Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Succulents, agaves and bonsais, plus

I might be boring you with my collages, I am sorry but this is my new-found hobby! I have long been appreciating those who make them, and i am a bit late in learning it. But i am glad i can now post many plants in one placement, unlike the past posts where i had difficulty putting it right or left, and then my captions got in between them, which i cannot do anything about them anymore!
These are all from the Horticulture Exhibit in Quezon City, Philippines which i attended the other weekend.
Above are mostly succulents. I love the way they put the cacti in the cement wall (center of collage). I am sure this is the type of garden i should do, because this is a bit drought and neglect tolerant. Perhaps those of us who travel once-in-a while for a few days leaving our plants alone might do this cliff garden. Those planters are fixed in the wall, so can't be relocated.
Alistair of  Aberdeen Gardening will tell me i am teasing you again because i included some rocks at the bottom, which are definitely not succulent. That just means they are concrete fillers!
Can you guess which among those are not included in the group? It's like the game 'point the difference'!

A blogger friend from India, Radhika will love to look at this bonsai collection. Those two bottom right are same tree, tamarind. One is laden with fruits, which are already ripe for picking. This is definitely a lovely table fruit tree, unlike the tamarind tree near our house which is  more than 10 meters high, so we cannot pick the fruits. We need to wait for the fruits to drop. If we have tamarind bonsai, then picking is so easy! I just wasn't able to know how old are these tamarind bonsais. I re-posted the bigger photo below for better appreciation.

22 comments:

  1. Your collages are fabulous. They show some terrific plants. I do love that wall of succulents ... that looks great!

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  2. Very nice collages! I haven't learned this skill yet either. One of these days I will give it a go. I do love the succulents and agave!

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  3. No boredom here. I love your collages. Another blogger friend of ours does them often too. I just mentioned to her, sometime she should repost some of the images so they can be seen larger. Your photos are so well done and the subject matter so interesting, that I would not mind seeing the bonsai bigger. Maybe you can do a post just on them. They are amazing specimens.

    Thank you so much for the scientific explanation on my oak post. You explained so much, and also considerably better. I did want to know about the one photograph, if the dark area was where abscission was in the image. I never saw this under a microscope and do not have books with it shown either. I only read that it appears as a dark layer. It took a few leaves to see this and I also read it starts but does not complete in marcescent tree leaves. So, I thought I found one.

    Sorry to put you on the spot since you lack this type of tree, but you did an excellent job of explanation. I am so glad and thankful that you responded.

    Readers will also be thankful, because like I said, the process seems simple but is very complex and you showed that so well in your reply.

    Your knowledge is really set apart from many of us. I had biology, organic chemistry and plant physiology in college, but we only ever just touched on this type of information in some of my courses, and in such a broad way.

    I hope you do some posts that explain processes to reader. They are some of my most hit on posts, so I know there is interest out there. What I know is limited, but you have a full in depth understanding, physiology, anatomy, biology and chemistry also. I admire what you have learned and your profession. Many thanks again.

    Sorry this way so long, both our comments were like a post themselves.LOL

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  4. I will reply to Donna (gardenwalkgardentalk) first because she touched a deeper part of my 'psyche'. The artist in you writes so well, which i cannot just ignore. I am not really that deeply knowledgeable on the matter, it is just my basic knowledge which i apply on your topic.

    Regarding the photo of the abscission layer in your post, yes it is the darker part which has already separated, because it has lignified completely, thickened and dried completely, without any more water from the previously attached tissues. The abscission zone is complete in that area. The light part might probably be in transition and not dried yet. By lignification, that means hardening of the vascular tissues, e.g. a vegetable or let's say an okra when left at ambient conditions for sometime will not be good anymore as a vegetable, coz it becomes tough. That toughness is due to lignification.

    I am lucky to have found you Donna, as at least your encouragement led for these things inside my head to have some outlet, LOL. It's so seldom to find some bloggers like you. I actually do mine as extemporaneous posts, and i try to just let them be so light and easy to have more audience. As it is now, i feel like my audience is so few, and i tend to stop when i see very few comments. But i am glad to have consistent followers, whose comments mean a lot to me, and whose posts i really appreciate as well. Next time i will try some posts with processes as you suggested. Maybe i will link it with you so your readers will also visit mine, i will be your passenger!

    Thanks for your appreciation, and please feel free to ask me and i will try my best to do what i can. It is my pleasure to do that. BTW, i LOL when you said our replies are like posts themselves. hahaha!

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  5. Andrea, I like the way you group the collages. They are all beautiful. Spot the difference : Bottom row. 1st or 3rd from the left.

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  6. Your collages are wonderful. I can see so much at once!

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  7. aloha andrea

    wow, i love that succulent wall - i'm also a succulent fan but its too wet here in hawaii for them to thrive - i've tried too many times, i love the agaves below also especially the aloe in the right hand side.

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  8. I never tire of your collages. One of these days I might even try my own because like you've I've admired them on blogs. A fantastic way to display a bunch of like and different plants. The tamarind bonsai is great. That would be the way I'd grow them-reachable.

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  9. Nice collage and good of you to feature succulents grown in the Philippines.

    With the tropical temperatures and increasing incidence of drought there it seems it's only recently that Philippines is catching up with growing more succulents, and even cacti. These plants can flourish there :)

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  10. The wall of succulents just shows that anyone pressed for space can still pursue their passion for gardening. This "living wall" concept has other beneficial effects too especially in congested urban areas like Metro Manila.

    That bonsai tamarind tree is fun to look at. Were there any other bonsai fruit trees in the exhibit?

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  11. Andrea, gorgeous!! collages. I love the succulent wall! I will have to figure out how to do a collage. You live in a beautiful part of the world. I loved our trip to Mexico -

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  12. Bernie - i hope you already rested from all the work you are doing to rehabilitate your areas!

    Karin - thanks for the appreciation and visit. I've been able to see your site too, wonderful photos you have there.

    One - haha, you're the only one who took the bait. Yes you are correct but it is 'and', not 'or'. The 1st is an orchid while the 3rd, i am not sure what!

    Skeeter - i tried to make collages myself to end my envy for those who make them, then finally realized it is space and time saving in the posts. thank you for visiting.

    Noel - yes cacti and succulents might not be good in your area, i like to look at them but i dont really want to plant them, i dont know why, idiosyncracies maybe!

    Tina - you should give it a go, you will find it fun and rewarding too. I didn't study it at once coz i thought it is difficult, then finally, it is already easy!

    Mark and Gaz - actually cacti are being sold here a long time ago, but only specialists like to plant them. Every garden show features them but not many, i suppose, want to plant them in their gardens, but only in some dish gardens.

    SR - you are right, but i am not a real fan of succulents. About the fruit bonsai, only that tamarind is the fruit bonsai exhibited, but in previous exhibits i saw some fruits too, this is the first time i saw tamarind.

    Gloria - yes, thanks for the visit, we are in a very picturesque part of the world. haha.

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  13. Now that is the explanation. I am so glad you explained it so simply in terms I could understand. I thought I was on the right tract with my photo, but needed the affirmation. I am going to copy and paste your explanation in the post. I think this will be helpful for others as curious as me.Thanks again. Donna

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  14. Beautiful collage. I am just getting introduced to succulents and am loving it. And I love the bonsai pics. Huge fan of Walter Pall. You can see my neem bonsai at my page.

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  15. I'm the only one who took the bait? Why do I feel like a fish being caught?

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  16. One - i actually appreciate that you read the contents, and you really looked at every photo to choose which are really not included in the group. You are the only one who replied to that question.Others either did not see the question, did not know the answer, or the answer to them is so obvious! I just don't know. But it was also my way of testing the audience, hehe. Now i know you really know our tropical plants.

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  18. Andrea, You made my Day! Thx for the mention and hey....I loved, loved the Bonsai collection you have showcased here... specially the Tamarind. We don't get to see such mature Bonsai's here in Lucknow and just have to make do with locally available nursery stock. This is a real treat! I am a Big time succulent fan... though have only an aloe vera, Adenium and lots of Jades at home. Btw, You have done a fabulous job with the collage. Whoa! Myraid colours and variety of agaves...

    PS: I did use picasa for that collage. You could play around with the settings a bit, which has different collage design options. Lovely Post!

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  19. Andrea, you took great pictures too. Especially since you came on the closing days when you said the plants no longer looked their best. Go ahead with collages. They look great.

    @One: It's not that you're the only one who took the bait, maybe you are the only one who figured it out.
    :-D

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  20. Thank you for the tour and wonderful photos. Nice to look at as it is 30 degrees F. here and snowing periodically. These collages would make great posters.

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  21. Wow, that succulent collage is amazing! Love the succulent wall. Really amazing!

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  22. I want! I want! I am in love with the Tamarind Bonsai Plant! Beautiful collages and sneaky with the questions:)

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Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

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