FLOWER POWER

It took me almost three months to have another entry here in my blog, it's just that I was kinda hoping that my next post would be about our transfer to our new home/dream garden.  Well, so much about my (little) frustration, instead let me brag about my flowering plants....

I don't have any clues about this plant, i don't even know its name, but thanks to my forum friend who told me that some of the traders here called this MARGARITA

These are different colors of lantana or commonly known as....wait for it...... KANTUTAY.  The reason why i love this plant is because they never fail to give me flowers.

Just like margarita, I don't have a clue about this plant, I just bought a seed packet from yates (cottage garden mix), so I don.t have any idea which is which, according to my other forum friend this is called CALENDULA or popularly known as POT MARIGOLD

Originally, I was looking for a Medinilla Magnifica, because it is said that they are more attractive, since I can't find one, I settled for this MEDINILLA PENDULA , they are easy to grow and they are native to the Philippines

PLUMBAGO, often incorrectly called 'forget-me-not' by many of the local traders

FUCHSIA...this is one of my favorites among my flowering plants..though I know that this plant is seasonal, I still made the effort to look on where to buy this plant...and for P 150.00, it's worth it...I get to enjoy my FUCHSIA for a month.

DAHLIA, according to Google, there are at least 36 species of Dahlia, mine is called Dahlia Cinderella

GARDENIA, locally known as Rosal.  Aside from the dazzling white flower of this plant, it's main attraction is the scent.  Whew, I just can't find the right word to describe how fragrant this flower is, maybe.....heavenly scent

MY OWN PRODUCE

          .It was May 2011 when i decided to grow my own vegetables, actually pechay was the only one that came to my mind, only because we have these african love birds for a pet (and they love pechay).  But then, after sowing some pechay seeds (just bought the ramgo seeds), another idea popped up, why not plant some other veggies, and since i have always been a fan of spicy foods, why not start with chili pepper or locally known as siling labuyo, but after ransacking our fridge for some available siling labuyo, there they were.....bell peppers and tomatoes....hmmm...so, i decided to plant them as well.
         (please note that I don't even know whether peppers are considered veggies, as for tomatoes, well, i read somewhere that they are considered fruit).

         Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures of my pechay.. actually, they didn't survive, but as of this writing i'm trying to plant some pechay again.

   My tomatoes did produce some flowers, but they became casualties after the typhoon Juaning

  My first siling labuyo, taken last September 1, 2011

        Bell pepper (looks a little bit malnourished) taken last Oct. 1, 2011

         My first harvest...that produced something like this....

TADAAA... My special bicol express..

 if you will ask me, i can proudly say that i did a good job with this bicol express...but my kids say otherwise

But this made me think, I still don't have siling panigang... next project.. to raise siling panigang.

QUOTES

Growth takes time. Be patient. And while you're waiting, pull a weed. - Emilie Barnes


A garden is the best alternative therapy - Germaine Greer


Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it.
When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed. -  Lewis Gannit


Gardening requires lots of water... most of it in the form of perspiration.  - Lou Erickson


I'm not really a career person. I'm a gardener, basically - George Harrison


I suppose that for most people one of the darker joys of gardening is that once you've
got started it's not at all hard to find someone who knows a little bit less than you. -  Allen Lacy


I do not know the names of all the weeds and plants, I have to do as Adam did in his garden... I name things as I find them.
- Charles Dudley Warner


What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.  ~Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871


There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.  ~ Mirabel Osl


The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion


In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.  ~Abram L. Urban


It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.  ~James Douglas,Down Shoe Lane


When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside, too.  ~Linda Solegato


Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.  ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com


I know that if odour were visible, as colour is,
I'd see the summer garden in rainbow clouds.
~Robert Bridges, "Testament of Beauty"


No two gardens are the same.  No two days are the same in one garden.  ~Hugh Johnson


Coffee.  Garden.  Coffee.  Does a good morning need anything else?  ~Betsy Cañas Garmon, www.wildthymecreative.com


It pleases me to take amateur photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look professional.  ~Robert Brault,www.robertbrault.com


In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there.  To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe.  I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels.  ~Dodinsky, www.dodinsky.com

My First DIY Attempt (Mini Greenhouse/Nursery)

Since my nursery is located on 4th floor of were I live, birds have always been a problem for my seedlings...thus i came up with this first project, it's not much...but I hope that this DIY will somehow solve my predicament

 materials that i used

sewing machine, scissors, thread, tape measure, pins, marker, zipper, old shelf

it's hard to measure the net, since the edges keep curling up

my solution, i put safety pins on the edges

after a couple of measuring, cutting and sewing... voila...MY MINI GREENHOUSE/NURSERY

first stop, hydrangeas

I have twelve potted hydrangeas, but this year, i was not able to enjoy their blooms, i know i'm doing something that is not right.

recently, i have noticed this brown spots on their leaves

and finally, when they bloom, it was almost a size of a 10 peso coin...

i decided to transplant them, and this is what i saw... they are root-bound... poor hydrangeas, there isn't enough room for them to grow

I LET THEM BREATHE, HOPING FOR THEM TO GIVE ME NICE BLOOMS

the site? or should i say, my training ground

I’ve always dreamed of having a garden which I can call my own, I’ve been imagining myself getting dirty while cultivating the earth and sowing seeds.  I wanted a home where I can have a vase full of flowers, picked in my own backyard.  Finally, that dream is coming true, but I still have to wait for a couple of months….but I’m so excited to start with my gardening quest… for now, guess I have to settle in what I have.

HERE ,  IS WHERE MY JOURNEY BEGINS

HOW MY SPACE LOOKS, UP CLOSE