Tuesday, October 14, 2014

October Bloom Day

I will be presenting a different style now for GBBD. As i have been posting mostly single close-up flowers, it is now the chance of the whole plants to be seen, be it like a wilderness, a soon-to-be forest, a chaotic grassy corner or an overgrown bush. I am too engrossed lately with my hoya garden chores because 2 weekends per month are not enough to do everything in my hoya garden. They include propagation, disentanglement of embracing shoots/stems, media addition/improvement, watering, pruning, and a lot more. But most of all, it is photographing and looking at them which takes most of the time. 

So the plants and blooms that follow might not be the nicest looking ones in my garden, but i will still share them with you, direct from their natural location.

These Coleus blumei photos (above and below) are of the same variety from the same cutting, but the top is shaded and the bottom receives direct sun. You might be divided in your choices, but that's alright, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. That rule still stands!


Can you guess what flower is this? We are at the height of our rainy season, the height of prolific growths of our vines. This native gourd, Luffa sp., is conquering every plant its tendrils can cling too. It has already enveloped a small guyabano tree, a duranta hedge and already trying to reach half of the lanzones tree. Someone will say it is a bit invasive, but we allow it because it can only do that during the rainy months. After fruiting, it will immediately wilt and die. Mother loves them as vegetables, so we let them be. Mother is 84.5 years old!

This anthurium produced those dark pinks during rainy months, but they are very pale pink during the dry season. It almost died last April but recovered well. We don't repot it at all, just allow it through the years in its small pot. 

The Chrysothemis pulchellia is lovely when restricted in pots. However, they get invasive if allowed. It has persistent modified root that can hold food even when the above ground parts dried. When it rained again, it suddenly resume its vigor. Those flowers also produce a lot of seeds that grow everywhere when the rains come. I normally pull those small seedlings, consider them as weeds. But they are beautiful, do you agree?

This is an alien species, a foreigner, trying painstakingly to acclimatize in our dry environment. But in 3 years it is still alive and giving me so much delight for photography. I put it in shaded areas during the dry months, or at daytime and transfer them again outside at night for the cold and humidity. This rainy months my two gaillardia plants (Gaillardia pulchella) bask in the sun and enjoy the rains, and i bask in their beauty in return.

The seedheads don't produce seeds though. Maybe our resident insects are not familiar with it or don't like its nectar so the ovules are left unpollinated. It has been flowering for two seasons now, but i still haven't seen any insect nor butterfly alight on it.

Duranta erecta is a very favored nectar plant by bees and butterflies. Even if it is already tall, i don't prune it so i can watch the butterflies coming over. It is drought resistant too, and it is mainly the only flowering plant that sustains the insects during the dry season.

This is my mother's garden. Marigolds and impatiens mixed with each other thriving healthily. Marigolds are known to be insect repellants, i just am not sure which insects it repels. I see moths, bees and butterflies alighting on them, and their leaves are infested with leaf miners.

And this is again my mother's ampalaya plants. They are planted adjacent to my hoya garden and twines favorably to the strings holding my black nets. I just don't mind, i just remove the tendrils trying to invade my hoyas, anyway they will die after fruiting, which coincide with the end of the rainy season. Next time this will be clear. By the way, i have harvested a lot of ampalaya fruits from this plants.

Those variegated alternanthera guards the entrance to a cement stairs at the bottom of the property. I've planted hibiscus and other flowering plants there, but our goats' kids always eat them. At least they don't like eating this plant, so it grows luxuriously.

Above is a part of my hoya garden. My mother's garden is at the right side of the house, and my hoya garden is at the left. They are both nice to watch when i am having breakfast at the terrace. Mine is a makeshift location, as you can see i just put water pipes there to hang the hoya pots. I cannot get a welder yet to make a hanging house for my hoyas, but that is a formal quarter i envision to have before they get overly crowded in this place. I purposely allowed a Hoya diversifolia to grow up a lanzones tree, and now that it is already blooming, we all have stiff necks looking at the blooms. And of course, i cannot take photos of those blooms up there!

This is a portion of my hoya jungle, i need more space for them. And to satisfy your longing to see the blooms,  and to substantiate posting for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day here are some of the blooms in my hoya garden. These are just to give you a peep, and more of the real ones will be in the next post.

 Hoya odorata

 Hoya siariae 

Hoya buotii 

So those are some plant nooks in our area and some blooms we have for this October. Next month i will be posting the conventional close-up shots again. Enjoy GBBD. 

46 comments:

  1. I've so enjoyed my tour through your garden and your mother's garden. I have grown a few of these plants, but because I live at high altitude in the mountains of CO, your tropicals would not do well. The macros are wonderful!

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    1. I appreciate your comment very much Barb. I am almost bored with my conventional posts, so i tried doing this type of posts and photos. I actually am awed with people who can grow tropicals in their very temperate climates, just like when they grow hoyas indoors. I hope you will drop by again.

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  2. Thanks for the longer view of your garden and all the fabulous plants and paths! I absolutely love Coleus plants so it was great to see yours. I grow them as annuals here during the spring summer and fall. Of course, they're too tropical to survive my winters, but while they last they're definite favorites! And of course your Hoyas are enchanting. Happy GBBD!

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    1. Our Coleus also die during the dry season, but i always water one plant and put it in the shade so we can have a mother plant for the next rainy months. And they respond very well when the rains come. I agree with you, the hoyas are enchanting, i can't even take my eyes off them sometimes.

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  3. Andrea. I am so sorry that you are having problems. Is it with the comment form on the blog or with the Linky box? I haven't had anyone tell me they have had troubles with either except after completing the links box you have to refresh the page to see your entry. Please let me know what the exact problem is... Michelle

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    1. I put the link http://www.ramblingwoods.com on my browser, and it says i am not invited. So i used my other user name for the other blogsite, and it says the same. So i instead open your site through meme-aholics, and was able to link and comment. I actually don't know what that means. That's the first time i saw that. Thanks Michelle.

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    2. That is so strange Andrea. I don't know why that would be. I have used ramblingwoods.com for almost 8 years and it is not closed. I wonder if you just put ramblingwoods.com and nothing else. Strange.... But I did love the tour of the gardens. Your climate and plant life is so different from my own.... Michelle

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    3. It's okay Michelle, i tried it again now, same URL as i told you above, and it just opened. I am not denied entry anymore, as it has been doing 3x yesterday. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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  4. A fabulous set of shots1

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  5. Beautiful plants - very different than where I live. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. It's so wonderful to see your tropical garden and fabulous plants I can only imagine. My hoyas grow in a south or west facing window. The H. carnosa bloomed all summer but H. australis is just now blooming, I don't know why. They are smaller flowers. Do all the different Hoyas have different fragrances and different tasting nectar? Do you have special butterflies or ? that visit them for the nectar? I tried to grow luffas but it is not hot enough here for them, like the okra and also melons. But there are other things I can grow so I am grateful for them. My cool season vegetables are the main show now, mostly greens and winter turnips.

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    1. Hi Hannah, your site lacks some things about your place, so just assume you're from a temperate climate. If you have a facebook site you should join our groups because i also learn a lot from there most specially Hoyas 101+. Some authorities go there too once-in-a while to answer our questions. I am also a beginner but already learn a lot in 3 yrs of growing and reading, communicating with other growers. There's actually a lot to be learned from the internet, if you just put some time searching. Different hoyas have different characteristics and also bloom at their own time. I suggest you get FB account and you can see a lot of my photos in my albums, and other hoya groups. I also have previous hoya posts which you might want to see. Good luck and enjoy! thanks for your comments.

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  7. Andrea, your flowers and plants are just gorgeous.. What a lovely garden, I hope the goats are not eating these beautiful blooms.. Lovely images and post. Thanks for sharing, have a happy week!

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    1. We try our best to keep the goat kids from lingering longer than necessary when they pass the plants, or else they devour everything.

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  8. That garden is so lovely ! Great photos !

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  9. Wow, beautiful blooms. The hoya are remarkable!

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    1. Thank you Karen, i add more hoyas to my collection and my space is already crowded.

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  10. Wonderful shots of the plants and flowers. I used to have a lot of coleus and I miss it.

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    1. I actually even intend to plant more coleus varieties here in some paths. However, we cannot maintain the growth so they become almost invasive. So i just limit my plantings in pots, however, here comes my mother again planting a lot of tops on the ground anywhere and everywhere. Then they look like weeds!

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  11. Your gardens (and your mother's) are wonderful -- works of art -- as well as doing so much good for the ecology.

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    1. Sallie, you are so kind. When i can't influence the gardening style of my mom anymore, and for peace, i just changed my perspective in gardening. I just called hers as The Biodiversity Garden, and i affirmed my brain to like it. Now i do! haha.

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  12. Your Gaillardia is naturally adapted to dry climates, so it should adapt well. Marigolds repel mostly nematodes, I don't know if nematodes are a problem in Philipine gardens. They also attract beneficial insects that feed on insect pests.

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    1. If you see my gaillardia you wont say it has adapted very well. It's been 3 yrs but it is just alive, not looking happy. Maybe it is in the media which i haven't learned well yet. Thanks for your information Jason.

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  13. Your blooms and photography are amazing and your Hoyas are such unusual and beautiful tropical looking plants. I so enjoyed the virtual visit to your lovely and colorful gardens. Happy GBBD!

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    1. Oh Lee, my introduction to hoyas are actually from my FB friends from temperate countries. They are even more beautiful in indoor gardens than here in their country of origin. Thanks for your kind words and comments.

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  14. What a magnificent garden! I love Bloom Day for giving us the chance to visit so many different kinds of garden.

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    1. You said it, i also get acquainted with temperate plants because of this blogging craze. Thanks for the visit.

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  15. Andrea the flowers are beautiful in such natural settings and those coleus make me want to plant them for sure next year!!

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    1. Donna, that Coleus can be more beautiful if blended with lovely surroundings, however in ours it is better seen isolated in photos, haha! thanks.

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  16. Lovely to see all of your plants in context. The garden looks so lush and full of life. Amazing to think that you have kids grazing there too. I am surprised they haven't eaten everything!!

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    1. We only have a few pet goats, and they are sometimes brought out to the open, tethered to eat fresh grasses. They are on leash but the kids eat everything they see on their paths. When allowed they will eat everything. My late father even said that if they are hungry they can even eat your pants, or your legs!

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  17. Only the second image? I wish you prefer my hoya shots, haha!

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  18. Oh, I love coleus, although over here they are annuals most years, depending on what kind of winter we have, the deep red/mix red coleus are my favourites. And I like your alien, I think it is fun with alien plants, I have a few too, that is not supposed to survive in a London garden. And finally, I absolutely love your hoyas, I have wanted some for YEARS – I just haven’t got a suitable place to grow them. If I ever move from this house I want a south facing living room as my number one criteria so I can grow hoyas!

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    1. Great Helene, i am glad i have some of what you like. Hoyas are growing nicely for decades in your parts of the world, maybe Sweden is even colder than England and i know some people there whose hoyas are wonderfully growing, and they sell them too. It is unfortunate that you don't see my FB albums as i have lots of hoyas there. They are getting all my addictive time. Thanks for dropping by.

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    2. Yes, we have discussed this before, over here you need a south or west-facing room where the hoyas can bask in the sun in a large window. My living room is east facing and not a good place to grow hoyas. Maybe my next house :-)

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    3. Oh sorry about that, if that's only in the past few months, that is already in the short term memory and the convolutions of my brain already lost it, haha! Next month i hope i still will be able to recall this now! Thanks Helene.

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    4. Don't worry, I don't remember every detail about every blogger commenting on my blog either, my memory is not very good and I often have to keep checking people’s blog even to remind myself of which part of the world they live in :-)

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  19. I love this tour of your garden and of course learning about many of your plants that are unfamiliar with me. Your mother's impatients and marigolds look wonderful together.
    Your Hoya garden is looking great. I do hope you get round to having a purpose built structure for them. I am of course familar with the Lanzones fruit but not their flowers. Your steps look ever so inviting. Great post Andrea, thank you.

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  20. I love the coleus plants. The colours and patterns are amazing. The hoyas are gorgeous. Have a great weekend!

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  21. Finally! I got a virtual tour of your secret garden! I love the lush foliage and the kaleidoscope of colors sputtered all over the place. Your Mom's garden, I would say, is a free spirit, blending perfectly well with Mother Nature, untouched and virginal, while yours bring it to a different level! I hope that, one day, or just maybe, I will actually walk these mossy, gravel paths where I can stop and sniff the lingering scents pervading your private paradise! Can I invite myself over? Don't worry, I'll bring the donuts and coffee!

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  22. Love your garden and these gorgeous blooms! Wow! Oh, and I can't wait to see your photos from New Zealand when you go. I would so love to visit NZ.

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  23. Oh how beautiful! I love that you and your mother have adjacent gardens. Thank you for the lovely tour.

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  24. Beautiful shots of these two gardens!
    Many thanks for linking through to Floral Friday Fotos!

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