Miniature Rubies

Red color is dominant in our hot tropical climate. It is a predominant color of flowers as well. This fruit is a berry courtesy of the Dracaena surculosa. It flowers at the start of the dry season, or probably when the days start to lengthen again. Another theory is that flowering can be triggered by the lower temperatures in January, i am not sure because nobody seems to be studying its flowering induction.

The berries are born in umbels, but dry soil doesn't permit our plant to produce more fruits. One berry per umbel is common. Its diameter is less than one cm. It would be very lovely if many berries will grow per umbel resembling fireballs. However, our dry soil doesn't permit them to produce that much fruit. I also am not sure if they are eaten by birds or chickens as i haven't seen any of them eating one. Our chickens are free range and a bit deprived of food, so they will not spare the red berries if they are not poison. 

  

These are the green berries of the Dracaena surculosa.

They look like open lipsticks, do you agree. That can be the basis why some Dischidias are called lipstick plants. The flower is about 2mm in length excluding the peduncle. I got the plant from the wild thicket portion of our property in the province. I was so happy because the leaves and habit look like hoyas. As a hoya addict, i am ecstatic for its blooming. I was a bit unsure thought because i can't seem to see old peduncles where flowers arise. Then these red buttons confirmed my suspicion, it is a Dischidia parasitica, endemic to the Philippines. I posted it on Facebook groups for identification, and there are already a few who asked for planting materials. Maybe they are the Dischidia addicts, which i am not a part of!...just yet!

This is the old stem from the forest, which flowered 3 months from cutting. The leaves are boat-like and almost 2 inches in lenght. I brushed the old dirt on some leaves, but this one flowered ahead of them. I guess brushing stressed them a bit delaying flowering. That is a bit contrary to the mechanism of flowering though! Anyway, they are very nice in hanging baskets.

Macro Monday 2

Ruby Tuesday Too

Tuesday Reds!

 As I've always said in the past, our gardens in the tropics are normally filled with reds and orange. Maybe these colors really love the hot and warm climates, maybe that is the reason they are called warm colors. The blues and dark violets are seldom seen here, although much intrusion by the gardener can also produce all these blue colors if they want. However, they might need more patience, perseverance, time and money.

So without the needed adjectives i mentioned above, the absentee gardener like me must just be contented with the more common and self supporting plants. And they are the orange and the reds. Here are some of them.

A  Caladium leaf resembles batik from neighboring Asian countries. This could be one of their inspirations. Can this color pass as red already?

 Chrysothemis pulchella, a gesneriad, is said to have originated in North America. It is only some of the few that acclimatized well in the humid warm tropics. With its storage root it can transcend its presence through the seasons, allows dormancy during dry season and sprouts again when the rains come. The yellow corolla don't last long, outlasted by the red-orange calyx. It spreads fast with good soil conditions. In fact in my garden, i already declare it as invasive.

When speaking of contrast, the red ripe chili pepper is a very good specimen. It produces a variety of changing hues in maturation, from green, to orange to red, and of course to brown when dried. I also love how its calyx remained green supporting the ripe fruit.

 The mosquito is lured with the spadix of this anthurium, i wonder what it can get there as the flowers are not yet open. The white spadix contrasts nicely with the bright red showy spathe. It is reported that there are about 1,500 species of Anthurium andreanum, although the highbrids are the most common in commerce.

 Even this black ant cannot resist visiting the anthurium. Its black presence in ruby red is so very conspicuous. I wonder why it was alone there, and i would have loved it if he came in contact with the mosquito. I should have observed them more intently.

Ruby Tuesday Too

Ruby Red

 Our extremely hot (>36°C) and humid dry season did not deter these plants to flower profusely.  This salvia somehow showed some decrease in growth of the stems, and decreased length of spikes but they are as lovely as during the colder months.

Bougainvillea, of all our ornamental plants, likes our dry months to show more flowers. Usually, the flowers are in sets of threes. They look so elegant in their tall pedestals when viewed this way.

Spiky Reds

buds of Ixora coccinea

Ixora are hardy in the tropics, they can withstand longer dry season than most plants here. Moreover, they can tolerate some shading, but they really prefer full sun from sunrise to sunset.

 Firespike or Odontonema strictum buds

This plant loves partial shades and cannot flower profusely when fully exposed to the hot sun. When planted into hedges, they give a lovely atmosphere which is favored by insects like butterflies.

All in One Day!

My 5th Floor Window gives me a whole world on its own. Oh, not actually just a world but also a glimpse of the universe, a world beyond. I might have just been occupying a very small space in our building of 7 stories, but my window gives me special information otherwise not bestowed on others. The window gives me a very special privilege.

So who needs to go out on weekends? I certainly cannot trade-in the time outside, as I might miss my sunsets, or i will miss the birds alighting the tree just below my window. And the picture of the sky changes so fast, I might miss a cloud formation looming in the distance. So can you blame me for confining my body inside this four corners of space? 

I am showing you the changes in my west sky when I get out of bed in the morning till the sun sets. And these photos only happened in one day, 11 November 2012, to be exact. 

The tallest structures in my skyline are the Iglesia ni Kristo Church at the left, the television tower at the center and a condominium unit at the right. This is the wide angle shot at 6:30am, when i woke up.

 A larger shot of the Iglesia ni Kristo Church

this clouded sky is at noon

 my west sky started to change color immediately before the sun sets at 5:25pm, this is at 5:30pm

 a few minutes after the sunset, 5:40pm

the wide angle shot with almost 3/4 of the sky showing, dwarfing the TV channel and the condominium building

 It is a fiery afternoon, would you agree

 an umbrella tree at the distance has a beautiful silhouette

a coconut tree near it is fully illuminated too

and this is my window framing my line of view!

And the world for me seems so enchanting and magical at these few moments, till the world is again almost completely dark, only illuminated now with the worldly bulbs from streets and buildings. WHEW!!!

      

My Little Corner

My home away from home, but near my place of work, is at the foot of a hill. It is not a steep hill but with a very  gradual incline. I don't have the habit to go out of the house on weekends while here in the city. But I sometimes also explore a little bit of suburbia, and I've done that a couple of times on foot. A 15 min walk from my place reaches the top of the hill, where structures give some few conveniences; restaurants, art shops, garden settings, music school, a golf course and a few more. But I come here mostly for one thing, the sunset! 

Viewed from the hilltop, this is the landscape to the east side

 the golf course on the other side, the west

This is the sunset across the golf course, you can see at the horizon the always prominent structure from my 5th Floor Window, the church!

a closer shot of the setting sun 

On a rather lazy afternoon, it is not a waste of time coming here, on foot or on wheels. A camera is rather a lovely paraphernalia in going there. When the sun is gone, it is time to have some pizza or an omelet and a cup of coffee. Even a lovely dinner is not bad on top of the hill. Let's have dinner!