Yellow Hibiscus Plant

We came across this Yellow Hibiscus plant in a market. The yellow flower was big and attractive and it immediately caught our attention. The plant is just only $5 per pot. We bought it and brought it home.

 

Yellow Hibiscus Plant



Yellow Hibiscus Flower

According to the internet, the YellowHibiscus is a flowering shrub that grows on all the Hawaiian islands except Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe. All three subspecies of the yellow hibiscus are listed as endangered species. Even in Hawaii, the plant is rare. I don’t think it is endangered as I have seen them here in Singapore and many places. Probably it is endangered in Hawaii.

 

The first thing I noticed is the large bright yellow flower. There are a couple of buds on the plant waiting to bloom.

 





Withered flower

 

The flower lasted only about 2 days and then it will wither and drop off from the flower stalk. The ovary is left and if it is successful in the pollination process, it will develop into a pod with seeds. If it is unsuccessful, it will drop off when it is still green. The "ovary" dropped off after two days, so it is not unsuccessful.

 

Hibiscus "ovary"

 

After the "ovary" dropped off, I checked the soil and it was dried. I watered the soil and made sure that the excess water was drained away from the bottom of the pot. I thought that it might be that the plant was under stress as it had been moved from one place to another.

Two more flowers bloomed and I used a cotton swab to transfer the pollen across from one flower to the other and vice versa. The pollens are sticky and they are quite difficult to transfer to the stigma of the pistil. The stigma is also sticky and the pollens get stuck on them.

After two days, the flowers withered and I'm hoping for the pollination to be successful. From the internet, it seems that the pollination is not usually successful and will depend on many factors. Today, I saw one of the "ovary" dropped from the plant. The other is still on the plant and I hope that this one will develop into seed pod.



One "ovary" dropped.

 



DIY Vertical Garden for my balcony

I ordered a 18-pocket vertical garden hanging planter from eBay and it should delivery after 15 December 2015. The dimensions are 50cm x 100cm (see below). I noticed that there is green colour planter and luckily I didn't order the black one. I think the green planter will be perfect for the vertical garden.


Picture from eBay

Initially, I thought of just having one 18-pocket planter. But my wife said that it is not big enough. So, I started to design a frame structure to hold two 18-pocket planters. That will give a vertical garden area of 1m x 1m since I can combine two 18-pocket planters.

2x 18-pocket planters

I will need to hang the two 18-pocket planters onto a frame. The frame material will be aluminium. I have made a couple of designs.

Frame design 1




Frame design 2

I sent the designs to my friend and he thought the frames are readily available in the shop. I told him that I need to provide the dimensions of the aluminium profile bars to the supplier so that the supplier can cut them to the lengths that I need. I will need to get the connectors to join the bars together.

My wife thinks that 1m width vertical garden is not good enough, she prefers to have 1.5m in width. Thus, I will need to increase the 1m to 1.5m. Luckily I have not purchased the bars and still have time to consider the correct lengths to cut. My only concern is that the 1.5m width will make the frame structure weakly and I will need to consider the strength of the frame design. Also, I will need to add another 18-pocket planter to the original design so that I will have 3pcs 0.5m x 1m = 1.5m x 1m planters for the vertical garden.

I checked with the eBay seller whether I can get discount for the additional 2pcs that I'm going to order. His reply is prompt and said that as the price is discounted already and he couldn't get further discount even if I purchase two pieces. The package that I have ordered arrived on 18 Dec and it almost filled up the entire mailbox. I wanted to order another 2pcs but I think I will order it separately so that the delivery will be one after another so that the mailbox can hold one at a time. I don't think the postman can squeeze the two packages into my mailbox. I will wait a few days and when the 2nd package has been posted, I will order the 3rd package.



18-pocket planter has arrived!

The 18-pocket planter arrived safely. It is what I have envisaged and I will use this piece to design the frame. My design idea for the frame is to hang and secure the 3pcs 18-pocket planters side by side. This will cover an area of 1.5m x 1.0m rectangle. I will need to calculate the height of the frame. I plan to have a planter box in front of the frame to hold rectangular plastic pots. In the Frame design 1 and 2 pictures above, you can see the planter box area. I want to buy readily available plastic pots or containers and place them into the planter box area. I will need to buy them and check the dimensions so that I can design the planter box. I will place a plastic sheet onto the frame before I hang the pocket planters. The plastic sheet will extend all the way down to the planter box so that when I water the top of the pocket planters, the excess water will flow down towards the planter box.



Kalanchoe from Holland

I happened to see a few pots of Kalanchoe (from Holland) selling at Cold Storage @ West Mall. There is no price-tag on it and we asked a sales person and was told that it costs only $6.88. They look good and are flowering. There are a few colours to choose, pink, orange and red. My daughter chose the pink one. I was thinking of buying the orange one. But come to think of it, I should have bought all the three colours since they look very nice. It would look great if I have a pot that have the three colours.

Kalanchoe from Holland

There are many posts in the internet that say Kalanchoe is easy to care for and for it to grow the buds for flowering, you need to follow some simple steps to trick the plant to think that it is already winter. After a few weeks of thinking that it is winter, when the day becomes longer, the plant will think that it is spring and starts to grow buds for flowering.

Pink Kalanchoe from Holland



Purple Kalanchoe from Holland

Red Kalanchoe from Holland

Kalanchoe belongs to the succulent family which can survive in dry conditions. So, it likes soil that does not retain water and can drain easily. I think cacti media will be suitable for them. I will need to water it thorough and drain the water away and water again when the soil is dry.

They like bright indirect sunlight so that the leaves will not get burn by the direct sunlight. I place it near a window to get as much indirect light as possible.

As a person who likes to grow plants, I would try to propagate the plants and get many baby plants from the parent plant. But before I can do that, I need time to learn how to grow the plants well. I will update in my post on the status. I hope that they can adapt well in Singapore's climate.

Let me know if you are interested in my progress and I will email you when I have a new post. Thanks.

Vertical Garden DIY for balcony

I want to create a vertical garden for my balcony but my budget is less than $400. I think if I were to custom-made one with 1m (wide) by 1.8m (height), it will cost me at least $1K.

Google is your best friend to find the stuff that you need.

Materials that I need:

• 2x 32-pocket vertical planter (size 50cm width x 140cm height) ~ $90
• IKEA ÄPPLARÖ Bench with wall panel ~ $184
• Plants and planting media ~ $100

So, the total is about $374 which is within my budget of $400. Unless I can purchase some wooden stripes to make a frame, maybe the easiest way is to buy the IKEA bench with wall panel.

The above project will start in end December 2015. I will need to check out the bench with wall panel at IKEA first and then confirm the size of the vertical planter pockets that I need to purchase from eBay.

Growing avocado in Singapore

Time to check in with growing avocado in Singapore. I have three avocado seedlings growing in the pots with soil. They are on my windowsill that faces the western sun. The seedlings are growing well with new leaves appearing. One of the seedlings has a lot of leaves that make the top a bit heavy for the stem. I want the seedlings to have more branches instead of growing upwards. So, I need to trim or prune it. The leaves at the very bottom are quite hard to touch. They are not soft liked the new leaves that form on the canopy. I do not want the seedlings to grow tall as I know that avocado can grow into a tree if it is left unpruned.

As you can see from the photo below, the seedling has many leaves and there is only one branch. I think by trimming the top leaves, it will force the seedling to grow new branches. I also trimmed the branch to promote growth of other branches. Let's hope this works.

Avocado seedling

The pit of the avocado does not have the same phenomena as the one in water. The pit is still the same size and colour. It does not turn brown and rot as in the case of the avocado growing in water.

Pit of avocado

Another strange that I observed is that some leaves curled up as shown in the photo below. Is it due to the sunlight or normal for the leaves to curl at the stalk area? I'm not sure but the leaves tend to curl inwards and not spread out as in the normal plant.

Leaf curled

Yes, not just one leaf, there are quite a number of the leaves curling up. Those are smaller in size that the ones at the canopy. That is why I'm suspecting that they are affected by the sunlight.

Leaves curling

 

Growing avocado in water - 23 October 2015

The avocados are growing well in the water. Two of them have their pits turning black and then dried up. The toothpicks are still stuck in the dried pits. The dried pits did not seem to affect the growth of the plants.

I didn't know the reason for the pits to turn mouldy and eventually dried up. Probably, they were infected by some diseases. However, one of the plants which is nearby did not exhibit the same symptom. But this might be due to the fact that it is from another species and this species might be more resistant to the disease.

Another thing is that one of the pit has only half of it turning mouldy. The other half is still ok. This is strange.

The good thing about growing avocado in water is that you don't have to worry that the roots are not getting any water. You need to change the water regularly to replenish any nutrients that are needed for the avocado to grow. I'm thinking of putting a tube into the water and pump in air to aerate the water. So far, I saw only one leaf had its tip turning brown. Yes, even in water, you can see that. But I think if the water is changed regularly, the leaves should remain green.

I did a bit of trimming to the new leaves. I will update again.



Dried pit

Dried pit - moulding

Half of pit has dried up



Good pit

 Updates:

Yesterday, 21 Jan 2016, I have finally planted all the three avocado in water into soil media. I bought some garden soils from a nearby store and planted them. I noticed that the water was getting dirtier each week even though I have changed them regularly. The roots have become darker and less new roots appearing. I have moved house and have placed the avocado in water outside at the balcony. In order to avoid mosquitoes breeding, I have decided to remove the water and plant them into soil. I hope that the avocado will continue to grow.

Orange Portulaca Grandiflora

I'm collecting different colours of Portulaca Grandiflora. If the plant is not flowering, you will not know what type mose rose you are getting. I had gotten the plant from a friend many months ago and had already forgotten what colour is the mose rose.

I have grown them outdoors but due to recent attack of the aphids, I have propagated them again. I needed to remove all the aphids and made sure that there were none so that the plant can grow well again.

The plants are grown indoors now and they grow very slowly. They do not have direct sunlight but they are very close to the windows. Today, one bud blossoms and I took a picture of it.

Orange Portulaca Grandiflora

Growing Portulaca Grandifora from seeds

Portulaca Grandiflora is a great garden plant. It grows very fast and spread to other areas in your garden pretty fast. You can grow them by stem cutting. Pinch one branch and insert it directly into the soil. Keep the soil moist and the plant will grow roots and new shoots will appear. The good thing about propagation by this method is that you know the color of the flower that you will be getting provided that it was blooming when you cut it. The bad thing is that there may be aphids on the branch that you pinch and it will spread to other plants. Always check that there are no white aphids before you plant them.

I found a pack of the Portulaca Grandiflora seeds in the local supermarket. It has assorted colours and I will not know what I'm getting when I plant them. Maybe I will have a number of different colours or maybe they will be of the same colour. Well, let's see what we can get in the next couple of weeks or months.

Germination after a couple of days 31 Aug 2015

11 Sep 2015

The growth of the Portulaca Grandiflora is quite slow. I think it is probably due to the sunlight that it is lacking.

Growing avocado in water - Mid September 2015

I have started growing avocado pit in water a few months back. They had sprouted and grown quite well for a few months and lately something happened.

The pit started to turn colour and I guessed they are rotting and drying up. It has not affected the growth of the seedlings and I'm not sure whether the pits are needed for further growth. The seedlings that are grown in soil after the initial germination in water had the pits still intact. Only one seedling in the soil has half of the pit turning colour. I tried to search in the internet for information on the pit turning colour and rotting but did not get any meaningful answers.

I will try to document in the blog on the colour change and possible rotting of the pits.

The pits were still in their usual colour even when the seedlings had grown to about one feet. I'm not sure whether it is due to the air-conditioning that the plants have been subjected to since the haze has come to Singapore. The seedlings were kept inside the room with the air-conditioning turned on for a few weeks already. I hope this is not the reason.

Avocado growing in water

Avocado growing in water

Avocado pit rotting

Pit rotting and drying up

I tried to move one of the small seedling to the living room where it was not subjected to air-conditioning at night. Only one half of the pit has turned colour and dried up. The other half is still in it's usual colour.

Avocado growing in water

There are new roots appearing even when one half of the pit has dried up. I think it is going to survive. I'm thinking of transferring the seedling to a pot with soil soon. But I'm still thinking whether I can still keep it in water.

Avocado moved to living room to avoid air-con

The below pit has the tallest seedling but the pit has turned colour and possible rotting. There is no abnormality in the root system and I hope that even without the pit, the seedling can continue to grow. I'm also not thinking of transferring it to a pot with soil soon. I will monitor this for a couple of months. So, now it is mid September 2015. I will update the status in mid October. Stay tuned!

Avocado pit rotting

The root system still looks ok. There are more branching on the roots and I have changed the water regularly every week. Currently, I have moved the seedling to a room without air-conditioning at night to see whether there is any effect on the seedling.

I will need to prune the seedling too. I hope the pruning will not affect its health. The rotting of the pit may have been stressful to the seedling and the pruning may add further stress.

Avocado root system in water

Mushrooms growing at Goodview Garden

I Yesterday morning, I walked past the garden and found some mushrooms among the small little plants. The little plants were newly planted and maybe some spores might had landed on the new soil and the conditions were right for the mushrooms to grow. I wonder what kind of mushrooms are these and whether they are edible.

 

Mushrooms

 

Mushrooms

Mushrooms

When I past by again in the late evening, the mushrooms had withered. I think that the conditions were optimum in the morning for the mushrooms to grow but as the temperature got higher and surrounding became warmer, the conditions were not good for the mushrooms to survive.

Mushrooms have withered

The next morning, new mushrooms start to appear among the little plants. Those edible mushrooms that I have seen will probably last a week. I think either the conditions were not right or they are not edible. Anyone has information on these mushrooms?

Pitcher Plant Repotting into DIY Hanging Pot

For many months, I have planted the pitcher plant in a glass container and left it outside on the window sill. It was growing well but recently due to the hot weather, the pitcher plant starts to dry up and turn brown. The pitcher plant still grows new leaves but the browning of leaves are at a faster pace than the new growth.

It is annoying to see this and I'm thinking of bringing the pitcher plant into the room and want to hang it on the window grills. I have done a DIY container before and wanted to make another one for this pitcher plant.

Today is a good day to repot the pitcher plant.

Pitcher Plant with dried leaves

I have some dried sphagnum moss that I bought last year. I took out some and soaked them into the water. Oops, I forgot to use distilled water and had used tap water instead. My mistake. You must remember that the pitcher plant needs distilled water instead of tap water. I think the minerals and chemicals in the tap water are damaging to the pitcher plant. I put the sphagnum moss into the container and pressed them firmly. But before I do this, I had punctured 9 holes in the plastic cap of the bottle. This will allow for drainage of excess water. Using my fingers, I had cleared an opening in the middle of the sphagnum moss for the pitcher plant.

DIY Hanging Pot

I removed the pitcher plant from the old container. I removed the excess soil from the roots and using a cutter to cut away all the dried leaves.

Removing the Pitcher Plant from the pot

I placed the pitcher plant into the centre hole and covered the top with more sphagnum moss. The repotting is done and I used some ropes to secure the container and made it into a hanging pot.

Trimmed away the dried leaves

Mission accomplished! DIY Hanging Pot

Pruned the avocado seedlings growing in water

I saw in one blog that when the avocado seedling had grown to about 6 to 7 inches, you would need to cut it the stem to 3 inches. This would allow the roots to grow well and develop strong and thicker stem. Well, I'm going to try this. I have pruned the seedlings which I have grown in water. One seedling was pruned with about 3 leaves left. Another seedling had its stem trimmed down with no leave on the stem. I'm going to see whether it will grow better or not.

Avocado seedling #1 (growing in water)

Avocado seedling #1 with 3 leaves left

Avocado seedling #2

Avocado seedling #2 - no leaves left

Growing Lychee from seed

Just bought some Lychee fruits from the supermarket. They were very green and yet sweet. Suddenly, I had an idea to plant some Lychee seeds. I saw that I had a container with dying nerve plants. I was not sure why the nerve plants had dried up because I had tried to water it but I think it was too late. Anyway, I was wondering what I should do to the container with soil. I removed the dead plants and loosened the soil.



Recycled pot

I selected two seeds to put into the soil. Some seeds have weird shapes and I don't think it will make any difference. The seeds were quite small and the fruits were quite big in size. This means that it has more flesh which is good.

 

Lychee seeds

I dug two holes for the seeds. I think the correct way is to place the seeds horizontally in the holes. It should not be in a vertical position, maybe I'm wronged but I think this is the right way. After that, I covered the seeds with some soils. I think the seeds are just 5mm below the soil. I water just a little bit to wet the soil.

 

Planting seeds into the soil

Covered the seeds with soil