Kalachuchi (Desert Rose) Seed Pods

Almost a month ago, I noticed my kalachuchi plant produce "antennas". I found it strange since I've never seen any other kalachuchi plant produce antennas.

After some research I found out it's a seed pod. The pod was very firm and it started to dry up after three weeks. I read you're supposed to cover it so you don't lose the seeds to the wind.

When the pod started opening I thought it was time to cover it. It wasn't fully opened yet, so I thought I had time to find a suitable cloth cover.

Nope, the next day the pod was fully open and all the seeds were gone! Whoopsies! I hope they sprout wherever the wind brings them. 

Now I know, next time I have to cover the pods early so I don't lose the seeds.

#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 (Kalachuchi) Rescue After Two Months

It's been two months since we rescued a pot of kalachuchi from my childhood home. It stood lonely beside our pedestrian gate. It was totally neglected and had very few leaves yet.

We brought it back home and I worked on adding soil, perlite, rice hull and compost to it. I didn't dare cut any of the stems for fear it might die. I gave it a good soak and put it where rain could reach it.

After a few weeks, baby leaves started to come out. I would turn the pot around to allow it to get more sunlight. I guess it was happy hanging around my calamansi plants because it started to produce flowers stems last October.

Two months after

Despite heavy rains and typhoons, it bloomed beautifully during typhoon UwanPH. The strong howling winds did not affect the flowers. At the same time, my two other pots (also rescued from Mom's garden) bloomed.

Rescued early this year

Thanks Mom and St. Fialcre, for helping me with the plants. There's more I need to transfer. We'll get them soon.

#BeKind #StaySafe