Windy Morning

A cold morning

She watches and smiles

As the leaves dance in glee!

Read Full Post »

Gardening

After a week, we have finally fixed the overgrown plants but I have yet to change some pots which are broken. The carabao grass was trimmed by Josef except that very small patch under the Calamansi tree. I hope by tomorrow morning I’ll get to clear it. I have to hire one of our village’s maintenance workers to clean our front and side yards of weeds.

I could smell the lemony scent of the flowers of our Calamansi.

That’s Sadie. She is always besides me when I am gardening.

This is our small garden.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Something Orange

Glitches again?

I don’t know what happened earlier today. For some reasons, I could not publish my post and when I opened another window and tried publishing it, only a third of it was published so I erased the whole thing because I could not even edit it.  Sometimes, it is just so frustrating when you’ve done something you need lots of patience in the process to finish.

Orange is not exactly  a favorite color but since time immemorial, I have loved things with the color orange. When I was done with my chemotherapy years ago, I blogged  about this color (twice) and one of my friends honored me by wearing orange polo shirt to work.  He sent me a picture with a small note attached to it.

Accordingly, “orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. It is the color of fall and harvest”.

What inspired me to blog about it today? I saw these lovely orange blooms of my Cassandra plants while I was pruning and weeding early this morning and I took shot of one cluster of flowers. A vibrant and fiery orange bloom.

Sometimes I wish I could grow one color of blooms in my garden. I specially love white. It’s a good thing I have some of them but I miss my Gardenia bush. I don’t know if it is a coincidence again (something happened last week that made me smile and I asked my friend on FB if it was a coincidence. Wilma, you know about this, right?).  A friend, a mother of one of Nissa’s best friends sent me a picture of a lovely white flower and she thought I could identify it but  it was the first time that I saw it. She said that they grow  plants with scented flowers in the garden because her Mom likes  them.  Gosh, how did she know I was also thinking  of my Gardenia? All I have now by way of scents and smell are my Kamuning plant and the flowers of our two calamansi trees.  She told that she would plant some cuttings of their Gardenia and will give me one.  Wow! Dreaming of those heady scents again.

Read Full Post »

Starting All Over Again

I lost most of the photos I uploaded on my documents in my computer. I should have copied them to my hard drive but I was so lazy. Anyway, at least some of them are still in my camera.

I could not concentrate reading until I master this block editor a bit. I am finally getting the hang of it. Hopefully in the next few days, I’ll be well acquainted to it.

Spent the time gardening the last two days. I was able to trim our carabao grass and plant more seedlings in the process. I actually ordered three air plants together with air plant holders at Lazada. Here’s the first one.

It is called Ionantha CV air plant. I hope I could propagate it someday. My order of different colors of Zinnia has just arrived from Lazada. I hope they thrive as well. I divided my Sedum, planted them into four pots. They love the sun.

People call those who love plants plantitos and plantitas here. I’ve been a gardener for too long to be called such, I’d rather be called a simple gardener.  Those who are crazy about those lovely plastic pots, some with even corrugated designs  just love to show off what they have planted.  I’d rather plant them direct to the soil if I can.

Read Full Post »

Excited

Oh my!

This is exciting!

I finally got the Adenium seeds I ordered from Lazada. Just a trial if it would grow. When they do, I will order some more with multi-colored blooms. There is a bonus of three Sunflower seeds in the packet.

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed they would all thrive. I planted them in small plastic pots.  Our compost pit is a big help. The pulverized leaves which turned into rich soil  has a lot of earthworms. Yeay 🙂

I found a page on Facebook called Adenium Growers of the Philippines. My, but they have lots of seedlings in different parts of the archipelago and like the grown ones with large caudex,  they are quite expensive. They can even ship to several places but the shipping fees are also sky-high. Grafted ones are the best. They could combine several colors in one plant.

Wish me luck please.

Oh, the drizzle  has just stopped. Just enough to water the grass and my plants.

Read Full Post »

What’s In My Garden?

Six months of lockdown. Whatever you may call it, we’ve reached six months of quarantine.

Home-based small businesses  have suddenly sprouted in the metro and most of them are selling food – cooked  for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you’ll have it here. Even small- scale selling of meat, poultry and vegetables have also suddenly grown. The thing is, as long as we remain in the comfort of our home and we don’t go out unnecessarily, it’s okay. So long as your neighbors in the subdivision deliver for free, it’s okay. For those you can’t buy nearby, there are always vendors who charge for delivery fees and you can just wait for your orders.

Yesterday, I ordered several kinds of dried fish and today my order of Gyoza from David’s Tea House arrived. A few days ago I also ordered several items from Lazada including a desk fan and some gifts for Nissa’s upcoming birthday.  Online transactions are the “in” thing nowadays although I only use cash to pay them all. I am afraid to use my credit card without seeing my purchase in advance. I haven’t been to the mall for more than six months now. Bank transactions are online too except when I need cash and I let Josef  withdraw some money from the ATM.

I am taking photos of my garden blooms almost every day, documenting every bud and flowers worth-capturing.  Gardening has suddenly boomed here. Never mind if some have started a few pots and they call it a garden. I just smile seeing friends suddenly interested in nurturing a few plants. Even if these are not indoor plants, they place them in one corner of their homes. Not all plants could thrive indoors, they need the sun to grow.  There  are indoor plants that help us in lessening the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are indoor plants that are anti-oxidants.

Ah, these are my green peppers. I  am waiting for some seeds to mature so I could replant them.

Look, one is about to ripen.

 

We use them for our famous sinigang. They are also called green chilies.

I have transferred my Adenium seedlings to pots several months ago. I have grown them from pods  from my lone Adenium plant. They need the sun so I transferred them to a sunny spot near our grotto.

It’s nice to see these plants thriving well. I wonder if they will bear the same pink flowers later on.

I hope everyone is COVID-free. This pandemic doesn’t choose its victims. I wonder when it will die a natural death. Praying for our safely.

 

Read Full Post »

Morning Find

Saw this early this morning while I was watering our Arius tree. I thought at first it was deformed leaves eaten by some insects. Look at that monochromatic shade of its wings. I wonder if this is a butterfly. It didn’t move while I was taking some shots. If this is a butterfly, I guess it would have flown when I touched it but it didn’t.

Could you help me identify it? This is bigger than a moth.

Read Full Post »

Pretty In Pink (Survivors Of The Storm)

Took a few photos this morning while the sun is up. They are the same plants but the flowers have survived the storm.

 
Our grotto which we had constructed after my treatment ten years ago. We used to have Koi fish here.

I was surprised by this lovely Adenium, the flowers are no longer split.

 

A cluster of pink Vinca. Sturdy blooms.

 

A single-petaled Zinnia.

I harvested Calamansi before the typhoon. The two trees shed off some of the ripe fruits during the storm. I need to transfer my Papaya seedling soon.

Have a lovely Wednesday all.

 

Read Full Post »

Garden Update

I just posted some photos at my gardening blog. You can find them here.  Please try to visit the site if you have time. Thanks a million.

Read Full Post »

It’s Meant To Be

I awoke at dawn to the tweets and chirps

Of  Maya birds outside our window,

Are they saying “good morning” perhaps?

And inviting me to greet a new day?

Such a tranquil scene

And I feel God’s  tender kisses all over again.

Read Full Post »