Orange Invaders

The plants i am featuring here are very common plants with wide range of temperature tolerance. They are normally seen in parks and gardens for a very long time that we don't even think that they are not natives. I chose them here either as easily grown and/or invasive. But even if they are invasive, they are still grown for their beauty and their role with the insect population specially butterflies.

Ixora originated from India and Sri Lanka, now popular in tropical America like Florida and Texas and other tropical countries of the world. My orange Ixora is gathered by my mother from relatives and neighbors, now already a permanent resident in our garden, as it is planted on the ground as hedges.

 Lantana came from the tropical regions of America and Africa, later introduced to almost all places in the world. My orange lantana above is from a far province in the Visayas, which is Bohol, an island just recently hit by 7.2 magnitude earthquake. This is loved by our butterflies.

 Four o'clock, Mirabilis jalapa is also called Marvel of Peru because it came from South America, maybe one of which is Peru. It got the name because if opens in the afternoon and remains open till early morning the next day. It produces lots of seeds and also a root that also remains alive even during droughts. These characteristics make it an invasive species.

My niece and the daughter of my cousin, when they met after several years. My cousin's daughter is an OFW and come home only once-in-a while. They explore places, so i consider them invasives...hahaha!

NF-Blo-Ma

Orange You Glad It's Friday

Today's Flowers

Mellow Yellow

The Horticulture Show early this year captivated my enthusiasm about Hoya, a wax plant, many species of which are endemic in this country. A friend delivered a lecture on hoyas, and he invited me to attend. That was the start of my fascinating affair with the plant. Before that, I am not interested with it, devoted my time in other more common plants, only to find that this is our very own. Out of about more than 200 species now in cultivation around the world, most of them originated from this country with 61 species already named, and still increasing. We need more enthusiasts, hobbyists, conservationists to make our countrymen more aware of our natural resource and protecting it. The lecture stressed on the dwindling presence of hoya in the wild, and many species are not anymore found here but in some expensive collections of foreign nurseries. Hobbyists in the country cannot anymore get expensive plants from these collectors! Can you imagine a plant worth $100 excluding shipping? This is already above our standard capacity to pay for a plant.

After the lecture, cuttings are distributed to participants and some are raffled. I am more privileged or lucky because one of the  Horticulture Society officials gave me 2 already growing plants. She told me this species hooked her to hoya collecting. After a few months, I told her that I replicated her experience. I already have five species growing nicely at home, and I still have a few species already ordered from friend collectors.

 Hoya buotii is named after a professor in the University of the Philippines Los Baños. It is one of the most floriferous hoya species, that hooked me to collect more species.

very small ants love the nectar oozing from the flower

 The hairy parts are called corolla, and the shiny parts on top are called corona. Reproductive parts of the flower are embedded inside the corona.

Unopened blooms within an umbel.

My rooting plants are in recycled soft drink bottles, hanging under the canopy of fruit trees giving them the filtered sunlight. You can see the already 1 meter branch of the Hoya buotii, carrying the blooming umbel. Some spurs where the umbels arise are also present in the newly growing branches. This is about to be replanted in bigger traditional pots.

Mellow Yellow 

Our World Tuesday

NF Blo-Ma