Tuesday 30 January 2018

Nancy! Nancy! Your Cleome Jadi!!


My blogger friend, Nancy, is so kind. So kind! And so generous too. When I left a comment on her Cleome Spider Flowers post, she offered to send me some seeds. I was delighted!

Her seeds arrived in February 2017 all the way from Ipoh (so nicely packed and labelled) and when I had the time, I quickly planted them. 

And then I waited and waited and waited. Sadly, none of the seeds germinated. I must have done something wrong or those pesky critters in my garden ate the seeds/seedlings.

Of course I did not want to inconvenience Nancy by asking  her for more seeds. And when I commented that I failed to grow the Cleome, Nancy again offered to send me more. I was so grateful for her generosity because I really wanted the Spider Flower in my garden. 

This time, I scattered the seeds into a few pots (and some on the ground) to increase my chances of getting seedlings. Again I waited. After many weeks, I was disappointed as none of the seeds appeared to have germinated.

Until one fine day when I spotted this.


Ah! A little one emerged in the unlikeliest places. I do not even remember putting the seeds into this pot. So I let the seedling grow a little bigger and transplanted it into another pot.


And slowly it grew.


Every morning I watered it and made sure to inspect the pot and the vicinity to make sure that there were no snails or slugs that would harm my precious Cleome.


I fertilized it with compost. And after many weeks as it grew taller, I began to inspect the plant for the first signs of inflorescence.


Yes! Flower buds were appearing!


And then it bloomed.


Ah! Nancy, you don't know how happy I was! It was such a joy to look at the beautiful Spider Flower in all its majestic glory. Though I had hoped that it was the pink or purple one, these white blooms were a joy to behold and reminded me of the  first Spider Flower that I grew 17 years ago!


At the time, I bought the seeds from the gardening section of Aeon (then known as Jaya Jusco). I had some success with the white and pink Spider Flower but sadly they were attacked by caterpillars. Since then, I had not been able to find the seed anymore from the shops.


And thanks to Nancy, now I am able to enjoy the beauty of the Spider Flower. I will wait for seed pods to form and I will try my luck again at growing more Cleome. Thank you again, Nancy!

22 comments:

  1. My poor garden has been grossly neglected, so busy with my rambutans and my rambutan tree and also unwell for a while now, bad cough and it has been raining quite a bit here.

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  2. I'm so envious of your green thumb. I love to be surrounded by plants.

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    1. Oh, thanks :) The thing is, I am not always successful with my plantings.

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  3. Me stay pigeon hole, no garden, sobssss...

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    1. Never mind, less work for you hee..hee..

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  4. Wow! This plant has beautiful flowers and they look unique to me. The leaves looked a bit like marijuana. Have you tried rolling the leaves to smoke? Wakakaka
    Next time ask your partner to fill up the bottle to make organic urea fertilizer! Overnight, sure this plant will grow taller than your house! Have you ever wondered why the farmers always used urea from men only? I am wondering izzit we could hose directly into bottles? I should sell my bottled urea.

    #BungaAhHong #BajaKencingForSale

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    1. hah..hah...nanti khayal, what to do? Oh yes, that's the best fertilizer but I am afraid it will stink up my garden!

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  5. So this is spider flower.. looks very unique to me.. hmmmm... how come I never notice hers at her Eden? Next time I must go looking for this...

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    1. I love this flower, so fierce like that hee..hee... Yeah, you must go see Nancy's. She has 3 colors and hers all doing so well.

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  6. Yay! So happy for you! A nice bunch of white spider flowers. Nancy is such a kind lady, to send you the seeds twice without you asking for them.

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    1. Thanks! Yes, Nancy is very kind and I am so blessed!

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  7. So nice la Nancy, baik hati sanggup kirim tu. Nampak agak susah nak jaga tu. But the flower so beautiful, berbaloi la

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    1. Baik sangat. Susah nak bercambah tapi bila dah tumbuh, steady jer. Dalam banyak2 benih yang Nancy kirim, satu aje yang menjadi.

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  8. So nice of Nancy to give you the seeds, congratulations on growing the flowers successfully, they look lovely with the pure white colour, finally your hard work pays and I know it must be such a joy for you to see these flowers

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    1. Thanks! The flowers are starting to fall off now and I hope to collect some seeds.

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  9. Congratulations on your success! Once you get the plant growing, you will be blessed with more. They self-propagate easily. Once I collected enough the purple/pink flower seeds, I will send them to you again.

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! Bless you for your generosity and I look forwards to the seeds hee..hee..

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  10. Wahhhh happy nampak dapat seed hihi....
    Happy lagi bila pokok dah berbunga kan LL. Nancy lagilah 2 kali happy tu

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  11. I can understand your feeling of finally see the blooming of your plants after so long. Btw, it's a beautiful flower.

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