Amaryllis: The Bulb Harvest

I bought the bulbs end of 2010, planted it in front of my house. They bloomed once, and stay bushy until it bloom 2 weeks ago (some other cluster will bloom soon too). And they stayed hidden for years under invading duo: grass and jasmine.
I cleared up the grass and jasmine to find those few bulbs have multiplied  they have little bulblets sticking next to them :), and the mother-bulb (the original one) have grown so huge. I believe they can grow much bigger if  they were not confined with stone fences.

The one in the pic below will bear 2 sticks of flowers soon. So, I won't harvest them. What I did was putting a stick next to it, so it'll help to support the flower once it bloomed.

L-R clockwise:  a cluster: consists of mom and lil' bulblets; a closer look; the waist size of bulb-mommy... 

I harvest some of the cluster, see if I can rest them and later force them to bloom.

Here are some pictures of the harvest:

a cluster: after harvest

see the dint on bottom left is from her bulblets

the whole family after being decapitated. 

 So what happened is (theoretically), after removing all the greenies and cutting the root to manageable length, the bulbs need to be dried in open air, and then kept in paper bag for 1-2 months, so they can rest.
After the resting period, they can be planted and can be expected to bloom.

Never tried this before. Well I have 3 clusters, now I have harvested 1 of them, let see how it goes in a few months. So excited :)

Netherlands' gift for me: Amaryllis Bulbs

can't help it. need to show my pics. haha

One of the compulsory tourist stop in Netherlands is Keukenhof Flower Garden - a super huge flower garden, usually full of the country's trademark flower: Tulips.

I've tried planting Tulips in Indonesia several times, and none succeed. I give up!

So, this time I bought some amaryllis bulbs, the vendor guarantee that it'll grow well in tropics. I was sceptic, thus buying only 4 bulbs.

The bulbs I bought from Keukenhof

Blooming-size Bulb, ready to bloom in 6-8 weeks

 And guess what? Once I returned home, I was greeted with this huge red bloom. I realised that I always have Amaryllis growing in front of my room's window. OMG!

I bought it years ago in Berastagi, it bloomed once and never bloom again until now. Since the sellers in Berastagi don't know the proper name (they simply call it whatever they want, such Trumpet Flower, Red Flower...) I couldn't get information on how to grow it properly. 

Never know such jewel was always in my garden :) until she bloomed

But now that I know it called Amaryllis, I know that they are happy in tropics, although there are some tricks to force them to bloom.

Big big regret that I didn't get more bulbs from Keukenhof. I should have bought a dozen or more.
Officially bitten by Amaryllis-fever bug now. 

Miniature Greenies

Bought little ceramic cups, and here is what I made out of it: a miniature living plants on tiny pot.
They are now displayed at my agriculture store. Just to refresh the atmosphere :)
Cute, right?

Love the red leaves :)

Teeny Weeny Orchid

Here is another bulb (size ard 4 x 6 cm) that I bought from Kyaiktiyo. It sprouted a long stem full of tiny flowers, yet bears no leaves at all. Funny isn't it?
From the flowers' morphology, it's easily assumed that it's a kind of orchid; but I dunno what the name is. Can anyone tell me please?

bottom right: a little spider claimed a spot on the orchid's bud

Tiny White Flower

Just after a month after I purchased the bulbs from Kyaiktiyo - Myanmar, the little bulbs now grow into a tiny plant and have presented me with flowers. How cute is that?

Shipping Waterlilies

Sending away some waterlilies' babies for Ling to place at her newly established guest-house.

This is how I pack the waterlilies for shipping. This method will allow at least 7 days of shipping without packing the water too, so it'll be quite economical.

The recipient should already prepare a container with muddy soil for immediate transplant. 

Here is how I do it, step by step:

Here are the waterlilies. When you remove them from the soil, grab the bulb at the root base, pull gently. 

You can remove some wilted leaves too. You won't need too much of them.

Place the waterlily on a newspaper

Roll the plant with a newspaper. Fold the paper, not the leaves. Ensure you do not hurt the leaves and the stems.

Here what it looks like after folding. 

Now, place it in a plastic bag

Fill the bag with clean water. Not too much, we just want the newspaper to be wet but not drippy.

Remove the excess water, and tie the plastic bag securely. Make sure there's no leaking.
And don't forget to label them too.

For shipping, lay the waterlilies packages flat in a box. The box should be rigid enough so it won't be bent or folded during shipping.

Upon arrival, recipient should remove the plant gently from the newspaper and stick it to the mud.

It'll need about 1-2 weeks recovery time, but I promise you, it'll live (◕‿◕✿)

Good luck!

Orchid Fever

(*^▽^*) I think Mom was bitten by a green-bug.
Look what she got for me last week!!!
While I was chasing for my plane, Mom bought these orchids for me.
She told me that she even emptied her whole wallet to get me these.
So thoughtful of her... *(^O^)*

Don't ask me their names, cos I know nothing about it (yet)
They are so pretty, aren't they?

All pics were taken using SGS3 and was edited using PS. This little thing works wonder, isn't it?

Babies' First Bloom

Playing match-maker for plants is so rewarding when you finally see the result.
On my last post Crossing Waterlilies, I have shown you those tiny sprouts... the result of waterlilies kama-sutra. Hehehehe...
Here is the picture of those babies growing up.

babies taking up their mommy's space in the pot

There were so many of them that I have them re-potted in smaller container and give bigger ones away.
I am willing to give them for free, all you need to do is to prepare a pot for them, k?

babies waterlilies for giveaway 

the first flower 

There's one baby that I separated for a couple of months and has a whole pot for itself. And this is its first flower.
I have to admit that when I mate those water lilies, I didn't label them. I never thought I would succeed on first attempt.

Looking at the fact that the baby bear a pink flower same as its mother. But it somehow have smaller bloom than its mommy's.
Maybe I mate pink flower with another pink flower.
Ooopss.... Waterlilies' infidelity, nobody knows who the daddy flower is. FYI, I mated pink one vs. pink, white and red.



Isn't it pretty? I cut it off and placed in the altar. The cut flower lasted for 4 days.

(wild?) Orchid

Look what I found today in the forest: a kind of orchid growing on the ground.
Lucky of me to spot this tiny beauty.
Pretty pink and yellow hue over its white petals. Beautiful, isn't it?
It has some seed pods too. I doubt I'll be able to manage those seeds.
Btw, I took some of the plants home, wanna cultivate them :)
Anyone knows its proper Latin name?

Searching for Binlang Princesses

Driving across the island, I saw many many glass booths with lots of neon light. I was expecting near-naked ladies sitting inside, but I couldn't see any, only decently-dressed girls. If you search Mr.Google with the keyword “BinLang XiShi”, you’ll find a lot of pictures of girls in bikinis or skimpy dress and heavy make-up. I think Taiwan TV just exaggerating about their raunchy dressed Binlang Princesses (檳榔西施). Either they are just overrated marketing, rumours, or my radar is lame in finding ladies. Hahahhaa

To feed my curiosity  we finally to stop at random BinLang booth. Did I see any sexy ladies? No! In fact, there were a fat older lady and a fat uncle serving me. I couldn't be bothered to take their picture. I bought 2 available types. Each cost me NTD50 per pack.

I tried chewing them, here is my report:

When eaten individually, binlang is awful, the texture is just like the husk of young coconut (they are cousins). Imagine trying to pierce your teeth into coconut husk, no matter how immature the nut is, it is still very hard to chew. Plus with my braces, it was an almost impossible thing to do. Binlang tastes dry and astringent; I couldn't taste any sweetness or sourness, just super dry astringent. Don’t like at all щ(゜ロ゜щ)

 The betel piper leaves. I have no problem with this, I think it taste a little minty with heavy herbal fragrance. OK with me!

Sexy girls you said? This is as far as I got - on a box of sandwiched binlang

See the above picture? The thing sandwiched between sliced binlang? I thought it’s a kind of root or something. I found out this is the flower vine of betel piper. No wonder it tastes so nice. Imagine putting minty toothpaste in your mouth. This is what it tastes like, freshen your breath （*＾3＾）/～☆

I tried eating them whole too. Again, I couldn’t really chew the binlang. It’s just too hard. Those people who were addicted to binlang must have over-worked jaws.

Despite considered low class, judging from hundreds (thousand?) neon-booths on streetside, Binlang is somewhat popular in Taiwan. Usually consumed by drivers to get alertness during their work, just like cigarettes and coffee (since they are mostly males, girls in skimpy dress must made them super alert and manly. Who wouldn’t?) It is also addictive. The side effect is reddish black spit, stained teeth or losing your teeth too. Recent studies concluded that chewing binlang can cause oral cancer!!! 

A question mark! as binlang is not a new thing, why people in past centuries don’t get these side effects? Even in Indonesia, binlang and betel piper considered to strengthen your teeth rather than ruining them (they still stains). I guess it depends on how much you chew. Unlike Taiwanese who chew non-stop, people in the past chew occasionally – usually on religious/traditional ceremonies.

Crossing Waterlilies

Last month, before I was away for trips, my 2 of waterlilies were blooming continuously: white and purple ones. So, I did some research about how they propagate sexually, I just wanna know if one day I can make unique hybrid.

Based on what I read on WGI website, I started to cross them. Here is what I did:

white flower as pollen donor (male) / purple flower as recipient (female)

I took pollens from white flower (1-2 days old), and place it into the nectar-bowl (stigma) of newly bloomed purple flower. Sometimes I drank the nectar before the pollination process, leaving it damp enough for the pollens to stick on.

the pollination process

 The next day, the stamens will curl to cover up the stigma, you can no longer see the bowl. I guess that’s when the magic happens.

what it looks like next day after pollination

Within a week, I checked the sinking flower if they rot or swollen. If they rot, the pollination failed. If they sunk and have curly stem and swollen butt, it’s a good sign that the pollination have occurred. Since I want to collect seeds, I put a clothbag. The butt will get larger and larger until ….

top left clockwise: See the diff on non-pollinated and pollinated flower / Pollinated flower has larger butt-size / Pod placed in clothbag to ease seeds collection.

I don’t know what happened next, cos I wasn’t around for a month. When I came back that night, I dipped my hand to check the clothbag (it was dark), I was so disappointed not to feel any pod in the bag. I can feel mushy stuff in it. I thought the whole pollination has failed.

The next morning, I went to check again, and guess what I found! The seeds have sprouted inside the bag! I missed the pod stage. The seeds already released from the pod, and sprouted into little plants. Oh, so many of them. Too many!

left-right: They sprouted inside the bag // handful of them // placing them in dirt

Then I removed them into a new pot, tried to dip them slightly inside the dirt. But they kept floating around. I hope I didn’t hurt them. Really hope they’ll stay alive and grow well.

Now I am away again, I hope when I come back next month, they’ll give me nice surprises again J

Note:

I guess there are some differences between my experience and what’s written in the website. I couldn’t argue about the exact period for pod stage, and sprouting age. But I know that it all happen within a month only, and I didn’t do any special treatment (cold-storage period) to stratify the seeds. They just sprouted.

more Lotus seeds

Just received a beautiful little gift from BS.
I didn't expect it to be packed so nicely.
And I couldn't believe that BS managed to keep them still intact in the shell.
Amazing :)
Thank you so much...
I'll try to sprout it a.s.a.p, but it'll take a year before we can see its 1st bloom :)
Be patient, k ^.^

Virginia is Blooming

The first water lilies that bloomed since I bought them :)
I guess the name is Virginia (Nymphaea virginia), a kind of hardy day-blooming waterlilies.
They are so pretty, aren't they? The flower will bloom in day time for 4 days, before the stem just go weak and it'll just rest. They started to bloom at around 6am in the morning, stays blooming until 3-4pm, and closes down during the night.

On the 1st day of blooming, the flower didn't fully open its petals, but it'll show the nectar cup right in the center of the flower (see pic, bottom right) 

I tasted it, it's quite fragrant with a subtle sweet taste. 

I heard a myth said, a sip of water-lilies nectar will rejuvenate for 7 years. I guess I'll have more sips when they bloom again. By then, I'll be immortal. Hahaha.

Fig and Olive

I’ve been to Turkey before, and the Istanbul itinerary was pretty much the same: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Bosphorus Cruise, Topkapi Palace, DolmabahcePalace, Belly Dancing show  and of course some Bazaar. After the 3^rd time round in the last 3 years, I finally get bored – kinda predicted now.

So, I also have visited Egyptian Bazaar thrice (called so ‘cos it used to sell goods from Egypt during Ottoman Empire). But this time, the local tour-leader was quite persistent to lead us to his acquaintances’ shops. I was quite annoyed by that he did that. He led us to away from the Bazaar’s entrance and go from a side gate near New Mosque. I couldn’t separate from the group, the bazaar is huge, I just don’t want to go missing in the midst of spices and Turkish delight; the shops all looked the same to me. So, I followed the group walking towards New Mosque, to the left side of bazaar. And guess what?! It was a heaven place for me, we crossed a flowers’ market. So many plants and flowers there. I started to pay attention for the way, I thought “I need to come back to look at those plants and flowers”

Here is the emergency map, in case you want to visit this market. Pics are taken from here, here and here. 

I was too busy with the plants that I forgot to take any picture. Who cares about pictures when you are in plants haven?

L-R: New Mosque, Flower Market, Egyptian Bazaar

Luckily, to my surprise, one of my group members  is a green-freak too and he accompanied me to check out the plants there. The sellers were nice too; I guess not many tourist visits their stalls. So, we both fell in love with olives trees, so we decided to get one for each. And we saw some black fig tree, and we got a couple of it too. I was so happy!!!  (though, now I kinda regret not getting the famous Turkey pomegranate tree >.<)

They are doing fine now. Here are their pictures, taken today.

Olive

Fig

I also got some tulip bulbs. I shared it with Mr.ES and Ling. I hope they are doing well on their side; cos mine is definitely failing here. 

How I smuggle it, is my own secret. Won’t reveal it here. I am totally proud of my mischievous act!

Passionfruit - Acidity and Sugar Content

There are a few kinds of passionfruit in Indonesia: orange-skinned and purple-skinned.

Usually the purple-skinned ones are unsuitable for table-fruit due to its extreme acidity; usually it's mixed with sugar to make syrup.

But what we have here is a purple-skinned passionfruit, with the aromatic smell, orange/red flesh, but still with high sugar content (ard 20 Brix). Making this variety to be a perfect table fruit. Just cut it, and enjoy :)

The picture below is to show how to check the acidity on our passionfruit. Just dip the indicator-paper in the juice, wait around 30seconds, see the colour changes, and check against the colour on the indicator box. Here my passionfruit's acidity is around pH 3-4 :)

Spider and a Lotus Bloom

Yesterday was the first day of Lotus Bloom, I saw a tiny green spider hiding inside the almost-bloomed lotus flower.
Took my camera, and he gave me a few cute poses.

This is the first lotus bloom at my garden. I planted it from a seed a year ago, finally, she gave me some flowers (see the video slide!!!)

And the Spider says "Good night, I wanna stay inside the bloom tonight"

KumQuats

Here is the picture of our garden's kumquat.
It's funny, it has more rind rather than the juice vesicles; yet still quite sweet (10 Brix) with a bit of citrus oil zing.
Mostly people preserve in heavy sugar syrup, but we like to eat it as it is
They look pretty, don't they?

Lotus Seeds

My quest for hunting lotus seeds been going very slow... All I got is the ones that I collected nearby here. And they have been growing well, but I want more varieties!!! Hahahha

I really want the Thai version which are more plump and fleshy-er than what I currently have.

Ling has been helping me by asking some monks to get me some seeds. 

Here they are, the monk got me 5 packages of lotus (no clue about variety and colour)... seems like all are "still" pink ones. They are now being soaked. We'll see how it sprouts :)

How to eat Mangosteen / Manggis

Some people cut with a knife, 

Some people squeeze it hard 'til it stained their hands, 

Some people use spoon to scoop the flesh out

But, here it is the easiest-tool-free way to eat mangosteen (without any stains and the flesh will be bruise free too)

Remember, practice makes perfect

1st Harvest of the Year

Here's what I harvested from our garden yesterday right on the 1st day of New Year
May 2012 be a bountiful year.

L-R: Passionfruit, Papaya and Grapes