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Friday, April 13, 2018

Hardy Blooms in April 2018

The weather this year is not actually chaotic, but very misleading! Imagine, we feel that we are already at the height of the Dry Season in March because the Heat Index reaches 38°C and yet the official Dry Season announcement was only on April 10. It is very funny, because after the announcement it suddenly rained at noon, with concomittant thunders and lightning. It is incredible, and we made fun of the weather. The pronouncement was delayed because there still are Easterlies making the mornings still colder. When the air from the North East gets so hot, then that is what the Weather Bureau is waiting. But the truth is, the change to colder days are very very welcome!

Actually, for the last past 2 weeks there are intermittent drizzles! I am really puzzled by this, as it never happened in the past except last year. Probably, the ultimate culprit everyone always mention is indeed the reason, Climate Change. It is a very famous phenomenon on Earth! Whew! And i personally experience the changes in my own personal environment.

The saddest immediate response i envision is the also intermittent flowering of my hippeastrum. It happened last year when the small drizzles were enough to teminate the dormancy of the bulbs, sending some to blooming. The outcome is not my expected simultaneous hedge blooms i am visualizing and waiting for the whole year! OMG, it could be a repeat of last year, i am so frustrated. I feel great yet i feel sad, two competing emotions for two different reasons. Happiness is a choice so i am still happy.

 the ever gregarious bougainvillea that is happy with heat, welcoming everyone at our gate

 in the family of justicia or shrimp plant, though am not sure of exact ID

 Ixora javanica, a tree ixora, a new plant we got from the tree that was uprooted
 to give way for the garage. It is happy also with the heat.

 the real flowers of bougainvillea with satin-like petals

the 4 o-clock plant, Mirabilis jalapa

 close-up of Mirabilis jalapa

 Portulaca oleraceae, ornamental for us, but salad vegies and medicinal for others

forgot its name, Genus ? australis 



Turnera ulmifolia and Turnera subulata, which both blooms only until noon, favorite of some bees especially the stingless bees.

  
 My ever reliable and self-supporting purple Vanda, towering against the blue sky. At right is "kasupanggil" or Clerodendrum intermidium, food of butterflies


 Celosia argentea 'Cristata' or C. cristata, with their wavy tops, i just realized i also a nectar plant for some butterflies. From now on i will always plant it just to pacify them.

 The sweet scented Sansevieria trifasciata, whose inflorescense opens at early evening sending us their delightful aroma.


The most responsive among my collection of hippeastrum. My hedges are orange but the different color collections are in pots, just like this one. I have already asked around FB and groups the ID of this, but somehow the exact one is still coming. There still are 6 spikes already coming out last week, which i might not see the bloom because i am not going home this weekend. I hope my nephew will send me a nicer picture of their blooms, as most of them are first time bloomers. They are from seeds.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Almost Macro Shots

The title is not confident, i know that, but i used a macro function in taking these photos. Suffice it to say that the subject of these photos are really small, and my macro lens is just 50mm. That is the reason for using "almost". I wish i have 100mm macro lens! That time i will shun from using almost. I am laughing, with the colloquial term now as "lol".

NOID blue weed flower, nectar plant for the Tiny Grass Blues. 
I love those very tiny protrusions on the sepals of the flowers.

 this is how the flower stalk looks like, this shot is even  longer than reality

 this is one of the fallen flowers from a bunch of molave umbel. It is maybe only half a centimeter

 the width of that expanse is about one inch, also a nectar plant

the diameter of that crown is about 1 cm, also a weed

this baby praying mantis is less than an inch long, it posed for me nicely

 a very small bag moth is inside, length is 1 cm

this Tiny Grass Blue which nectar on all the above weed flowers except the molave tree, has only half a centimeter wing span