New Flowering Plants

When we went to Mahogany Market last week, I couldn't help but buy a couple of plants. I still have a gazillion from Mom's garden to re-pot, but I wanted to get a few plants to help ward off pests. I tried growing marigold plants from seed, but it didn't work out. A neighbor said she also tried to grow them from seed and it also didn't work out. So, I bought a couple from Mahogany Market.

I re-potted them the day after because the condition of the plastic pots were circumspect (it weirdly had rice on it?). I placed them in the shade for a few days and moved them under the sun over the weekend. The most prolific one is the yellow marigold plant because I put it beside the tomatoes which get a lot more sunlight. I'll move the others this weekend so they can produce more flowers. 

I also got additional gumamela (hibiscus) plants. I got several colors so I can have more flowers in my garden. I absolutely love gumamela, they bring back happy childhood memories. One of them gave a beautiful yellow bloom. They also absolutely love the sun and I have to find a sunny spot for them. The ones I got 3 years ago are still alive (save for one). I hope they'll give me some flowers soon. 

I need to add more flowers in our garden to encourage more pollinators to visit. There are two large bees so far helping pollinate our tomato and bell pepper plants. We hope to encourage more to come and visit. 

Happy gardening everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Flowers that Love the Sun

The change to hotter weather has been horrendous. I've had to figure out how much water to add to my plants because of the heat. I have to be careful since I don't want to cause root rot or over watering. 

Well, there are some plants that thrive during sunnier weather. The kalachuchi (desert rose) I rescued from Mom's garden is so happy. It's been producing flowers non-stop.

The bougainvillea cuttings I propagated last year have been producing flowers too. I'm amazed even the smaller ones are flowering too. Bougainvillea truly thrives under the sun.

I have two santan plants I've been meaning to fix, but they've been producing flowers lately. I'll just probably add some nutrients to it. I'm scared it might get shocked if I re-pot it under this crazy heat.

My Gumamela plants are slowly recovering and showing signs of flowering again. I hope they will produce flowers again soon!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Ending November wit Beautiful Flowers

We don't have that many flowering plants in our garden. The only one I bought were my gumamela plants. They haven't produced any flowers since I moved them to another area and that's something I need to figure out why.

Most frequent to bloom are the desert rose (kalachuchi) which we rescued from Mom's garden. The new one I re-potted in mid-October has been producing blooms already.

Surprisingly, a set of torenias sprouted at the foot of the repotted kalachuchi. Good thing I didn't remove it because it's been producing pretty violet flowers. 

I asked Manong Henry to plant some flowers in the front garden and the Panama rose bushes he planted have been flowering too. They're a cute shade of pink.

And he also planted some pinwheel jasmine. They always have flowers whenever I see it and they're so far easy to maintain.

Oh, I just remembered, I also have two suntan plants. I think I need to re-pot them since there's so many weeds growing in their pot. I read, they also need regular trimming to encourage them to produce flowers. They also like to be fed with compost regularly.ni thought they'd be easy to manage.

I hope to produce some Gumamela flowers in time for Christmas!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Desert Rose 7 Months After Being Rescued

I started rescuing my Mom's plants last year. It's been a long, slow process since all her plants need to be re-potted. I re-potted two desert rose plants (Kalachuchi) last October. I placed both pots in our tiny square garden. It's a very sunny spot which the plant loves. The plant also gets some rain water when it rains. 

I was ecstatic when the plant started growing new leaves. It was a sign of recovery and by January it started blooming flowers. I was so happy since it was just two months since I re-potted them. Here's how they looked -

January 2025 vs. October 2024

October 2024 vs. January 2025

Both pots kept on producing flowers. It was a happy sight since I liked the color. The plants also have healthy green leaves and continue to grow. I'm keeping them in pots for now and will transplant to soil eventually. 

May 2025

One thing I realized is like hibiscus (gumamela), desert rose plants need to be fed with compost every few weeks. I have placed a reminder on my calendar so I don't forget. Notice the beautiful color of the flower and leaves. I took this photo the other day after I added compost to the soil early this month. 

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Our Square Garden

We had a tiny garden across our pedestrian gate. It used to have a couple of plants and bamboo when we moved in a few years ago. The plants though died and the bamboo attracted insects. The cats also used the area as their toilet. Not good especially since it's the first thing you see when you enter our gate.

Anakin fell from the garage roof, he thought he could get down through the bamboo. We were on the other end of the house when we saw it happen. We ran to check on him. He was fine, he meowed and ran away after we checked if he had anything broken.

We decided then and there to remove the bamboo and fix the area. We got stepping stone tiles to cover the soil and placed sun loving plants. I placed flowering plants so it looks pretty. I got busy today re-potting the santan plants. I like that the tiny garden is a bit more organized now. I will also love the mango and fig tree there sometime this week. 

We also rearranged the philodendron row to make space for plants from Mom's garden. I also need to trim them and I need to re-pot the aglaonema since they've grown too. Lots to do in the garden, but have to take it slow so I don't get sick.

Happy Monday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Flower Feast

Went to Sonya's Garden last weekend with my family. Just wanted to share some lovely snaps.

What to Give Your Crush On Valentine's Day

My friend's been agonizing the past week about what give or do for his crush on Valentine's day. So the past week we've been brainstorming about it and we've been trying to get bits and pieces from my past experiences.

My recommendation was to simply send a Valentine's day gift. Why send it? I'll explain later. Any of the following would be great:

1. Flowers - Of course, it's a standard. I remember my officemate Leo gave each of the girls in our unit a long-stemmed red rose. And then he gave Michelle a whole bunch. There's nothing like flowers! Aside from the excitement of receiving flowers in the office, the anticipation of finding out who sent it also gives a fabulous rush. So just send it!

2. Chocolates - Everybody loves chocolates! My Kuya everytime he travels loads up on this in his hotel room (whoops! was that a secret Kuya?). My Dad would always get my Mom chocolates for Valentine's. He'd usually insist on going to the mall on Valentine's day and then disappears for a while and then comes back with a whole bagful of chocolates for my Mom. And after 47 years of marriage I'm sure he'd do the same this year.

3. Something Red - Well, I dunno. I'm back to having red as my favorite color. Even had my closet re-painted in bloody red. I just noticed that red is always in from Christmas to Valentine's Day. Something red to decorate her room would be nice - and the catchy color would surely remind her of you.

4. A Love Letter - A few weeks ago my Mom found a boxful of their old love letters and one Sunday morning my Dad read it to me and my friends. We were all so kilig! Well my friends were kilig, I was kinda fidgeting (hey parents ko yun noh!). I had to snatch the letter from my Dad coz he didn't want to read further. I was giggling while reading it. Where has the art of love letter writing gone? The last time I got a non-electronic love letter was back in college - before beeping, sending SMS, internet connection and emailing because so easy!

5. An Alternative Gift - Well sometimes the best way to "send your love" is to find out what your crush really likes. One of the best Valentine's gifts I ever received was a plastic full of little fishies - I had an aquarium-full of Oscars back then and I was so gaga over it. Instead of flowers, my ever practical boyfriend at that time gave me fish food. And that gave him super plus points.

If you're too shy or too diyahe to give it in person then just send a Valentine's gift to your crush. And then, of course, ask her out after!