Typicalgardener's Blog

Wild horses couldn’t pull me away from the crowd that was growing at the plant stall. What was the fuss all about?

“Birds,” I heard. “Green birds.” If the first remark sounded odd, the second sounded even more bizarre.

I squeezed my way through the crowd and saw it. It was mostly stems, as well as a few leaves and bracts. Nothing great, I thought. Nothing that warranted that much attention anyway.

And then I saw them. Tiny green birds between the bracts. And they did look like birds too, except that these didn’t have feathers and would never take flight.

The prices were a setback though. So we gave ourselves a cooling off period of a few weeks but the interest grew stronger instead.

Finally, we succumbed to the temptation and bought two small seedlings.

Then I saw a bigger plant which was flowering. And it was going for a song. What a bargain, I thought. That opened the floodgates.

We bought another two plants within the week. And then I sowed some pedilanthus seeds.

At the last count, we have about 9 seedlings and 3 mature plants.   😀

But, why the craze?

The proprietor at a garden centre waxed lyrical about it. She went into a lengthy explanation about the significance of its name, the eggs the bird laid, etc.

However, most of it was lost on me. What I did gather was that the plant brings luck, hence the princely prices it commands. But I don’t subscribe to all that hullabaloo.

It’s obvious that the person who is happier and who is better off financially after the sale of a pedilanthus is the proprietor himself. He’d probably be laughing all the way to the bank.

I suppose people buy the pedilanthus for all sorts of reasons. For me, it’s all boils down to the tiny green birds.

But did I stop with the pedilanthus bracteatus? Oh, no.  I wanted the Pedilanthus tithymaloides and its pink birds too. I was almost cooing when my aunt gave me a couple of cuttings.

Imagine what will happen if the two plants cross-pollinated. Imagine the coloration of the birds. Will these be mutilcolored like lorikeets? There I go again, off on another flight of fancy …

Care and propagation:  well-drained soil, semi to full sun, water moderately; propagate using seeds or cuttings

Read Full Post »

There’s no doubt about it. The Carphalea Kirondron clearly deserves its other name – the Flaming Beauty.

This plant has been lauded as a traffic-stopper. In the past, I too have been guilty of slowing down to a crawl to admire this flamboyant beauty.

Imagine a plant smothered with masses of brilliant red flowers.

That what the Carphalea Kirondron appears to be like; except for the fact that the flowers are actually inconspicuous amd white while the calyxes steal the show with their blaze of red.

These clusters of calyxes often measure up to 25 cm across. But it’s not the colour or the size of the clusters that amazes me. It’s the fact that the clusters seem to last for months on the plant and never seem to fall off.

Those of us who have swept up the fallen blooms of the bougainvillea or quisqualis indica will appreciate the fact that the Carphalea Kirondron doesn’t believe in messing up the lawn.

After a few months on the plants, the spent clusters turn a dull red, then brown. It’s then that we snip the cluster off. No mess. No stress.

The inimitable Carphalea Kirondron is good for any garden which has ample sunshine, warmth and humidity. Thankfully our garden seems to suit it fine.

Mum bought three small plants a few years ago. For the past couple of years, these perennial plants have been the garden’s crowning glory and have been faithfully providing a vivid splash of red.

The next time you spot a flash of red as you drive past a garden, take another look. It might just be a Flaming Beauty.

Care and cultivation: well-drained soil; full sun; water moderately; Propagate using cuttings (tricky)

Read Full Post »

I love white daisies; Shasta daisies in particular.

So I was devastated when I found out that the Shasta daisy no longer grows in Cameron Highlands.

They say the nights are no longer cool enough.

True enough, I have not seen any there recently until I chanced upon a lone plant near Robinson Falls a couple of weeks ago.

It was a sad specimen but a Shasta daisy nonetheless, so I whipped out the camera and captured a shot for posterity.

But if Shasta daisies refuse to grow in the highlands, there’s just no way I can get them to grow for me in the hot and humid lowlands.

Then I saw the bidens alba at a friend’s place.

Both plants have flowers with pure white petals radiating from a yellow centre, but that’s where the similarity ends.

While the Shasta daisy has gorgeous blooms 3-4 inches across, the bidens alba has button-sized flowers a modest 1 inch across.

I collected some seeds, envisioning the lovely miniature flowers in the garden.

The bidens alba grew quickly reaching for the sky, and before I knew it, I had clusters of little white daisies.

Just the other day, I gathered some blooms for the vase. And surprise, surprise – they make great cut flowers for an English country arrangement.

Care and cultivation: well drained soil; full sun; water moderately; propagate using seeds and cuttings

Read Full Post »