Phal princess kaiulani flava

Princess kaiulani flava in bloom.

Phal violacea

Leaves a bit yellow from the strong sun but the bloom pretty as ever !

Its getting rounder

The good amount of rain and increase in humidty is good. This Bellina "chen" is giving larger and rounder blooms. Looks great against the morning sun.

Germinating seeds from dried gouji berries.

I got the fresh seeds to germinate and was curious if the dried ones will also germinate. I soaked the died gouji berries from the market overnight. Extracted the seeds and planted them like the fresh seeds. They germinated within a week.

Same but different !

All from the same seedpod but their flowers exhibit diverse characteristics.

Begonia iron cross gets new growth

I see some new growth on the old leaves which were planted several weeks ago.

 

Christmas came early

I have been wanting to grow some Phal gigantea alba for a while and was already thinking about buying them overseas when I chanced upon Julius Ng's FB post. He had some "Ta Wei"seedlings for sale at very reasonable prices. I arranged to view the plants and came back with five pots. Four gigantea alba seedlings and one Gigantea alba X Ambo flava seedling. The Phal mariae alba was tempting but I think it won't flower well in our weather.

Germination of gouji seeds

I harvested some gouji berries and decided to try and germinate some seeds. Extracted and washed, they are placed on planting mix, covered  and moistened with waterspray before being covered. I used a takeaway food container.

Phal Stephanie Chen

One quick photo before the miticide spray.  This particular seedpod has produced very diverse flowers from almost all white to white with splashes of colour, some yellow some greenish. The ones I like are those with concentric circle markings, some with bold thick yellow markings on white, others appear as fine yellow concentric markings on white.

Selfing vs Insects pollination.

Two seedpods from the Anselia Africana alba plant created by insects...  I left the blooms alone and was surprised to find these 2 seedpods developing.

This seedpod on the Paraphalaenopsis denevei is the result of the selfing done. Its growing quite nicely.

Peyote repotting ...

Finally got down to repotting the overgrown Peyotes. I couldn't find the cactus potting mix that I usually use so had to made do with my own mix. Garden soil, perlite, vermiculite and some other ready potting mix bought from the nursery. Basically I wanted something that doesn't retain too much water.

Went galaventing.....

Went galaventing to catch some autumn colours......  pretty spectacular display of colours and the weather was great. The crowd was a bit overwhelming tho....

Bulbophyllum spiesii

This one is outgrowing its pot....  I had to make an extension to accomodate the next growth. Maybe its time to divide the plant.

NOID

NOID hybrid but I love it !

Phal dragon tree eagle

This one have not flowered for a while ...  not bad at all this time.

They all fall down...

Except one.....   :)

Not quite enough for olio olio

My olive shrub...  not quite a tree yet. Slightly taller than 2m. Showing signs of fruiting attempt again.

Phal micholitzii

Flowering again after a bout of fungus attack and crown rot.

The kinky one

Vanda tricuspidata...  an old plant. Vanda specie, nice blooms and easy to grow indentifiable by the kink at the tip of the leaves..

Arrived yesterday .....

Arrived yesterday.....  6kg Be-1 , 2 kg Hb-101 ....  good to go. They should be enough for the next 12 months.

It just keep blooming !!!

Phal cornu-cervi chattalade, the blooms just keep going......

Anselia africana alba

Its flowering for the first time here. Simple plain flowers, translucent light green almost yellow. Not large in fact smaller than the non alba version. I think I prefer the non alba version with its more unusual colours and markings.

The wait begins... Tacca integrifolia

Repotted some Tacca integrifolia aka nivea, bought and brought back from the US some time ago. I tried buying seeds to germinate.... lots of seeds from different reputable vendors but non worked.  I finally found some plants on ebay and bought 3 small pots, 2 survived the trip. I separated them as they grew and produced side growths. These few are now almost ready to bloom.  I am waiting to see the flowers to confirm they are integrifolia.  The smaller pot is a side growth removed from one of the larger plants.

Its autumn....

Found a small potted maple to replace the bigger plant that didnt quite make it 2 years ago. Some nursery must be propagating them in large numbers ......  I am seeing them everywhere. Not a bad thing, they are a lot more reasonably priced. The multiple pots create insulation with layers of air in between to prevent the media from drying out too quickly in tropical weather and gives added stability.

Second bloom opens up !

I crossed the first bloom with a nice Taiwanese hybrid. Looks like a 50/50 chance of success. Thr first flower definitely looks better than the second.

Cycle of life.....

The after effects of selfing see the blooms withering as the plant channels energy towards formation of seedpods.

Begonia ironcross propagation

Squatting on the Amophophophallus pot while the plant is in dormancy. I am trying to propagate my Begonia ironcross by leaf cuttings.

Seedlings

Seedlings are grown together on a large fern bark or cork bark. I find it easier to manage them this way compared to growing them in compots or individually. Saves a lot of space too.
This batch is ready to bloom.