GOTTA LOVE 'EM

There is no secret that I’m in love with anything natural and good especially when words like “rich source of antioxidants,” “health benefits,” etc pop up.  Who doesn’t??

Ain't she gorgeous?

When I heard from the grapevine that the Clitoria ternatae whose common name is blue pea flower for centuries have been used in traditional ayurvedic medicine and is supposedly good for improving eyesight, the blind as a bat in me just have to give this plant a second glance!  

I Love You

To begin, I love the vivid intensity of these lovely blue flowers and the added bonus is there are lots of them taking refuge all over the fence.

For a long time the natural dye in the flowers have been used for cooking.  The flowers can also be dipped in batter and deep fried.  You can even make tea out of them.  They can also be added to a bowl of salad.  Look at how beautiful they look!

Do bear in mind that if these beautiful flowers are to be consumed, it is best that they be grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals.

 

Why eat something supposedly good with added benefits when in fact it is detrimental to your well being.  If you're growing your own, do it the organic way.

DANCING IN THE RAIN

There's something magical about taking photos after the rain where you find nature at it's most beautiful.  What I love most being out and about as soon as the sky clears is the cool, refreshing and invigorating crisp air.  

It's something I enjoy tremendously; looking up in the sky and catching that spare drop or two of raindrops gliding off the leaves and falling onto me.  

Plumeria

Frangipani

Orchid

Rose

Vinca / Periwinkle

Flashback, I feel just like a child all over again playing in the rain AND shots just seem prettier!

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

For nineteen months this orchid plant remained barren.  Yes that's one year and 7 long months with 2/3 of the time spent in my apartment and the other 1/3 in MSG.

No amount of cajoling, sweet whispers or wonder food worked.  Out of exasperation, we thought perhaps the plant would only flower in its country of origin, thousands and thousands of miles away.  We were wringing our hands out of exasperation!

 

However one day we got a pleasant  surprise and claimed ownership to two very beautiful blooms.   As usual, like all other flowers my first instinct was to plant my nose in the blooms and I was rewarded with the most delicious scent! It was certainly worth the long wait. 

Then last week during a heavy downpour, the plank holding some potted plants collapsed.  The first thought that flashed in my mind was "Oh.... the orchids!" as we scrambled to salvage the damage.  Other than some bruises on the petals, everything was fine.

Please don't let us wait another two years for the next round of flowers. (*fingers crossed*)

INTRUDERS IN THE GARDEN



I stared at the near naked Vinca (Periwinkle) bush with disbelief!  

Vinca flowers come in a variety of colours eg. shades of pinks, red, white and even purple.  The flowers are unscented and the plant falls under the "poisonous" list of plants but they are very generous in flowering and relatively easy to grow.  They can grow from cuttings or seeds.  The ripe seed pods will scatter when carried by the wind and volunteer plants will spring up everywhere.
 

Just a few days back the whole bush was covered with a crop of beautiful pink but now reduced to such a pathetic sight.  On closer look, the ends of each branch looked like they have been brutally chopped off.  

My first human instinct was of suspicion and anger.  For a moment, I didn't feel safe anymore at the thought of someone intruding into the garden whilst no one was around.

We were so proud of how this Vinca has blossomed over the months.  It started off with a very small seedling of barely a few inches in the flowerbed and how much it has grown.  

So we moved cautiously around the garden preparing to nab our intruder or at least scare the wits out of him and to our pleasant (that it was not a human intruder) horror (that the plant was almost bald!), we caught the culprits in the act.

Meet them....

Time for yoga

Did I tell you this is how you pole dance?

Getting chummy

Looking at how hungry our intruders were, we excused them as they needed a lot of energy to complete their metamorphosis.  Seriously they have as many as 4000 muscles in their bodies... something we just learned! 

We've learned to live and let live.  There have been so many more subsequent sabotage of our Vincas but then they grow just as fast and someone out there has to eat.  It's amazing what is poisonous to us are food for these hungry ones.    

HELLO ROSELLE

It starts off with a flower...

... to fruits

Anything to do with beauty and anti-ageing earn my marks especially with a pretty sweet name like Roselle.  I don't think anyone would mind being called Roselle.

Roselle leaf and fruits

So if you haven’t heard, Roselle is a wonderful medicinal plant that bears fruits chock full of vitamins and antioxidants. 

Fleshy calyxes

 

Seed pods

Do bear in mind that although this plant carries some health and beauty benefits, it is not suitable for those with low blood pressure and like any other things / products, it should be taken in moderation.   

Having said that, if you’re a fan of sugar laden drinks /colas and you pity your waistline, Roselle tea is the perfect perk me up alternative!  It’s fabulous as a thirst quencher.

Making that cup of tea is so simple.  Tear of the calyxes, wash, put them in a cup and pour boiling water over them.  When I first started making Roselle tea, I added water and boiled the calyxes for a few minutes.  The water turned a fiery red and tasted a bit tart so I added in some honey.  However having now acquired the taste, I prefer to pour boiling water onto the calyxes, let it seep for a few minutes and drink it as it is.  On days that I crave for a sweet drink, I’ll add a dollop of honey to it.  Whichever way you choose, it’s delicious on its own.  Enjoy it hot, chill or add ice to your Roselle tea.

Sow some seeds in a pot or scatter some in your backyard.  Imagine the convenience of plucking this spike like fruits as and when you feel like having a cuppa!  When I plant and harvest enough Roselle fruits, I'll be on my way to making jams too. 

Oh and to share a little piece of news from the grapevine...  Heard that because Roselle tea is high in Vitamin C content, it is supposedly better than red wine in warding off free radicals in the skin.  So cheers to smooth skin and bye to winkles!  

Okay, bye bye to fewer winkles.

MEET OUR FRIENDS

Being in the country side / garden is the best introduction to nature that anyone can get especially for city dwellers who are confined to the walls around them. 

Friends are never lacking in the garden; here they come and go.

 

Taking a break from the heat

Feeling on top of the world

Home is a flower pot

  

Keeping my balance is easy when they happen to be my favourite food

Lots more of other creatures / insects that probably cannot be counted even with your fingers and toes. 

The insects can be such a pest gnawing on their favourite leaves or flowers but they too need to eat in order to survive.  As long as the destruction is minimal I learn to shut an eye and be forgiving.   

SHARING A PINCH OF JOY!

Here's a little story...

These are not paintings but a series of real flower shots which are very special to me.  

I was given this cluster of a rare stunning orange bloom (was told there's only one tree on this island) recently by an islander in the compound of a temple.  I just had to take some shots there and then!  There was a red table nearby and as much as I love colours.... well, red and orange don't seem like the best combination.  So I found myself emptying my nylon bag and using that as a backdrop for these shots, much to the amusement of the islander who must have thought I was a little craycray.  Let's pretend you didn't see the creases in the background ;)

The beautiful shade  of orange flowers speckled with those black seeds were so mesmerizing.  I was so fascinated by them and completely blown!  

I like to think that these are my lucky charm because today I received an email to advise that this print has been included in the Society6 Shop (http://society6.com/products/STUNNING-ORANGE-BLOOMS_Print where these pictures will be reproduced as art or framed art prints and also printed onto other merchandises.  

Just in case you're wondering what's on Society6 Shop... 

"The artwork on Society6 is created by hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world."

When you buy a product from Society6, we produce it using only the highest quality materials, and ship it to you on behalf of the artist.
  

Gosh! So am I an artist?  No because I can't draw.  Many years ago during a charade game (I've given up playing them, they only embarrass me...), I picked up a card with the word goldfish on it but you just imagine how I drew the fish because my team mates screamed in unison "guppy!... guppy!" to my horror.  If given a choice by the nice people behind Society6, I would consider myself more of a photographer because what I basically do is upload photos I take onto various products. (No, I don't use photoshop.  You get what you see) However what I like about this is although my products are available in my shop on Society6, in reality I do not own a brick and mortar shop where rental can be so exorbitant.  Apart from uploading photos and promoting my products which I am lagging far far behind, there is nothing else that I have to do as everything else is taken care off by Society6 (just in case anyone else out there wants to be an artist too).  Basically I get 10% of the sale price off all merchandise (except for art prints) which barely is enough for me to buy a packet of seeds but hey I am enjoying what I do ie. taking pretty pictures and that is what matters most.

Coming back to where I stopped, so after some detective work, I found out the common and botanical name for these flowers.  They're the flowers from the Black Pearl Tree, also known as Majidea Zanguebarica.  What a pretty mouthful!