Thursday, February 6, 2014

Wild ginger in New Zealand from India

Kahili ginger

Don't let its good looks fool you. Wild ginger threatens to smother our native forests.
The plant was introduced to New Zealand from India in the 1890s. It rapidly spread throughout Auckland, Coromandel and Northland. The warm moist climate of the upper North Island favoured the initial spread of the plant and it is now a problem in parts of the top of the South Island, and on the West Coast.
There are two types of wild ginger:

Kahili ginger (Hedychium gardnerianum)
This plant grows up to two metres in height. It has a large cream flower with long red stamens, is strongly perfumed and produces up to 100 seeds per flower head. Of the two types of wild ginger this is the worst, because of its successful spreading by seed. As well, the plant roots spread outwards and sprout new plants.

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Yellow ginger

Yelllow ginger (Hedychium flavescens)
This variety has cream flowers in late autumn and early winter. Yellow ginger does not seed and therefore does not multiply as fast as Kahili. Make its removal a second priority.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/threats-and-impacts/weeds/common-weeds-in-new-zealand/wild-ginger/

http://tinaspicstory.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/weekend-flowers-45.html

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

vertical wall

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153798281280541&set=pcb.10153798292560541&type=1&theater

In CBD Auckland, I saw a beautiful vertical green wall. The first I saw was on the Gold Coast of Australia. Then I watch on the Australian The Block all stars renovation show. I love this, but wondering how to water this.

I am linking my blog post for Heather, whose son was murdered. They are trying to get a bill to pass Cameron's law to make eye witnesses to be responsible.

http://annkitsuetchin.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/support-bill-for-camerons-law.html

https://www.facebook.com/CameronsLaw/info

8th and 9th day of the Chinese New Year.

For the Hokkiens/Fujian people of Southern China, the 9th day of the new Year is celebrated as a more important day than the 1st. Preparation begins on the 8th for the big feast on the 9th.

Accordingly, robbers invaded the people, and they hid in the sugar cane fields. They believe that the Jade Emperor, the King of heavens protected them. Some say the sugar cane were "cutty cutty" and the robbers didn't bother to look in the sugar cane field.

Every year, on the 8th evening, the Hokkiens will adorn the entrance of their house with a pair of sugar cane. The sugar cane is a symbol of of how they were saved from the invasion.

When I first went to Singapore more than 20 years ago, I was unaware of this festival, and wanted to buy pig's leg. The butcher told me none was available because the Hokkiens have bought it all.

* Cutty cutty is a New Zealand term for grass or reeds with sharp serrated edges that will cut you when you go among it.

I am linking my blog post for Heather, whose son was murdered. They are trying to get a bill to pass Cameron's law to make eye witnesses to be responsible.

http://annkitsuetchin.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/support-bill-for-camerons-law.html

https://www.facebook.com/CameronsLaw/info

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

wild purple flowers cultivated Verbena bonariensis

I didn't grow them, they grew by themselves in my pots. The leaves and stems are "cutty cutty." On the ground, they grow taller than an adult.

Don't you think these are beauties? The water engineer disagrees, and want to get rid of my wild flowers. The mothers of these beauties reside in a patch of untended land next to my old house. When they are in bloom, they are so beautiful. One year, I had pots of tomatoes and chillis plants in my garden. The mothers sent seeds over, knowing I had been appreciating them. They grew in my pots taking over my cultivated tomatoes and chillis. I took care of them, when blooming, the purple flowers are so beautiful. But now, I have been spending too much time on the computer, the flowers dry up and I still think they are beautiful and can be used as dry flowers.

One man's meat is another's poison.

Verbena bonariensis is a tall and slender-stemmed perennial. It can grow to 6 ft (120 cm) tall and can spread to 3 ft (90 cm) wide. At maturity, it will develop a woody base. Fragrant lavender to rose-purple flowers are in tight clusters located on terminal and axillary stems, blooming from mid-summer until fall frost. The stem is square with very long internodes. Leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate with a toothed margin and grow up to 4 in (10 cm) long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbena_bonariensis

I am linking my blog post for Heather, whose son was murdered. They are trying to get a bill to pass Cameron's law to make eye witnesses to be responsible.

http://annkitsuetchin.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/support-bill-for-camerons-law.html

https://www.facebook.com/CameronsLaw/info

http://tinaspicstory.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/weekend-flowers-45.html

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

Monday, February 3, 2014

Wild Purple Flower 2014 Verbena bonariensis

I went to a patch of wild flowers, there were medicinal plants, daisies, and buttercups. I wish there was a sign like this. I once grew at lot of these wild flower in my garden. The wind blew seeds from a neighbouring patch, and I was so happy. Now, I have a miserable plant.

Verbena bonariensis is a tall and slender-stemmed perennial. It can grow to 6 ft (120 cm) tall and can spread to 3 ft (90 cm) wide. At maturity, it will develop a woody base. Fragrant lavender to rose-purple flowers are in tight clusters located on terminal and axillary stems, blooming from mid-summer until fall frost. The stem is square with very long internodes. Leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate with a toothed margin and grow up to 4 in (10 cm) long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbena_bonariensis

http://tinaspicstory.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/weekend-flowers-45.html

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

Teresa Teng-路邊的野花不要採 Don't Pick The Roadside Flowers

I saw lots of wild flowers, and thought of this song.

http://youtu.be/I2j_M0N-XFk

鄧麗君-路邊的野花不要採

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Teresa Teng-路邊的野花不要採 Don't Pick The Roadside Flowers

Pluck not the wayside flower;It is the traveler's dower.
~William Allingham

In Chinese, the road side flower means the not so nice girls. You pick the home grown flowers.

I was educated in English In Borneo, but I liked this Chinese Song, and Teresa was on of the most popular artistes. Sadly she died from an asthmatic attack.

http://vodpod.com/watch/3554995-teresa-teng-dont-pick-the-roadside-flowers

http://youtu.be/zDKr4K6o3V8
The video is beautiful. Artistes: Cathie Ryan

Lyrics: [ The Wild Flowers ]

Twas' the wild flowers I preferred
Who owed nothing to nobody
But blossomed in the ditches
And made their own way in the world

Twas' the wild flowers I admired
Who never done nothing to you
But driven from the garden
Sang their own songs in the spring

Chorus:
You can have your lilie, you can have your rose
That were taken and broken, and bred by men
They were grafted and maimed, twisted and tamed

But the wild flowers I enjoyed
They had nothing to do with you
They flowered by the roadside
And wore their own colours in the sun

They were there before you
They'll be there after you
That will out, that will out
Like your own true nature
You can try, you can try
But you never will defeat...

The wild flowers I enjoyed
They had nothing to do with you
Banished from the garden
They made their own way in the world
Sang their own songs in the spring
And wore their own ... colours ... in the sun