New Colletion: Wax Flower

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Have you heard about Wax Flower before?

I read about this plant in Idea Garden magazine a year ago. I did interest in this plant, but I didn't know where to get this plant. Last week, when I and my family visited a nursery inside of parking area of Carrefour, I saw wax flowers in pots. They were Hoya carnosa, or Grandma's old fashioned wax flower.

Wax Flower (Hoya carnosa)

The owner of the nursery informed me that a pot of wax flower was IDR 25, 000,- (US$ 2,5). Then I asked my wife to bargain it. And thanks to my wife, I could bring home two pots of wax flower for only IDR 25,000,- (US$ 2,5).

August 17: Independence Day

This post is not about gardening, but independence day of Indonesia.

Indonesia's Independence Day logo

Indonesia flag, from kaskus.us

Our Founding Fathers, Soekarno and M. Hatta, proclaimed the independence of Indonesia 63 years ago. That's happened after 350 years had occupied by Dutch and 3,5 years by Japan. But, eventhough we have declared our independence in 1945, Dutch still had wanted to rule Indonesia. We really got our freedom on December 27, 1949 after the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference.

Soekarno, from suryaningsih.wordpress.com

Mohammad Hatta, from ms.wikipedia.org

Today, we celebrate our independence day. Our National Flag, Red and White Flag, decorates every houses and buildings in the country. Many activities are held by the people of Indonesia, like games and sport activities.

Sack Race, from homeschoolingberkemas.blogspot.com

Eat Kerupuk Game, from www.kabarindonesia.com

Climb the Pinang, from mksshorelines.multiply.com

Fig at Jogja Garden

Today is a shiny day. I found my fig fruit was ripen on the tree. I picked the fruit, washed, measured the weight and cut it into 4 pieces. I kept it in the refrigerator for a while. Eating a fresh fig from my own garden is something I am waiting for.

Ripen fig on the tree

My fig tree already gave me 2 fruits. The first was 4 days ago, and the second was this morning. They are still five on the tree. They don't ripen at the same time. So, I can still enjoy my figs in the next two weeks. The fruits took about 3-4 months to ripen. The first is 17 grams in weight and the second is 20 grams. Its taste is sweet. Delicious.....

My fig variety is Negronne, a large almost black fig with a very deep-red pulp. From ALABAMA A&M AND AUBURN UNIVERSITIES Fig Production Guide (w w w . a c e s a g . a u b u r n . e d u), I got the synonyms of this fig: Beer’s Black, Violette de Bordeaux.

I am waiting for the next ripen fig now.......

At last, Bloom at Jogja Garden

How are you today? I hope you are just fine.
I took picture of this flower this morning. Unfortunately, I don't know what flower it is. So, if you know what flower it is, please tell me. Thanks before. My wife was given seeds of this flower by my neighbor. At my neighbor garden, I can find this flower in many colors: red, pink, orange, and yellow.

This is my mother's Euphorbia milii. My mother bought it from my neighbor. Euphorbia likes full sun. Commonly, Euphorbia blooms in dry season in Indonesia. I don't really like Euphorbia because of its thorns.

I want to tell you the progress of my fig fruits. I took the picture this morning. There are 7 figs, I hope it will give me more fruits, because I really want to share my figs with my family, friends, and neighbors. I bought this fig tree in August 2007. It's about 20 cm height. Now, it's over 1 m height. I plan to prune my fig tree after it passes its fruiting time.

Fruiting at Jogja Garden

Long time no see...
I just want to share whatever I have at my garden. Because of my little garden, I don't have blooms, fruiting to show you anytime I want. This time, at last, I have something to share with my blog's readers.

I have my chili pepper tree ready to fruiting. I hope I can harvest chili from my own garden in the next few weeks. My wife will love it, I guess.


My fig tree also show its fruits too. I fertilize it with organic fertilizer for 2 months. Now, it's going to give me fruits again. It's color is still green now. It will be purple when mature and very sweet.

I'm back from Dengue fever

Aedes aegypti mosquito, from Wikipedia

I have just came out from hospital last Saturday. I stayed in hospital for 8 days. I got dengue fever, a tropical deseases, caused by virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. Dengue is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. It cause the decrease of platelets, or thrombocytes in the blood.

People said that to increase the platelets, or thrombocytes in the blood, I had to drink guava juice. My wife made the juice for me. I had to drink a lot of water too. Now, I'm just fine.

The Hunt of Cherry Blossom

 Cherry Blossom, from Wikipedia

I've read from my friend's blog that Cherry Blossoms (Prunus serrulata) can live and bloom in Indonesia. We call it, in Indonesia, Sakura flowers. That's a good news for me. 
They are planted in the area of Selorejo Dam, Malang by a Japanese consultant. 

The origin of Cherry Blossom is Japan. In Japan, Cherry Blossoms bloom once a year in Spring.
But, in Indonesia, they can bloom twice a year.  

For Japanese, Cherry Blossom is a symbol of women, life, and death. That's why you can find the picture of Cherry Blossom on
kimono, stationery, and kitchen set.

I'm really interested in having a Cherry Blossom tree. I will contact the saler to ask the price and the suitable climate for it. If the price is reasonable and the saler tell me that Cherry Blossom can live in Yogyakarta, I will collect it.

Seed-sowing Day

I have olive, red sealing wax palm, white pomegranate, Zamia furfuraceae, and date seeds. Several days ago, I decided to add my seedling collections. I wanted to sow some of them.

First step, prepared the seeds. I soaked seeds in a glass of water. Olive seeds were sandpapered first to facilitate germination. I hoped it worked. This was the first time I sowed olive, red sealing wax palm, white pomegranate, and Zamia furfuraceae. I always soak seeds in a glass of water if I want to sow them.

Olive seed (left) and sandpapered olive seed (right)

Second step, prepared the media. I mixed media which are burned husks, cocopeats, and dung of goats. I put them in a plastic tray. I made four rows for each kind of seeds. I used pot for date seeds.

Burned husks

Cocopeat

Dung of goats

Mixed media

Third step, sowed seeds and covered them with the media.

Fourth step, watered them using sprayer.

Fifth step, that's all.

My Garden in Yogyakarta

I moved to Yogyakarta with my family last month. I brought some of my plants with me. My front garden in my new place is narrower than in Jakarta. That's why I can't bring all of my plants.

I don't have back garden. Fortunately, there's space where I can 
put my plants. I put my Anthurium seedlings there.

I have Betels in my garden, Green (common Betel) and Red Betel. 
Green Betel 

Red Betel

Giant Sanseviera. It needs repotting, I guess.

Curry Leaf Tree. My wife used it in her rendang (Indonesian food). 

Bloom Day at Jogja Garden

I think the idea of bloom day is very good. So, I decided to post my bloom day post. I hope you can enjoy it...

This is my jasmine. It is a fragrant flower. The buds of jasmine is used to adorning traditional Javanese wedding dress and the bride's hair (for picture, visit http://users.skynet.be/dvran/inhoud_id.htm, click on Foto Pengantin)

My ixora or West Indian Jasmine is blooming too. When I was a kid I used to pick the flowers and suck the nectar from the root of the flowers.

This is Zodia plant. It is a fragrant plant which is used to repelling mosquitos. The strong fragrance of this plant can make you dizzy.

My Marasi plant shows its flowers again. The fruit of this plant is similar to miracle fruit. It gives you a sweet taste for a while though you have eaten bitter or sour foods. My mother brought home this plant when she had joined a field trip to Sukabumi. Unfortunately, it never gave me fruits since I have had it.

I found a ladybug in my garden three days ago. This bug is very rare now. Sorry, the picture is blur. It was hard to take pictures of this ladybug because the bug was very active.

More Fruits in Rainy Season

I have told you about rainy season in Indonesia, actually in Jakarta, in my last posting. But, it has positive impact to my plants. Some plants grow faster than usual. My Brucea javanica and Averrhoa bilimbi produce more fruits.

Brucea javanica

Averrhoa bilimbi

My fig tree is fruiting for the second time. Unfortunately, it only gave me a fruit last fruiting. I have added organic fertilizer. So, I hope I can get more fruits this time.

I have the same plant 'the clover leaves weed' that Rusty in Miami had, with smaller leaves in my garden. People in East Java usually eats them as vegetable. The dish called 'pecel daun semanggi'.

This is my Aglaonema 'Dona Carmen'. It needs shady place to live. So, I put it inside my house.

My Euphorbia is blooming. It's not common. Euphorbia used to bloom in dry season.

What should I do? ....

We have two seasons in Indonesia which are dry and rainy season. Rainy season used to come from September to March. But, because of climate change, rainy season comes late. This year, rainy season comes in December. The problem is that rain falls irregular.

Rainy season has worried citizens of Jakarta which are threatened by flood. Heavy rain caused floods in Jakarta last year. This caused many of my plants died. Heavy rain caused my Desert Roses (Adenium) rotten last December.

How about this year? My garden was flooded because rain had fallen heavily two weeks ago. Fortunately, flood only took for a day. My plants was safe. But, rainy season is still continued for the next 2 or 3 months.

What should I do? I can save some plants only by moving them to shady area of my house. I can't save all of my plants. I hope God saves Jakarta in general and my plants in particular.

My First Plants

I am really grateful that I live in a tropical country. I can grow my plants all year round without having to worry about winter season.

Gardening is my hobby. I grow all of my plants in my front garden, although it is small. I have fruit trees, ornamental plants, spice plants and herbs. My first plants were herbs, which were Mahkota Dewa (Phaleria macrocarpa), Daun Dewa (Gynura pseudochina), Sambung Nyawa (Gynura procumbens), and Sambiloto (Andrographis paniculata). I had not known their medicinal uses when I bought them at a flora fair in Yogyakarta.

Phaleria macrocarpa: leaves (left), fruit (right)

Gynura pseudochina

Gynura procumbens

Andrographis paniculata: leaves (left), flower (right)

I have read books about medicinal herbs which were Tanaman Berkhasiat Obat di Indonesia 1-4 (Medicinal Herbs in Indonesia 1-4), Mahkota Dewa: Budidaya & Pemanfaatan untuk Obat (Phaleria macrocarpa: Cultivation & Medicinal Uses), Sambung Nyawa: Budidaya & Pemanfaatan untuk Obat (Gynura procumbens: Cultivation & Medicinal Uses), and Daun Dewa: Budidaya & Pemanfaatan untuk Obat (Gynura pseudochina: Cultivation & Medicinal Uses). Based on books above, Phaleria macrocarpa has been used in the treatment of cancer, diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis, kidney problem, and arthritis. Gynura pseudochina has been used in the treatment of stroke, arthritis, and cancer. Gynura procumbens has been used in the treatment of diabetes, hypertension, cough, and cholesterol. Andrographis paniculata is valued for its medicinal properties as an antidote to snake bites and has been used in the treatment of bronchitis, diabetes, hypertension, influenza, and tuberculosis. Herbs, traditionally, help to cure or prevent deseases in Indonesia.