Outside, Inside

Early this morning, I took time to walk around the garden in Kuching and did a couple of clearing up job at the side garden especially areas along the south fence. My efforts were rewarded well. The Blood Banana ( Musa zebrina) at the front garden seems to grow into a beautiful small clump now( see inset). I have constantly been watching its growth to ensure that any unruly adventure by the clump to surrounding areas be checked in time.

Below can be seen two pictures showing some of the planting details I incorporated to provide initially a green and colourful screen to the black metal fencing material. With my secateurs in hand and in rapid succession I took cuttings of young blood banana leaves, the multi-painted coleus leaves, the pendulous red bracts of the 'Firecrackers' ( Heliconia rostrata) , parrot flowers and finally the pink hybrid canna. I placed all of them inside a glass container that's was being held inside a tiny 'tambuk' or the local Bidayuh basket. Then I had them inserted inside a special decorative piece - a lamp shade, to hold the plants together for the show.

I made two versions for today's arrangement. One is for outside and the other for an inside arrangemment. Am I lost for a title? Well, guess what my mind said just now....Colour Outside, Colour Inside.

At the centre of attraction is the Dracaena marginata 'tricolour', being greeted by the parrot flower amidst a chorus of coleus and spider lily.

The 'Firecrackers' ( Heliconia rostrata ) and parrot flowers in the background .

Arrangement # 148

Outside Version

Inside Version

Lovely Pink and Orange Flowers

Today I noticed the cannas are looking good. Since about two months ago I have collected two varieties that I think are excellent for their colours and dwarf-like qualities. They are the pink and orange variety. Cannas love manure as fertiliser and since last month ago the heavy application has done a good job of producing healthy plants with stalks in heavy flowering as can be seen in the picture below.
Thus I had in mind early in the morning to make cuttings of them for today's display. What other plants should I add to the company? The brown bracts of the Calathea lutea looked wonderful to match with the brown vase. Then while walking around for another candidate the fragrant flowers of the pink frangipani stole my senses. In they go. The inset shows the brown vase displayed at the front garden.

View of South Garden (the front portion) with orange canna hybrid in the foreground.

Today, like most days of April and May the weather in Kuching is hot and sunny though it is very likely to rain here in the afternoon even in light showers. It does rain mostly at night too and all these occasional rains have made the plants this month healthy and strong. Other plants that are growing profusely in the garden right now are the multi-coloured foliage of the coleus of which I have collected about 12 varieties so far. Collecting these varieties in Kuching is not a problem at all because the flower market at Satok Sunday market has abundant supplies of them. This is peculiarly Kuching and is probably due to the fact that there are many protocol activities in Kuching that require ornamental plants for official functions. ( Note the colourful coleus foliage towards left of the pink canna above)

Arrangement # 138

In the above picture I have display the arrangement indoors.
The overall effect is lovely. Therefore would name this composition...Colour me Lovely.

Canna Stop Loving You

There are three varieties of cannas that I grow in my Kuching garden right now. There are in colours of pink, red and orange. Today I have just made a cutting of the pink canna. With a little bit of help from the two reliable heliconia varieties viz heliconia stricta and latispatha, a simple composition is done.
Would like to name it..... Canna Stop Loving You.

Arrangement # 136

White Sails of the Spathiphyllum

On returning home to Bintulu last Friday, I noticed the spathiphyllum'Mauna Loa' by my back door showed two inflorescences. Spathiphyllum can be found in tropical America though there are certain species that are native to Malaysia. Sometimes called the 'Peace Lily'or 'White Sails',  it has very glossy dark green leaves.

Arrangement #

For today's composition I had the spathiphyllum, hybrid cannas and the fiery red ginger join the crowd.
Lastly, for scents I added in a spray of white ginger lily. Glad to have arrived Bintulu after an 11 hours journey on Friday evening, I dedicate this composition to....Happy to be back, Bintulu.

Red Ginger, Pink Canna and Red Ti for a Start

Fiery Start - in 2 versions

Arrangement # 101

It has been a month and two days since I did my last posting.  The main reason or excuse I guess was that I had spent the Hari Raya holiday this year in Kuching . The Hari Raya started on the 1st of October.

The problem after I get back to Bintulu was to get rolling on with blogging daily cut flowers.

Well, today I am over with the holidays and back to normal self.

Arrangement # 102

Walking around the garden I found that the canna hybrid I brought from Kuching from my last trip had flowered.  I decided to make it the top choice for today's arrangement. To add more turbo , more twin power to the display I added the fiery red ginger. Finally to keep the theme red I inserted the red leaves of the Red Ti ( Cordyline terminalis).

For having finally starting the daily cut flowers again after a month lapse, I call the above composition...Fiery Red Start.

In Jubilating Mood

Arrangement # 65

Today I spent a very hectic day at down town Kuching City, where a handicraft show and sale was held. On reaching home , I met three striking beauties that greeted me as I approached the front garden.

One, a light pink hibiscus, then a lighter red canna hybrid and finally a handsome crimson red hibiscus.

It would be unthinkable if I would not pick them as my favourites for the day.

I was exceptionally happy this afternoon after I met some strangers who were so willing to share knowledge about batik at the show. All in all, I felt jubilatingly happy. With a little help from a stalk of costus and orange bracts of heliconia, the composition was completed in record time.

Therefore I dedicate today's composition to ....Feeling Exuberant..

A corner at one of the exhibition stalls displaying various containers using rattan as the chief material and given modern colours.

Simple But Elegant

Sometime early last month when I was in Kuching, friends of mine gave me a few rooted cuttings of roses ( Rosa ) and a couple of canna rootstocks.I like canna especially the newly hybrid species which have more modern colours.  I have never been a diehard fan of  roses but to my surprise I saw one in full bloom this morning, the very few roses that I have just begun planting . It has a soft pink colour.  Lucky me, next to this tiny rose plant was a canna hybrid with one stalk in full flowers.  With these two flowers in hand the concept I had in mind was' simple yet elegant '.How would I express it with a rose an a canna?

In its simplest form I thought , the presentation above is very economical, minimalist, back to basics, simple and straight. The yellow bamboo culm is used to enhance the uniqueness and stately nature of the flower.

Arrangement # 54

Lastly to add interest to the composition , I threw in three leaves of the begonia plant . I will now leave you to admire the composition while I recite Shakespeare on roses:
Of all flowers ,
Methinks a rose is best
Why gentle madam?
It is the very embleme of a maide
For when the west wind courts her gently,
How modestly she blows, and paints the sun,
With her chaste blushes.

Now methinks, the above composition should be named......Simple But Elegant.