A compilation of plants & flowers at front yard

These are some of the photos of my plants & flowers that I managed to capture when they are flowering or I would say in good condition.  Post them here to record their blooming glory.

Desert roses are the only flowering plants that I have.  As you can see they are of common varieties.  I experienced down times with them, seeing all the leaves turned yellow, brown and dropped off completely.  I have to spray them with soap water when they are infected with fungal.  At times, I have no choice but to trim the branches.  They will grow back amazingly.  That's what I love about Desert Roses.

This plant is given to us by my sister in law who has green figures.  

Flower Seeds

To my surprise flower seeds are hard to find at the hypermarkets here, most of the seeds for sale are vegetables.  After visited the stingless bees farm, we decided to plant some flowers to attract the stingless bees to our backyard, our intention is to provide a pleasant home for the stingless bees if we were to put a beehive log at our backyard, the bees will stay if there are flowers around.  

Since I could not buy the flower seeds on the days I looked for them, I searched online hoping to buy  some seeds to be sent to my door steps.  Again to my surprise, a shop that is selling flower seeds online is only a few minutes drive from my house.  

My better half went to this shop the next day morning, he sent me the photos with packets of flower seeds on the display racks. 

 and they also sell something new--- the ready to germinate potted flower seeds. 

After picked and chose, my better half bought 4 packets of flower seeds and he got a free gift from the shop owner too..

 I opened the little paper packet and I found these 2 seeds, engraved with {I Love you 4 Ever}.  My immediate question was "Are these real seeds or souvenir?",  "The shop owner said Yes, they are real seeds, she is giving them free to all her customers." answered my better half. 

But we have not tried to germinate these 2 seeds yet.   That would be an interesting post if these seeds can ever be germinated and produce flowers. [Update : I failed to germinate these seeds, they were covered with fungal after 3 days I planted them in the soil].

Meanwhile, please visit my humble backyard garden which we are working on to add more flowers.

Birdie Flower

HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE !!

let's enjoy a video of my "birdie" flower.  I got this flower from my SIL many years ago.  This variety is very versatile, I put it in the open area without shade, it gets all the sunshine and water shower, I only water it once in a while, not much care needed.  The flowers resemble a bird, very cute.

Anyone knows the name of this flower?  Please let me know in the comment box.  Thanks!!

Flowers, plants and vegetable at home

Awaken by a phone call from my brother.  Oppss...it's already 8.30am..no worries, it's a Saturday & still school holiday.

Had our relaxing breakfast at home, kids will be back to school next week.  My girl helped to spread avocado with milk on a slice of bread for me with her leftover avocado (her breakfast for today, obviously not used to taking fruits as breakfast :D).  It's just feel so nice to have my little girl preparing something for me.  She prepared sandwich lunch for me too on my request because I am down to cough & flu.

After breakfast, I went checking on my flowers, the progress of my tomatoes seedlings, french beans seedling, if any (still no way to be found) and my kale plant.

Finally, this single petals desert rose is blooming.

I took a picture of the three types of blooming desert roses at the front porch..I bought 3 more varieties of desert roses from the tamu last week, as you can see one of them is at the right side. 

Here is the tomatoes seedlings, growing very slowly but at least germinated about a week after planting the seeds.

one more, looking weak hopefully it will become stronger in the coming days.

my kale plant that I bought from the tamu for RM8.00.  It was in a poly bag, we re-potted it here.  I just learnt that Kale is very good for health.  I intend to add more herbs plants into my collections and start to learn how to "eat" them since they posses great nutritional values.

We are working on a planting project at our home, will update it here soon.

Desert Rose plant under attacked

I was very surprise to see the condition of our Desert Rose plants on last weekend, My lovely Desert Rose plant 富贵花树 has been under attacked.  It was a well bloomed plant like this in my earlier post but I was devastated to see how it became overnight.  I took a closer look and I found the culprit..   , 

can you see it?? and the condition of the leaves :(..

The culprit is just right there.....The caterpillar has obviously tired and full after chewing on the leaves, it's resting on the tiny branch.

It also caused much destruction to our other pot of Desert Rose.

My better half took it off the plant and placed it at the back of the house, but another (not sure whether it is the same one) caterpillar appeared again on the same plant the next morning.  This time he put it outside our fencing in front of our house.  It came back again on the next day, unbelievable, it's not a butterfly yet couldn't fly, we still wonder how it could find the way back to the same plant again....???

we have to put it inside a container with air holes and a piece of leave to avoid it from causing further damage to our Desert Rose and other plants.

what would you do to these caterpillars when they come visit your garden ??

Flower blooms 花开了

Happy to see a flower blooms in my front car porch.  It is the only flower that blooms so far.  I have never care for it as it is always covers by my better half's car at the side of the yard.  I have to carry it to a more visible place to enjoy its beauty before it withered. 

anyone knows what is the name of the flower?  It is a very common flower but I do not know its name. *update :My colleague told me that this is Desert Rose".

It is planted in a pot.  It was full of weeds before this, I have to clear them all to allow this plant to grow better.

I bought these cactuses from Kundasang in May 2015 just weeks before the earthquake strike Mt Kinabalu in June 2015, They are growing well with minimum care.  I will need to transplant them to bigger pots soon.

The plants that I bought from Kundasang together with the cactus have withered, no one to be blamed but me.  There are seeds that I could harvest from them to plant new ones but I have yet to do it.

Overnight Trip to Mesilau Kundasang -Day 2

The next day, we woke up early in the chill morning.  Everyone were excited to find the majestic view of Mount Kinabalu, it is so close as if we are almost reach the mountain top.  My youngest daughter was so excited, she was the one who woke us up in the morning.  Our hand phones worked very hard to capture the best view.  

Me with the Mountain view at the back

It was so cold that I have a bowl of rice wine chicken soup to warm up my body

On the way back,  we stop by Kundasang market place to buy some local vegetables and for the 1st time, I shopped at the flowers stalls

small pots of chillies, I did not buy any

spread of flowers

Cactus, these are the ones I was looking for

I bought 3 pots of flowers.  The red one is meant for my mum for Mother's Day but she asked me to take care of it.  She said this flower is very common.

and I also bought 3 small pots of cactus.  Now I will have to take care of my plants which I have never done before.  The weather is so hot,  I have been watering my plants for the last 2 days when I reach home after work.  

Wholesale Cut Flowers

When I was in my home base florist business many year ago, I was having problem getting fresh cut flowers. As it is home base, I do not keep fresh flowers like most of the florist do.  My business is on made to order basis.  Since I am not a consistent buyer of bulk fresh flowers, the flower suppliers are not willing to supply me with the wholesale price, at times I am not able to even get the types of flowers as per my customers requests.  The flower suppliers always tell me that their flowers have been reserved for the florist shops.  Under such situation I get frustrated and my customers get even more disappointed for they are not able to get the type of flowers they have ordered from me.

The type of flowers and their colours represent specific meanings.  To many people if they are unable to get the right type of flowers, it would defect the meaning of sending flower bouquets to someone for that specific occasions. 

I remember in many occasions I had to turne down many orders as I could not get the right flowers as ordered. Without doubt, my business has decreased and I had to finally call it a quit.

If I had known a reliable Wholesale Cut Flowers supplier whom can cater for my needs, I would still be in florist business till now.  If so happen one day I decide to go back to florist business, I would definitely order from them.  With the support of a reliable fresh cut flowers wholesaler, I will be able to provide better service and more varieties of flowers to fulfil my customers' specific needs.

It is a joyful feeling to receive fresh flower bouquet same goes to the one who send it.  The display of fresh cut flowers not just brighten up the room but also able to lift up one's mood for the day.  Order some fresh cut flowers to brighten up your days and send flower gift to lighten up your love one.

Bird Flower Plant / Little Sparrow Plant

It's an eye opening for us to see birds grow from plant.  

This is a Bird Flower Plant given by my SIL, Catherine sometimes early this year.  It was planted by her mum and brought all the way from Lahad Datu.  

We transferred this bird plant to a slightly bigger pot. It is basically grows by itself with sunlight and rain showers.  Occasionally we water it during hot and dry weather.

the shape of the flower is just like a bird, with pretty tail

three little bird flowers on a single branch

This Bird Flower Plant is said to bring good lucks to the owner.  ;D  Hope this plant will bring us plenty of wealth and good health to my family.

Prince William and His wife, Catherine visit to Sabah

It is our great honour to have the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge to visit Sabah after touring Kuala Lumpur from 13-15 September 2012.  They are here to represent their grand mother, the Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II on her Diamond Jubilee tours, making her 60 years reign as Queen.  

They began their Asia Pacific Tour from Singapore on 11 September 2012 where they had a tour at the Orchid Garden. They were presented with the Orchid named after them.

Their next stop will be to Kuala Lumpur and Sabah.  I am sure the airport and the hotel that they will be staying will be packed with greeters under strict royal protocol, though I am in Sabah, I don't think I will be able to have a glimpse of Prince William and his wife, Catherine in person. It's a working day, most of us will be on our work desks.  

The Duke and Duchess will proceed to visit Danum Valley, a virgin rainforest deep in the centre of Sabah, where a conservation is done by Royal Society to protect the precious ecology in the area.  It is an interesting place to visit but I have not been there yet. Danum Valley is a paradise to Birds watchers and nature lovers.  Amidst much controversial, I guess they will proceed to Danum Valley as planned. 

image from tourmalaysia.com