brazilian brush cherry

order: myrtales
family: myrtaceae
genus: eugenia
species: myriophylla

First Story

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22 february 2016

Another member of the myrtle family, this one here is a subtropical tree or shrub that is most seen as an indoor bonsai. According to my seller the species is called E. myriophylla which means many-leaves. It's a very easy plant to care for and is rather fast growing. I bought mine when it had just been pruned back to about 10cm tall in 2014. And now it's standing close to a metre already. The growth has been very upright but dense. Leaves are pinkish when they emerge and turn light green quickly and eventually a dark green. It bears small white flowers with lots of stamina, very similar to those of a common myrtle in the summer. It is a very thirsty plant. On most summer days, I had to water it several times. If you're a working person, you may need to give it some shelter from hot sun and strong wind or grow it in a big pot. I feed my plant weekly in the growing season with half strength liquid fertiliser and it seems to really like that. In the winter, it sheds some leaves but still wants to be watered at least twice a week in the cool stairwell. It will complain by showing you limp tips if you don't refill soon enough.

false heather // mexican heather

order: myrtales
family: lythraceae
genus: cuphea
species: hyssopifolia

First Story

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10 february 2012

False heather, also called mexican heather, is an evergreen that grows to about 30 cm. I love this plant because of its tiny purple flowers that show up throughout the growing season. Both flowers and leaves are small in size. The plant has very dense branching, which makes it attractive when planted as bed or border. It also looks great in a stone garden when shaped into low cushion. Though it's not a very frost hardy plant. So you might want to dig them out and keep them indoor before the first frost hits. Many treat them as annual, but I hate to recommend this. In winter with low light condition, the growth comes to a halt, and the flowers wear off. Though this plant does not need a cold dormancy to do well, since it is a tropical plant. As soon as the day becomes long enough, fresh green leaves emerge from just about everywhere on the plant. A few weeks later, the flowers start to appear as well. It's a very easy plant to keep. Summer outdoor; winter on a bright window sill. It likes to be misted every now and then, especially when kept indoor. I mist it early in the morning and after sun down to avoid sunburn. The only drawback I see in this plant is its relatively short lifespan of 30 years. I would have liked it to live a little longer than that. By the look of my plant, I think it's between 1 and 2 years old.

From my earlier experience with this plant, it's very easy to propagate by cuttings. You get a lot of those in summer while shaping your bush. Since the plant will push out continuously during the growing seasons, you'll do this several times a year.

Update

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24 august 2015

In this update, you can see that after 3 years, the plant is still growing nicely. The result of overwintering the plant that most people treat as an annual is a small bush measuring 50cm across, which is absolutely rare in our continental clime. Throughout these 3 years, my mexican heather has regrettably dried out numerous times due to delayed waterings, which caused diebacks of many young twigs. It would take 2 to 3 months of summer growth to regrow the lost compactness. Overall, it could be slightly more compact, especially in the lower and inner section. Generally, the sunnier where it stands, the more compact it becomes. But if you decide to put it in full sun, make sure the soil is constantly moist. As for me I haven't been able keep up with the frequent watering, so I keep it at a bright but not too sunny site. As for winter, it's about getting as much light as possible. It tends to loose some inner branches if the light condition is not good enough but that's not tragic. When the days get longer, they will branch out profusely from backbuds. Also to note is that, I had problem with scale insects in one winter. My plant's health deteriorated at a high speed. They're very difficult to notice on its dark brown bark but need to be checked frequently and removed immediately if spotted.

fuchsia 'mieke meursing'

order: myrtales
family: onagraceae
genus: fuchsia
species: ?
cultivar: 'Mieke Meursing'

First Story

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27 october 2012

blooming in late October 2012.

Mieke Meursing was cultivated in 1969 by Hopwood Hopgood in the UK. It has an upright growth habit and its flowers are single, drooping, with pink calyces and white corollas.

This is my very first fuchsia and I adore its beauty. Although, it wasn't very healthy as I first brought it home. And it didn't seem to recover much under my care either. Throughout the summer there was always some discoloration on the foliage. Now and then, flower buds would fall off before they could fully open. I suspected that the plant might not be very happy with the oversized pot I gave it, so I potted it down. After that, discoloration seemed to cease affecting new leaves. Another problem the plant had was the frequent visit of aphids. As I don't like to use any chemical, I frequently checked and removed the aphids with the help of a pincer. Eventually I was able to eradicate the problem.

Fuchsias are intolerant of drought and heat. I always have to check the soil to make sure it's consistently moist. The plant put on three flushes of bloom in the summer and once more in the autumn. Autumn bloom is more long-lasting and the flowers look a lot healthier. In fact, as I'm writing this blog entry, it is still in full bloom, despite the light frost and the snow storm that hit us this morning. I've read on overwintering fuchsias. People recommend to have the plants pruned back and the leaves removed. I'm reluctant to do so now. I rather keep it blooming in the cool stairwell for a couple more weeks. When the flowers start to wear off, I'll prepare it for dormancy.

Update

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1 april 2015

november 2014.

When I wrote a post for this, I didn't think it would take me this long to write an update. I think the main reason that has kept me from doing so is that, the plant has been constantly damaged. I usually put it on a staircase. My neighbours have accidently kicked it down the stairs twice and another time when it was gusty outdoor, another plant fell over it. So my plant hasn't had the chance to grow big. But as long as I can keep it growing (I won't even complain about its current awkward shape. All I know is that pruning won't happen in the near future), I believe the day will come when it'll be a handsome specimen.

catappa // sea almond

order: myrtales
family: combretaceae
genus: terminalia
species: catappa

First story

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16 june 2014

For me sea almond is such a beautiful tree, because it has always been there throughout my life before I left home on the tropical Borneo island. I liked that it has huge leaves. I liked that the leaves turn red. I liked that its fallen leaves make the crushing sound when I walk underneath the tree. I even liked its rotting fruits which were once my companion while waiting to be picked up by my father after school. I liked to crush them with my school-shoe-covered feet. I had no idea what the tree was called and like many modern kids, we never bothered to find out.

For a long time I didn't see any sea almond planted in the areas I lived. Perhaps I didn't because I no longer had to wait to be picked up. I became busy with studies, urbanised. This tree never came back to my mind until one day it appeared in my dream. First it was just a vague image, with that I tried everything I could to find out what it is, and I did after several months of research. With the help of the www, I could easily look up details of the plant, and suddenly all the familiar pictures were in front of my eyes! I was rejoiced.

Fortunately I still have my family to visit in that part of the world. Before I flew home the first time in many years I wrote a list to remind myself what I'd like to do and should not forget. Collecting their seeds is on that list. A trip to the beach was all it took for me to gather a few of them. They came past the custom with no problem. When I got home that cold and dark spring in 2013 I immediately burried two seeds with their husks still on into pots of soil. It took nearly half a year for the seeds to germinate, one after another, when the summer was just about to be over. I must mention that the unfurling of the cotyledons provided such a show.

Seedlings were weak during the dark winter months. Both seedlings were attacked by some kind of fungus on their stems. While one gradually perished the other one is still alive at present. It's still alive but it's not doing much. I found some hobby gardeners with very healthy and strong young plants. That makes me really envious. I want to be able to enjoy a big plant too instead of having to worry about the fungus taking over. I burried another seed last week. This time, I removed the thick husk and took out what's looking like an almond seed from within. I'm hoping that it's still viable and that it's going to strike sooner.

unfurled cotyledons.

Update

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13 september 2014

topview, september 2014.

sideview, september 2014

The growth of my plant has been very slow. With the onset of summer, I brought my catappa outside in the garden. Unfortunately there were only very few warm days this year. Summer went past with only half a dozen of new leaves. Those few rainy nights that brought the temperature down to 10°C managed to paint some red dots and patches on the leaves. Seeing that the plant didn't perform very well outside, I finally brought it back into my room 2 weeks ago. And since then, it has already grown 2 more new leaves. That's one leaf per week!! Why have I waited so long to make this decision??

R.I.P

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2015

It didn't make it through the cold months this year. It's been too cold in my room most of the time since we decided to cut down heating out of ecological reason. Gardening shouldn't have a negative environmental impact. If plants can't adapt to the colder temperature, then we simply won't keep them here. They belong to their tropical homes where they get plenty of sunlight and warmth for free.

With our neighbour's spurges on the south side growing taller and taller, the room has become darker each year. The plant was simply not very happy to be in these conditions for so many months. It finally gave up enduring.

It's a pity not to be able to keep a catappa, which is my childhood tree. But well, I still have many other childhood plants around me that are growing bigger by the day, such as different varieties of frangipanis, a pandan plant, several pineapple plants, a small mango tree and MANY more, which I'm struggling with providing more space for. They have different levels of tolerance for our colder clime here but have been with me for years. Only time will tell if they can be with me indefinitely.

nz tea tree // manuka

order: myrtales
family: myrtaceae
genus: leptospermum
species: scoparium

First Story

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24 may 2012

NZ tea tree is originally from Australia. Since there are already several other tea trees in Australia, like malaleuca for example, calling it a NZ tea tree makes it easy for differentiation. This plant is a member of the myrtle family. It's very easy to confuse it with waxflower (chamelaucium uncinatum), another member of myrtle family, if you are new to these two plants. Their flowers are identical. The difference is: leptospermum has stiff branches and foliage whereas waxflower like malaleuca has soft, tender ones.

It's been said that this plant is an absolutely difficult plant. It will be difficult to keep it alive for a long time. If you for some reason forget it for a single day, it will bid you farewell. This plant wants to have moist soil around its roots constantly. Yet water logged soil will kill it just as easily. I usually water it once or twice a day when it's indoor and as often as three to four times a day when moved outdoor. I find it easier to keep it in partial shade than in full sun, since it dries a lot quicker when fully exposed to the sun. Especially if you're a working person, you definitely want to place it at a shadier place.

Giving it a balanced fertiliser every other week from spring to fall should be fine. It blooms almost constantly during this period.

flowers and flowerbuds in abundance.

top view.

R.I.P

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2 february 2014

After 2 years of growth, the crown of this plant had become a lot more massive. Unfortunately it died from my neglect in the winter storage: I forgot to water it for nearly a week, during which I was almost suffocated with my studies. I worked many days in a row without getting much sleep and on some days I didn't come home at all. The day after I completed my work, I came home to find a very pungent smell in the stairwell where the manuka bush was hidden very nicely in between other plants. By the time I realised the smell came from it, it had already been dead for a couple of days. The soil was completely devoid of any moisture. This was the first time I learned of the true meaning of its name "tea tree". The dried up "tea leaves" were persistent, though you can be sure the foliage has already died, in that it turned into a pale, lifeless khaki colour. I tried to revive it by saturating the entire plant in a bucket of water and using a fine spray of water to keep the foliage moist. For a month, I didn't want to give it up hoping miracle could happen, but it didn't. It's really a pity; after these 2 years of care. Now I'm still in process of deciding if I should get another manuka plant to start with or just forget it forever? The plant had never been finicky. It was really my fault.

common myrtle // true myrtle

order: myrtales
family: myrtaceae
genus: myrtus
species: communis

As the year began, i bought this small myrtle bush slightly off its rounded silhouette as a discounted item from a garden centre that I frequented. They'd already put it up on sale in late fall but couldn't sell them off. So they were trying to rid them at the time in order to make room for spring flowers and herbs. This plant had long been in my wish list. So I was very happy that I finally brought it home with me.

I nearly lost the plant along with some other plants after the trip to Italy in May this year. The friend I engaged for taking care of the garden somehow didn't give it enough water, so all the limbs were dried up and pointing downwards. I immediately gave all the wilted plants a good soak and continued to care for them intensively for the next week(s). This myrtle was one that recovered very well. Other plants weren't that lucky. You see that's the price you have to pay if you want to leave home for some days. Or you can also see it the other way round. The price you have to pay for doing gardening is to be chained to the plants. You can't move around much.

Currently the plant has put on plenty of flower buds which it has been having for more than a month now. The flower buds don't seem to open soon despite the hot days we had this week. Repotting will also have to be carried out. But that will be after the flower.