January Blooms 2018

I love gardening for butterflies!

January here in our hot tropics is still within the rainy season months, but rains only come when there is a typhoon. Fortunately, typhoons are not as prevalent as during the end of the year. The easterly winds coming from cold countries are still here, so we don't feel yet the essence of the dry season, the heat. Even if our day temperatures are still around the 30Cs, our nights are still comfortable, even without the airconditioning.

However, our annuals are already near the end of their lives, they have to seed in preparation for the dry season. But many weeds are blooming well this time, and the insects are also multiplying well for the continuity of their species. Being a butterfly hobbyist, i love whatever blooms there are, even the invasives. The following photos include the weeds, some native and also some introduced species.

 Above is a small flower around 1cm in diameter, but small butterflies and insects love it. I just haven't taken time for their identities. These are plants always seen in our property. Picture at the bottom is their normal stand.

 Above looks so dainty and found in our wild areas, or fallowed areas. I think it is the white plumbago. But i am not sure if it is native or introduced here. The bottom picture is its natural stand in the wild. I have not seen it in domestication. I just let it be in the yard in the biodiversity garden.

Another weed commonly found in the abandoned fields. The flowers are very small about maybe 3-4mm in length. It is a favorite of the small lycaenid butterflies.

This is an unintentionally introduced species, very invasive and poisonous to animals. Locally it is called 'hagonoy', Chromolaena odorata. It has very deep sturdy roots that withstand long dry season, helping it to become more invasive. I tolerate it because the butterflies love them too.

Another bushy flowers that i am not familiar with the ID. It is a bushy vine at the vegetative stage, entangling the lower bushes until they fully cover them. Insects also visit the blooms often

 this is a domestic plant in my garden, Pentas lanceolata, specifically sought after by this swallowtail butterfly, Menelaides deiphobus rumanzovia

 The ever present blooming Bougainvillea, a permanent fixture in tropical gardens, is also loved by this red butterfly, Menelaides deiphobus rumanzovia

Impatiens balsamina gets invasive during the rainy season, has at least triple generation before the season ends. We have 3 colors in my garden, and the seeds are naturally stored in the ground waiting for the next rainy season. They have short roots making them easier to pull out when needed.

 Justicia plant adds lovely colors in the garden too, but i haven't seen butterflies nectaring on them.

Indian beads at left are dainty little fairies dancing with the wind. Lots of those hanging bunches are so nice if blooming simultaneously. At the right is Hoya diversifolia at the top of the lanzones trees. They continuously bloom for months until February.

 This Episcia is struggling to grow in my garden. It loves high humidity in the environment which might not be maintained in ours, as it is mostly windy these days.

Above is not a blooming plant, but the variegated foliage makes a substitute color in a dull corner. It is very easy to maintain so we always have them. Locally called 'kutsarita', it is Alternanthera sp.

GBBD

Hortikultura 2017

The Horticulture Garden Show, Hortikultura 2017,  is ongoing at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City, Philippines from 3-15 February 2017. It is sponsored by the Philippine Horticultural Society, Inc. This is an annual show that features landscape and flower arrangement exhibits as well as commercial booths. There was also on the spot painting contest that i saw last Saturday. I have been a regular visitor to these garden shows, and this year i stayed there for 2 days last weekend. I was with a friend and it was also a time to bond with plant enthusiasts and hobbyists. We also attended lectures of my two friends way back from the university. They are both plant breeders, so i also learned from their lectures.

In the past garden shows i normally go there mostly to take photos. This time i somehow forgot my camera in the bag. I just used my celfone and did not take a lot of photos as before. Now i wish i had taken photos of the more organized and more artistic arrangements of the commercial booths. Moreover, there are a lot more booths that participated. A nearby street is closed for the additional commercial booths not accomodated in the original enclosure. Also the center walkway in the original commercial booth area was widened, and a centralized overhead netting was installed for the plants. It was a better experience this time than the previous shows. It provided better ventilation for the people traffic, and much easier experience in appreciating the plants and flowers. PHSI needs a well deserved congratulations.

I am sorry for the quality of my photos, as it was very hot at about noon when i took these shots.

 one of the landscape exhibits showcasing mostly bromeliads

my favorite landscape design because of the elevated bridge crossing a supposedly canal

This is also very attractive showcasing the airplants. I love how they used those ducks as focal points.

...and look at those lovely colored Tilandsia ionantha on the duck's head! 

a pair of this planter was outside the door to the lecture hall

this orchid attracted my attention as i saw it for the first time, sorry i forgot to look at the name tag

of course this is the pride of the country, our very own waling-waling, Vanda sanderiana

an oncidium species well located for that trunk as background

i also love the color of this chrysanthemum, i didn't take photos of other colors, just this

another tilandsia as part of a big clump on a big driftwood, i purposely took only these two

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Floral Friday Fotos

Blooming in August

I missed again posting for July's GBBD. Our plants are already at the height of their lushness and growth last month, in response to the rains that started to come last June. However, despite being already at the rainy season, rains also seldom come. It normally just arrives together with storms and typhoons. And when there is a big international storm our Southeast Monsoon is affected, giving us rains and strong winds. But the plants do favorably well, as long as the soil still has sufficient moisture for the roots, and the skies are mostly open for the sunlight to get through.

These are my plants that are already flowering. They will continue this way, as they are mostly perennial plants.

one of my vanda orchids left from previous collections

Turnera ulmifolia growing nicely even during the dry season, but lovelier with the rains

Pentas lanceolata red experienced dryback last season, now starting to be lush again

roses are showing the new leaves, favorably producing more leaves to favor flowering

this shrimp plant dwindles also without water, but we maintained 

it to at least live and wait for the rains

another Pentas lanceolata, with bigger umbels

even the adenium looks happy now

 

a perennial lantana which has been here for several years are just pruned at the start of the rainy season to be rejuvenated. It is a favorite of the butterflies too.

i love the new lantana shoots showing some colors as protection from UV rays

Crinum zeylanicum only flowers during rainy season, its scent is lovely too. It experienced defoliation by several moth larvae last dry months

This Hippeastrum X johnsonii, have a few scapes latently arising even after months of rains. 

This Salvia also dwindled during the dry months, but we kept it alive to wait for the rains. Now it is flowering profusely and beautifully.

There is still a lot of flowering plants this season, i just limit the crowded photos in a post. These are just a few of our plants, a lot more are seen around including my hoyas. They need a whole post for themselves.

GBBD

Our World Tuesday

Flowers, flowers!

It is a new month once again, time to post a lot of flowers. Since i have been posting everything about New Zealand, i might as well be posting all flowers from there. Flowers are scattered everywhere there, even the weeds are beautifully colored with blooms. If i will not stop, my memory card will all be full of them. And that is almost a literal reality. But mind you, i am living in the Philippines, these are just from my travel there.

 Flowers i am posting here are mostly from the Government Gardens in Rotorua. I might not be familiar with them, i only know a very few ones, but i am sure my temperate country blogger friends are even more familiar with these plants. Labels are not there in the gardens, so i guess they are common ones. But for me they are very uncommon. I am from the tropics, of course, these are novelties for me. Please feel free to provide their identities if you can. Thank you.

 gazania

gazania

 carnation

 cosmos

red salvia

Phormium sp.

Garden  Bloggers Bloom Day
Floral Friday Fotos

GBBD in New Zealand

 Previous posts for the last few months in this blogsite are devoted to photos, sceneries and experiences i had during my travel to New Zealand. It is almost about a year now because i was there during the Christmas season. I suppose the flowers in the wild are almost the same as last year. So i will be posting all those i found in their undomesticated setting.

The blooms in my own garden are posted in my other blog, which is devoted to all things in my area.

 Pohotukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) is a coastal evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand and is called NZ Christmas tree because it produces a lot of simultaneous red flowers during this period. It is amazing how they bloom at the same time all around the place.  The above photo is not from the wild, just posted to show the comparison. The photo below was taken earlier near the beach in Waiheke Island, so they are just starting to bloom. It is also very resistant to environmental conditions, trees below are already old and become bonsai-like because they are growing on the rocks.

 This is really in the wild, a very wide area growing lupines, we passed by during our trail hike or tramping in Arrowtown. They are growing so lush compared to those growing in other areas, even in South Island. There are those growing up to 5 ft and still growing! The colors are also very varied.

 These flowers i confess, i don't know, and i can't see anybody who knows it. Please tell me its ID if you happen to know. Thanks.

 This is blue salvia, i wonder if this is cultivated because they are just at the roadsides.

 Another lovely pink beauties, whose name i didn't know. 

 Many hills in the North Island are invaded by this lovely yellow-orange flowering bushes called brooms. They are invasive, but i found them very beautiful and smelling so nicely. The air near them is pervaded with very sweet scent when they are in bloom.

This is where we went trail hiking in Arrowtown, where we were enticed to continue walking more of the trail because of these growths. But under these bushes are feelings of tranquility and sweet smelling air because of the flowering brooms.

 We found this white flowering bushes on the way to Rotorua volcanoes. This is the manuka (Leptospermum scoparium), also called tea tree or jelly bush. The Maoris previously use the young leaves for tea. The very expensive manuka honey comes from the nectar of this flowers.

 New Zealand flax plants, Phormium tenax and Phormium colenso. Above photos are the green-leaved ones, there are those with variegated lovely pink or purple leaves. I took this photo at Waitomo on the way to the Glow Worms Cave.

 The weeds above are at the back of my sister's house. She was apologetic for not mowing it before i came, as she was too busy and the dandelions got to the blooming stage. I assured her it is very beautiful for me, and i had lovely subjects for photos. I can spend time here getting macro shots. Only the yellows are obvious, but there are also some species that are unnoticed discernably, but i also saw them when i got down and scrutinize.

 The above flowers are too small to be getting attention, but i really love it, among the much obvious dandelion flowers.

 This purple grass is common everywhere too. They are difficult to photograph because they easily sway with the wind. 

Dandelions at the back of my sister's house. Are there also people like me who found these weeds beautiful? They were my friends when i was left in the house the whole day, and i sincerely enjoyed them. They are wild but growing in not so wild environment. 

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