Mulberry Bush

An interesting discovery while making my way to the Chinese Garden MRT station yesterday after the Sports Energizer last offsite event of the year. From a distance, this mulberry bush did not catch my attention. When I get closer to the bush, I noticed the shape of the leaves were rather like those of the mulberry. And true, to my surprise, someone has planted a mulberry bush just next to a common pavement.

Obviously delighted, I took out my camera & go click, click, click ....

GCS Gathering

It's party time!

Nearly a hundred of us, members of Green Culture came together for a fun-filled evening at Green Baron's place on the 23rd of May. He has so graciously booked his condo function room to host this memorable event for all of us. Another person whom we have to thank is Ah Kee. She has offered herself voluntarily to co-ordinate & organize this grand event. Mind you, not an easy task! Ah Kee has really done us a big favour.

It was my first time meeting so many member gardeners from the Green Culture since becoming a member last year. I have learned from many experienced gardeners the know-how of growing both ornamental plants & also the edibles. Meeting & getting to know the members in person has indeed reinforced our friendship & trust when chatting with them via the online forum.

Members brought their plants, seeds & cuttings to do their exchanges with fellow members. Many of them were just very generous & gave away what they have brought along with them to the function. I was very fortunate to have received many interesting plants. I have now added mint, thai basil, cat whiskers, periwinkles, dill, cactus, coleus (painted nettle), cockscomb, fancy leaf caladium, syngonium (pink green) balsam & even a dragon's tongue (if I am correct with the name) to my collection.

Green Baron has also let us toured his condo compound & introduced to us many different plants & fruit trees along the way before we went up to visit his balcony garden in his house. All his plants & collections are enough to prove to his visitors what a seasoned gardener he is. I am utterly impressed!

Plants was of course the star of the evening. However, Green Culture members are also fine food lovers; so needless to say, there was that spread of yummy food to pamper everyone's taste palate. In fact, many of them contributed their home-cooked specialities.

So can you imagine; with all the fine food, interesting topics of plants & exchanges topping up with great companies, can anyone tell me who will not be looking forward to our next gathering?

By the way, our next gathering will be the 5th anniversary celebration of Green Culture in four months' time.

New Gardening Blog

Dear friends,

With the increase & frequent postings of my gardening articles, I thought it might be quite a good idea to create another blog focusing just on anything about my gardening journals.

Hoping I would be able to receive your continual support not only here in my leisure blog, but also at my new gardening blog :
doristeo.com

Feel free to drop me any feedback, comment or word of encouragements if you wish to do so. I would be most glad to use them as one of my resources when penning my next article.

Thanking and wishing you a nice day; and many more happy readings too.

My Fourth Uncle's Home in Thailand

This is my third uncle and his wife (both on the bike). It's their visit to my fourth uncle's holiday home in Thailand.

My fourth uncle with his brother-in-law's air rifle. He uses it for birds shooting trips.




A holiday home of their own in Thailand.




Back to nature. Even having a dragonfruit shrub in their yard. Fancy plucking one off the shrub when it ripens?





How about chopping the bananas down by yourself? You will be wondering why didn't he chop it only when it ripen on the tree. It would have attracted a lot of ants if he had waited.






























Envy the proud owner of this garden.

More fruit trees ... Hmmm, mangoes ...


... coconuts













Kampong spirit. Away from the hussle and bustle of city living. Relax ...

Some Updates on my Unknown New Plants

The little blade-like leaf I posted earlier has now grown so much longer. I am quite sure this is a red Hippeastrums from the family of Amaryllidaceae (am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ee) . My husband said the flowers he saw in Medan were red too. Just like those in the picture below he captured in the highlands of Medan. My gardening friend identifies mine as a Hippeastrums (hip-ee-ASS-trum) . Only the colour type of the flowers cannot be confirmed until we see the first bloom. There is also another species which bears white flowers. Hippeastrums actually originated from The Netherlands. Let's wait for the first bloom to confirm.
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Remember the last time I told you that I didn't want to post a pot without anything in it? Well, this is the one I can proudly show it to you now. I can confirm this unknown new plant will turn out to be like the one I am showing to you now in the picture below. It's Dahlia. I can tell from the leaves of my plant with those I saw in a recent visit to World Farm, a nursery in Sembawang area.

So, you know what I mean? You need plenty of patience to reap the reward of your "hardwork" & also the test of time to satisfy your curiosity in true gardening.
Interestingly, I love the feeling of surprises! That joy of nursing a plant whether from seeds, stem cuttings or just the roots. That feeling of many days not seeing anything, waiting & waiting; then suddenly one morning or one evening, a little seedling pops out to the surface of the soil. It's just like that seedling telling me: "Hey, I am here at last! Thanks for not giving up on me". I hope I can express it better here but I can't think of a better way to do it - just sheer indescribable HAPPINESS!

Re-dressing my garden

Gifts from my sis-in-law

Many friends call me a chilli queen. To kill my curiosity, my sis-in-law brought back for me the Habanero Chile & Poblano Peppers from the States during her home visit recently. They are originated from Mexico. I will be saving the seeds for drying & plant them when they are ready.

Don't you think the tiny ones are very cute when put next to the big ones! Habanero Chile are the tiny ones & the big ones are Poblano Peppers. They are chilli pepper plants which also belong to the capsicum family.

The fruits contain capsaicin which is the “ingredient” in a pepper that tends to burn your mouth. It is technically a chemical that effects the nerve endings in our skin as well as our mucus membranes & that is why if you have a stuffy nose, eating something spicy often opens your sinus right up!

To know how hot or the 'heat' of a chilli pepper, we can use the scoville scale. The Scoville scale works by determining the amount of capsaicin that is present in a pepper and gives it a number of Scoville heat units which renders the rating. If, there is a rating of from 1 to 20, Habanero will be ranked no: 15. Thai chilli which is the capsicum pepper most people familiar with is only ranked no: 13. Poblanco only rank no 5. Either my taste bud is superb or has gone haywire, I can still handle the Habanero. I just cut up one into big pieces & ate them fresh together with my dishes. I like the crispy texture & the fresh 'heat'.

Sign of More Growth

Look at how handsome that little blade-like leaf has grown since my last post.The ginger-like root has produced so many leaves but still has no flower yet. The leaves are so slender & bushy that I need to bundle them up with a string.

This is the pot which I said I did not want to post earlier.Can you see the little baby shoot peeping out of the soil now? So the seed has finally forced its way out of the pod & pierced through the soil.

What is the fate of the Pamelo tree?

Due to a HDB enbloc exercise in the area, the Buona Vista Swimming Complex & some surroundings flats will be demolished in the year 2010.

By then I believe they will also be chopping down the pamelo tree which is standing right in front of the swimming complex.

I use to pass by this tree & always ask myself what will happen to the tree when HDB starts to tear down all the buildings there. Just wish that some people or a relevant authority will be kind enough to move the tree to a new home instead of having it chopped down. It's indeed a lovely sight looking at all the pameloes hanging on the branches.