LIME BUTTERFLY

I haven't seen a Lime Butterfly for a while, so this was really a pleasant surprise. Interestingly, it settled onto my Plumbago capensis.

HOUSEPLANTS

I couldn't stand the unkempt peacock-like Plumbago anymore and decided to give it an extreme haircut. I headed back the entire plant so it was almost leafless. 

As for the Lime plant, it has grown considerably taller but didn't seem to attract anymore Lime Butterflies and instead hosted so many white flies, so I brought it to the garden.

The Periwinkle was also suffering from the drying effects of the current weather and it's almost bare stems hung limplessly over the wall. So I had to prune back most of its stems. If it's not recovering, which I thought so, then I would harvest the seeds and chuck the plant away to make room for the younger seedlings.

Finally, the variegated Aptenia grew so much but there were only a handful of flowers and a number of scales pests. I suspected it took up a lot of my soil fertilizer nutrients. I ended up collecting more than a kilogram of it and brought it to the garden for planting. 

The straggly Periwinkle

The variegated Aptenia cordifolia

HOUSEPLANTS

Today's weather - sunny

I may not have a garden on the ground but I still have lots to say about the plants I grow at home.


The Justicia brandegeeana is really a slow growing shrub. It took this shrub quite some time to grow to this size and produce these inflorescences.


I cannot recall when I bought this sundew plant (scientific name: Drosera cultivar) but perhaps I should try planting this sun-loving carnivorous plant in a terrarium?


The Calanthe orchid has also grew much since a week or two ago.


The variegated Hamelia patens has recently produced some fruits. This photo only showed two black fruits but the actual plant has put out two whole bunches of fruits now.


On the other hand, the fruits of the Gloriosa superba are getting bigger with each day and I am still waiting to see when it would ripen and "explode".


By the way, I have always been intrigued at the leaf branching pattern of the Plumbago species. The branching is just different from most typical opposite or alternate arrangements. The whorled leaf arrangement gives rise to a new stalk of leaves or flowers. Is there a certain advantage or benefit for this type of leaf arrangement, I wonder?


I bought this interesting Begonia from Ang Mo Kio Flora recently and it has been kind to me just yet. A few leaves were damaged by the collection of water on them but other than that, the plant appears to be perfectly happy in the pot.


I guess this is so much for now.

SELEGIE

This is an old block of flats at Selegie where my classmate and a relative used to stay. After some upgrading a few years ago, the facade definitely looked more presentable.


I passed by the area recently and took these photos of the gardening by the residents of the block. Most of them are making full use of the opening in the railings to grow plants. Anyway, I do think that people who stay in older residences are often more attuned towards growing plants. I absolutely adore the Plumbago capensis or auriculata with blue flowers. Mine is growing through a gap in the corridor wall and hope it would soon look like this.

SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDENS

I know my blog and posts are boring to most people but it wouldn't stop me from posting because this has become like a photographic diary to me. I could never maintain a diary for more than 3 months but I have this blog for more than a year now and I still have not entertained the idea of shutting it down. For this, I am proud of myself.


So anyway, these are some interesting plants at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The first is the strongly variegated Sanchezia nobilis, which I find astonishingly and amazingly beautiful since the first time I saw it at the former Alexandra Hospital.


The second is the native Peristrophe roxburghiana (common name: Magenta Plant; Family: Acanthaceae) with small purple two-lobed flowers. Frankly, I am not particularly wowed by this herb.


Then there are these very cute Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Trailing Salamandar' (common name: Coleus) and the uncommon and straggly Plumbago indica. I posted on the Ardisia gigantifolia on 7 Aug 10 and looked how big they are now. However, I hate it that they are suffering from severe nutrient deficiency symptoms.

HOUSE PLANTS

I did some maintenance of the plants recently but when is my Quisqualis indica going to flower? It has put out so much leaves yet not a single flower is in sight.


The evident flowering plants are Catharanthus roseus, Plumbago zeylanica, Antigonon leptopus and Lantana camara and montevidensis.

HOUSE PLANTS

Enough information was posted on these plants along my corridor, so I shan't write anything more on it other than just listing the names of the plants here:

• Antigonon leptopus
• Aptenia cordifolia
• Dissotis rotundifolia
• Hamelia patens
• Lantana camara
• Lantana montevidensis
• Mirabilis jalapa (the monster)
• Plumbago zeylanica
• Vinca rosea