Gardentech Talk on Sunday!

It was a busy Sunday at Hortpark and crowded with people! I was invited by the Community-in-Bloom team of NParks to talk about carnivorous plants. This time, my talk was held at the much bigger multi-purpose hall. Around 80 people attended my talk and many are interested in growing carnivorous plants.

 

During the talk, I gave out copies of my two ebooks, one on carnivorous plants and another on starting your gardening hobby. I have given out free carnivorous plant seeds to those who participated during my quiz. Not only just carnivorous plant seeds, those who received my ebooks got a packet of seeds  (Star Glory, Ipomoea quamoclit).

Heartfelt thanks to Ai San and Cheryl, my friends from my ex-company to give me the necessary support I needed during the talk. Special thanks to Community-in-Bloom team of NParks and Mr Ng Cheow Keng for their wonderful logistic support. Thanks to Sandy and Cindy who provided the photos and plants for my talk!

It was a wonderful experience to see many like-minded people coming to this Gardentech event and learn more about gardening. There are also stores selling various plants and products which are new and innovative! Gardentech 2009 will end at 18th Aug (Tue). Do go down and experience it before it’s too late!

Gardentech 2009 Talk “Growing Carnivorous Plants”

Gardentech 2009, an event which exhibits horticultural technologies and garden plants will be held at Hortpark from 14th -18th August, which is a weeks from now. The event will not only showcase gardening technologies and equipments, but it will also a rare chance to get plants from overseas nurseries!

There will be lots of gardening talks held everyday and I am honoured to be invited to talk about carnivorous plants by the Community-in-Bloom staff of NParks. In the talk, I will share the basics of growing carnivorous plants and some gardening tips too.

                         

My 2 ebooks, “Growing Carnivorous Plants” and “Starting your Gardening Hobby” will be available during my talk. The first ebook I launched during my first gardening talk in March was a popular item and I have limited copies for my audience. I will bring along more of my ebooks this time round.

My gardewning talk will be held at the Multi-purpose Hall, Hortpark Visitors’ Centre, on 16th August (Sunday") at 2pm. Do come down early and visit the numerous booths at Gardentech 2009 too! For more information, do visit the Gardentech 2009 official website at: http://www.gardentech.com.sg.

Flowering Hoya

It has been a long wait since the last flowering of my Hoya nummulariodes. This extremely fragrant Hoya produces 50-cent coin size umbels of flowers. The plastic-like flowers earn Hoya’s common name, Wax flowers, give off very strong fragrance. The fragrance of this particular Hoya is so strong that it is overpowering. It is nice to smell it in the wind but it definitely not if you sniff the flowers under your nose!

An umbel of flowers (Hoya nummulariodes)

Unlike other Hoyas like Hoya obscura and Hoya lacunosa, Hoya nummulariodes is not a frequent flowering plant. It is a very slow grower and has grow less than a centimetre since I got it in January. The pink-centered white flowers are a sight to behold, the translucent centre of the plant, possibly the stamens, resemble stars.

Hoyas generally need 4-5 hours of sunlight and bright light throughout the day to do well. High humidity is also preferred. Hoya nummulariodes is an easy plant to keep and no repotting is needed. Not only a good candidate for apartment gardens, it is a Hoya and fragrant flowers collector must-have plant!

Byblis

Byblis, also known as rainbow plants for their glittering leaves under the Sun. It is a small genus of plants, consisting of seven different species and all native to western Australia. They have tiny droplets of muscilage or “dew” similar to sundews (Drosera) but they are classified in different order. Byblis is placed in the order of Lamiales whereas Drosera is placed in the Caryophyllales.

 

Byblis liniflora 

Once thought to be a proto-carnivorous plant which depends on insects to break down the captured prey before digestion, it is only proven to be truly carnivorous in the recent years that it produces enzymes to digest prey.

Gardeners grow them for their beautiful flowers. The five petaled flowers of Byblis liniflora are purple in colour which emerge from the leaf axes. Fertilized flowers then mature into small seed pods which split open and drop the seeds into nearby ground.

Flower of Byblis liniflora 

Byblis enjoy good amount of sunlight of around 4-6 hours and keeping the media moist at all times. They can grow up to a height of 15cm and produce numerous flowers all year round. Byblis are annual plants and therefore, it will die away after a period of time and new seedlings will take its place in the same pot!

Sinningias

I received this plant from an experienced Gesneriad grower from Green Culture Singapore. It is a miniature Sinningia, as compared to my previous post on the  micro Sinningia “Little Wood Nymph”, it is much bigger than the latter. Sinningia belongs to a big plant family called Gesneriaceae, which also consist the African Violets (Saintpaulia ionantha), Gloxinia and Kohleria.

This plant has very similar leaves in a rosette arrangement as the African Violets. Flurry leaves and stem are nice to touch but delicate too. Water droplets on the leaves need to be removed to prevent “sunburn”. They are grown in the “universal” soiless mix with the wick-watering system.

Wick-watering is not a new horticultural methodology as it has been around for the past few decades. Using the capillary action, water is drawn up to the soil from a reservoir via a “wick”, which can be a cotton string or polyester string. Polyester string is preferred as it doesn’t break down like the cotton counterparts.

Bright-light and morning sun will be optimal for these plants and regular light feeding of fertilizers is preferred. They enjoy high humidity too, which I placed the entire plant in a much larger plastic cup so to retain the layer of humidity around the plant. This is one of the many gardening tips by our experienced growers from Green Culture Singapore.

 

Generally, Sinningias are hassle free and mini plants. Suitable candidate for office gardening. But these plants are hardly found in local nurseries and we got our plants from overseas orders or through the gardening enthusiasts.

Pretty Vining Plant

The Star Glory (Ipomoea quamoclit) is a species of Morning Glory native to South America. This is a long vining plant which can reach a height of 6 metres if grown under ideal conditions! It produces red star-shaped flowers about the size of a 10-cent coin in the typical morning glory trumpet shape.

Red Stars! 

The leaves resembles palm leaves which are deeply lobed, so that they can will not get lacerated by strong winds from their tremendous height. The Star Glory is an easy to grow plant which need at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight and well-drained soil, makes a good candidate for apartment growers.

Developing fruit 

This is a very vigorous growing plant which hit my ceiling within a month when I planted it! The plant started slowly and picked up speed when it starts to vine. Flowers started to appear in the 5th week, and soon, the plant is decorated with small red stars. Unfortunately, the flowers only lasted a dayand quickly replaced by many emerging blooms! Also a common roadside plant, Star Glory is recommended to beginners too!

The “Universal” Potting Mix

I find it very amusing whenever my audience tell me that the “secret of growing plants” lies in the potting mix! The use of appropriate potting mix is no doubt an important aspect in gardening, but there is no secret about it. Different proportions of various media are dependent on growing conditions too, that is why not all potting mix will be successful for every gardener.

Clockwise from top left: Peat moss, Vermiculite, Sphagnum moss and Perlite

One of my commonly used potting mix is the peat moss, vermiculite and perlite combination. The main advantage of using such mix is it enables you to control water retention and draining capabilities by altering amounts of certain media. If water retention is preferred, more peat moss can be added. Same goes to water draining, where I will put more perlite into the mix.

Another positive point is the mix generally contain zero minerals. There is no nutrients in the media which I will be able to gauge the amount of fertilizers being added. This zero nutrient characteristic will mean it is also suitable to grow carnivorous plants!

Equal mix of 3 ingredients 

This mix is also known as the “soiless mix”, where the “ingredients” are mostly artificially processed. This non-natural mix is also an “open” mix, which is very well aerated and well –liked by many plants.

Additional media can be added to the mix too. Long fibre Sphagnum moss can be added to the bottom of the pot to stop leaking of potting mix or added to the top to increase water retention and lower evaporation rate. The basic rule to follow is equal parts of perlite, peat moss and vermiculite, and additional media depending on growing conditions.

I would recommend the use of this mix with smaller plants like Gesneriads (African Violets, Sinningia), bromeliads and carnivorous plants (Pitcher plants, Sundews). It would not be wise to use this mix on larger plants like Chiku or vegetables, as they prefer natural soil with nutrients and this mix can cost quite a bit when used in large quantities!

Chiku for everyone!

The Chiku plant (Manilkara zapota) can be a easy and rewarding plant to grow in your garden, even along apartment corridors. They are extremely hardy and adaptable to varying conditions.

Chiku, as known as Sapodilla, is an edible tropical fruit originate from the tropical Americas. The egg-shaped fruits are brown in colour and rough texture. The common chinese name for this fruits is “人心果” meaning human’s heart fruit as it has little resemblance. Malay name is “Buah Chiku”, simply means Chiku fruit.

Chiku flower 

The flowers are produced at the growing tips of the plant and usually produce singly or in a cluster. Therefore, it is not advisable to trim or prune the plant. Bear in mind that this plant is actually a tree! And can grow to enormous size! Pruning would be inevitable for apartment gardeners but they will still fruit all year round.

Full sunlight is the best condition for this plant but 4-6 hours of direct sunlight is good enough to maintain a healthy plant. It is not a very fast grower and flower and fruit regularly, makes this plant an ideal collection for any aspiring apartment gardeners!

Shui Mei

Shui Mei (Wrightia religiosa) is a very popular garden plant favoured by the experienced gardeners. The plant is known for its stunning fragrance and they flower all year round. There are a few hybrids or cultivars of this plant, and the most sought after cultivar is the Double Petal Wrightia religiosa.

Double Petal Shui Mei

I managed to get a pot of Double Petal Shui Mei from Ji Mei a week ago. The plant is small but to my delight, it is flowering profusely! It is also a popular plant for bonsai, as this plant can be pruned and shaped.

Some senior gardeners told me that removing all their leaves will induce flowering which I have yet to try! I visited some of their gardeners and amazed by the curled branches of this plant! They told me that this curled branches are made by curling it under the hot sun when the branches are soft. And indeed the plant looks gorgeous!

My Garden!!

It’s been some time since I last talk about my garden… Well, there are new additions to my already crowded garden and many of them are flowering too! My latest addition is the Star Glory (Ipomoea quamoclit). This vining plant produce small red star-shaped flowers but mine has yet to bloom. I attached a very long string for it to climb and within a week, it had already hit the top of the ceiling! The leaves looked special and resemble palm leaves. From the information I gathered, this particular plant can climb to a height of 6 metres!

Ipomoea quamoclit

Remember my cherry plant (Malpighia glabra)? They are fruiting like no tomorrow and this time round the fruits turned burgundy red! They fruit in bunches of two and three and definitely a very beautiful sight to behold!  Some of my friends who visited even tasted these sour but full of vitamin C fruits!

Malpighia glabra 

My Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) is going for a second round of flowering and this time even more spectacular. The flowers are arranged in an encircled manner and flowers point to all directions! It has been a year or so without flowers but the wait is definitely worth it!

 Adenium obesum

My signature plant, the Flamingo Flower (Anthurium andraeanum) is still at its best condition, keeping the constant number of ten flowers for at least a year! There are new shoots and growing fast, even some have started to flower!

Orchids

I got some orchids flowering too! Two of my mini Dendrobiums are putting out flowers now and add to the already very colourful garden! Their coloured and patterned blooms brings more exciting colours and you can’t resist not looking at them.

Rosemary                                           Nepenthes veitchii

My rosemary plant is growing taller and bushier now. Every time I am watering plants, the fragrance of this plant can be even detected at a further distance! And brushing your hand against the leaves will leave a strong aroma that lingers around you for a long time!

 

Finally my carnivorous plants, strong winds have resulted in strong fluctuations in humidity makes the plants grow slower and losing quite a number of pitchers. But my Nepenthes veitchii is still growing strong putting out the biggest pitcher for me! Soon, the monsoon season will come and this beautiful sight may not last long. So I have been spending more time admiring my plants before it is too late!!