Colourful Coleus leaves and Jasmine flowers

Arrangement # 124

My Kuching garden is slowly shaping up. Before we left for Bintulu last October, I had planted four varieties of the coleus ( Solenostemon scutellarioides ) which I bought from the Satok Sunday market. I noticed they are in their best looks today. Among the Malays the plant is called 'Bunga Ati-Ati'. They plant them for their multi-coloured variegated leaves more than for its flowers. They have 4-angled stems with small flowers and toothed edges. Planted in pots they are beautiful decorative plants for official functions. Coleus are native to this region ( South East Asia). Now you are likely to see more varieties appearing at the market place due to the fact that this plant is a favourite among hybriders who constantly try to produce new cultivars.

The coleus I chose above has dark maroon and red colours. Then to add contrast I plucked three flowering stems of the white jasmine flowers (jasminum multiflorum) .

Finally I like to name the above composition as ....Coleus in Contrast

Heliconia sassy pink beauty

Arrangement # 78

From yesterday's composition I now add the fragrant blooms of gardenia and jasmine and finally the crowning beauty of the heliconia sassy pink bracts.

The jasmine(jasmine mutiflorum) is synonymous with sweet fragrance and many of today's refreshers ( car, home or office) make use of its essence for their fragrant flavours. And the gardenia too are chosen for its fragrant and pure white flowers.

The long pendulous stalk of heliconia sassy pink provides the balance to the composition i.e. to top heavy flowers are balanced by a strong pink long cascade of equivalent mass of bracts.

 Because the pink bracts stay outstanding infront of the brown jar,in an already rich arrangement, I would therefore name this composition...Pink Beauty.  

Vibrant Colours of Heliconia Bracts

Arrangement # 76

When I arrived Bintulu yesterday  ( 27/8) it was dark and rainy. Couldn't see much and there wasn't time to make my daily cut.  I thought sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The very fact that I arrived Bintulu safely after a ten hours land journey was something I should be thankful for. Therefore I slept last night tired and grateful.
Today's composition was done late in the afternoon after about a half day's shopping,meeting friends,checking my postal office box, banking matters and most of all to repair my computer and handset modem that had went a bit haywire. With every thing in place, I set about to have my pick for the day.  By one turn of my shoulder, I saw heliconias in various colours stealing my attention.
Without further ado,  two varieties were chosen. Then I made a cutting of a mild pink canna.So the three goes into a rotten tree trunk, which became my favourite tall container for quite a while now. The above picture captures stage one.
Stage Two:

The heliconia 'sassy pink' with its long stalk and some of its pink bracts removed was made to circle around the rotten trunk suggesting an entangled affair. The top section of the display's space was occupied by the bright orange heliconia latispatha. Such strong showing of colours I thought need to be smoothen and given interest. Therefore I added a few blooms of the jasmine ( jasmine multiflorum)
Stage Three:

Finally to conclude I added scent to the composition by throwing fresh white and fragrant blooms of the plumeria ( plumeria obtusa).

Feeling happy and much pleased, I call this composition .....Red Twine in the Sunset.

Sparkling Fragrance

Here's a variation of the jasmine flower basket from the earlier composition.
Arrangement # 16

The orangish pink lily flower and a few petals of red ginger would provide fire or spark of life to the whole composition. Thus for the purpose of naming it, I call the composition...Sparkling Fragrance.

Jasmine Fragrance.

I came back to the farm quite late this afternoon after a half day outing at Bintulu town. Thus it was in the late afternoon sun that I walked around the garden to look for my next candidate. At one corner of my garden was a big jasmine shrub that hugs to the post. The scent from the flowers were heavenly. Jasmine flowers mean a lot to Malaysians. Many parents lovingly named their girls Jasmin, or Melur or Melati after this fragrant flower. I find that it is the buds that are more fragrant. When the buds develop into a flower the scent seems to fade away.

Arrangement # 15


I had some leftovers from yesterday's collection of sassy pink heliconias. I experimented by removing the bracts to expose it true flowers and bend the stalk to create the impression of a flower basket handle. Then I combined it with the jasmine flowers and one gardenia flower from the variegated species. I call the above composition......Evening scent.