Visit to The Orator Hotel - Part 8

As I continued my photo shoot I saw this young Ginger Cat basking on the rocks in the garden.

 With the typical sixth sense that model cats have for cameras this chap instantly noticed me and looked casually over before acting all cool and disinterested.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

Visit to The Orator Hotel - Part 7

During my visit I met several of the Hotel's feline residents who enjoy the gardens as much if not more than anyone else. Here is another of the cats along with more Bromelias and other plants.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (on language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

Laying a boarder with concrete cap stones - PART 2



In the past I have used old 2 x 4 and even logs to create borders which have proved effective in all practical aspects of having border (definition, anti-encroachment and protection) the only problem has been that in general they are not particularly aesthetically pleasing unless you get some decent pieces of wood or logs. 







Old Poumuli tree trunk being used to mark border of an area to planted with Ti Plants and Egyptian Start Clusters (parallel to the Rain Lily flower bed)

The other material that I have used to some measure which has been effective although not as attractive as I would like has been old tires. Although in this case tires were not an option either.

Scrapping out of Navua Sedge, Kyllinga polphylla rhizomes and other grasses in order to extend the Pink Rain Lily Zeperanthes rosea flower bed. The aluminium sheet in the foreground was used to kill off grass underneath.

Fortunately after a visit to Apia Concrete Products I decided to try out concrete cap stones. Although use as flower borders is definitely not their intended use I found that they were perfect. They were just wide enough to create a nice wide but not too wide border and low enough to not overshadow the plants. At $1.90 Tala a piece they were reasonable although given how big the flower bed was I did end up spending a bit on them. Over several months ACP staff got used to me turning up to procure 10 or 20 cap stones at a time which was all I could fit in the back of the Terius.


Pebble inspecting laying of concrete cap stones

 I started by laying out one edge, then the long outer boarder. I did not have an equipment to make the corners etc so I just used a board, laying it inside the bed and laying the cap stones outside. Then I used that same board to make sure I had a straight edge.

Use of board to lay concrete cap stones (I know cord and pegs would have been better)

I alternated between laying the boarder and digging out the lawn infested with Kyllinga polphylla and Kyllinga nemoralis as well as pulling up clumps of Rain Lilies to separate and replant, although I also had hundreds of seedlings from seeds I had collected and planted earlier in the year.

 .

Pebble inspecting works

Pebble inspecting works

 It was slow tedious work and I was working on other projects, garden and other so it took forever but little by little the border and bed took shape.

Newly laid border with extended bed planted

 I also had constant help from my furry assistants whose enthusiastic contributions ranged from closely supervising me, checking to see if the boarder was properly laid and even assisting with the planting by quickly fertilising the upturned soil before I planted the bulbs, a practice which resulted in much washing of hands with bleach and offended looks from the kittens when I complained and begged them to at least wait until I had planted the bulbs before they made their contributions.

Third corner added

  I had planned on getting some sand and relaying the concrete cap stones on it but due to time constraints and difficulties in getting the sand I ended up not doing this although ideally that would have been the best thing to do as I ended up with about 3 broken concrete cap stones due to small unnoticed bumps or in one case a small pebble which were harmless as they were until someone heavier than my feline assistants walked on and the weight of that against the hard packed earth was too much.

Pebble's assistant Puppywuppy inspects the corners

Additional Information:

Binomial Name: Zepheranthes rosea

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class:  Monocots – Order: Asparagales – Family: Amaryllidaceae – Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae  –  Tribe : Hippeastrea   – Subtribe: Zephranthinae  – Genus: Zepheranthes – Species: Z. Rosea

Common names: Zepheranthes, Fairy Lily, Rainflower, Rain Lily, Zeypher Lily, Magic Lily, Atamasco Lily (English) kili’o’opu (Hawaiian) mo’u’upo’o (Tahitian)

Binomial Name: Kyllinga polphylla

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class: Monocots – Subclass: Commelids – Order: Poales – Family: Cyperacea– Genus: Kyllinga – Species: K. Polyphylla

Common names: Navua sedge(English)

Binomial Name: Kyllinga nemoralis

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class: Monocots – Clade: Commelids – Order: Poales – Family: Cyperacea– Genus: Kyllinga – Species: K. Polyphylla

Common names: ??? (English) kili’o’opu (Hawaiian) mo’u’upo’o (Tahitian)

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

 
 

Wattled Honey Eater in Mango Tree versus Kitten in Breadfruit tree

One of the Wattled Honeyeaters  (Foulehaio carunculatus) was doing its usual noisy chattering in the mango tree and Pebble climbed up the Breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis)... which luckily did not give any access to where the Wattled Honeyeater was.

After spending several minutes looking around with this puzzled expression Pebble decided to turn the failed bird hunt into a modelling exercise and proceeded to pose for the camera.

 He did not quite manage the Cheshire Cat look because he refused to grin but he did manage the "Forlorn Kitty up a tree look" and the "Kitten Melting on and branch" look.

In the end he came down on his own. After all he is a kitten from the Ninja Cat Clan ... although technically he is probably getting a bit too old and big to be still referred to as a kitten.

Meanwhile the Wattled Honeyeater was happily whistling away almost as if he were teasing Pebble. At least he consented to sit still long enough for me to use the zoom to photograph him although it was not that easy seeing how he blends in with the leaves and branches of the Mango tree as he was quite high up.

Additional Information:

Binomial Name: Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passerformes – Familt: Meliphagidae – Genus: Foulehaio – Species: F. carunculatus

Common names: Wattled Honeyeater (English) I’ao (Samoan)

Binomial Name: Artocarpus atilis

Common names: Breadfruit (English) Ulu (Samoan), Ulu (Hawaiian), Uto (Fijian), Lemai (Guam and Northern Marianas), Sa Ke( Thailand, Vietnam) Buah Sukun (Malay), Arbre à pain (French- Guadaloupe) bois pain (French-Saint Lucia), Kamansi (Philippines –Tagalog & Kapampangan), Sukrun (Indonesian)

Binomial Name: Mangifera indica

Common names: Mango (English) Mago (Samoan)

  

Taxonomy

• Order: Rosales – Family: Moraceae – Tribe: Artocarpeae – Genus: Artocarpus – Species: A altilis

• Order: Sapindales – Family: Anacardiaceae – Genus: Mangifera – Species: M. indica

• Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passeriformes – Family: Meliphagidae – Genus: Foulehaio – Species F. carunculatus

Random Flowers, industrious Bees and camera loving kittens

Honey Bee collecting pollen from Egyptian Starcluster flower (Pentas lanceolata)

Cardinal Firespike (Odontenema strictum)

Chinese violets (Asystasia gangetica)

Incidentally both the Chinese violet (Asystasia gangetica) and Cardinal Firespike (Odontenema strictum) belong to the plant Family Acathaceae.

Caspar Livingstone "Stoney" of Ninja Cat Clan making sure he gets photographed

Pebble and Stoney have different techniques for getting their photos taken. Stoney is proactive in that the sees you taking pictures and then accidently wanders in to the frames using the "Oops I did not realise you were taking photos of the plants but I AM cute aren't I?" technique. Pebble on the other hand takes the "I am way too important and cute to have to go look for a photographer so I will sit here and strike a pose and photographers will gravitate to me" technique.

Pebble of Ninja Cat Clan posing and waiting for the photographer to gravitate to him and realise that he just must take a picture

Egyptian starclusters and Felonious felines

Egyptian starclusters and Felonious felines

Most of the Egyptian Starclusters that I ought a few months ago have grown well especially considering that most of them were just cuttings that I had been given along with a couple plants that were growing.


Assorted Egyptian Starclusters (Pentas lanceolata)

I have six colours now although sometimes I am not too sure and you could argue that there are eight as there is a slight difference between two of the darker pinks and two of the darker purples. I have not included the other two as the difference was to slight.

When these plants are well developed and in full bloom they are quite stunning.

Above are some of the reds and pinks in a bed with Ti plants of which you can see one. They were actually only meant to be there temporarily as I was waiting for them to become established and then use them to get more cuttings as I want to plant a large bed of them.

Above is another lot in another bed which are also supposed to be temporary since that bed has Beehive gingers, Torch gingers and Indonesian Wax Roses which once they attain their full growth will be large and overshadow them although ... they are on the sunny side of that bed so I guess they will be ok.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (White)

I have sort of started on the large bed of the Egyptian Starclusters but will most likely have to make cuttings and plant them directly into the ground. I do have a handful of plants in planting bags which I propagated from cuttings I took earlier but they took a while to grow and I think that rather than waste time planting the cuttings in planting bags only to transplant them it would be better to just plant them straight into the ground. That way I don't have to go through two periods of careful watering as first the cutting and then the transplanted cutting go through shock.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Dark Pink)

The only problem is that I will have to be vigilant and make sure they are well watered and that the cuttings do not dry out. The cuttings I stuck directly into the current beds only got some evening sun and the cutting I grew in planting bags were initailly grown in a nice shaded spot before being gradually exposed to full sun.
I transplanted some of those in the area where the large bed will be and those plants went into a bit of shock, withering alarmingly but they are recovering now. So ... the idea of planting cuttings directly might not be wise.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Lavender)
 

 On the other hand I think that part of the reason that the plants that I transplanted had problems getting established is because I planted them in 100% river sand which while it makes for excellent root development and survival of cuttings ... when you transplant them the sand just falls out and there is little or nothing around the roots.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Red)

I suppose I could root them in sand then transplant them into a soil/sand medium and let them grow until they are bigger and ready to transplant into the final positions ... or ... I could just plant them without removing their bags. But that is a waste of bags and prevents good root development so I am not keen on doing that.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Dark Pink)

Anyway the big bed I am planning on will probably have sections of single colours as well as sections with a mixture. In front as edging I'm thinking of using some zepheranthes. At the back which slopes up a bit onto a rather over grown part of the property I want to have a screen of Heliconia psittacorum proably a mix of Andromeda, Golden Torch and Lady Di or some other variety I have been trying to get hold off.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Lavander)

The screen of Heliconias will serve to deleinate the bed, provide a sort of frame for the Egyptian Starclusters as well as act as a barrier to keep the overgrown part of the property from encroaching on the Egyptian Starclusters and well ... they will also effectively screen the overgrown parts from view.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Pale Lavander / Pale Blue)

Grass grows so quickly here and although we planted most of the property with banana trees in the hopes that the shade will keep the grass down, a few weeks after the grass was cut and the banana trees planted the grass was already two feet high. Now it is a jungle again.

Pentas lanceolata - Egyptian Starclusters (Light Pink)

I planted some Talie and other trees also to create shade and keep the grass down but they are slow to grow. I have quite a few Moso'oi, Fuafua, Talie and Tamaligi seedlings that I want to plant but am worried that if I am not there to keep any eye on them some over zealous grass cutter or tree hater will chop them down.
I also have finally germinated some Orchid tree seeds of the Pink Orchid tree I planted here a couple years ago and would like to plant those too. The big problem is that it is vital that these trees are never pruned if you want them to keep that perfect "umbrella" shape. Once you start cutting branches they start sending up new branches and you end up with an ungainly mess of a tree.

Rocky sleeping on top of Zepheranthes

Rocky pretending to wake up. Note the stretching of the toes

Stoney comforting Rocky after Rock got a scolding for sleeping on the seedlings

L=R Ninja Cat Clan Kittens: Pebble, Rocky and Stoney

Rocky sleeping on the seedlings 5 minutes after having been told off

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Here is a list of my blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/