Garden Journal

Hippeastrum (aka Barbados Lily, 朱頂蘭 in Chinese) is often been mistaken as Amaryllis. Hippeastrum is a hardy plant.   The flowers of Hippeastrum are red and pink and often striped with various amounts of white. Some hippeastrums have yellow, white, orange or pale green flowers. The flowers only appear for 2-3 weeks and they are...
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Gardening could be fun and easy.  Once we make friends with our plants, and get to know their likes and dislikes well, all we have to do is give them exactly what they want, and they will thrive beautifully. After overfertilizing my African violet – Frosted Denim – and had most of its flower...
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Chinese love to decorate their homes with Narcissus (Chinese Sacred Lily in particular) during Chinese New Year. The beautiful white Narcissus flowers with orange cups blossom around 7-14 days, and when they bloom, they send out a very sweet fragrance.
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I saw this big carnivorous pitcher plant when I was climbing Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia last week. While orchids and carnivorous pitcher plants are among the park’s most famous plants,  they are rare along the park’s most worn tourist trails.  I could find a few small carnivorous pitcher plants while I was hiking Mount...
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I have traveled so much in the past two months, to Cambodia as well as many places in Malaysia. Besides Kuala Lumper, Langkawi, Melaka, and Sabah, I also visited Putrajaya – the new Federal Government administrative center and future capital of Malaysia. Frankly, in this current stage, Putrajaya hasn’t yet been tourist friendly enough....
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After waiting for three months, I finally have a big bagful of Impatiens blossoms!  Apparently, impatiens is very easy to maintain, and it grows well in shade.  Since I planted the six young impatiens in November, I haven’t done much but only watered them every 5-10 days, depended on the weather.  I would definitely...
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Since Narcissus flower blooms around lunar January, it is one of the most associated flowers with the Chinese New Year. The Chinese like to decorate their homes with this beautiful white Narcissus flower and wait in anticipation of its blossom, which symbolizes good luck and prosperity for the coming year.  In addition, Narcissus has...
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Although members are restricted to cultivate plants other than bonsai trees in the bonsai workshop, Teacher Wong always keeps some flowering plants in the workshop for ornamental purposes.  And now in the early winter, we have some big and beautiful Chrysanthemums with showy blossoms
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In early November, I mounted one of my baby Vanda orchid on a piece of draftwood and the other on a rock, before hanging both orchids on my balcony (see post: My Hanging Vandas).  A month has passed.  I have noticed that the root system of the Vanda orchid that is mounted on the...
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Last week, Teacher Wong, Gui, and I set up the greenhouse and planted over200 strawberry plants in containers. In order to reuse the soil that was used for yellow-skin watermelons and cantaloupes in the greenhouse, Teacher Wong has adjusted the soil pH level, mixed in additional organic fertilizer, while leaving the soil heated under...
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