Sourly Sweet

We have a perennial bushy plant or a small tree near our kitchen. The location is very handy for its many kitchen uses. Filipino palate uses a lot of sour seasoning in many recipes, and the fruit of this plant comes naturally for our use. Both the fruit and the leaves are used as medicinal as well. I searched for these uses and the knowledge will change how i look at "dayap", our local lime,  from now on! Scientifically it is called Citrus aurantifolia.

The peel has a lovely scent that contains a lot of oils, and i realized some of which are good sources of antioxidants and weight loss properties. From now on, instead of using vinaigrette, vinegar or calamansi (Citrus microcarpa syn. Citrofortunella microcarpa), i will now be using this citrus. That will even give me more savings because our three trees never stop producing a lot of fruits throughout the year.

 I never thought that its flower when given particular attention is very delicate and beautiful. This will further change how I look at our "dayap".

These are still immature fruits but can already be used for souring. Mature fruits have slightly lighter green or yellowish green color. The taste doesn't change in maturity, only the volume of juice and ease of juicing change. It is the mature ones that is very handy and readily substitutes for the grapefruit used by many for detoxification.

'Dayap' here i come!

Floral Friday Fotos

Fertilizer Friday

Weekend Flowers

Old Reliable Hibiscus

Chimera plants are those where cells of more than one genetic makeup are found growing adjacent to each other in one plant. This is well exemplified in plants by variegation. Many plants have variegation and it is very well preferred in the ornamental industry. Even fruit trees and herbs produce chimera. This big bush below is our neighbor's. It is only one plant and constant pruning produced a more compact roundish canopy. Variegated stems are very prominent here because they are allowed to grow longer, without pruning excessively and allowing each branch to droop as it gets heavy with leaves. 

 There are stems that are fully green or normal. Lesser stems produce less chlorophyls, but plants like this are more beautiful as stand alone landscape plant.

 Leaves vary in their chlorophyll concentration. The one above has more or less equal prominence of green and whites. Chimeric leaves often start with less chlorophyll when young, but develops more at maturation.

Even the stem color of chimeric plants vary. The above stem of a predominantly white leaves stem is red, while those from normal green stems are maroon with greenish tinge. However, this red flowered variety produce the same red-colored flowers, no matter whether the branch is variegated or normal.

The more challenging is when getting stems for propagation. When you get the branch having fully green leaves, it might be difficult to get variegation through time. So if it is variegation you are after, cut the stems with very evident variegation. This will ensure a constant production of chimera in the new plant.

Floral Friday Fotos

Fertilizer Friday

Weekend Flowers

Lovely Weeds

It's been a while since I last posted, but i assure you I miss blogging and commenting on your posts. I hope to recover your visits and follow-ups. We are at the middle of our rainy season, and there are more flowers and creatures to post, however I just really was so busy these past few weeks. I even missed the GBBD for July. Anyway, i hope to cope next month.

It's been raining last weekend when i was at home in the province, a good chance to take pictures. The following are all after rain shots.

 A raindrop at the end of a grass flower spike, with pollen grains hanging on it.

 I just realized that their pollen grains are so long, no wonder grasses are very invasive, a lot of pollens inside them will ensure success of seed production.

 Above is almost the actual size of the grass flower spikes.

 This weed (Wedelia trilobata) has become a lovely side street ground cover, invasive and covers other grasses not as vigorous in growth. Bad soil doesn't deter its profuse growth, really meant to be invasive.

 The spikes of the above weed flower are almost 3 inches. When plenty on the roadsides, the purplish hue is beautiful when swaying with the wind.

 The very tiny white specks at the tip of those hairy parts are the pollen grains.

 This foliage is also lovely as an ornamental foliage. The leaves are not yet serrated at juvenile stage, but show them till maturity. It is a Philodendron that climbs very tall trees, evergreen and withstand our hot and long dry seasons. The trunk of our 5 story-high  tree isfully covered by this vine, which resembles Monstera deliciosa when mature.

A lot of it just sprout anywhere in non-farmed areas. These profuse growth of the juvenile young plants are very near our yard. Some enterprising gardeners sell them in pots in garden centers. 

Wildflower Wednesday

Fertilizer Friday

Weekend Flowers

Hidden Treasures

   Casia fistula flower

 plantlet still on the leaf of the "thousand plants" succulent (Kalanchoe daigremontiana)

the lip of Dendrobium anosmum orchid

    

  

Fresh, Fantastic and Fabulous

Two years ago in May i planted a corm i got from my short hiking visit to our nearby mountain. I saw a familiar looking flower without any leaves yet. It could be a leftover by someone whose old house is just nearby. I looked for the corms and got one. Since i planted it during the dry season, it grows well to a lush foliage, then dried the next dry season. The corms overflown in the small metal can i used for planting, until i removed the remnants of the can. Then another dry season this year followed, drying all the leaves again.

My mother always tell me to transfer the invasive corms to a big container or destroy them, as they will cover all the plants nearby. But i hesitated as i want to see if it will produce flowers, and for how long. It hasn't been raining yet in April this year, but suddenly my mother told me to look at the flower. We were all surprised and happy to see the lovely inflorescence ahead of the leaves. Actually, there are two flower stalks, one ahead of the other. I joked to my mother that i will now be transferring all the corms, and she now bargained, because the flowers are so beautiful. Of course, i was just joking!

This is Curcuma elata, which flower ahead of the leaves. The inflorescence grow from the ground and not from the top of the plant stalk. It is a member of the ginger family that includes the turmeric we are very familiar with. The pinkish purple flowerlike structures on top are the bracts, the true flowers are the yellow structures arising from the bract axils (below).

the real flowers

the bracts at the top are pinkish purple, while greenish yellow at the bottom

 A previous post of my first encounter with this plant in 2010 is in my other blogsite Andrea in this Lifetime..

 

   

Auspicious Plant with Underestimated Fragrance

Talk of things auspicious, this plant is one of them, so one of its common name is Chinese money tree. Another common name is fortune plant and corn plant because it resembles corn leaves. It has a reputation of being auspicious and the owner being fortunate when this flowers, maybe because it takes time before it does. A lot of bees and insects love nectaring in the so many flowers per panicle, in a long spike full of many panicles. Green fruits become red-orange when ripe and I guess that makes it more auspicious for the Chinese and those who believe in this superstition. It is also famous as indoor plants because NASA study reported its ability to trap poisonous gases like formaldehyde, xylene and toluene.

We have a long hedge of these to protect soil erosion and a barrier between the road and the citrus trees. They are already tall and mature producing lots of blooms. If that is of any significance, i hope prosperity and happiness for the owners are some of them. However, the name Dracaena fragrans might be an under estimation of its fragrance. A long spike near the house will be bothersome to the residents, as its fragrance borders on overpowering odor, almost awful. Can you imagine the odor of many spikes simultaneously blooming? That happens in our property, so you can't blame my mother and sister for cutting many of the plants, preventing them to produce lots of flowers.

I hope cutting many of them will not prevent the prosperity and happiness due us!

I love the reddish-purple stripes along the lobes of each flower. Lengths of each lobes differ producing lovely protrusions. 

Sometimes, the spike produce panicles on both sides

...or sometimes a panicle is borne from a long branchlet, but with this light it is so spectacular.

The spiky panicles have different flower maturity, so they open at different staggered times.

This is the hedge thickly planted on a slope to prevent soil erosion. Many plants are already cut to about a meter high. Some plants are already flowering as in the left lower portion.

  

GBBD for Valentine's Day

Our dry season is here, our last rain was in November. , Even if rain's lacking in December to January, at least the temperatures are a bit colder courtesy of the winds from Northern China and Siberia. But coming February, our grasses, weeds and bushes are now turning to brown. Some trees are also shedding their leaves this time, most specially our national tree, a dipterocarp called narra, Pterocarpus indicus. Only the watered plants in landscaped gardens are still green.

At home in our property, some plants are flowering, maybe to produce seeds before the searing heat arrives. We can't blame them, as very very few shallow rooted plants can flower during our dry season temperatures.

Sansevieria trifasciata or mother-in-laws tongue, or snake plant flowers. These are planted under the trees so receive only filtered light, but at least not very strong sun's rays.

I bet not many among us are familiar with croton's flowers. They are born in spikes longer than a foot. They do not flower yearly, so I am also excited seeing them bloom.

This wild Lantana camara is very invasive but favorite of butterflies, sorry for this one as it was captured by the spider web. The stems form a mat of canopy with clearings underneath that serves as covers for resting chickens that feel the searing heat too. We have free-ranged chickens so love to rest under this.

This lily flowered in May when the rainy season started, these are now the ripe berries

fruits of orange Heliconia, but Heliconia doesn't stop flowering even in the dry season

red kalanchoe, cactuses are desert plants so they are at home with our conditions

red-orange Hippeastrum puniceum that flowered out of season

Orthosiphon cristatus, catwhiskers, still giving lovely whiskers.

 Turnera subulata never fails to produce the love of bumble bees.

 The remaining sepals of the 4 o'clock flowers still look very much like flowers, those seeds turn black when ready for planting, Mirabilis jalapa

Hibiscus rosa-sinenses also continue to reach for the sky even during the hottest days. It is one of the most drought tolerant species in our part of the world. When hibiscus hybrids cannot tolerate dry season temperatures, this traditional variety can. And it is already a big bush.

The side plantings of Ixora coccinea never fail to satisfy the butterflies. At the left is the Euphorbia millii, not stopping to produce flowers too.