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It is easy to understand why the blooms of Strophanthus preussii are called medusa flowers. They have long appendages that can look pretty scarry at times. When wind blows really hard, they tend to tangle up, hehe...
I like to see the climber flowering in great profusion so that I could see some older flowers in pale yellow and the newer ones in white altogether at one time.
Do you grow this medusa flower? Do you find the scent strong too? On several occasions, I sniffed a really strong fragrance coming from this patch and wondered if it could be from these flowers.
Shortly after that, my Gardenia jasminoides (right species name?) made its debut in my garden with this big bloom... yay :-D I think this bloom is even bigger than the bloom that came with the plant when I purchased it last year. The scent was really strong but sweet at the same time.
I was there some years ago and the sky was as cloudy and it was a rather cold summer. I was even caught in the rain while catching a bus (a double decker!) with my sister and mother and a friend. We were wet and feeling really cold after that. Still, we laughed at ourselves doing things that we don't normally do back home. And we had the heartiest laugh when my friend had some bird's pooh landing on her while we were taking photographs at Trafalgar Square!
Though it was a run into town, we enjoyed its many majestic monuments and the Rose Garden :-D
Now back to my little garden...
I was greeted by a little white bloom from my little capsicum plant and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it to pollinate successfully first. It is no better time to fruit than now as the temperature is cooler nowadays due to the rainy weather. Secondly, I'm hoping the flower would not disappear the next day like what happened to my okra plant. The flower and leaves are all gone now. Perhaps eaten by some creatures in my garden :-(
I have been searching for a good kind of Salvia to grow but still haven't found one that will last though. This one, Salvia coccinea, has little blooms (red in actual colour) and I am particularly fond of the how brilliant the tiny flowers can be and how they just keep appearing non-stop.
Also, it is quite fascinating to see how the spike of flower grow out from the orchid - strong and long :-D
While the blooms are outstanding, bright and prolific, this orchid has actually not bloomed for about 12 months or so... what a long wait! Could it be the fertiliser, I wonder?
I have been feeding the orchid with balanced liquid fertiliser once a week for about a year now. I used to apply fish fertiliser and fertiliser specially made for orchids but when the stock has finished I discontinued - I think they all give the same result. Long wait that is!!
What's your experience with aranda orchids?
The Adenium obesum is just as charming this time round. There are plenty of flowers on the shrub...
Not everything is rosy though. One of my Hoya kerrii vines is withering (must have over-watered it!). I chopped the vine to pieces and hopefully it will root again as there is still sap oozing out from the stems. After a week I dug out the stems to check and I was glad to see very short little roots. Then, I realised that I shouldn't have disturb the cuttings... gosh, I am keeping my fingers crossed now!
Meanwhile, my Russelia equisetiformis 'Flava' is going crazy - what a mess! But I have to just leave the plant like this for a while till I find another space/pot for this dear plant. The plant that is in front of the russelia is Euphorbia milii... glad to see its yellow bracts :-D
I have just changed the look of my strawberry pot again. Earlier I planted some coleuses. They have grown 'old' and didn't look that nice after a while. So now I have planted some succulents into the pot which include Portulacaria afra, Kalanchoe species and Graptoveria varieties (one bronze, one pale green and one dark brown).
Also in this rectangular pot...
A few other highlights in the garden... the Guzmania lingulata bloom looking radiant in the shade :-)
And my dear Iresine herbstii plants (there is a red one hiding at the back) are growing pretty well with some coleuses...
This particular marigold in the pic below (bought, not planted from seed) is amazingly strong. I thought this kind of pom pom flower doesn't hold up well. I was wrong... it lasted for weeks!
Cheers and have a great week!
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