The Lawn

Haa...remember about my taiwan grass that i start with 2 pieces of grass bought from the pasar malam near my house? It's growing quite well eventhough the growth is kind of slow. This is the picture of my lawn in august, and another picture of my eldest showing off her hoolahoop skill on the lawn one sunny day in December.With the startup cost of RM10, this lawn is something that i can be proud of...:)

Sundal malam

Apparently with razr v3x phone camera, the sundal malam (mistress of the night) is not so enchanted at night, have this first until i manage to capture it during the day time , it means weekend only, as i reach home when the night fall almost every day. Will post you more picture this coming weekend...chao...

The nicely bloom tuberose

Get the picture my tuberose in action.I keep quite a number of tuberose of better known as pokok sundal malam at my compound as the demand of it is very high. Infact it is the hot cake of my 'nursery' aka garden. The one night, after reached home from work, the smell took over the place, a very nice and sweet smell, it's spooky too.... remind me of the tale of pontianak...hehehe... a few pots of tuberose are blooming and in action.enjoy the picture from my garden.

Jasmine as a climber

last weekend , while wandering in one of the Nursery here i found a very intersting jasmine plant.I know jasmine is a climber but this one is very special ( may be for me only) with a dark green glossy leaves and long crawling stem, ready to grab, and beatiful bunches of very sweet sell flowers. I grab a few bags for my own nursery. It looks easy to propagate.After along search and map of the picture and character of the plant in the net, lastly i found that the botany name of this plant is Jasminum polyanthum. It is a vine and can be nicely groom into shapes that you like.For those who want to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of this plant may order for my product page at: melur.com

Nor's Paradise

my eldest daughter nursery is having a school holiday program and ask me to teach those young fellow how to garden. She's so excited that mama is going to tech her friends so she keep on talking about it the whole week until saturday when my second daughter infected with conjunctivitis. Then , she became so frustated and scare that me and her will get it too. Luckily we are still save when the day came and she's so happy and eagerly help me with all the pots and garden tools....:) Proud of her mum....hehehe...i still remember when she's small when somebody ask what's her mother occupation, she would always said that mama grow plant...:) some even guess that i'm a gardener...:)

I hope that my daughters will enjoy gardening as mush as i do and as much as my mother do.well.... it's a trait in the family i guess....:)

Nor's Paradise

my san francisco 1 keep on producing more and more buds. the growth is quite fast as now we're having a rainy season here in penang. It's raining everyday which ocassionally turns into a very heavy downpour. During rainy season, it's good that you dont have to water the plant everyday , but some plant require a lot of attention and care during this season. My pokok sundal malam (tuberose) have to place under the shade as to much water can make the bulb rotten.

Huargghhhh.... i'm going to sleep now. Today is very tiring, we stuck almost 4 hours in the trafic jam.i left my office at 6.15 and reach home at 11.00. of course we have our dinner first. I really hate penang today.....i wish i can go and stay at some greener place like cameron highland....hmmmm...:)

Cempaka telur / Dwarft magnolia

Today my cempaka telur( dwarf magnolia) is blooming. This is one of the three plants of this kind that i keepin my garden for a year plus.The plant can't grow high 'cause i plant it in a small plastic pot, the pot that i get from the nursery where i bought the plant. Many people call and ask for the flower for come unknown medicinal used, actually i never ask...;) . To know more about this plant you can visit my herbs website at http://melur.com --> cempaka telur.

my cempaka telur, it's really looks like an egg right? but the fragrance is not so strong, indeed you have to get it very close to your nose to smell it...:) some people really looking for the flower for medicinal purpose, something mistic i guess... hehe, who knows?

Flower from San Francisco 1

Hmm... rememember about the seed that my hubby brought back from San Francisco? the flower really bloom already today and i manage to snap the picture this morning, it's still quite dark and the petal is still not fully open, i'll snap another picture tomorrow. Looks like i become obsess with this flower. It took about 3 weeks from the day the bud come out until it bloom. At first i thought it is just a green round flower without the petals.Personally i feel that the flower is really beautiful, the colors is somewhere in the midle between deep red dan brown. it looks like velvet and so rich. Here's the picture of the plants transformation from seed to the sweet bloom. I'm so happy today.....:)

Nor's Paradise

The plant that my hubby brought back from san Fransisco (its san francisco, not texas actually) is going to bloom sooner. I can see the bud is getting bigger now.perhaps it's going to bloom before the weekend. this is the quick snap of the bud.It's quite blur as the day is till dark. 7.00 am in the morning.

The Red Big Gerbera Daisy

Hi,
Yesterday I manage to snap the picture of my red gerbera daisy. It has been blooming for months but i just dont have time to capture the beauty of it... hahaha...every day the earliest time i reach home is 7.00 , and with all those busy weekend , i never have time for my own leisure time with the plant except for watering.

the picture is quite blur as the day was getting dark and i'm in hurry as my hubby keep on calling me to prepare for buka puasa...:).The plant is really easy to grow, just that some people dont dare to keep it because they feel that the plant as beautiful as this sure ask for a lot of attention, but the fact it, you just water it, feed it it will be enough for it. And the best part is, it is very easy to propagate, the seed will come from the dry flower, and you just sow it and you will get a lot of new plant. I did that last time and i got more that 10 pots (actually i can have more if i have more pots) which i gave to few friends.

and it can be use as cutting flower for your dinner table flower arrangement. With proper care it can last for almost 2 weeks. What i did was i cut the flower, then fill a glass with tap water(filtered, no more chlorine...:) then add 2-3 table spoon of sugar...yes... normal sugar. Put the flower in the glass for a very simple but beautiful flower arrangement. you can add fern leave or few strand of ivy to make it nicer.

next to my gerbera daisy is an exotic wild plant from texas. I dont know the name, so i name it texas1 , texas2,etc....:) My hubby bought the seed on his recent trip to US.Luckily it is doing well and keep on growing. will talk about it next time, perhaps when the flower bloom... hopefully.

Hi,

this is a snap of my beatiful pink lotus (teratai). The scientific name is Nelumbo Nucifera.However, this plant has become a history in my garden. My litle Syafiqa has pulled everything out , never left even a single stem. It has died brutally after years of leisure in my small pool. hahaha....Lucky that i have still keep the photo as a proof that i have successfully plant a beautiful seroja.

The rooftop vegetable garden

I'm thinking of growing my own vegetable.something easy to grow like pak choy or sawi or spinach(bayam). I've a lot of seed that i used to sell through my webpage (melur.com). So why not i start my own vegetable garden. But i need a space. I dont want to sacrifice the yard just for the vegetable but the backyard is to small and i cannot grow anything there.

The only choice is on the roof of the porch.It can be access through the master bedroom , through the balcony.it's roof again....hmmm... so i need to find something light and suitable for roof top garden. I just transplanted it this afternoon after sowing it in the sowing tray for the past 2 weeks.

i'll tell you more once the plant grow....

The pink Rose

This is on of the the most beautiful flower in my garden. Not only beautiful, it smell good too.I plant it in the pot in front of the house.

unknown flower

This is one of the flower that stay with me for many years, from balcony to the garden and yet it still generously produce the flower continously.It was given by a friend (catherine) many years ago when i first join my work place now. One time it died because i think i put too much fertilizer, but luckily the bulb is still there. I manage to make it grow again (by god's willing of course...haha...)

please tell me what is the plant name...any name ...anything that i can refer to this plant rather than ' the orange flower plant with the brown leaves and bulb'

Jasminum Sambac

Jasmin is one of my favorite flower.Jasmine or Melur in Malay language is a sweet smell with flower belong to a shrub herbs. Now you know why i choose melur.com as my domain name.

I have 2 var of jasmine at home. duke of tuscany and maid of orlean. Between those 2 the latter has stronger fragrant than the former.I plant jasmine in pots in my front garden.Jasmine is actually quite easy to grow. you must make sure water is sufficient and to ensure it blooms more expose it to the full sunlight. I'm living is a tropical country so sunlight all year round is not a problem. I give the jasmines flower inducer once a months. I cut the old stem ( where the flower drop) once a month so it will turn bushy.And to encourage it to produce more flower , harvest the flower frequently ( this is my tips and my own belief...:) you can call it mitos)I believe if we appreciate the plants, they will know how to return the favour back.... hahaha...I pick the flower every day after coming back from work and put it in a bowl of water. This can make the flower release it scent throughout the night.

And jasmine is good for your heart too. You can make tea from jasmine buds the same way as lavender buds. Pick the buds before it blooms and let it dry naturaly. After 2 or 3 days your can keep the buds in air tight container. Just add 2 or 3 buds to your cup of tea. It will strengthen your heart plus it can cool you down from a stress day.

Malay old folks always keep the jasmine flower in there 'bedak sejuk' container so the 'bedak sejuk' will smell goooooodddd...Bedak sejuk is a traditional malay cosmetic made from rice.The rice will be soak in the water for months before the water will disolve it into a tick paste.The tick paste then will be drop on daun pisang and left to dry under the sun. When it was fully dry, bedak sejuk will be kept in air tight container. the water have to be change regularly until the rice start to disolve ,so it will never produce a stink smell ...which is very2 stink. when i was a kid i try to make my own bedak sejuk but i forgot change the water for almost a month, and i can tell you i'm almost vomit when i open the container. That's my first and last attempt to make the bedak sejuk.

To aply the bedak sejuk , dissolve in a few drops of water and apply it on the face.The cooling effect of the bedak sejuk is very soothing to our face. You have to try it to beleve it. It also can eliminate excess oil from our face hence prevent the acne.

alamak...why i'm talking about bedak sejuk now. I'm suppose to talk about my jasmine.better stop now.

pereskia saechnarosa/sacharosa/bleo

This is the picture of my pereskia which now i put at the the entrance garden. I have two varieties which bear purple and orange color flower. the purple one is still small while a have a few pots of orange color that i beed myselft from the srem cutting.You can have more of this plant on my website : http://www.melur.com/myherba.asp?plant_id=24 , it's in malay language.

My 'Gate' aka entrance garden

I call it entrance garden as it it locate at the entrance before the gate. Actually it is just the road divider and place where the town council put the garbage bin. The space is not much, i guess it's about , emm maybe 3" X 5". And i cannot make use the whole space as i have to reserve one alley for the garbage people to collect the garbage. the picture was taken some few months ago when we first move it to the house. we have rearrange it as my hubby said it was to cluttered...well guys...:)actually he's the one who rearrange it while i'm not at home...:)

Daisy on my balcony

Before move to this current house we stayed in a 15 floor apartment. I'm quite like it, the balcony is facing the hill and before the hill is a shooting range. Very green and eye soothing except it can be very noisy once a week when the army practiced at the shooting range.During rainy season, i can still see the mist covering the hill bringing the cool breeze to our bedroom.I kept quite a number of plant there, on the balcony. plants like mini roses (4 vareties) gerbera daisy (3 varieties), money plant, violet, japanese rose etc. I even grow a grape vine on the trailis that i hooked up to the wall.The balcony is quite big. It's actually 2 balconie linked by a planters box before we combined it into one big balcony.

I enjoy planting on the balcony. But when you gardened at a very high place from the ground few thing that you must consider are, the weight of the pots + the soil + water.So i never use terracota pot as it can be very heavy after you loaded it with soil and water.I have one terracota pots for my aquatic plants, and that's the only one.

Let me share with you a few tips of balcony or roof top gardening:

Let's enter my garden

I'm gonna share with you the current garden that i just setup ... not even half year. Yepp... we just move to a new house and i decided to start this blog because i want to keep track of all my plants properly (actually i have a database of it) and share with you guys about my plants.The new house that we move in is not that big. the lot size is 20' X 35 and the land area is 20' X 70'. It's an intermediate unit, left me a very limited space to start my masterpiece...:) . This is how it looks like when i first plant it with the taiwan grass. for cost saving i just bought 2 2'X1' pieces and cut it into smaller retangle and spread it over to cover the 10' X 30' area. It did not look nice but as I prefer to see things grow, that should be enough for the beginning.

Hi and welcome

Hi , welcome to my paradise. I'm nor from malaysia.Gardening has been my hobby since i can remember. I start to grow thing when I was very small and day by day it grows into a passionate love and devotion. I live in a fast develop city in Penang Island. A small but develop island in the north of pennisular Malaysia. At 31 I'm a mother to 3 daughters aged 6,3 and 1.

I try to share my passion for plant and garden in my website www.melur.com (oops... it's in Malay language and i'm still dont have suitable time to work on the English version of it)