Bleah

Rougher time at work over the last 2-3 weeks. Plus CNY preparations. Plus Nadya's camp preparations.

There was a whole week where I didn't notice that I'd neglected the plants and....

The Orange Jasmine murrata mini bonsai went kaput. Totally dried up. Though I'm not sure how it happened as Alyssa did help to mist & water the plants. Quite sad about it....but in her words "Just buy another one lah Mama!"....we'll see how, it was a nice one, tall, thin & straight with the top like a mini mushroomy ball. 

The Venus flytrap also suffered. about 7 to 8 traps started turning black and dying off.....I hope the remaining few survives enough for the plant to grow new traps. 

On a valiant attempt to rescue it now since the murrata is a gone-case situation. 

My plants

The potting soil & peat moss were delivered yesterday, together with some prosperplast white pots.

Venus Flytrap
So I decided to repot the Venus flytrap. In the original pot, some of the leaves and traps were resting on the damp sphagnum moss and caused them to start rotting. At least I think that’s what I think happened. Decided to repot and place the new medium a little lower so that the leaves & traps are not resting on anything damp. Used a peat moss + perlite mix. Roughly 50-50.

I hope the Venus flytrap survives. I accidentally set off 3 traps though I’m not sure how or why also cos I ensured I didn’t activate any of the nodules/sensors within traps. Read online that I may have stimulated the traps by rubbing their exteriors. Will take note next time. I hope setting off these traps didn’t cause the plant to expend too much of its energy.

Indian Borage
Took the opportunity & time in the balcony to trim down one pit of Indian Borage. I usually trim off the tip and then replant them. One pot down…..3 more to go lol. Need to do them soon cos most of the pots are overgrown or scraggly.

Murraya (Orange Jasmine)
The tiny murraya I got in Dec seems to be doing ok. The clay pot it came in is really small though and I am not sure if I need to report it anytime soon. The plant doesn't seem stable enough yet. I think I may have to wire it down to the pot soon, especially given the recent drafts and big winds...Need to read up how to do so for this small specimen though. It's only 10-12cm tall and the pot's only around 9x4cm maybe (or smaller).

Aloes
The aloes are doing great...I see many babies as well...and babies of babies too. I'm not quite sure what to do with all of them...I've given away many aloe babies. Ex-helper also brought some back to the Philippines few years back. 

Bryophyllum
Enough said lol...I have no idea what t do with all the babies...I keep throwing them away or throwing them onto random grass patches at  my carpark or outside the development. Gave away to friends as well...I seem to have 3 types of ever-growing and ever-multiplying plants haha. 

Water Jasmine Bonsai
It's long overdue....I think I need to repot it but I don't dare to upset anything...I'm afraid too that I'd kill the plant if I repotted it. I don't really have any nice suitable bonsai pot too...That said, it's just there, stable and a little botak, would love it if I could encourage more leaf growth though...

Of plants and....plants!

Serissa seems to have stabilised and is no longer dropping leaves. She might have had a shock during the initial days when she was first brought home and placed in the balcony. She seems pretty ok now and I intend to repot her into a bonsai pot, prune off 2 of her long branches and rewire her a little. I hope my experiment goes well...!

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The ficus ginseng is doing well. I pruned off a big branch that was spiralling out of shape and dunked it into a cup of water. That was at least a week or 1.5 weeks ago and the cutting is still doing pretty well. None of the leaves have turned yellow or dropped off! I'm amazed. 

The aerial roots are doing well and some of them have found their way and rooted themselves into the soil below. I'm happy to see this but I'm also wondering, with so many aerial roots rooting themselves in the soil, how do I actually repot the bonsai next time ah.....hmm.....

Time for more youtube videos? Lol.....

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I made a simple terrarium each for Ally & Peiqi for Xmas. I'd gotten the airplants about a week or 2 prior to assembling the terrarium and was trying to keep them alive and well haha...

They were simply made, nothing too complicated because, laoniang is not so creative and I think being minimal is still better haha. I think the last time I made them a terrarium for them was almost 10 years ago. Also for Xmas and they were fittonias in round ceramic mugs. 

But hor silly me, I forgot to take a photo this time round. :( 

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Ex-neighbours Serene & Chin swung by a couple of days ago on 23 Dec. She was complaining that whatever plant they had on the balcony of their new place seemed to shrivel up. 

I ended up giving them 2 types of my 打不死 的 plants hahhaa....Gave them around 3 to 4 aloe vera babies and another 5 to 6 byrophyllum babies. I hope the babies survive! 

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Fingers a little itchy to order some plants. But the minimum order of $100 is putting me off. I saw some really nice bonsai type of plants though...Let's see how....

K & I were at IKEA last week and I wanted to get a pot of ficus ginseng to work on again. But....the stocks at the Alexandra branch were quite dismal with no nice root formations. 

Hang in there Ms Serissa!

I think Ms Serissa is in shock. 

From being sheltered, in aircon and under a growing light, she was moved to a shaded but partially bright area with natural wind and air, and surrounded by new "neighbours". I released part of the wire that was holding her top branches in form as well, as I wanted her to breathe a little better and have a chance to spread out more.

She shedded several leaves this morning when I to check on her. 

I hope she adjusts soon to her new home and neighbours. 

I wanted to repot her and prune her as well but I think I'll lay off and let her settle down first. 

Serissa

Bought a serissa plant yesterday, a tiny one which has been wired into an odd non-bonsai shape haha. 

But good enough for me to experiment and try growing it as a mame bonsai since it's less than 20cm tall.  

I hope I don't kill the plant though...It looks rather cute!

Plants again!

Sort of came to a conclusion that the only plants that seem to thrive under my care (or lack of) are the 

• Various airplants I have
• Indian Borage
• Aloe Vera
• Byrophyllum

The aloes are spring up babies here there everywhere. I went from 2 pots to almost 10 pots at some point. Till I got sick of them and threw a bunch away. I also stopped retrieving the babies and repotting them because.....no space. 

The byrophyllum is another 打不死 plant. Self-propagating with no need to look after. It multiplies like nobody's business and I'd probably have hundreds of them by now. I saw people selling them on shopee for $2 a small pot. I was thinking if I dilligently looked after them and collected all the baby sprouts and sold them, I'd probably be at least $1,000 richer by now. Haha.

The Tillandsias are doing well.
The Caput Medusae I bought online last year spiked earlier this year. I left the spike on but realised the plant would not birth if I left the spike as it was. The plant was using up energy to maintain the spike instead of diverting that energy to birth a pup. I hardened my heart and chopped off the spike and voila.....a pup really appeared within a few weeks. So happy! The pup has been growing steadily and at a fast rate too. The mum expended alot of energy though and is starting to shrivel a little. 

The Xerographica is doing alright and growing longer tendrils. Happy and no qualms about how it's doing!

My plants!!

Wrightia Religiosa
Aka Water Jasmine. Aka 水梅.

I made 2 cuttings from the bonsai over the last weekend. 

I hope they both survive. One is a pure cutting and the other was hived off a section of a root it sprung out from. The latter cutting has some small roots to begin with and I have higher hopes for it. Strangely though, it seems to be doing worse than the other cutting. :(

Some online articles say it takes 6 weeks for a water jasmine cutting to root, others say shorter....Whoever is right...I still need to wait at least a month or more. 

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Shopping
I went a little trigger happy and ended up with 4 pots now on their way to me from China. 2 are Nordic style concrete looking ones (and maybe alot less functional but what the heck haha). And the other 2 are somewhat bonsai style pots. I'd prefer simpler plain and glazed ones but somehow ended up with those. 

Shipping was only available by ship so...........the pots will take their time and bob over the sea to me.....I think they'll only arrive in 6 weeks?

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Bonsai
Been on a bonsai roll again and am now quite gian to order some plants to make my own bonsai again. Maybe another 2 pots?

The ficus ginseng I did 2 years back will probably be laughed at by a bonsai expert...but oh well...I'm just a noob experimenting haha. At least the plant didn't die and it's thriving with aerial roots appearing recently. So happy to see those aerial roots. Protecting them with straws for the moment, a hack I chanced upon online. I hope they grow strong enough to root into the soil. 

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Indian Borage
I had 5 or 6 pots I think. Left one downstairs in the common garden a few months back. (It's still there but getting super unruly). Threw one pot away last Friday. Trimmed back 4 pots to tiny shoots only 2 or 3 inches high. They were getting unruly and had branches growing 40cm tall or drooping down and getting long and scraggly. I couldn't stand the messiness and did some heavy heavy pruning. 

Pls germinate!

Been holding off for quite awhile. But with a recent revival of my interest in bonsai, I've finally sown some seeds collected from the Water Jasmine 2 years back. 

I hope the seeds are still ok and I hope at least some of them germinate. I planted 8 of them. Fingers crossed that this noob gets at least 1 sprouting from the 8. 

If I had planted them right after collection 2 years back, who knows, I might have a seedling (or two) worthy of repotting into a bonsai pot by now. 

I've been toying with the idea of digging up a small Water Jasmine plant from the park near my place. But then I'd probably be "damaging" public property. There's no way I can do it in the dark of night as I'd need a torch to see whatever it is I am digging and then someone would see me. There's no way I can do it in broad daylight...someone would spot me too and then I'd appear in a photo sent to NEA or NParks or something. I'd tried to cultivate cuttings from my original plant but to no avail....

So I can only hope the seeds germinate...lol. 

 

Green morning

Spent some time this morning with some of my plants

Water Jasmine/Water Plum Bonsai
Happy with how this fella's turning out. It's come a long way, having survived an attack of mealy bugs a year ago and spider mites maybe 6mths ago. Earlier this year it starting shedding leaves quite vigorously and I got quite worried when it looked quite bald and weak at some point. 

I've been feeding it with organic compost every 1.5 - 2 mths in recent months and it seems to be doing alot better. Greener leaves, many new shoots and flower buds. I hope it stays this way and stays healthy too.

Airplants
The xerographica looked quite dormant and wasn't growing much. Gave it a soak a couple of days ago. It was supposed to be just a 30mins - 1hr soak but laoniang's bird-brain forgot about it and it stayed in the tub for a couple of hours instead. I was worried it would get too water logged or something but it turned out still okay. In fact, its younger leaves seem to have an extra spring and zest to them these 2 days. Maybe the extra long soak did it well haha...:) 

The druids and ionanthas with babies are all doing well. One of the caput medusaes spiked for at least 1.5 - 2mths before it finally flowered. The spike turned a very bright shade of red before the flowers started appearing. Several blooms, which popped out one after another with a few days in between...there were 5 flowers so far....so that means the flowering took place over maybe 3 weeks or so....coupled with the spiking, the whole process took almost 2.5 to 3 months...wah....I'm anticipating a pup to pop out soon...hopefully it does "give birth" to a pup! 

The tiniest baby which ST gave me for my birthday last year has outgrown its terrarium home. Its leaves were starting to curl a little due to the limited space it was in. I've brought it out to be in the wider open space with its other siblings now...hopefully its leaves will grow into a nicer shape again. 

Ficus Ginseng Bonsai
This little one is not so little anymore. I'm proud of it! Its leaves are pretty lush now and looking green and fresh! It wasn't doing very well in its first year and was extremely bald and shrivelled at one point. But it has since flourished after I had an epiphany and started feeding it with organic compost once every 1.5 to 2mths or so. :) This is the very first bonsai I created and it holds a special place in my heart. So far....it's the only one I created and managed to survive haha...I'm not even sure if I created it correctly as a bonsai plant but oh well....noob here. ;p Just mighty happy that it's doing well enough...and looking plump and happy again. 

all the tillies

I'm a proud grandmama.

A week before CNY, 2 tillies bloomed wondrously. 

The single druid - the "pineapple" I've had for the last few years which I brought home from office - gave no warning and turned yellowish for 2-3 days and then voila, out popped 3 long white flowers. The girls were excited haha. It has since sprung out 2 pups and I'm looking after both mother and pups with care now. :)

The ionantha clump of 3 I had was a mother with 2 pups. Not sure what species of ionantha this clump is....but when I first got it, both pups were smaller than the mum. They've since grown a lot and are bigger than their mum now. Both pups are now full grown and they bloomed a week before CNY too. They blushed into a nice shade of maroon beautifully and then had 3 long purple flowers each! Each of them now have pups of their own. One has 3 and one has 2. 

Gosh, wait....I just realised...I am a great-grandmama liao...not just a grandmama haha...

The rubra airplant that bloomed a few months back now has a thriving pup...and the pup's blushing slightly...the edges of its leaves are pinkish....so cute...:)

The xerographica's doing well. 

All 3 caput medusaes are doing well, with one of them blushing more than the others. This one had various hues of marron and purple...I wonder if it's going to bloom? If so, it'll be exciting! I've never had a caput medusae bloom before!

The brachycaulos is not doing well though....not sure what to do with it...can only just do the usual and hope it survives....

Soon-to-be Grandma!

First time ever that I had a T. Ionantha bloom under my care. As usual with Ionanthas, there were 2 stamens.

The first bloomed on 6 Dec and the second stamen bloomed and revealed its stigma this morning. 

I learnt some tips from YouTube and with a small paintbrush, I've collected the pollen from the stamens and pollinated the stigmas....

Let's hope there'll be seeds in the future! 

Once the blooms wither in the next few days, this plant will be pushing pups out thereafter. I hope there'll be at least 2 pups.....yay, I'm gonna be an Ionantha grandma soon! 

The Tillies

The recent rains, especially the big ones that sprayed my entire balcony wet, have done some good to my airplants. 

The extra nitrogen seems to be have done them alot of good. They look happier and they are greener and they have had growth spurts as well. The 3 caput medusaes are suddenly much curlier than before. The druids are plumper and one of them seems to be blushing and spiking a little. I hope this fella flowers!

I managed to collect some rainwater as well and sprayed the airplants with this rainwater on days when there was no rain...:) 

见一个杀一个!!!

**RAWR!!**

Laoniang declared war on the spider mites a week plus ago. 

I first discovered them on the butterfly pea plant a couple of weeks back. So I hardened my heart and uprooted the whole plant and threw it away. It was a waste because it was the first plant that I'd successfully germinated from seeds! I have no idea where the mites came from. After I discarded the plant, I thought that was the end of the story. 

Apparently not. 

Nabeh. 

They infested my water jasmine bonsai. *Heartpain*

My poor bonsai. It's not been doing well for almost this entire year...first, the infestation of mealy bugs....then now these spider mites. 

I've been removing their webs every couple of days, and spraying neem oil on the plant twice a week for the last week plus or so. 

And I've also been trying to catch these creatures. Very challenging considering they are brown i.e. same colour as the branches. They are also smaller than ants but move as fast as ants. Laoniang's eyesight isn't exactly great also. BUT I still try my best to "fight" them ok. 

This morning I fought a valiant battle. For some reason, the stars aligned today and I could see many of them running away when I destroyed new webs that they had spun over the last 2-3 days. I think I squashed at least 10 or more of them today. I feel......accomplished lol. 

I hope I get rid of them by the end of the year....and I hope my water jasmine starts flowering again.
It has flower buds, but...somehow the buds are not blooming. :(

Rain Rain! Big Rain!

The huge heavy rains last afternoon and evening wreaked a mini havoc in my balcony. I've not checked on the larger living room balcony yet but I think that one should be ok as the pots of plants are bigger and more resilient. What I am sure of is that both balconies need to have a wipe down...and all plant trays need to be cleared of water. Gosh.

Spent 30mins clearing up my balcony earlier this morning. 

The chest of drawers was wet and some had seeped into the drawers themselves. Some soil and leaves and flowers were strewn about on the floor. And my poor poor ficus ginseng bonsai and small pot of butterfly pea plant were drowning in rainwater...I think I need not water them for the next 2-3 days at least. 

The big water jasmine bonsai was also drowning but less so as it was placed further in on the balcony. 

I think the only plants loving the rainbath yesterday must have been the airplants lol...No need to water them these 2 days too. They probably got enough misting and soaking yesterday. 

That said, I hope the rainwater brought some extra nice nutrition and minerals for all the plants! :)

plants

Thankful
For I spied another little new shoot that appeared in the Japanese Bamboo pot...
That makes it 2 new baby bamboo shoots...
I hope for more to come and the pot can regenerate and rejuvenate itself!

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Moss rose hasn't been blooming for the past few days...Saw some new flower buds, I hope it blooms again soon....

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Butterfly pea's speed of growth is really interesting....new branches (not even shoots or buds or tendrils) appear over 1-2-3 days. I hope our trellis works well...hmm....

Oh my little plants!

Water Plum

Dropped leaves again in the last 2 weeks. Looking quite sparse compared to when it first came to me...:( I've not done anything different so I'm not sure what happened also. But there are also new growth so at least that's comforting....

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Japanese Bamboo

Yay, after months of wondering if it will make it, it sort of stabilised and now I see a new shoot poking out from the soil. To be honest, I didn't do much to it also. Just removed the browned, dead or rotted stalks that's all. And what's left were just 2 or 3 healthy stalks. Really happy to see the new shoot peeking out. May it revive and get into a big clump again!

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Ficus Ginseng

The one in the bonsai pot is doing good suddenly. Many many new growth - new leaves, new shoots, new buds. Happy to see! Hope it keeps up with this level of growth so that it'll fill out. It's been too sparse as well over the last 1-2 years.....Fed it with more organic compost so it gets the nutrients it needs to sustain its growth!

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Indian Borage

The main mummy plant is....burgeoning again...lol...I trim it from time to time and it ALWAYS comes back with a strong vengeance. I've given out countless cuttings to the extent I think her descendants have extended to Kembangan, Farrer Road, Pasir Ris, Tampines, and of course Telok Kurau. I've also thrown away many cuttings because I don't know what to do with them anymore haha...

I've cultivated 2 more pots from the numerous cuttings...and now...the 2 pots are also thriving. I've trimmed one of them recently too....

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Butterfly Pea

8 seeds sown, 2 germinated, 1 seedlings is thriving well, 1 is barely surviving and experiencing very slow growth. That's the small pot. The bigger pot cultivated form cuttings from a roadside plant is doing pretty ok. K & I set up a small trellies for its vines and stalks to latch on to...Wonder how it'll grow in the future :) But noticed it's starting to attract small little flies...hmm....

Plants

Airplant Tally to Date

1. 1 Xerographica
2. 2 Ionantha
3. 2 Druid
4. 1 Spanish Moss
5. 1 Brachychaulos (or at least I think it's a Brachychaulos)
6. 3 Caput Medusae!

Total = 10. Crowding out my balcony table liao...hmm...

Really love how my very first caput medusae is turning out...it's leaves are getting longer and starting to curl and twist quite abit. Guess the fresh air and natural light is doing it alot of good. :)

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Water Plum

Leaves turning yellow again...I don't know why. Is this a cycle it goes through? But so often? Turning yellow means they start dropping off too...and now it looks like it's getting a quite sparse and bald again. :( 

Fingers crossed that it holds out and sprouts new shoots/leaves/buds again. 

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Butterfly Pea

The cuttings are doing ok, though a small branch had its leave drying out and falling off over the last few days. While they're doing ok and somewhat surviving, they are not thriving either. I don't think there's any new shoots or leaves coming out...

Seeds that I planted a month back....only one sprouted. I think I planted at least 6 to 8? 

Xerographica

The Xero is doing good.
I guess it was cooped up and kept in a ball at the store for a period of time and it's leaves were set in a certain way.

It's been here for 2 weeks and its leaves have loosened up in the fresh air and natural light. I see a hint of some curls starting to form. And the leaves have stretched out abit more compared to when I first got it.

I've more or less completed cleaning its leaves. There was somehow bits of dust and some soil (?) in between its leaves and while I'd cleaned most of them out on the day I brought it home, there was still some dirt stuck in deeper crevices. Had to use a cotton bud yesterday.

Hope it grows more.
Hope I can find a better place to eventually hang it up too. I believe when its hung up, its leaves will grow longer and curl even more....

More airplants!

We popped by A Tilly A Day yesterday afternoon after our anniversary lunch at Gyu Kaku.

Really lovely shop. The terrariums there put my amateurish ones to shame lol. They had both open and closed ones. Many of the smaller ones were just of moss though and the shop had many UV lighting tubes for the plants. Maybe that's why they usually keep so well in these shops but don't fare well when they get back to someone's home.

I managed to get the Xerographica that I was looking for. A whopping $30 bucks for a small one that fit into my palm. I'd probably be able to get it cheaper from a farm. But lazy to travel there. I ended up with 2 more Caput Medusae airplants too. One was grown from seed and looks vastly different from the existing one I have. Shop lady said it might be from the Philippines while the one I had was probably from Guatemala. The other Caput Medusae I got was very similar to the existing one I had. Somehow like their structure...:)

So yeah, my balcony's filling up....hahaha...

Yay!

Brought the girls for a quick dessert fix at Garden Slug this evening. And finally! The plant shop Potta Planta next door was open!

Went in to ogle at their stuff and walked away with a pot of asparagus fern.
Yes, I love this plant....but lost the previous pot that Ally gave to me. It had succumbed to a mealybug infestation a few months back.

I hope this pot goes well. Will repot it tomorrow to a bigger pot and remove some browned stalks and fronds. Will explore if I can declump it and split it into 2 separate clumps...hmm....

Would have bought alot more at the shop.....if not for the exorbitant prices....
The pots are really chio...my style, my type. Monochromatic and duller earthy tones. Very simple designs with matching pot plates. Just one single drainage hole that I like. Raw ceramic and unglazed. Really laoniang's style.

But so so ex...a pot of 10cm height and 10cm width could set one back by $29....:(
For now, I'll just ogle and salivate at the pots......

If I'm successful at declumping the asparagus fern, maybe I'll get one small pot as a present to myself.....I'll just make do with plastic Baba flower pots for now...