadazan Girls. She grows a vast variety of vegetable in her garden. And all her vegetables are of supermarket quality!
11. Orkid La of Orkidla. A blogger with enormous passion in cultivating orchids.
12. Catmint of Diary of a Suburban Gardener. Not only gardens a lot but reads a lot as well. Some of the plants that she grows in her wonderful garden are really interesting and which I have not seen in real before.
13. Adam of Growing Paradise. His garden is really a paradise! He grows lots of exotic plants. In his blog, he also introduces plants that caught his attention.
14. Prospero of Serendipitous Garden. He is just not only a skilful and an artistic photographer but also a gardener with lots of wisdom.
15. Vicky Nguyen of About tree planting. I have just started to follow her blog. She has a big garden and grows lots of beautiful plants that I like :-D.
16. Lona of A Hocking Hill's Garden. She has the most beautiful roses. Her beds of flowers are outstanding and every summer she specially chooses new flowers for her garden.
17. Lrong of Potager Y @ Japan. A fantastic gardener - grows beautiful trees, flowers and edibles. His sweet wife uses the fruit of his labour in her cooking.
18. Erika of Expat Abroad. If you are new to Malaysia - an expat just moved in or visiting Malaysia for the first time, her blog has all the pertinent information for making your stay here a wonderful one.
19. Kanak of Terra Farmer. Her love for Nature and passion in gardening truly shows in her blogs.
20. Kitchen Flavours of My Little Potted Garden. A mighty gardener, baker and chef for her family and friends :-D
Special mention:
Titania of Lavender & Vanilla, J.C. of My Sunny Happy Garden, Andrea of Andrea in this Lifetime and Aaron of Aaron's Gardening Blog - though they have been nominated for the award by Bernie also, I would like to commend them for their great enthusiasm in their hobbies - more than one! Puts a lazy bump like myself to shame ;-)
Seven random facts about myself:
- Besides gardening, I also love baking and cooking...
- I love to learn new dance steps
- I love the skinny jeans that is in fashion now
- I love seafood especially crabs
- I love to watch Korean dramas
- I love coffee... cappuccino, piccolo, flat white and americano are my favourites!
- I love visiting new places
Btw I respect your time and priorities, so it is not compulsory that you need to accept this nomination like I did.
Cheers! :-D
Posts
22 comments
Steph... danke, danke for the award.... you speak too well of me... I read your post with much joy and amusement... especially the part on your liking the skinny tight jeans... I still keep my Levi's jeans which I wore in my late twenties, and I am very happy that I can fit into them...
ReplyDeleteHow nice that your sandpaper vine is finally blooming after all those years, it is very pretty! Congrats on your well-deservered award. It was fun to learn the seven random facts about you and to read about the bloggers you nominated. Thank you for including me. :)
ReplyDeleteeh, we live like a few roads apart based on the pics :P
ReplyDeleteHi Steph!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the award.
You have so much of lovely plants in your garden. :)
Here It´s raining almost every day and I go in and out and work in the garden when it dose´t rain. Not funny. Now I wan´t the sun to shine.
Well, it´s really green. :)
Wich you a great day.
Hi Steph...
ReplyDeleteThanks for nominating me. My blog is still very young and this is my first nomination and thus it is special to me :)
I also have the sandpaper vine; it is still very young so I guess I have a long time before I see any flowers.
It's fantastic to see those first ever blooms on your Sandpaper Vine. Of course mine was chopped down almost to the ground during the re-construction of our pergola and I'm going to have to be very patient until I see it bloom again. It's going to take a while.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see your Hoya coming back as well. I can't believe that pretty Verbena came back so well. Great job!
Right, now I will have to go and check out the blogs on your list that are new to me. What fun! I was keen to give you this award as I think you certainly deserve it.
Such a lovely shade of blue, the sandpaper vine. Congrats on your award!
ReplyDeletehi there.. i just stopping by and look around. all you plant i have never seen before and rare. i'm excited to explore and see more of them. sorry for my poor english
ReplyDeleteI have seen the sandpaper vine sold in the Sg.Buloh nursery and the plant was blooming that time.
ReplyDeleteIt really look beautiful with many shades of blue and purple.
Good thing you never gave up on the plant.
Congratulations for the well-deserved award.
I almost laughed when I saw what you wrote about me - having many plants as I can in a small garden like you - that is so true..
Haahaahaha..
Thanks so much for the nomination.
I had been ages I received an award.
Appreciate very much.
Congrats Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteAnd Thank you, you are so kind :D
I love that Justicia fulvicoma. I've never seen anything like it.
It's raining cats & dogs here,
Love,
Brad
Your blooms are all lovely! I really wish I have the space to grow more flower plants!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your award and thank you so much for passing it on to me! I really do appreciate it! And it is lovely to know a little more about you. Have a lovely weekend, Stephanie!
you speak/understand Korean? I'm going to have to check out piccolo and flat white. Not sure I've heard of those coffees! thanks for your kinds words about me!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely sandpaper vine. I hope to find one too. Maybe on my next trip to S. Buloh. Hope your hoya recovers nicely. Congrats on your award too.
ReplyDeleteSteph! Sorry I was a bit tied up this past week. Thank you for including my name in your list!:) I planted a sandpaper vine last year. It's certainly not a fast grower. I hope it blooms next year. Your flowers are a delight to see....
ReplyDeleteStephanie I think the Petrea is one of the most beautiful vines. 100 years ago I saw a huge one in Grafton NSW and since then I was hooked! I think you are a very diligent gardener with a lot of diverse plants, they always look fresh and perky...thank you also for kindly mentioning "Lavender and Vanilla" in your blog. I think you have also a good climate with enough rain, warmth and cool nights, perfect. My subtropics are all the time all over the place not reliable. Malaysia has also such wonderful species of Hoyas. Love them!
ReplyDeleteThat purple is so delicate; loved it! Your garden is very beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteLokking at your Petrea volubilis, I want to cry cause mine died when I was away from home for an extended period of time. Mine had thick hard trunk and was blooming profusely.
ReplyDeletecongrats at being an official versatile blogger, and thanks for passing on the award Steph. good to see the plants that have resurrected. I marvel at their resilience, and love them for it. I will keep my fingers crossed too for the hoya if it helps (although it is hard to garden and do other stuff with fingers crossed, lol) cheers, cm
ReplyDeleteLrong, gosshh you really know how to keep fit!
ReplyDeleteBernie, Titania, Stiletto, Terra Farmer, our nights are not that cool here. Even then I really wonder why mine took so long for the vine to flower... hmmm...
mat jon, oh not at all :-D
Wendy, I can only watch dubbed or subtitled ones. Btw that coffee it is piccolo latte to be exact ;-)
catmint, oopppssss hehe...
Thanksss all for your comments and support. Happy blogging!
Thank you so much for the award. I am very honoured :).
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie, is that Hoya kireii the one you planted from a single leaf? I love to have your H pubicalyx. I have 2 hoyas now and i am still on the lookout for other species.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Steph :) The verbena is really beautiful. Btw, hope to see u in skinny jeans!
ReplyDelete