Wednesday, April 12, 2017

GBBD for April 2017

Uploading garden photos on April Fools Day  anticipating the 15th for GBBD might be too early. But that is a lesson learned when i forego posting for some months in the past because i am just reminded when i see a few posts linked to FB. So since last month i already learned. I am smiling to myself because of this, but i also enjoy the fun. Don't worry that i might be posting those from last month because these flowers will still be there until maybe a few months more. Those that will dehisce sooner are anyway not posted yet for last month.

Even if we are already experiencing heat at above 30°C with Heat Index of 36°C, some of our plants don't seem to care. They love the heat and humidity.
Bougainvillea is a known hot and drought tolerant plant. They even florish at the height of the dry season here. It can be found everywhere here in the tropics, as if it is our national flower, though it isn't. Above is our share of it, planted near the street and allowed to go haywire. That is only one plant, been there for many years.

 Caladiums are rainy season plants in most gardens in the tropics. They normally go dormant during our dry season, but these two, above and below, are alive and growing well because their pots are placed in another container with  inch of water in . That inhibits their tendency to be dormant. So they remained colorful.


Impatiens balsamina is starting to dry as they are very succulent and matures fast during the dry season. The seeds are now scaterring and will voluntarily emerge again in May or June come rainy months.

 The 4 oçlock flower grows like crazy under slightly sheltered light under the avocado and jackfruit trees. They have the well developed storage organ at the base that prevent them from drying, and the primary root is deep that can get some moisture below the soil surface. A lot of seeds are also scaterred that makes it a bit invasive. I have already uprooted a lot of these plants to the garbage.

 close up of the flower of 4 o'clock or Mirabilis jalapa

This is the only hippeastrum which flowered on its own without dormancy, and flowers more than once per year. Others definitely becomes dormant and flowers only when watered or placed in refrigerated storage for sometime. I am not sure if this is H reticulatum var striatifolium or H reticulatum var striatifolium 'Mrs Garfield'

 A mini anthurium which delighted me with a very long flower bloom life. The oldest flower has been there for already 2 months and now 2 more followed and it is still there. It is a newly single plant. 

adeniums love the dry hot months, so this is expected

The butterfly pea just started flowering, i let it climb on the matting wire, and that was lovely. Actually, i thought i planted a blue one, but surprisingly it is white. Anyway, it is also lovely, 
and a few friends are already waiting for some seeds. Next rainy season 
i will not conceed without the blue Clitoria ternatea. 

 
Clitoria ternatea pods will mature this dry season, ready again for planting for the rainy months

 newly opening Hoya bicolensis

No GBBD from me will be posted without hoyas. Of course, they are the main characters in my garden, they just exchanged places in blooming.

 Hoya bicolensis a day after opening

Hoya lucardenasiana

 Hoya pubicorolla ssp anthracina - this has been flowering continuously for already a few months 

 Hoya buotii purple buds

Hoya lockii

 My hoyas are not really always doing great, flowering continuously without hassles. Hoya lockii above is its first flowering. It came from Thailand as a present from a friend who visited lately. I was so glad last week when i saw the buds, but they eventually aborted because of too much heat.

Hoya madulidii

The nodes of Hoya madulidii are almost all laden with buds, i was so expectant that there will be a lot of black flowers simultaneously blooming. But everytime i go home on weekends, the older buds are aborted. I am so disappointed, but what can we do, we really lack water in the province during this months of extremely hot weather. 

   The summary of my garden is this reflection. How do you like it?


20 comments:

  1. The beautiful plants you always show us fascinate me a lot. Thank you for sharing!!

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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    1. Thank you Mersad, we have a half world of differences in between!

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  2. I love the plants you highlighted! Many of them are great annuals for us here in the Midwestern U.S., with our long spring/summer days and hot summer temps. Balsam and Four-O'Clocks are common here, and some people grow Bougainvillea outside during the summer, and take it into greenhouses or sunny rooms for the winter. I might have to try that, because I love Bougainvillea! It was large and healthy and quite prevalent in Mexico when we were travelling there in March. Great photos and happy early GBBD!

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    1. I love looking at the different bougainvillea colors in bloom, however because we have tall trees and some shaded areas, it is a bit difficult to grow them lovely. They need daily full sun.

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  3. Thank you for showing beautiful flowers and your hoya's are so special

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    1. Yes Klaraau, my hoyas will always appear in my posts even in FB.

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  4. Some great looking flowers but I will not be planing to plant any in our garden. We are in the middle of spring bulb time and we can at least compete on colour!

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    1. Oh yes we are half world apart, and we have different sets of vegetation. No matter how much i love temperate plants, i will not attempt to grow them here.

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  5. Beautiful! I've been considering getting my own Bougainvillea - they are borderline hardy here. Thanks for sharing your tropical garden during GBBD!

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    1. I've seen some subtropical climates with bougainvilleas, i guess they are hardy of some sort. Maybe they are somehow cold-tolerant too.

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  6. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a kind comment. Your garden is very beautiful and so exotic looking to me. Bougainvillea are lovely. Are they scented? Hoya are an interesting and new plant to me. I love the reflection on your car. Happy Gardening!

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    1. Hoya grow in any part of the world, and the most lovely growths are in the coldest countries, although of course they have bulbs and heaters indoors, hehe.

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  7. So beautiful - I always love seeing the tropical flowers in your garden. But that's too hot for me!

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    1. Oh yes of course Al, you will not be alive here for 1 hr, haha. And your winter will kill me too!

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  8. It's a treat to see all that you're able to grow there! It's so interesting to see plants in a climate where they're really happy. I've never seen 4 o'clocks like that before! Thanks for visiting my blog and Happy Bloom Day!

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    1. Oh really, they are actually at the end of their lives because we are already in the dry season. But thanks for the appreciation.

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  9. Thanks for all the photos of flowers. A number of these species grow in New Zealand. I wish anthurium grew here as they are one of my favourites.

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    1. Oh i haven't seen any of them in NZ, except of course there are hippeastrum in the plant store. Thanks for dropping by.

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