Birds of Paradise for Road Divider

While stopping at the traffic light along the crossroad of Newcome Road (current name is Jalan Munshi Abdullah) & Jalan Bendahara in Melaka, I was fascinated by these beautiful, vibrant orange bird of paradise plants lining along the divider in the middle of the road.

A compliment must be given to the Melaka City Council for doing a good job in the landscaping work here. It definitely makes our historical city more attractive to the many tourists that visit us here. This is crucial as tourism is one of the major sources of income for Melaka. Even to a fellow Malaccan like me, I find it a pleasure to stop at the traffic light as I get to stop by to enjoy the beauty of the plants decorating this road divider!

Bright Blooms of Ruellia in Mom's Garden

Selamat Hari Raya Haji to all Muslim visitors to my gardening blog. Wish you have a contemplative and spiritual celebration.

Today's posting will featurs Ruellia (Wild Petunia) from my mom's garden. I found bright blooms of three different colours ~ pink, white & purple. Together, they really brighten up my mom's garden.

From an article written in New Straits Times (Oct 25, 1997) by horticulturist, Mr. Lam Peng Sam, the capsules of the Ruellia when ripe will explode and scatter its seeds. That's how a Ruellia propagate. That may be the answer to how I get Ruellia plants scattered in different corners of my garden.

Caterpillar on Lemon Plant

I read in Blur Ting's Growing Vegetable with Ms. Green Finger blog that lime butterfly loves lime plant. This time a butterfly chooses to lay eggs on my lemon plant (also another plant under the citrus family group).


Last Friday I found 2 tiny newly hatched larvae in black colour crawling on the leaves of my lemon plant. After the weekend, the 2 black babies have grown into 2 fat green caterpillars. They have chewed many leaves from my lemon plant. However, I didn't want to kill them or throw them away. I am fascinated by their presence in my garden. I left them to enjoy their free meals & boarding. This morning I went out looking for them again, but I can't find them anymore. I wonder if they have metamorphose into pupas or chrysalis. I can't wait to see them turned into butterflies.

Caterpillars spend their whole life eating and growing.
Caterpillars eat approximately eight times their body mass each day.

I have found some interesting reading materials on butterfly and its life cycle. If you are keen, do read on.

From the website entitled BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR LARVAL FOODPLANTS by Peter J. Bryant, he said:

Butterflies can be attracted to your garden by providing suitable flowers from which they can obtain nectar. Most butterflies can utilize a wide variety of flowers, including those of many cultivated varieties, as nectar sources. However, a more critical need is for the plants that provide food for the larval (caterpillar) stages, and most species will accept only one or a few species of plants at this stage. If a butterfly is found near your area, you can probably attract it and increase its population by planting the correct foodplants for the caterpillars. Although the caterpillars will feed on the leaves of these plants, the damage is usually minor and only temporary. Caterpillars of some species feed on plants that are usually considered weeds, and you can benefit populations of these species by not removing all of the weeds.

The Life Cycle of A Butterfly

The butterfly's life cycle is made up of four stages. Follow the links given to find out more about each life cycle stage of a butterfly:

• the egg stage
• the caterpillar or larva stage
• the pupa or chrysalis stage
• the butterfly stage

The Life Cycle of Butterfly picture was taken from here.

Mulberry Stem Cuttings

I trim my mulberry plant very often when I need to pluck the leaves. Those leaves would be dried and used to brew tea for my brother. It is believed that the mulberry leaves tea can lower cholesterol level and high blood pressure. My brother consumes it regularly and it seems to improve his condition.


Recently I have trimmed the mulberry plant. Usually I will give away the stems to friends who are keen to plant them. This time I decided to plant those stems in the container used for planting choy sum. Due to the regular rain, most of the stems have shoots now. Amazingly, one even produces many fruits! A forummer from our community forum, USJ.com, has requested for one of this plant. So, I will get to pass on the joy of gardening with our community here.

Growth Progress of Thai Basil

In August, I posted how I got my Thai Basil to root. Today I am glad to share with all of you how much that the Basil plant has grown. From the stem cutting that I placed in water and allow them to root, I now have a pot of lush Thai Basil plant.

Growing Pineapple

I have seen my mom planted pineapple in her garden. It really fascinated me and I asked her how it's done. Has it ever cross your mind? I don't know if pineapple has seed or from where do you start to grow a pineapple?

Mom said just cut the crown of a pineapple and place it on soil. The crown will start to root and that's how you grow pineapple!!! Easy, right? Unbelievable!! What mom said was true! It's so simple. I just cut away the crown of a sweet Josephine pineapple and place the crown on some soil in a pot. That was 3 weeks ago. Now when I tried to remove the crown, it seems to have rooted and not moveable! I just can't wait to see fruit growing from it!!! Why not try planting a pineapple in your garden?

Purple Wild Flowers

Some insects have sowed the seeds of this purple wild flower around my garden. Now I have a couple of this plants around my garden. I wanna say thanks to those who send me this plant. The purple blooms are attractive and big. They add colours to my garden. Aren't they beautiful?

Added on 24 November 2009:

Thanks to James Missier, a visitor to this blog, who informed me that this is not a wild flower. The name for this beautiful purple bloom is Ruellia or Wild Petunia. According to Wikipedia, Ruellias are popular ornamental plants. Some are used as medical plants, but many are known or suspected to be poisonous.

Planting Your Own Vegetables

It's raining season in Klang Valley now. Almost every afternoon, there will be downpour. The weather is really cool and nice. The plants are getting sufficient water supply daily.

But for vegetable farmers, the rain brings less crops. That's why vegetables price have increased recently.

How're the vegetables in your garden growing?