New Patio Plant: Euphorbia

I've seen these cool spiky plants around and found one at one of the nurseries in Seremban. It's a Euphorbia milii Des Moulins, I think. Euphorbiaceae. CN: [Malay - Pokok raja], Crown of thorns. Native of Madagsacar and panted worldwide as ornamental plant. Doesn't seem to like to much water.

Orange Berry Palm

I snapped these shots at the Sri Menanti Royal Museum (I wrote about the place here). Not sure what kind of Palms these are but the berries are beautiful and would look great in my garden as I am trying to include as much orange as possible.

Bougainvillea Around the House

The orange Bougainvillea around the house is finally blooming in all wall planters at the same time. Some planters are full of more blooms than others, but they all have flowers!!! Some of the flowers are leaning towards pink. It has been over a year since they were planted.

Monkey Palm

While R's mother was here we went to some of the nurseries. She bought this nice dark grey/black planter for me. I had been looking around since she left to try and find the right plant to put in it. I finally decided on something with a bit of height. The nursery told me it is a "Monkey Palm". More research online and I found its name is most likely Monkey Tail Palm (Synechanthus fibrosus). Have been watering everyday and the plant seems to be doing fine.

The smaller pots are Jasmine I planted awhile ago. They don't seem to be growing much or flowering under the patio. I think they might need more sun or larger containers.

Planting Bunga Kantan (Torch Ginger) from Fresh Seeds

I've written a few times on this blog about my Bunga Kantan plant also known as Torch Ginger (the plant's Binomial name is Etlingera Elatior) plant because the plant just keeps fascinating me. It is always in bloom and keeps getting pollinated so that I have what seems like a never-ending supply of seeds. So I have been experimenting on how to plant the seeds as there is very little information online or photos of how to do it. After some dialogue with Autumn Belle over at My Nice Garden I managed to grow some seeds. Then some more. Then some more. The images here are seeds planted on July 22 and the photos were taken about 40 days later. Many more seedlings have sprouted since.

So here is what I know, dried Bunga Kantan seed sprouts slower than very fresh seed. See the the photo above; three containers were very fresh seed and the top left was dried.

Recently, I decided that I want to grow some more Bunga Kantan to run it along the back side of our house between us and the neighbors and to keep experimenting. Below are some photos I took while planting more seed out in the Wet Kitchen.

I got some fresh seed pods (what I call the things above) from three separate finished Bunga Kantan blooms on my plant (a finished bloom on my plant here). When the blooms start to die they are pink, then they turn green and finally turn brown and get hard. So the pink ones should sprout seeds the fastest because they are the freshest.

In order to plant the seeds, you need to cut open the pods with a knife. See the photo above, the fresher the seed the whiter the small seeds inside it are. As the pods get older the seeds inside start to get black.

I have been planting clumps of fresh seed into containers nearly filled with dirt. I plant alot of them, well, because I have a lot of seed. But also because sprouting is sporadic so the more you have the better chance to get growth.

Lastly, I cover with a small amount of dirt. Enough so that when you water a good amount everyday, the soil won't wash away and expose the seeds. I find that the plants like more water rather than less.

As I continue to experiment I'll keep you posted. Also, if anyone has any experience planting these seeds, please post your tips.

More Bali

Friends have asked for more photos from our trip to Bali so here they are!

Look at this great Ginger plant at a spa we went to. I can only hope the ginger plants I added by the side of the house will someday be as beautiful!

Christmas Palms Growing

I always drive by a house near my house here in Seremban that has the cutest small palms in the front of the yard (image above is one of the palms). They had beautiful red seeds for quite awhile. So I stopped one day and picked up some of the red seeds. After searching online I found they are are Christmas Palms (Adonidia). I planted a number of the seeds to see if they would grow. I tried a couple methods. I soaked some, soaked some and removed the red part from the seed before planting, and also planted a couple without doing anything. Oh and I also put a couple in wet paper towel and placed them in a plastic bag. All methods worked and they eventually sprouted. Strangely, the largest plant right now was one from the plastic bag method. But I guess removing the red part after soaking worked well too. I've already transplanted the small shoots once into bigger pots. I found they had already established thick roots. In the new planters, now I wait for them to get bigger before I plant them in my yard.

The Botanic Garden of Ubud

One of the places we visited on our trip to Bali was the Botanic Garden of Ubud. The place was empty when we went. You start up at the top entry building and walk down a series of stairs into different gardens. There is also the "Rainforest" that we attempted to walk through but after the second falling-apart-bridge literally collapsed in one section as R walked over it, we turned back. On the way out of that part of the botanic garden we noticed a sign that had been put to the side of the entrance, from the back we could read that the Rainforest was temporarily closed.

This strange tree pod was in the herbal garden, I think. Anyone know what it might be?

I love these, they kind of remind me of hostas in New York, but these were taller and on or near the water.

There was a huge orchid building with many orchid plants. Nearly every plant was not in bloom though.

Red Ginger Plants Planted

R and I have just returned from a trip to Indonesia. What a great break. I'll post more on Bali sometime soon. Before we left, I planted four Red Ginger Plants (Alpinia Purpurata) in the space between our house and our neighbor's near our front patio. I planted them nearly two weeks before leaving. There was rain while we were gone, but when we returned some of the leaves have turned yellow and I'm not sure if they didn't get enough water. Even with the yellow leaves, I think the plants will eventually take.

Birds of Paradise

There are 12 or more Birds of Paradise at the front of my house! They have totally filled in and multiplied since we planted them in October 2010.

New Plantings: Asystasia Gangetica

I planted some Asystasia Gangetica along the side of the house a few weeks ago. The first row in the photo are some plants I rooted after taking some from my neighbor's planter (which they were happy to provide as the plants grow so fast!). The row behind are just cut plants that haven't been rooted because we all determined that because they root so easily that the process of rooting in small containers first is unnecessary. So I just planted them in the ground.

Unnecessary indeed, because a week or so later (photo directly above), all the plants are thriving. I watered the plants a least once a day and they have grown very fast covering the ground as I had hoped.

I do have to plant another longer area near this part as well. When I didn't know what the plant was in my neighbors planter, I asked Malaysia Project readers for help in classifying it here. Sean L warned me about the invasiveness of the plant and I am still monitoring it to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. For now, the ground cover looks good.

The Front of My Local Nursery in Seremban

Doesn't look like much for sale from the outside, but the plants are in the place behind the fence and building. This is where we bought the water bowls and the other planters.

Frog on the Window

The other morning our cat T was very excited over by the window. I thought it was a gecko, he loves to hunt geckos. But when I looked out the the window I saw a frog! You can barely make him out in the photo above... he is on the left side of the window. After I took the photo he jumped off the window back into the water bowl! At least I know that there is life in the water bowl keeping the mosquitoes away.

Orange Flowers in Planters (help please!)

The plants I bought awhile ago for the front two planters weren't doing so well (see them in their glory here). I had to take the flowers off every day and they dried out and grew too high. I should have known because I had similar plants as annuals back in New York and by the end of summer they were always overgrown and looking scraggly. So I bought these orange flowering plants which I hadn't seen before.

As I was potting them my neighbor stopped by, she told me they are sometimes used for Indian prayer and that they are always flowering and grow a bit taller.

I searched for the flower online but haven't found any match. Anyone know what this plant is called?

My favorite corner near our house. Always in bloom.

Malaysian Dwarf Peacock Tree

My favorite tree in the neighborhood is a few streets over. Every time I drive by I always love looking at this orange flowering tree. It is always in bloom (the photo I took doesn't do it justice, it is usually more in bloom).

Since we planned to have orange as the predominate color in our garden, when I first moved here I thought I should look out for the this plant in the nursery. But, never saw it.

Recently I was driving by and saw the seed pods dangling from it and thought I'd try and get some seeds to sprout. I took a sample flower to a nursery and the woman said it is a Peacock Tree. I did some research online and think that this tree is the dwarf version (let's hope so because the regular trees get much larger). I found out that while it's called Peacock here its botanical name is Caesalpinia Pulcherrima. In other regions throughout the world it is also known as Poinciana, Dwarf Flamboyan, Pride of Barbados, Barbados Pride, Barbados Flower-fence, Peacock Flower, Paradise Poinciana or Red Bird-of-Paradise.

On my first attempt, I followed some directions online. It said soak the seeds for a day or a few days then peel the seeds out of their skins and plant them. I soaked eight seeds for two days, then peeled them and planted them. I had two small seeds that I wasn't able to peel so I planted them in their skins. I marked them and waited. Surprisingly, it was the unpeeled seeds that sprouted, none of the others did! So I went back and got some more seeds and soaked them and planted them directly, no fussy peeling. I now have twelve plants growing. Apparently from what I read online they are easy to grow, and this seems to be true. I will keep growing them and the strongest few I will most likely plant in my front yard along the hedges.

The Case of the Curious Coconut

I was out at the back of the house and found the strangest thing. There is a coconut (I think that is what it is) sitting on the water drain grill.

What is weird is that there are no palm trees or trees with this kind of nut anywhere around the area. No trees up on my neighbor's property where it might just fall down on to mine. And what else is strange is the odd location it has been neatly placed. R and I figure someone or something (an animal?) must have brought the coconut here.

Pseudo-Greenhouse

Truth be told, I always wanted a greenhouse. One of those fancy greenhouses that they have in the UK... where they are separate buildings or attached to the house. Well, I now kind of realized that dream with my makeshift greenhouse.

The idea came to me when I was out in the Wet Kitchen (more info about Malaysian wet kitchens in an older post here.) pictured above. This wet kitchen serves mainly for washing big pans and other cleaning activities. Although the Malaysians use it to cook in. See in the photo above the yellow gas tank under the counter. It is the gas tank that connects to my stove in my kitchen. But, the wet kitchens usually have a countertop hob burner placed on the lower counter in the photo above (where the water bottle is sitting). Anyway, one day I was potting some seeds out on that countertop and looked over to the empty covered patio to the right of the wet kitchen.

When we first moved in I thought we would put some furniture back here and would sit back here. But that didn't really materialize one because the space is just behind the bathroom on the first floor and two because there are upper floor bathroom pipes running above it to the second floor master bedroom bathroom. Third because the neighbor's house in the back backs ours so there is no real view except the wall. So it just isn't the kind of place I want to lounge around, I'd rather go to the front patio.

So I had this idea while potting plants that the space could be a pseudo-greenhouse because the roof on that part is clear not tile. I thought it would be a good place to grow seeds and cuttings for the garden. I made some concrete and glass platforms with glass that was in the house when we moved in and now I have my own greenhouse! It is hot and humid enough here that having a fully enclosed greenhouse in Malaysia, I'm not even sure if that would work it might be too hot. So this clear cover roof with open sides, I think allows for air circulation. It's been working pretty well so far, the space gets good sun but not too much.

I have planted some seeds and some are starting to sprout. I've also taken some cuttings and have them in water bottles some have started to root as well. My thought on that is everything here in Malaysia grows so fast, so some of these plants should root. The greenhouse is more of an experiment to see what I can grow from seed and cuttings. For example, I took some cuttings from the hedge around the front of the house as I'd like to fill it in with some more plants. But I don't think those are going to root. If not, oh well. I've also taken cuttings from the passion fruit vine and some other orange plant vine which grows on my neighbors property. I've got Thai basil attempting to root as well as some Christmas palm seeds, the bunga kantan experiments, chili peppers and peacock tree seeds. There's more I'm forgetting too. I'd like to have an herb garden around this space with herbs I can't get in the stores easily here like tomatillo which I have never seen. Also grow herbs we use a lot of like Thai basil. But it will all be very slow to start.

The clear plastic??? roof