Up, Up And Away!

:) Not me, though!

Finally, the waiting is over! Tonight is the night my younger son, Darren and his wife will be flying to Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa, Fiji Island for an all expenses paid-for holiday (nine days in total) which includes 4 days/3 nights on the Blue Lagoon Cruise. Wow!!! I'm sooo.. happy for them! A dream comes true! A hope fulfilled! God’s blessings to them, indeed!

This awesome award was announced to Darren in early February when he was presented with the President Prize for Year 2005 as best sales consultant in Malaysia of the Asia- Pacific region by his company, Synthes (a company dealing with surgical instruments and implants).

I’m so proud of him and his achievements, especially that he joined this company about 3 years ago and it’s totally alien to his previous jobs. Imagine being in the operation theatre assisting the orthopedic surgeons with the implants and related tools during their operations and seeing blood ‘everywhere’ – eeyak!! I’ll faint right away!

Two whole months of waiting eagerly for this day to unfold passed so very slowly for him and his wife because they were so stressed with anxiety of how to break this news of their impending departure to Dylea their 4¾ years old daughter who has never been separated from them before. But they were pleasantly surprised last week when she accepted their news without any tantrums or fuss and in fact, she’s looking forward to stay with her maternal aunt so that she can play with her cousin 3 years her junior. I think, ;) she’s happy to be absent from pre-school for a week, too!

Godspeed my darlings and pray that The Lord guide, protect and bring you safely home. Enjoy and take care!

Schlumbergera truncata (Zygocactus)

Woo hoo!! I'm so overjoyed! Finally, I've managed to name this beauty with help from the gardening forum which I joined less than a week ago. It's commonly known as Zygocactus or Christmas/Thanksgiving Cactus or Crab's Claw Cactus. Its botanical name is Schlumbergera truncata (whew! what a tongue twister, so difficult to pronouce!). My lovely plant is named Schlumbergera x Bristol Beauty or Thanksgiving Cactus.

I was mersmerised by its blooms when I bought it last August and had seeked eagerly but unsuccessfully until now from the web to know its name. "Sigh" - doing it the wrong way! I should have joined a gardening forum sooner and not procrastinate instead! There's where all the gardening 'gurus' are. Well, it's never too late to learn :)

Experimenting with this easy-growing cactus which is actually an epiphyte originated from the jungles of southeast Brazil, as well as gathering info from websites resulted in the following plant details which I'd like to share with other garden enthusiasts:

Climate: cool temperate or warm tropical
Sun exposure: partial shade with morning sun, bright indirect light though not too much night-time artificial light when budding
Water requirement: moderate watering (less after flowering), occasional spraying on leaves
Soil: preferably a potting mixture of one part of peat and one part of coarse sand for good drainage; (also, a suggestion to use orchid mix since it’s an epiphyte? - :) don’t know whether this will succeed!)
Height: 1 – 1½ feet
Foliage: evergreen, segmented leaves forking into branches
Bloom color: range from pink, lavender, scarlet red through to orange, yellow and white (single or multiple toned)
Bloom time: end of autumn until late spring, especially during Christmas (thus named ‘Christmas Cactus’ for its blooming season)
Propagation: easily from leaf cuttings. Break off leaf segments preferably those with aerial roots and allow to dry out for a couple of hours. Place a single segment or one with at least three joints into your soil mix, pushing the bottom segment into the soil. Place a few into one pot and maintain as you would a mature plant.
Other details: suitable as indoor plants, for hanging baskets or tall pots. Prone to wilt diseases, root rot if overwatered and spider mites.

I'm now waiting eagerly for my new plants to display its magnificent blooms. Meanwhile enjoy!

Happy gardening to all garden enthusiasts!!

Gorgeous Blooms of Bauhinia Kockiana

This tropical vine known as Bauhinia Kockiana or Bauhinia Coccinea which needs support for its luxuriant woody stems and trailing branches with green and deeply-veined peaked leaves is truly a gorgeous beauty! When it blooms, which it does throughout the year, it’s covered with bright orange-red magnificent inflorescences with a mix of yellow-orange as some flowers from the cluster gradually wither. It’s eye-catching, no doubt about that! This beauty is amongst my favourites.

It loves the strong sun, needs moderate water and occasional fertilizing to be happy and healthy.

However, too much of anything can be fatal! My hubby and I were shocked and saddened in early February when we returned from a 3days/2 nights holiday at Genting Highlands to find our beautiful vine a casualty of our sometimes unpredictable and extremely hot and dry weather. It suffered ‘sunstroke’ where its branches, leaves and even flowers were thoroughly scorched by the intense heat. Fortunately, other plants in our garden were not unduly affected.

So, rather than ‘write-off this unsightly mass’ which was so beautiful just a week ago , my spouse suggested that I trim down heavily on its stems and branches which were already devoid of leaves and flowers, hoping to nurture it back to health. I did exactly that and my hubby patiently watered it, sparingly at first, increasing gradually.

One week passed without any sign of growth, then the same for the second week! But by mid of the third week, there were signs of life with tiny bean-size appearances at the nodes of some stems. Praise the Lord! It survived and now it’s gradually being filled with new young leaves and branches. Given time, it’ll definitely splash its colors on its beautiful blooms once again to brighten our front yard fence and our days.

Updates:
Sharing 3 images below:
First photo: it survived the sunstroke and even managed to flower again in August, 2006 though less abundantly.
Second photo: just to show its progress in July, 2007 - towering almost 8ft. tall with just a couple of flower clusters. Foliage lush, but flowering very much reduced - could the sunstroke experienced a year ago be the cause?
Third photo: another unfortunate happening again early last month (Feb. 2008) - was extremely scorched by the hot sun, as it was not watered for 3 days when we went off for a short holiday. I've already given it a hard trim down to 3 feet tall and new leaves have sprouted. Hmm...wonder whether it will ever flower again? Had it been planted on ground, I'm definite it would not have suffered such stress! Too bad, our small garden is mostly paved.



See more pictures of Bauhinia Kockiana and plant information at my other website.

Last edited: March 27, 2008