I've tried to nurture many many plants in the hostile saudi environment.
I have tried basil, rosemary, lavender, various flowering plants, japanese roses .. all of them died. Some due to lack of water when I went away for holidays. Some due to too much water when I got overzealous and thought I could counter the dryness with lots of water. Some due to the extreme heat outside. Some due to lack of sun (when I decided to bring them indoors to escape the heat). Boring tulll .. dah lah pokok kat sini mahal.(I am frustrated coz plants are expensive over here)
I know there are many books out there to tell me how to take care of plants in this extreme weather. I have read them in bookstores (read:I sneak-read them without buying), but none of the tips worked for my plants. (Perhaps I need to buy the books and read them properly instead of trying to remember as much as I can. tee hee.)
This is my only surviving plant :
That's the kalanchoe plant that went missing a few months ago.
I had been keeping it by the kitchen window before, but it has grown bigger so I moved it into a bigger pot and now it looks nice enough to be in my living room. I water it every other day and put it by the sliding door every morning to make sure it gets enough sun.
My kitchen window sill is now decorated by a row of fake flowers in small pots (Daiso - QR/SR6 per pot). These are more my style. They don't need watering and can withstand the heat :)
Note: Taufik has been better at keeping his plants alive. He has a jasmine tree and a frangipani tree on our front porch. He also has these really hardy creepy leafy plants that could live out of just a bowl of water. They now sit on either side of my kitchen sink.
Orang tua2 kata nak menanam pokok2 ni..kena tengok tangan sejuk atau panas..
frangipani tree?eiii teringat I kat Bali dan juga hotel lama di Pangkor tu..
Jgn lupa upload gambar2 pokok2 bunga tu..termasuk jasmine tree and frangipani tu...kalau kat johor kita panggil frangipani 'bunga kubur' ..oppss..jgn marah ekk..frangipani yang merah hati tu paling I suka sebab tersangat wangi..letak kat dlm bilik tidur..waoooooo!
rose - frangipani yang mearh ahti tu memang susah nak jumpa!! kat indon banyak, tapi tak tau macamana nak seludup masuk.
nonah - bukan tangan aje yang panas, hati pun panas!!
nina - cactus tak lawa lah.. :P
come to think of it, can cactus survive here? tak pernah pun nampak pokok cactus kat desert kat sini..
Tapi mahal lah pokok kat sini.. pokok puding je pun 35riyal tau.
pokok tu ada di hotel di Pangkor..kalau u balik sini..dtg perak..
I minta Ky ambil parang ,tebang satu dahan kat hotel tu..sure management hotel tu tak boleh report *** sebab yg ambil itu pun .....Amacam?boleh pakai tak idea tu?heheheheh!
i had a cactus once, and it died! what do you expect from someone who accidentally 'killed' a digipet kan? *hangs head in shame*
tapi kan, nak angkat bakul sikit ni... now that i am a sahm, my plants (yang hidup punya) are better taken care of, so far takde yang mati mengejut (except for that orange daisy plant)
nicelah your pokok tu. i bet it makes the room berseri-seri.
untuk musimpanas kena tukar pokok supaya senang jaga.
amazingly the small japanese roses berbunga dgn gamaknya. masa i beli pokok i mintak dia yang tahan panas. bunga kertas i suppose is good. ada satu pokok i beli tak tau nama, nampak segar bugar.
good luck with the last one.
oh pokok yang dalam rumah, sesekali letak kat tepi tingkap. and i siram pakai air beras.
I got excited whenever I read about plants or someone tanam pokok dgn jayanya but I never get myself to do it! :p
the papaya trees at the backyard sekarang tinggi melangit until they surpassed our two storey houses were planted by our previous maid and the papayas are soo sweet!
bibik sekarang tak reti tanam menanam ni with the tuan rumah macam ni laaagilah tak ada apa pokok..rumput adalaaaa...
Rose - but I dont know how to seludup to Saudi ;) Eh, it can grow from branch cuttings ke? (Nampak sgt tak reti)
famygirl - heheh at least your plants show improvement when u became a SAHM. My plants are dying since I started becoming one! *rollseyes*.
Taufik loves that plant.. balik kerja aje terus tengok ada bunga baru keluar ke tidak.. eheheh
lollies - We had some japanese roses bordering our front pathway but when the compound gardeners came to do seasonal maintenance, they accidentally threw them out. I'm thinking of buying them long planters from Daiso and planting some on my porch instead of in the ground. At least the gardeners would know not to touch them.
Air beras works eh?
Nad - tu lah dia.. kena figure out a way to smuggle to saudi.. eheheheh . Kalau tanam dalam those blue-white japanese pots tu cantik tuh..
Onee - i guess some people have the touch, but some, like us, don't :P
I hope at least one of my kids would inherit their dad's green thumb, coz they would need to take care of our dusun when we're gone!
Zan - ha.. Pot tu QR45 ke gitu from Daiso in Qatar ;) almost pecah when it fell out of Lollies' car boot.
oooh - how pretty your plant is! I've sacrificed an entire counter of space to my plants, which do well enough when I neglect them. The window sill of my bathroom has several plants, as well. One of them is called something like "Mother of 10,000 babies" and it thrives on neglect and sparse waterings. Maybe you could find one there? It's somewhat an ugly plant, but very prolific. :)
Kimmi - "Mother of 10,000 babies"??? my, what a name! I'll gooogle it and see if i can find it here.
Oh i forgot to mention that I got the idea for putting fake flowers on my window sill when I recalled you mentioning that yo bought plastic pansies for your windows. ;)
So, Thanx for the idea!
Kimmi - I just found out that "Mother of 10,000 babies" is actually a relative of the plant I have. Its scientific name is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalanchoe_daigremontiana">Kalanchoe daigremontiana</a>, and in malaysia it is known as "Setawar" (Sir-Tar-Wah-r).
The difference between your plant and mine is that yours sprout roots on its leaves, while mine sprout roots on its stems.
Hm.. this explains why my kalanchoe plant is thriving.. it is meant to be a hardy species! This gives me great hope :)
and this also gives me a good idea.. maybe I can smuggle in some setawar leaves the next time I come back from malaysia. They are known to be able to survive in between pages of books !
So who has a pokok setawar at their house?? Can donate a few leaves to me ?
sounds like your sole surviving plant is getting a lot more attention than many of the neglected plants that i have in my yard, ehehehe. not to mention the overgrown grass.
hey i think i have one pokok setawar thriving in the backyard, surviving on its own, planted by my former maid. nanti i kasik kat you satu, if it is a setawar eheheh.
I have enough trials (and errors) in dealing with my rocky ground and the layer of dust atop it they call top soil. I also have to worry about temperature (freezing), too much water this year, deer and gophers. I never thought much about what a different ballgame gardening would be in other parts of the world.
That is a pretty plant though and I love the pot and what a gorgeous gramaphone in the background.
ben - I have never tried to plant anything in places where there are frost/snows to be reckon with. I guess I should count my blessings, eh? I envy your peas though!
Hey you're the only one to notice the gramaphone in the background. It's cheap and it only plays Tamil songs coz that's the only record I have, the one that came with it. I've tried playing my PearlJam Christmas singles on it, only to discover that the speed is not really adjustable. :P
Daaayum! I hadn't noticed the gramaphone in the background earlier! Good eye, Ben! Let me know when you're going to have a rummage sale and that piece is out by the curb, Elisa... (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) LOL THAT really is gorgeous! What's the history behind it? Does it work/play? :D
It just *looks* antique, but it's really not. There's no history behind it. We were in Dierah market in Riyadh, saw it at one of the curio stores, thought the price was reasonable (less than USD40), decided to buy it. The cone is brass, the body is wood with really thin engraved brass/copper foil as decoration. It works, but only at one speed. It came with a Tamil (Indian) record, so that's the only thing it plays at the moment. :)
Yay! Finally I can comment. I read somewhere that watering your plants early in the morning helps prevent water loss than watering it late evening. I'm no good with plants either and the only plant I have real interest in is the kaffir lime tree, but it takes a greenthumb to grow and maintain those!
