Calamansi (filipino lime) bush dream come true

In our family home in Aurora Hill, Baguio Phils Dad and brothers planted a lot of lime bushes at the back of the house. Daddy and Mama discovered the art of 'marcoting' and they went to marcot and propagate most bushes. We even had some coffee trees growing at the side of the house near Mr. Estacio's fence. We always had enough coffee barako supply for a year. But that will be in another blog. Going back to the endless supply of lime, we always served freshly pressed lemonade (we had this calamansi crossed with lime which had a bigger fruit and a lime-ey taste) to our guests- sometimes Mama will wonder how come the sugar went so fast-- we can't afford to buy soft drinks then...




Ever since I came overseas, I have always dreamed of planting a calamansi bush in my backyard. I have had 2 attempts- first was to propagate from seed a plant- which I did but then when we went for a long holiday, it dried up. The 2nd was when I bought one from Manang Adeling – a filipina fr Bayambang who together with her other sisters sell plants in the Redcliffe flea market. This one dried up too for a reason I have forgotten – hindi seguro nadiligan or it’s a poorly marcoted one.




Then one day after coming from the butcher shop in Pritchard, we passed by this garden shop with a half- price sale printed outside- we went in and by the entrance were 2 calamansi plants, with at least 3 fruits on them and they were $14 @ and since it’s half price I got 2 for the price of 1.




That’s been a year ago. Last month, it gave me my first calamansi harvest….yuhoo!

Front fence and plants

all 6 posts are finally up- on Mother's Day, 14 May 2006. We have decided to plant some hedges in between them, hasten their growth by trimming them regularly. The hibiscus that's been cut back drastically is still flowering. It's light pink. I must plant another colour- white or yellow hibiscus?



Another plant that's thriving from under our patio is the hydrangea (mil flores in baguio)-

I just learnt to cut it back drastically to stimulate new growth and flower. It's been an easy maintenance plant, I hardly pay attention to it and yet it gives me a lot of tiny blue-cream-white flower. The colour of the flower apparently indicates what type of soil it is planted on- acidic/alkali. I don't really know what blue flower indicates. We had a pine one in Napier, NZ.

Flowers for the mothers and potential mothers of the world

In fact to all the women of the world who work and sacrifice so hard for their loved ones. Cheers to all of you!

Succulents

.... the current fad here nowadays and I find them easier to manage, low maintenance plants with attractive green foliage, easy to propagate and specially thrive in a place like ours- near the sea. they just grow and multiply.

zygots flower only once a year. I bought my first one from Kmart. Very dark pink. They need to be cut right back to encourage superfluous and better flowers.

Jade plants (mama called them these but they say they are money plants) were my first succelents here in Australia. I pinched my very first twig along the street from an abandoned plant that was also thirsty (wilting) after dropping the kids off to school sometime in May 1998. I was walking home then. I've planted and nurtured it, pinched the leaves, survived a couple of floods and droughts, it's grown heaps and have propagated a lot from leaves and cuttings. It's survived one house move. I have given a few to friends and workmates who in turn have propagated them. I saw a lot in HongKong placed by the doorway. Guess where I placed mine. It's supposed to attract good luck ($)into your life/home.

Echevarrias (those rose cactus) were my first succelents in NZ (but i did not smuggle these from NZ!). I picked them from Reignier School where I used to drop off Ray. It was overflowing then and were normally thinned out so let's say I helped thin them out LOL. I plant them where weeds would normally grow.

I love succulents.

plants and gardens we saw in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia in Feb 06

Kuala Lumpur(KL) reminded me so much of Mindanao- especially the scenery between Davao City and General Santos City. It was very green. The shrubs were nicely shaped and kept in a miniature shape. KL is a melting pot, more than half the population is Islamic and the other majority are Chinese and Indian. I have not encountered a Filipino here- but we just stayed for 3 nights and 4 days- not enough time as always. It was also the Asian tourist destination of the middle eastern people (citizens of Saudi, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India etc).

The marigolds are very popular, also bougainvilleas in pots, as you can see. Palm oil is one of the major exports of the country. The 45 min. drive from the KL Int'l Airport to the heart of KL City is miles upon miles of palm tree plantation with Islamic Mosques stuck in between. I haven't seen so much Islamic Mosques. It was everywhere. I heard that there was also an orchid and butterfly park but did not have the chance to check it out- so maybe I will put a raincheck on that.

inspiration from mon and dolly

On our last visit our great Baguio hosts, Mon and Dolly were constructing their home. Now it is all done after more than a year of construction and their garden is very impressive. They reckon that they did all the landscaping by themselves. Here are some pictures of their surroundings. I could really stay there forever...thanks mon and dol you deserve everything you've got having such kind and generous hearts.