What makes your garden?

What makes a garden? Not just the well-manicured lawn, the burst of (flowers) colours, the rustic garden chairs or the white picket fences. A garden would be lifeless without life itself - the birds, butterflies and bees. Some of my Coolpix catches...

This grasshopper was as big as my thumb. Fed on the shoots of my Rangoon Creeper.

Butterflies making out at their love nest - my cuphea bush! Can you make out their heads or tails? :)

An 'unidentified flying insect' resting on my vanilla leave.

A caterpillar feeding on the daun limau purut.

...obviously not a living thing. He! He! The garden trap for the subterranean insects which I could do without - termites.

Besides these catches, there were misses - squirrels, hummingbird (yes!), frogs, chameleons, dragonflies, preying mantises, and God-knows-how-many bugs. They were too fast to capture ... or was I too slow?

Plants for 2009

They say 2009 is going to be worse than 1929 - The Great Depression. But do not despair, folks! Although most of us will be living frugally that doesn't mean that you can't have the garden of your dreams. Yeah, maybe you should forget about engaging the services of those expensive landscape designers. But no, don't trade those flowers for cow-grass - or worst, cement - YET! Here are some easy-to-grow, value-for-money flowers, which will brighten your homes and may just bring out the gardener in you (if you're the hopeless type :D).

Zinnia Angustifolia @ creeping zinnia (3 for RM 10.00*)

My favourite flower. Comes in a variety of cultivar and colour such as off-white, pale yellow, orange and pink. It's a hit with ladybugs, bees and butterflies (what is a garden without insects?:D). When the blooms aged, and become dry and brown, pluck and scatter them on the soil as seeds. Seedlings will grow in 1-2 weeks and will last for 3 months or more. You can also keep the seeds to be sowed at a later time. (more of this, later). The Zinnia's enemies are those white grubs (don't know their scientific name, yet) and grasshoppers.

Torenia Fournieri @ Wishbone flower @ Bluewigs (3 for RM 10.00*)

Comes in blue, purple and pink. The lifespan of the plant is short - about a month. However, new plants will germinate from the dried blooms which fall on the soil. You will have a steady supply of the flower all year round. Its enemy are also those tiny white grubs. When you see a bunch of them clinging on to the stem, just cut the affected area. Sometimes you might have to throw the whole plant! Don't worry, new plants will sprout in no time.

Cuphea Hyssopifolia (4 for RM 10.00*)

Comes in white, blue and purple. It breeds easily - I'm not quite sure how, but in time you will see 'baby plants' (am a dummy when it comes to horticulture terms :D) sprouting. So, you can just dig out the anak pokok (sapling?) and plant it elsewhere. The plant makes great borders. However it has to be trimmed in order for it to thrive. The plant is a hit with butterflies. Yeah, nice to see the butterflies roaming your garden for a while, but not so nice when the plant becomes their love nest. The plant will be swarmed with those tiny,furry caterpillars. Kalau nasib tak baik boleh togel cuphea ni jadinya ... argh! That's the time I'll turn into a nasty Edward Scissorhands - cut! cut! cut!

Well, there you have 'em, 3 plants for the frugal gardener. In your frugality though, don't forget to water the plants at least once a day. If it rains, then it's your lucky day. Fertilize only once a month (I don't religiously practise this, though). Normally it's just a teaspoon of fertilizer scattered on the soil, far from the stem. (More on the fertilizers, later).

So, to all you hopeless gardeners out there (been there ... he! he!), try planting these flowers. Who knows, they might just be the magic plants that will turn your fingers green!

* the price quoted might have gone up in 2009. The plants are cheaper in the nurseries near the Sg. Buloh hospital.

My Garden of Scent

I wasn't exactly born with green fingers. Never recalled being successful in planting, save for those taugehs that I cultivated for science class! He! He! Somehow, after the birth of my third child, things changed. Suddenly everything that I planted sprouted like bean sprouts. There's no turning back, since. When I was doing my PG, I made time to work on my sekangkang kera front lawn. The result: my garden of scent.

Truthfully, my garden is no Hanging Garden of Babylon. Neither does it have a theme - English, Bali, tropical, etc. It's just a quirky collection of flowers chosen for their scent and colour. Although my MIL owns a plant nursery, I actually acquired knowledge about the plants from Garden Asia, Better Homes & Garden and to some extent, Laman. Then, with my partner-in-crime (who else, My Amoy le...), we would shop for the plants at the nurseries near the Sungai Buloh Hospital (THE place to go).

Below are the gems in my laman.

Kesidang @ kerak nasi @ Vallaris Glabra
Fell in love with it, the first time I saw it at my MIL's nursery. Has the scent of pandan. Needs support - therefore, a pergola would be perfect. I'd trim it once in a forthnight. Flowers about 8 times a year. Very hardy. Cultivated by stem cuttings.

Kemboja @ Frangipani @ Plumeria
Has this strong smell which permeats the night, giving my former Indon maid, the creeps. She couldn't comprehend, for the life of her, why I would want to plant a "bunga kuburan" in my laman. The plant needs little attention but I do fertilized it now and then. The flowers, left floating in a bowl of water, makes a quick and chic table centre-piece.

Mawar @ Rose
Pink roses are definitely my favourite. This variety smells of tea-rose. The rosebuds will keep popping every week provided you deadhead the wilting blooms. Had a hard time to keep the plant growing until I was introduced to this special rose potting-mix by a "nyonya" who has a rose nursery along the Subang-Sg. Buloh trunk road.

This yellow rose has a stronger smell than its pink counterpart. It's also a climbing variety, currently reaching the roof of my porch! It's flowers are bigger than my pink roses but do not bloom as often. Grasshoppers like to feed on its leaves, though.

Bunga Cina @ Gardenia
My prized possession (not easy to find!) After looking high and low for it, found it in a nursery near the Sungai Buloh Hospital. Has a strong smell like the Frangipani.

Akar Dani @ Rangoon Creeper @ Quisqualis Indica

A climber which must be constantly trimmed. It's pink and white (and eventually red) showers would fall nicely from the pergola. The flowers will start to emit its scent from dusk right up to dawn.

Melur @ Jasmine @ Jasminum Sambac

My favourite scent. Flowers bloom all year round. Very difficult to care because it has many predators. Makes natural car air-freshener. Has to be trimmed now and then.

Kenanga @ Ylang-ylang @ Cananga Odorata

Another classic flower with a unique scent - a cross between sireh (beetle leaf) and banana. Blooms all year round.

Honeysuckle @ Lonicera Japonica
A plant which has a sweet-smelling scent - rasa macam nak makan pulak sebab bau macam gula2 Hudson's. Scales fences in no time.

Flower from the Kalamansi plant
Has a sweet scent. When the flowers fall, the buds will grow to become Kalamansi oranges (limau kasturi)

My scented garden is a favourite place for my children and I to hang-out after dinner. While we sat on the rusty swing, we would savour the heady scent of the flowers. Other nights, I'd just draw back the sliding door and let the exhilirating scent creep into the living area. The flowers make great potpourri, too. Best of all, I can just pluck the flowers from my garden should I wish to indulge myself in an invigorating "mandi bunga". Now isn't that cool?