Buy 1 Get 5 Free!

My country, Malaysia has an exuberant celebration of festivals, customs, traditions and a tempting array of multicultural cuisines due to its diverse people with a varied mix of races, culture and religions.

Not surprisingly, it’s also unique in the great number of declared public holidays to cater for its multi-ethnic and multi-religious people, comprising mainly Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and the indigenous Orang Asli and the various tribes of Sabah and Sarawak.

Therefore, coincidentally for this year, Deepavali (for the Hindus) will be celebrated on 1st November, and Hari Raya Puasa (for the Muslims) will be celebrated on 3rd. – 4th. November, all three dates are declared public holidays. We just need to apply for 1 day’s annual leave on the 2nd Nov. and report back to office work on the following Monday, 7th. November.

Wow, isn’t this great! Apply 1day’s leave, get 5 extra days!! Happy holidays to me!! and to one and all, especially Hindu and Muslim celebrants!!

Dedicated To The Red Ginger

Red Ginger aka Alpinia Purpurata: Though you're no longer seen in our garden since mid August, your beauty and grandeur still lingers in our hearts & minds, and occasionally viewed on our computer and photo albums. Now, you're being shared globally too - wow!! Be happy and grow well in your new home with Roland and Julianna Goh.

Alpinia Purpurata ‘Red’ is a rhizomatous perennial that grows up to about 8' tall and develops into large clusters. Each terminal, upright inflorescence has a cone of deep red bracts with small red or white flowers emerging between the bracts.

These red spikes which blooms the whole year round are very long lasting and very showy against their large shiny green oblong leaves.

The Red Ginger, sometimes even named ‘Jungle King’ can be propagated from rhizomes or plantlets that grow at the base of the red spikes. They grow well on the ground rather than in containers and are excellent for landscape. They should be grown in semi-shaded areas preferably with morning sun, watered and fertilized regularly for optimum growth. Since they’re long lasting, they’re great as cut flowers and in tropical flower arrangements.

We had to part with the Red Ginger because it needed ground space for optimum growth which was lacking in our garden and its tough dead clumps had to be dug out and removed for new growth every two to three years. This job was damaging on our old feeble hands!

Homegrown Peacock Flower

Peacock flower also known as Caesalpinia pulcherrima: this attractive fast growing shrub, cultivated from seeds given by my brother, now stands about 3 feet in our garden.

It’ll soon outshine its surrounding plants and it’s definitely an attention grabber with its showy and striking blossoms of yellow and orange-red.

Known to flower throughout most of the year and grow to about 8-12 feet tall, my spouse (who’s also an avid gardener) and I are glad that it’s grown on ground to maximize its potential. Nevertheless, we wouldn’t want it to shoot too tall in our small front yard, and becomes unsightly, though.

Further information on peacock flower at our garden blog.

Naming My Blog

I’m new to blogging, recently introduced to me by my son, an ‘IT wizard’ ha! ha!.

Choosing a name for my blog was a breeze - PEACOCK FLOWER was one of the first name that floated in my mind because that’s the plant that is currently showing its beauty in my garden with its blossoms of yellow mixed with varying shades of orange amongst its fern-like green oval leaves.

A fast growing shrub which started flowering at less than 2 feet tall. Also, a very hardy plant that ‘never says die’ – in fact, it was trimmed down to less than a foot about 2 months ago when it lost most of its leaves after being transplanted from a pot to the ground and now it came back strong and healthy.

Likewise, I too would like to 'bloom' with greater knowledge in the IT world through perseverance like the peacock flower.