The Story Of My "tree" Musketeers

[edenstrauss 3]

Hi folks,

I am a plant lover who picked up gardening as a my hobby during these recent years.

Unfortunately, keeping indoor plants isn't encouraged for us according to my taiwanese geomencer. Becox I'm lacking in terms of the earth element & keeping plants, which apparently promotes the wood element is going to "kill" me off. Or perhaps, according to my own interpretation, cause me troubles in one way or another while having plants under the same roof.

As such, I had no choice but to keep my plants outside the flat even though my living room has very strong afternoon sun that is good for plants that require lot's of sunlight.

But, what's disappointing on the exterior of my flat is that there isn't a huge catchment area for sunlight. There is only 1 miserable hole with a diameter of 60cm or slightly more for sunlight to filter through.

As such, I could only place 3 miserable potted plants which I had nicknamed as my "Tree" Musketeers & call that location my plant sanctuary.

Edited November 4, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

It might come across as exaggerating to call it a plant sanctuary with jux 3 potted plants. However, I wish to share that these 3 potted plants has imparted a great joy of gardening since the day I acquired them. As such, calling it a plant sanctuary is definitely deserving.

The first pot of plant was an evergreen creeper which is commonly known as the money plant.

The one problem that I faced with this money plant is that the leaves that come under direct sunlight would have brownish burnt marks on them. And the section that doesn't receive any sunlight would see its leaves & the youngest leaf growing at the end of a "tendril" turning yellow.

Well, it pains me a great deal when I see such things happening. When I consulted a 70 year old granny whose a great gardener near our home, she told me repot the money plant & replace the soil because she claimed that money plants are the fussiest species when it comes to using the correct type of soil.

When I brought down a sample of my money plant's soil, I was surprised when she told me that the soil was giving the plant problem as it had a very strong stench of urea to it and is definitely not suitable for the plant as they wouldn't thrive with it.

Did I take her advice?

Even though I believe in every single thing that she has said about my money plant, I didn't implement her recommendations as there were just too much work. And if I were to repot & replace the soil, I'm afraid that it'll end up in a tragic mess. How am I going to cope with recoiling the creeper plant around the pot & the stick which was placed at the centre of the pot? i.e. without hurting its roots & the plant.

My current strategy:

When I see a section of the soil in the pot "balding", I'll hunt around for nice, healthy money plants, buy them & repot them into my existing pot of money plant. That's a short cut & I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works.

The section of the pot that is "balding" is normally the area that doesn't receive any sunlight at all. Poor plant!

[photo pending - on balding spots in the potted $ plant]

[photo pending - newly bought $ plant being transplanted into existing pot]

Lately, I saw a tendril of money plant making its way uo the wall. What I didn't quite understand is that that tendril didn't get any sunlight apart from lighting from the flourescent light. But why is it thriving so well?

I'm feeling so boggled after such observation.

Edited November 17, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

I had been trying to google up its scientific name from search engines but seems like I've lost it as I don't seemed to be able to locate it although there were plenty of photographs of it on the internet.

Based on my experience as an owner of such plants, they were descent of the Ginger family. And their roots were bulb like, characterised by a need to "drink" alot of water. Since their threshold for water is high and a flowery plant, they would require fluids & a good amount of sunlight to thrive well.

Following the advice of the nursery very closely, I would water the plants at the roots (where the stems sprouts out from the soil) every morning. The amount of water to use would be based on my discretion.

If I noticed that the top soil is dry, I would water these potted plants until I see the excess water trickling out from the bottom of the pot. This would mean that the plants have already drunk a sufficient amount of water.

However, if there was a heavy downpour the day before or over the night and the soil is say, wet, I would water sparingly.

As typical of the characteristics of the GINGER family, new shoots would either grow from the existing bulb-like roots which were buried in the soil, or sprout from any section of the stem.

While most of the baby shoots making its way up from the soil are healthy with a fat, stout-looking "physique", I had my fair share of "babies" with stunted growth as shown the photograph below:

A close-up shot of the puny-looking "baby":

The interesting thing is that most of these reed-thin "babies" would still survive but they grow up simply to add on to the numbers of "sisters" in the same pot of plant. They can hardly flower even if they grew up to have a tiny "red corn" characterised by this breed of Ginger plant.

(I've decided to assign them a female gender since they are flowering plants, and hence, the term "sisters" )

This photograph shows a stunted adult which had been surviving in a new potted plant for the past 6 months. A sturdy "sister" whose only slightly more than 1 month old & still in the adolescent stage stood strong & tall beside this weak, thin adult.

In some cases whereby there is almost a lack of sunlight, these stunted versions would gradually die off on their own even with water & fertiliser.

A photograph of the flower bud being pushed out of the "scales" of the "red corn", and having a free fall onto the top soil; we do not remove such buds but left them on the soil as fertiliser.

When my hubby spotted the bud on the soil the very first time, he actually wondered what is a dead molly fish doing there...

Edited November 5, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

More photographs of healthy "babies" reaching out above the soil:

Edited October 31, 2011 by edenstrauss

[forgotten 1]

For your next house, you should get a big big balcony or buy over the access area!

Balcony can be considered outdoor space right?

[edenstrauss 3]

For your next house, you should get a big big balcony or buy over the access area!

Balcony can be considered outdoor space right?

It depends... I do have a balcony at home but it's not that big & becox we've sealed it up with grilles & glass windows, it's no longer considered "outdoor".

Yes, my hubby told me that he'll have to get us a place where I could have plenty of plants on the exterior.

[edenstrauss 3]

Thus far, I noticed that there were frequent occurences of a phenomenon whereby the new shoots start growing out from a section (of the stem) that holds the red bulb-like flower heads.

Alternatively, new shots could start growing out from mid-sections of the stem as the existing "adult" started maturing.

And becox I'm staying in a flat with limited space & sunlight for gardening, those "babies" who grew out from the stems required repotting in new soil. I've resorted to passing them on to the community garden & hope that they would thrive well there.

The photograph below shows quite a huge bunch of budding adults growing on an old stem after the "red corn" flower head of the "mother" had been trimmed off to beautify the plant & also, make way for her "babies" who chose to grow out from that section of the stem:

If these pretty looking newbies aren't taken down & repotted elsewhere, chances are they would gradually die off as they aren't taking enough nutrients & cannot simply survive based on just sunlight & a limited amount of water resources from the rain.

The fact that they were budding with such pretty "red corn" flower heads when they are dwarfs at a height below 20cm, as compared to counterparts growing on soil, might infer that they are not taking in enough fluids & vitamins.

Given such a situation, these darlings would have a shorter lifespan than the rest of its "sisters" who were grounded on solid earth, i.e. soil.

(Photograph below shows one of their "sisters" growing alot taller at a height of 76cm with a sturdy stem from the soil, but not yet in the budding stage of growing a "red corn")

As such, I trimmed down the entire old stem where these "babies" are growing on & chose to assign them to a proper nursery.

It's really painful to part with those pretty babies but I hope that they do well in their new environment where they would have all types of plants for companionship.

Edited October 31, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

This is a snippet of the lush greenaries, rich in foliage with its signature "red corns" & a "dusky" image in the morning sun ...

My plants on candid camera

More photographs featuring my plants during different days of the year:

Edited November 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Photogaphs of flowers blooming:

I edited this photograph using flickr.com's editing tools & the outcome does remind me of my wedding photographs

Edited November 5, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The different stages of the growth cycle from a new shoot to "adult-hood" :

Edited November 4, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

continued :

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Birdies : Companionship to Ginger plants & their flower buds ...

And not forgetting the birds, there is this particular species of bird that is small-bodied but greets these plants every single day without fail with a "he-he-he-he" sharp chirping voice.

It is cloaked in greenish & yellowy feathers; characterised by a long, sharp & needled-like beak which is abit bent downwards. Presumably for extracting nectar from the flowers blooming on this breed of Ginger plant.

When we had been greeted by a succession of loud, and cheery chirping, we knew for sure that the plants were blooming wtih an abundance of flower food for the birds. If those chirpy darlings greeted us with a short flat tone, we would be immediately aware that they were disappointed that they've got to look elsewhere for food as there are no flowers at all.

I've tried to take photographs of the birds who made several trips down to our Ginger plants everyday. Unfortunately, it's scared of humans which is understandable becox they've grown up in the wild so when it detects any movement, it'll take flight immediately & perhaps come back sneakily for food, hoping that the "orge" standing infront of the Ginger plants had disappeared.

2 flower buds were featured in an enlarged photograph of the GINGER "bulb" (not sure what to call it but it resembled a deep, dark red corn) as above. Looks yummy to the eyes & to the birdie.

Edited November 5, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The Impermanence of nature's beauty : An aging-rebirth process

The "red corn" would start aging when its colour start fading, and gradually turning yellowy-red, starting from the edges of its "scales" & ultimately turning into a dry, brownish scaly pulp as shown in the photograph below:

I could feel a pang of deep regret each time when I spotted any one of these "red corns" maturing & bidding me farewell.

However, such is life where nothing is permanently beautiful, new & immortalised. Through gardening, I couldn't help but recognise the blatant truth that the plant has already started to age the minute it springs up from the soil or from the stems as a new shoot. And of course, moves on closer to the end of its growth cycle day by day.

The end of this growth cycle is always greeted by the birth of its "babies", and I couldn't deny the fact that we humans share much parallels in our growth cycle with that of mother nature.

I was fascinated by a huge, fat "baby" sprouting out from an existing stem where a giantic "flower head" (of the red corn) is still surviving at:

However, the arrival of this "baby" would also imply the soon-to-be demise of the existing "adult" even though it hasn't withered yet.

I came to observe that its fresh chilli-red tone has turned into a darkish sort of brick red, which would soon be aging into a yellowy-red tone.

The photograph below shows how much the stem-bound "baby" has grown after a period of just 2 weeks.

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

If you are lucky enough, you might see the aging "red corn" bursting into an array of "scaly" splendour as shown in the photographs below:

However, this phenomenon has only occured to my plants on & off. I observed that it doesn't happen all the time becox quite a number of these "Red corns" would jux get dehydrated into a dry, brown scaly pulp.

Out of curiousity, I pried open the white sacs which resembled $ bags to find tiny black seeds hidden in white mesh-like fibre.

After leaving these tiny black seeds in the open for a few days to dry it up, I wasted no time in throwing them into the soil to see if it'll germinate & grow into a plant.

2 weeks to as many as 3 months flew by & finally, I spotted these tiny green sprouts growing out from the soil as shown in the photograph below:

However, I did observe that these "sprouts" don't seemed to grow beyond this stage. They'll normally shrivel & die off when the leaves & stems turn brown.

Edited November 6, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The final stage of "flower head" withering into a brown, scaly pulp & the entire stem is to be pruned should there be no other new shoots growing from it as shown in the photograph below:

[schiz0id 0]

Wow, eden! I'm blown away by your detailed updating of your cute lil ones!

Love the colors! Don't they just add more color to your life?