theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: June 2015
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html
Your cactus is flowering, it must be under stress. A friend said. I looked up at the tall blue green column and holy moly there were about 20 buds. On it There were a couple of buds on the other column last week but I was dissapointed not to have seen it become a flower. Maybe it blooms at night, it suddenly registered, and there it was a huge white bloom when I rushed outside to check. Do cacti flower under stress? Hence its ubiquity in most gardens in this city. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). The recent S...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: Blooming Stress
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2015/06/blooming-stress.html
Your cactus is flowering, it must be under stress. A friend said. I looked up at the tall blue green column and holy moly there were about 20 buds. On it There were a couple of buds on the other column last week but I was dissapointed not to have seen it become a flower. Maybe it blooms at night, it suddenly registered, and there it was a huge white bloom when I rushed outside to check. Do cacti flower under stress? Hence its ubiquity in most gardens in this city. Cracking Tropical Garden Design. The rec...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: October 2013
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html
I have yet another 'section' in my garden that has endured a shuffling and reshuffling of items, starting life as a repository for 'undecideds' whilst I tinkered with the other sections. Gradually though an idea of sorts emerged and it is now my White Corner. It is literally a two sided corner with its main idea initiated by plants that I've inherited from my Dad's garden which include a white Jessamine. And an assortment of white vareigated foliage plants. Pictured left, Clerodendrum Calamitosum. The ot...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: June 2014
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html
In the last few years of living in New York City I tried consciously to eat more seasonally which was all well and good in the summer months but as the seasons progressed into the colder months the selection would inevitably thin to root vegetables and apples. I ate a lot of apples. But then I did love going down to the farmers market at Union square and filling up my backpack with them. With their more complex tangy flavors and hard crunch. There is however a kind of substitute in Malay apples or Water ...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: January 2015
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html
My dad called these Lightning Orchids, which I've discovered is not correct, the plant is Dendrobium Crumanatum. The decision to go for a color palette. With warm sunset accents in the Gravel Garden. Developed along a few lines. One was how well those colors look with the many succulents I have here. Another is how it pairs with all the concrete and gravel mulch and terracota that dominates the hardscape. It also makes sense that it is in the same spectrum as the berries of the Ficus Deltoides. I've had ...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: May 2014
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2014_05_01_archive.html
Its amazing how a few small changes can substantially change the look of a garden. A few new acquisitions for the Dark Verandah. Have done exactly that. Last saturday on my usual hunt at the farmers market, I found not one but two chocolate colored coleus. Week after week this one vendor would have coleus but always in brighter colors of reds and pinks, then this week he had these two - a ruffled chocolate edge one. And one with chocolate splashes. A while ago, I visited Tanjung Piai,. Where there is a c...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: November 2013
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html
Not all the trees fruit each time, this year the D24 is really good and there's a classic local or kampung variety that I really like -small fruit with just a few seeds but a nice flavor. Another couple of weeks of this and it'll be over, which I'm quite looking forward to. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Cracking Tropical Garden Design. The recent Singapore Garden Festival was really terrific. Every year its goals of engaging community and showcasing creativity around the.
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: August 2014
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html
In the last few weeks, the stone path I laid in the dark verandah has finally 'clicked'. It's taken the best part of a couple of years. It's a short path that takes you from the concrete verandah, through the border and an opening in the bamboo fence. Having transferred and laid them, which took a few tries to get right, their new site was a little sunnier than what they were used to and the mossiness started to fade. I planted Hemigraphis Alternata. And Peacock Ginger, Kaemferia Elegans. Self seeded fro...
theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com
The Occasional Gardener: September 2013
http://theoccasionalgardener.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
Strangler figs are a common sight here, often found sprouting on the walls of abandoned buildings. Patrick Le Blanc has some photos of Ficus Religiosa. Doing exactly that on his inspiration page. As one source of his ideas for developing his renowned vertical gardens. Here, we seem to see more Ficus Benjamina. In the empty plot that is adjacent to mine, what was once the property of a ballet school, there are some large Ficus Benjamina. I ripped them off, gouged out what I could of their insidous roots a...
