Watch Them Grow

Son was on leave so we were able to finish trimming the carabao grass today. And the garden looks clean and lovely.

Our neighbor gave  me some cuttings of  Birds of Paradise plant and he also did the planting outside our perimeter wall.  It would be a nice cover for our fence when it grows and bear flowers. And do you know, the Roselle seeds I planted  a week ago are now showing their happy faces. Five of them have grown to about six centimeters. Success! Even my Kadyos has finally grown.

Tending the soil and planting have their rich rewards. My  white and orange lilies are in bloom. Though the flowers are only there for a few days, they add color to the garden. I tried the  Blue Ternatea flowers in our rice.   By the way, Blue Ternatea is also commonly called butterfly pea. Wow, I love its color and its taste. You have to boil the flowers first then extract the juice to use in cooking rice. Here’s how it looks.

As I didn’t take a picture of it, I got this from Google.

Discovering these lovely plants, experimenting on planting them in my small garden, what bliss!

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Busy Hands

Digging, pruning, weeding replanting.

I spent the late afternoon in the garden. With the little breeze coming in, it was the perfect time to garden. Replanted some Vinca seedlings which I found inside the pot of my Bougainvillea.  The soil was soft, I guess from the previous rains we had a few days ago.  Maybe tomorrow if the good weather holds, I’ll be done weeding and pruning my Fokien tea plants.

While I was admiring the new pink lily blooms, I saw this lovely insect in one of its petals. I am pretty sure it was  not a butterfly because of its large body and  clipped wings. I loved its color of pale green with black spots on the side. I was about to get my camera phone when it flew towards our kalamansi trees.  I could not distinguish the leaves and the flying insect so I let it be. Sometimes, you’ll just smile at the added attraction when you are in the garden.

I noticed that my dwarf  Ruellias are sprouting flowers again but instead of just one color which used to be just purple, they  now come in white and light pink. Pretty good to see other colors in the garden.  Ruellias are also known as Mexican  Petunia. The flowers though only last a day.

The Roselle seeds I planted a few days ago are now showing their tiny faces. So excited to see them grow. I wish all the  different seeds I planted lately would all grow.

I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow. – David Hobson

 

 

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First Bloom

Hooray! The blue ternatea which I planted a few months ago has finally bloomed. I am also looking forward to the white ones which I have just planted.

How exciting!

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Let Them Grow

I uprooted the sweet potato vines early this morning.  We locally call it “camote”. We  usually use the young leaves for our sinigang or just  steam them for a few minutes and make them into a salad.  I replanted a few healthy stems  and maybe in a month, they’ll  give fresh young leaves again.

I also planted the Roselle seeds that a friend gave me together with the other seeds from his farm. I am not really familiar with how Roselle looks like. It belongs to the family of hibiscus and the flowers are lovely.  And it is edible.  Wow! All I have left for planting now are the burgundy okra seeds.  Maybe when the others have grown, I will think of where to put the latter. The blue ternatea  are slowly climbing the steel matting we put on top of our  concrete perimeter fence.  I planted the white ones two days ago along with the blue ones. I  could now imagine when they’ll bear those lovely blue and white flowers.  Lovely 🙂

Got plenty of gardening gloves but every time I visit the garden and plant those seeds, I’d rather have my hands bare. Digging the earth  with my garden trowel with bare hands, feeling the soft soil and wishing those seeds to grow well, such a lovely wish for a small-time gardener like me. Just taking advantage of the sunny days before another weather disturbance touches  our shores.  Maybe by the end of the year, I’ll have more blooms and fresh veggies in my garden. The carabao grass needs to be trimmed again and yesterday, I harvested more calamansi fruits and gave some to my two neighbors.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. – Alfred Austin

 

 

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Lucky Day

Finally done with trimming the carabao grass. Josef finished it this morning. This afternoon, we swept all the debris.

Our good neighbor Jom gave me several seeds of  white Ternatea, Kadyos (Pigeon pea), Roselle and Burgundy  Okra which were given by Ray, another member of our group.  There were even cuttings that I am not even familiar with except the Shingles stem. I am excited about the Burgundy Okra, haven’t seen one yet except in pictures.  I already have the Blue Ternatea, they are growing nicely but don’t have flowers yet. Glad to have seeds of the white ones too.

I am a member of a closed group called Gardener’s Tambayan and the members  are all garden enthusiasts. We exchange notes, plant seedlings and seeds. Some have beautiful garden features. I am quite envious of their well-paved gardens. The seeds were given free by another member of the group and  Jom gave them to me.  They  had their monthly get-together (for the Eastern Rizal members) this morning.

So excited to see them grow and bloom. I wish I have  a larger garden so I could plant more.

 

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Today’s Quote

 

“Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Bloom

Way back when I was enamored with flowers  and blooms

Way back when a new bud is a promise of young life

Trying to capture the essence of life

in a flower.

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