Plants of the Northern Palace

28/09/2021

Music:Breuss Arrizabalaga Quintet - Tsurugi

11/09/2021

music: http://www.bensound.com/

11/09/2021

Sanseveria 'Golden Flame' is the 'fleshiest' Sanseveria in my collection. The beauty of this snakeplant lies in the irregular stripes inside that look like green and yellow flames (hence, the name).

Can you believe I almost killed it when I underwatered it three years ago? I'm glad it survived and has now produced about two pups now.

I'll be selling this one in the photo below for RM22. Please contact me if you're interested. For self pick-up only (Bayan Lepas area, Penang, Malaysia).

01/07/2021

14/03/2021

I've had this Hoya lucardenasiana as a baby plant six months ago, and it's slow-growing for me. In fact, it only shot out a new vine, a couple of new leaves last month, and gave me this bloom a few days ago.

It's a tiny bloom (slightly larger than Hoya burtoniae) with a butterscotch scent, and like most Hoyas, the scent seems to be more apparent in the evening. The flowers are porcelain-like as if they are covered by a layer of glaze.

28/06/2020

Making a mini moss pole can be as simple as tying sphagnum moss to chopsticks.

Some vining plants would appreciate moss pole, which will help the plant to develop larger leaves.

Misting the moss pole from time to time will also benefit their aerial roots. :)

09/06/2020

Over the months, I have learned to stay calm when dealing with spidermites.

This Alternanthera has grown to become a huge bush plant but unfortunately, I just noticed it was under the attack of spidermites.

It would be too much work for me to treat the well-established plant so without hesitation, I chopped off 80% of its stems, and treated the plant with neem oil and dish soap.

Well, instead of getting rid of these cuttings, I thought why not treat it as cut flowers and placed in this vase. Of course, these cuttings were treated accordingly as well, and are placed at the entrance of my apartment, which is at least 25 feet away from the other indoor plants.

They're still looking pretty good, aren't they. :)

20/05/2020

In order to be able to constantly admire this beauty up close, I placed it inside my house, where it received low light in the morning and medium light in the afternoon for four hours, and bright light for less than two hours (as of April and May).

The pink variegation faded very quickly, in less than three weeks, as if it has been thoroughly "washed" (the leaf on bottom left as reference). I suspect it was not enjoying the light condition.

Since it's not doing well indoor, I moved it to the balcony, where it receives medium light in the morning and early afternoon, and at least four hours of bright direct light in the later afternoon (as of April and May).

The new leaves unfurled do exhibit very intense pink variegation (the leaf on top left as reference) and I was pleased. But the problem with leaving this plant outside is it dries up very quickly and you cannot miss giving it a drink, or else, the older leaves will turn yellow and subsequently fall off (leaf on bottom right as reference).

I noticed it can take on full sun pretty well, as there's no burnt mark on leaves. But if you disrupt its watering schedule, then there's no turning back for the yellowing leaves.

The potting mix I used is normally well-draining, and does not hold much water, which was the reason the growing medium dried up very fast.

I have no intention of changing the potting mix. Despite losing some leaves, I'm still a believer of "underwatering is always safer than overwatering".

At this stage, I'm bringing it inside my house again, and is placed at a position where it will receive about three hours filtered bright direct light in the late afternoon. And I will still retain its watering schedule - once a week, when most days are warm and sunny.

We shall see if its condition improves by end of June! :)

14/05/2020

It's comforting to watch Summer Rayne Oakes' houseplant tour, which was just uploaded a while ago, while treating the spidermites problem on this syngonium.

I'm currently battling a spidermites outbreak. As of now, I've identified 10 plants that have been infested. There might be more, and I can only handle a few at a time.

11/05/2020

Thought it was on its way our when I missed its watering schedule.

When I was about the clean this nursery pot to make way for a African Violet leaf propagation project today, I realised new leaves have sprouted while all the dried ones are slowly shredding.

It's definitely one of the Hardy boys!

15/04/2020

Gave this Rex Begonia a drink at 10:20pm on April 14, 2020, and decided to document some stillshots of how she perks up after being hydrated.

The stillshots were taken every 10 minutes or so. The last photo was shot at 11:55pm. It took about one and half hours to return to its usual self, which in my experience, is faster than another drama queen - the Fittonias.

13/04/2020

Experiment: Will pothos stem root without a leaf? (No outcome yet!)