Flies on the Sweet Basil and Corn on the Cob

We saw a swarm of flies on the sweet basil, feeding on the sugar or sap from the leaves. Looks like an infestation, but we left them alone, as the insects were not damaging the plant.

 

The corn is ripening on the plant. Wonder how to tell when the corn on the cob is ready to eat?

 

The Lonely Dove

The pair of doves that I noticed several weeks ago (see “Bamboos and Critters“) visiting our garden patch is now down to one. The lonely dove was still cooing away and darting around among the plants. Wonder what happened to its mate? Perhaps an unfortunate accident with a cat or a bird of prey?

Potential Fruit of our Labours (part 2)

More updates this week, on fruits (including beans and seeds) that are on the way to our stomachs.

The knife beans are ready for harvest now.

Knife or sword bean pods

Corn on the cob coming soon!

The black sesame seeds can be found inside these little pods.

 

Potential Fruit of our Labours (part 1)

Here is an update of some of the fruits that will soon be large enough to be harvested. We shall in time to come have bananas, bottle gourds and corn on the cob (the maize is just in the flowering stage).

Bananas are growing larger

The bottle gourd is becoming a bottle

The maize is flowering

Yellow Cassia and Blue Lotus

This week I am still in Thailand, but have moved from HuaHin to my sister’s house in Bangkok. This is a photo of the Yellow Cassia flowers, of which there are several flowering trees lining the house fence along the road.

yellow Cassia flowers

If you are ever in Bangkok and want a change from Thai food, my sister runs a small cafe that is attached to the same compound as the house, that serves English tea and food. It is located at 20 Sukhumvit Soi 31, and is close to the BTS Prom Phong station. The cafe is named “Cassia” after the yellow flowers.

Cassia cafe

another view of Cassia cafe (behind the rain tree and large climbing bougainvillea bush)

This morning we went to the excellent brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok, and the lobby and restaurant were decorated everywhere with these blue flowers. OK, they are not Blue Lotus, but are water lilly flowers. However, they are as close as to what I would imagine Blue Lotus to be, according to the title of the comic book starring TinTin and his dog.

blue water lillies

Yellow Ginger and Bottle Gourd

This week. the flowers of what I thought were Galangal ginger opened, and the yellow flowers indicate that this plant is actually Kunyit or Yellow ginger, as brought to my attention by Jane.

Also, the “bottles” from the Bottle Gourd have become larger, so I am posting their picture here.

Today, I am posting to this website from Hua Hin, Thailand, where I’ll be staying with my sister until the 5th of June.  Here are some of my photos from Hua Hin. They also grow sunflowers here!!

Hua Hin sunflowers

my room

Hua Hin sunflowers

pool in the secret garden

Chomdong villa

pet deer

jacuzzi in the secret garden

plumbago hedge

heliconia “lobster claws” from the garden

view from my room

more bouganvilleas

view of the pond and the garden from the rooftop observatory

Bamboos and critters

Today I was looking for the bamboos that could have led to this group calling itself “Bamboo Haus”, and found at least 3 clumps of bamboo that I did not really notice the first time I was at the garden patch.

Since our garden patch is surrounded by bamboo, I suppose its ok to stick to the group name of “Bamboo Haus”. That is, unless we start growing more of the sunflowers in future!

The featured flowers this week are : (1) ginger flower, (2) bottle gourd flower, and (3) flower of the black sesame plant.

(1) kunyit flower – this is a rarely seen flower, and I was lucky to get a photo of it.

(2) bottle gourd flowers – the “bottles” were starting to form in some of the older flowers; hope to get photos of these later.

(3) black sesame flowers with the seed pods at the base of the stalk

Also, in addition to the people who were busy tending to the garden, there were a whole lot of insects and birds (which I call “critters”) paying a visit to our garden patch this morning. There were mostly insects, but also a pair of cooing doves.

butterfly

millipede

hairy caterpillar

big grasshopper

a pair of doves

Photos of my first visit to our garden patch

These are photos of my first visit to the CIB garden at the Singapore HortPark.

What caught my eye were these sunflowers grown by Bob, lining the front of the garden patch. Perhaps we should grow more of these as they seem to be doing well here.

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Hello world!

What is CIB or “Community in Bloom”? Refer to this National Parks website for details.

This website for the CIB group that meets every Friday at around 9:30am, and our patch is located next to the car that is planted with flowers. This is the online link for the group members to keep each other updated, monitor progress of our plants, and to share significant events.