Monday, October 15, 2012

October blooms...salvaged!

I have not been fully posting here for two weeks, I've browsed and commented on a few blogs, but that's it. As much as I would like to post, my time didn't allow me to. Besides, i spent most wanted hours commuting from a place where i stayed for 2 weeks, these important hours lost mostly in traffic. I wish i had gadgets for posting while in transit. It is better if I go home to the province because WiFi are already common provisions in buses. But I still don't like lugging laptop on the road, as I still have my camera and other things for home. Better be content watching the greenery along the highways, or the white cattle egrets near their favored friend, the cow or carabao.

Then i realized it is the 15th today, OMG, I want to post for the GBBD! I have not been doing it for a while. I am a bit disappointed because I suddenly realized my external drive was left at home. Again OMG, i do not have, as in my computer has nothing because it has gone to the IT staff for the last two weeks I've been away. It was re-formatted and my documents and photos are nowhere to be found. They are in my external drive left at home. Oh great, my other new external drive which has some photos is inside my office bag. Good, I can salvage some photos. Please bear with me with these, i need to join the GBBD!

I will start with the white petunia, their stems got lanky during our dry season, but still produce some flowers. I only have the white and the lavender but they provide some fun too, notwithstanding very common. By the way, it is the first time for me to plant this in our garden as it is not good in very hot climes.

 This Chrysothemis pulchelia easily grows, but the beauty depends on the type of soil. Bronzy-green large leaves grow from soils rich in organic matter, and ours are like that. But after flowering profusely the plants become used up and becomes not so pleasant to the sight.

 Maybe some of you will remember my previous post when i pried open the still closed first leaf of this caladium. They don't produce leaves profusely as other colors, but the waiting pays, they are so beautiful. Only those three leaves are produced for more than 3 month, in contrast with the profusely growing other varieties.
 This is the gaillardia sent from the US by my blogging friend Lily of the Suburban Gardener. I planted it last dry season and continuously flowered starting from then. Even if the growths and flowering are not really as par as when planted in its original climate, those ants and I are enjoying them.


 The seed head of the gaillardia is lovely too. However, i didn't see any germination from my plantings, maybe the seeds are not self fertilized, so sterile.

 The extremely pruned blue Duranta erecta (syn. repens) is growing well and starting to produce the beautiful flowers. The butterflies love this very much. So if they are happy, I am happy too for the shoots i can do with the butterflies. I will not be chasing them too far as they want to linger around the duranta for the whole day.


 The red salvia, despite the small flowers, provide additional warmth here. Some butterflies love them too. The photo below are the still unopened salvia flowers.


 The red pentas do not still have many growing umbels, but the few opened ones already provide good food for the insects and butterflies.
 Asystasia intrusa easily recovers from pruning, and it is already blooming wildly again. However, they get so viny at once that I again intend to prune them. The bottom spike is the unopened Asystasia flowers.


 This marigold is already the 3rd generation of seeds sent from the US by another blogging friend, Skeeter. She is the partner of Tina in their blog, In the Garden. I realized that different blooms arise even from a single seed source. Last year we have the pom-pom type, but this time it is nowhere to be found. But they are resilient plants ensuring colors and beauty for the insects, although the butterflies do not like marigolds.

 a marigold bud i have to hold with the left and take photo with the right hand


 I love this flower tremendously! That is because this is the only tomato flower i can see around our area. It is a volunteer and i guess maybe a cherry tomato, a bit sour but good for our stews.

Maybe you will notice I only have two blue flowers here, the Duranta and this one. This is only a weed in our area but because I have the extreme bias for blue flowers, i have to include it here. Blues are for the temperate climes and reds are for us the hot tropics, but we love the blues too! This bloom has very thin and soft petals and remain open only for a few hours, this time it is already closing!

I thought i lack October photos to post, now realized there are still more. It really is different if you are in the tropics, you have a lot of plants simultaneously blooming, even if the garden is not as beautiful. What is the tropics for, if not for BIODIVERSITY!

My Photo  MM3   

29 comments:

  1. Gaillardia is stunning, love the Salvia's too.

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    1. Thank you very much LT Expanded, i hope you drop by again.

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  2. i enjoyed this post and the flowers. like you, i'm also partial to blue, purple flowers.:p the duranta is a beauty. good luck on your hard disk--i hope your photos and files would be recovered.

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    1. Hi Luna, next time i will be posting mostly blues, i found some blues now which are too difficult. But i managed to collect some. I am sure you are excited to see them, and sure you don't know what they are, haha!

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  3. Gorgeous!!! I love all the beautiful blooms, but I think the caladium is my favorite!

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    1. I go with you there! And if you know how i was able to get the very very small corm, you might get mad at me. I actually got that piece from a neglected pot in a public garden. These gardens here are not as regulated and controlled as those in your countries.

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  4. Thank you for stopping by my blog. The large shrub with orange berries on my header is a Pyracantha. Your sweet delicate blooms are beautiful. Here the frost is taking all of this type of blooms. Happy GBBD.

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    1. Hi Lisa at Greenbow, while you are going into winter, I will keep you warm. So i am inviting you to always stop here in my home!

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  5. Wow your garden must be really colourful. I love the Asystasia's.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by Rollercoaster Mum. It is very easy to grow asystasia.

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  6. I like the red asystasia. I also want caladium in my garden soon! Happy GBBD!

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    1. I think that asystasia is violet. But my red caladium is from a neglected pot in a public garden! Can you blame me getting a very small corm?

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  7. Hot hot hot Andrea!!!! Nice:) I also just came back from vacation and haven't been on this blog thing for a week. Sometimes you have to give yourself a break from all this internet stuff. Your flower shots are soft and lovely to the eye. Have a good week!! Kreesh:)

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    1. Thanks Friend Kreesh, i didn't notice you're away because i didn't have time to visit your site. Posting is actually a sudden impulse just like cutting classes, mine is cutting work! I envy your chance of having vacation, I wish i can too!

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  8. superb selection. oh what busy times it is. pretty soon you'd have your plate full of holiday activities.

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    1. Yes Photo Cache, and in fact these next 2 days we have National Research Symposium and I am an evaluator in the Basic Research Category. Then Saturday have to accompany a friend to a Museum in our town, and then 2 consecutive long weekends, OMG, i cant finish my work! haha!

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  9. Delightful to see the tomato flower...and the gaillardia is wonderful to see with you...mine seeds itself all over the garden....and the marigolds are another fav of mine that i grow from seed...but I should collect the seed from my plants and I never do...great flowers and glad you were able to join in GBBD

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    1. Oh yes Donna there's always a lot to do, but it borders on disappointment when you go home only some weekends. Sometimes i just get absent from work to just take butterfly and insect shots! Yes i am glad to join GBBD and it turned out I have lots of photos, even restrained myself in posting!

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  10. Great set of pictures - I do think plants (apart from the flowers of flowering ones) are undervalued! I look the way leaves, stems, seed pods and seeds are all built - great to find a fellow fan of plants!

    Stewart M - Australia

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    1. Yes Stewart, all the parts are beautiful, even just on their own! And even the critters which sometime kill them are beautiful too, notwithstanding cute!

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  11. Beautiful October blooms! And your blue (weed?) is enchanting. Of course, I do love blue in the gardens!

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    1. Thanks Carolyn, I am still looking for blue blooms, which is rare in the warm climate!

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  12. I'm always amazed by tropical blooms - we only grow these plants indoors, and it's such a pleasure to enjoy photos of them outside.

    Happy bloom day!

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    1. Maybe if I am in the temperate climates like you, I might not be too diligent to make a garden, with a lot of work to do getting them inside and back in spring! Thanks for your visit.

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  13. Gorgeous post...the Duranta is stunning, to be sure!

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  14. Woww that great as is the garden, I love especially Duranta erecta and red salvia
    I congratulate

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  15. What a fascinating collection you've shared in this post! Thanks for dropping by my blog.

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