Plants | South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

20 Jan

Morning Eye Candy: Three Stooges

Author: admin // Category: landscaping ideas

“Larry, Moe, and Curly.” It’s the first thing that came to mind when I stumbled across this picture. And a lot of you are probably thinking a guy would have to spend a long, loooong time around plants to see a slapstick comedy trio in a stand of conifers. You’d be right.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: conifers, Morning Eye Candy

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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/01/photography/morning-eye-candy-three-stooges/

Ice Traction Aids? Avoid Salt on Lawns and Plants

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening

Here’s a breakdown of various products available for use, with a review of whether or not they’ll harm your landscape: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2011/01/calcium-based-ice-melt-is-safer-for-lawns/

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/ice-traction-aids-avoid-salt-on-lawns-and-plants/

Lettuce against all odds.

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

I have checked around if anyone had grown lettuce around here in Tanah Merah. The answer is unanimously NONE. I was discussing with Kakdah if we should try salad and grow as many as we can. I finished the whole packet for germination. I guess it’s almost 100% germination!

lettuce in brown plastic pots

lettuce

The growing consists of cocopeat, a bit of peatsoil and fertiliser. We apply organic fertiliser and spray foliar fertiliser once a week.

Kakdah had a few cut for dinner. There is a hint of mild bitterness in them. I googled, and it says about lettuce is cool weather plants, therefore extra heat will make it bitter, and a signal for them ready to go for flowering… Some studies mentioned about too much nitrogen, thus bitter. I am figuring out the best approach to make it less bitter.

lettuce in brown plastic pots, and some still in germination tray

Some are still in germination tray… some already in pots. I thought the soft green colour is sweet… lovely. So, with so many lettuce, I wonder what Kakdah has in mind….

bangchik and kakdah

Tomato tears of joy.

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

No rain last night, so the air was dense and heavy. In the morning I saw tears of joy, crystal clear , so beautiful. Tomato must be happy indeed to last this long. It’s like saying Thank You. Both plants are doing alright, no wilting, with pear shaped fruits……

tomato, ripen happily, and the tears of joy.

tomato on another plant

When the skin of tomato is cool, the moisture in the air condenses on the surface, and as the air gets warmer, it will evaporate to where it comes from. Its more of tears of joy than dew.

Earlier post:

June 23, 2011 Tomato in two pots

bangchik and kakdah

oxalis triangularis and fern

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

Placing potted fern in the middle of two oxalis triangularatis, I dont know which should steal the show. Fern has always been exotic in nature with its beautiful leaves, but oxalis triangularis comes in colourful, with deep purple butterfly look leaves. If we look closely there is a hint of red somewhere within purple leaves. Whitish stems and pale pinkish flowers place oxalis triangularitis within the category of being exotic too. Both plants just grow…, and they don’t react too much with poor watering and fertilising.

Putting them in line, I wonder which one looks better or

they simply complement each other as a package.

fern in the middle, flanked by oxalis triangularis

The combination of strengths will complement each other

and balance out individual weaknesses

which will lead to overall enhancement

of the team.

bangchik and kakdah,
Tanah Merah Garden

rain!rain!!rain!!!

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

Author: greenfairy

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:35 am (GMT 0)

The monsoon has set in at the right time. rains everyday, keeps on raining. work outside is not easy. plants need a lot of trimming and pruning once the rain slows down. but the heat of the summer has gone, it is very cool this time of the year.

i had been waiting for this plant to flower for a very long time. and this year, it has bloomed. i just love the fragrance it gives, heavenly.

mexican tuberose – polianthus tuberosa ( photo / image / picture from greenfairy’s Garden )

beautiful ( photo / image / picture from greenfairy’s Garden )

this is one more of my plants, once it blooms, it stays for along time, each opening to give blue, yellow clours

flaming torch – billbergia pyramidalis ( photo / image / picture from greenfairy’s Garden )

( photo / image / picture from greenfairy’s Garden )

I’m a busy girl these days!

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

Author: Kay

Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 12:59 am (GMT 0)

This is a very busy time of year for me at my job. Since mid-March, I have been supervising my crew doing spring clean up and mulching. We still have some jobs to get done, but all of the sudden, Mother Nature has decided to let us have some nice weather, and we have started the plant installations. It gets pretty crazy on some days, we work long and hard hours. I am in charge of finding and purchasing the trees. shrubs, perennials, and annuals for the designs. I get them to the job sites, and work with our designer to place them. Then I oversee the crew as they plant. I also am the "front woman" for customer contact, to be sure they are happy. I am good at this "gabby" part because there is nothing I love better than talkin plants!

I come home just exhausted some days. We work long hours, and we work hard to do the best job that we can. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.

I am often too tired to get on the computer and do much besides read at little. But I wanted to say hello and I miss my Stew friends.

Happy Gardening!!

Bunga Bakawali with a pink friend.

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

The white Bunga Bakawali, the most fragrant of all flowers, has a new pink friend as company. Fiza, our front neighbour gave Kakdah a leaf of pink bakawali months ago. Yes, a leaf, and that’s how one grows Bakawali ….. with a leaf. The other day I sent 3 sections of white bakawali leaf to a blogger friend via post. She mentioned about the cuttings had rooted. It will be a while before tiny shoots start appearing at the nodes, or dents in bakawali case.

But our new pink bunga bakawali is beginning to to show its prominence, letting out shoots artistically.

pink bakawali, two new shoots

different angle of pink bakawali new shoots

a new shoot coming from the base

a different view showing other plants around.

Judging by the first bunga bakawali blooming way back January 17, 2011 ( Bunga Bakawali Blooming, the stages.), the pink bunga bakawali will take a while to flower. I wouldn’t know exactly when, but the leaves got to get old and matured to let out buds and flowers…..

bangchik and kakdah, tanah merah Kelantan

Ubi Badak, getting out of purple world.

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

It must be the exciting purple colour that prompted me to grow ubi badak, apart from the ever growing curiosity about local plants. Now there are four of them growing, two with trellis, the other two by the fence. The shoots of ubi badak is everything about freshness.

Arief came over the weekend and made a tour around the compound. He recognised ubi badak at a glance. Six months he said, before ubi badak can be harvested. A few days later Nik, Heim and the rest made a stop here. Nik added another point on ubi badak. Gardeners tale over here mentioned about using ashes to speed ubi badak rooting.

How do I treat ubi badak at this stage?… Ubi badak is like any other climbers. Watering and fertilising is standard for any plant. I will give what they need, I am pretty sure they will reciprocate with big a- few- kilos sized- tubers by the end of the year.

ubi badak

(March 2011)

climbing to the top and crawl along trellis.

Gardening Tips: Beware of the Frost

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

As temperatures here in the Midwest begin to eek into the low ’60s, it’s easy to forget that Mother Nature still has a few tricks up her sleeve to ruin your attempts at gardening. Temps during the day may be nice and warm, but when the sun sets, the dreaded frost may come out to hurt or kill your plants.

Don’t worry. It’s easy to be distracted by the warm temperatures during the day. It’s intoxicating. We’ve spent the last three months afraid to leave the house for fear of something freezing off, and now the sun is shining and you actually see some buds on the trees.

It’s perfectly fine to start your garden, as long as you remember to cover your plants up at night. This time of year, temperatures between the day and night can vary by 30 degrees or more. Your plants just newly sprouted from the ground can freeze if they are left uncovered.

You think that you can just cover them with a thin layer of plastic and shave your cotton sheets they wear, tear and dirt. The problem with plastic is that it doesn’t do much for the moisture aspect. It might keep them from direct frosting, but the plastic doesn’t breath, and all that cold condensation just sticks to it.

You are going to have to sacrifice the sheets and quilts, because they will actually keep them warm and absorb the night moisture. They are also breathable. It’s the same reason why you like wearing cotton in the summer.

Mother Nature doesn’t mean to hurt your plants. It’s not some grandiose plan to ruin your gardening aspirations. It’s just how the world works. When you live in areas that have all four seasons, there is bound to be an overlap. You can either wait until the frost is no longer an issue to start your garden, i.e. around the end of April, or cover up your plants. It’s your choice.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/hisgett/5217836747