Kangkong flowers

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Flower bud growing along kangkong stem.

After deciding to keep my revived kangkong/water spinach plants that are growing in hanging bottle-pots, the plants surprised me with an unprecedented growth spurt. Perhaps it’s because the root system was already established; perhaps it’s because I took pains to water them heavily and add fertilizers more regularly. Whatever the case, I was anticipating a harvest when I noticed the appearance of flower buds along the stems of one of the plants.

It was just the tiniest protrusion when I first noticed the initial bud. I almost mistook it for new leaf growth, except that the shape looked wrong for a leaf.

In fact, I realized there were several buds forming at the leaf nodes along this particularly long stem that was hanging down from a suspended bottle-pot.

Profile view of the kangkong flower.

Over the next almost two weeks, I watched as the buds developed and grew, until one morning, a flash of white caught my eye…

…the first flower!

It was a pristine white, trumpet-like flower – very reminiscent of the morning glory family that it belongs to.

Our initial reaction to it was delighted surprise, because we tend to think of kangkong only as a leafy vegetable – who really thinks of flowers, right? But then common sense kicked in – after all, I grew these plants from seeds, and seeds are the result of flowers getting pollinated, right? Duh! :D

The pure white flower of my water spinach.

I wonder how long it will be before I can extract seeds..?

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Don’t eat my sunflower seedlings!

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Sunflower seedling stripped of true leaves and with the caterpillar's "calling card" left behind. Grrrr!

It’s apparently caterpillar season again. I normally leave a sprinkle of snail bait around my nursery area, and that usually keeps my young plants safe. So when I saw that a couple of my sunflower seedlings had leaves eaten and missing, I skipped my initial reaction to blame the snails and started checking under leaves and on stems for caterpillars.

A pile of green droppings on a partly eaten plant gave a hint at the size of the caterpillar – not a baby, but not yet an adult either.

Oddly, I didn’t find any caterpillar on the plants. Maybe it was a nocturnal feeder, I thought.

Hairy caterpillar found snoozing under a flower pot after decimating a couple of sunflower seedlings.

And then I lifted the second last pot and saw a hairy caterpillar resting in the cool shade beneath it. Let’s just say it didn’t have a chance to sample any more of my seedlings after that. If you recall, I’ve had previous lots of young sunflower plants also ravaged by hairy caterpillars, so I knew that this was indeed the culprit.

So, now, I’ll continue with vigilant checks on the plants for possible new predators, and hope that the affected plants can recover completely. When too many leaves have been eaten, the plants have a 50-50 chance, and even if they survive, the plants may be stunted. :|

Unfortunately, the period of risk can continue even when they’re more matured. Remember what I went through with my first lot of sunflowers? I can’t confirm that beetles and grasshoppers helped the caterpillars to attack my plants, but they’re on my suspect list. Plants more than a metre tall – and more than half matured – were killed off by whatever wiped out the leaves, so I have to remember to plant more than I expect to bloom. It’s a sad, sad fact.

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Gift from the birds

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Nice healthy bittergourd sprout on the edge of my long bean bed.

You’ve gotta love those seed-dispersing birds – they’ve gifted me once again – about a year to the date – with another bittergourd seedling!

And here I was so upset that one of the two bittergourd plants I’d grown from seed had died because of the excessive rain we had in February. The gardening gods are kind!

This new seed sprouted on the edge of my recently established long bean bed, just below the bar that the bird had obviously perched on to poop. Since the sprout looked so happy and healthy, I decided to leave it there and construct a low trellis nearby for it to grow out to.

For this trellis, I used bamboo sticks, twine and chicken wire to create a sort of lean-to frame. Part one involved a simple rectangular frame embedded firmly in the ground. It had to be fairly low, as that part of it is below the horizontal part of the long bean trellis. Part two involved taller supports with bamboo sticks connecting the low to the tall, and chicken wire covering both sets of frames. So, the vines have a vertical surface to first clamber up, then a nice, tilted horizontal area to cover. After that, I reckon they’ll hang over the edges and things will get messy…

My bittergourd plant grown from seed in January only needed a little coaxing to climb up the vertical part of the trellis. Next stop, to spread out over the slanted horizontal area!

Last year’s vine enjoyed climbing over and through chicken wire more than bamboo sticks, so I hope they enjoy the bigger “playground” this time. Oh yes, it’s also advisable to wear gloves when working with chicken wire – there are loads of sharp little wire bits sticking out, just waiting to pierce and scratch you as you manipulate the wire into shape. Gloves are your friends.

Now all I have to do is train the new bittergourd sprout to grow out to the lower part of the trellis. I’m hoping that a slanted support will be all it needs to get there. I also planted out my other plant grown from a seed so they can grow on the same trellis and cross-pollinate and do whatever vines do when they grow together. That plant is already about a metre high and was starting to climb all over its neighbours in the nursery area. It latched on easily to the chicken wire and has already reached the top of the lower part of the trellis.

I’m quite excited about the plants. The vine that grew last year was contained in a large pot that it shared with my dracaena surculosa. This year’s vines have a chance to grow a bigger root system, so I’m interested to see if the fruits grow bigger than last year’s. And no matter the size, I know my sister will be thrilled to have these fruits growing here again…

Can I once again extend my gratitude to the person in the neighbourhood who contributed the seeds via the unknown bird? :P

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Smyrna kingfisher caught eating

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I didn’t expect to have an update on this feathered visitor so soon, but it’s around, and we actually caught it doing something unusual, so here I go…

We spotted the Smyrna kingfisher resting on a branch of the curry leaf tree in the afternoon, and once again, it didn’t seem bothered by a few humans goggling at it. Then, we noticed something long and thin hanging from its beak. Perhaps it was going to build a nest, I thought, but then we had a closer look and realized it was hanging out from its mouth, not across the beak. It looked like… the tail of a garden lizard! Eek.

In silhouette, you can see the lizard's tail hanging out from the Smyrna kingfisher's beak.

Indeed, there was about 7cm or so of tail dangling from its beak. It’s pretty gross, I know – especially when you think of the poor lizard… Yet, there the kingfisher sat on a branch of the curry leaf tree, trying to get its meal down for over 15 minutes. As per the previous photo session, it wasn’t bothered by curious photographers, and so I managed to get this close-up shot…

The kingfisher looks a little smug at having caught such a good meal, doesn't it?

When the kingfisher finally swallowed everything, it stretched and shook its wings out almost as if to say, aah, that was good!

Alright, I guess this qualifies as my first post with a gross factor, huh? :D That’s nature at work for you – yet, I’m glad I only saw the lizard’s tail and not the rest of it…

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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