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/

 
 

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/

More Random kittens and flowers

Heliconia psittacorum "Andromeda" (Parrot Heliconia)

Hibiscus

Bleeding Heart Vine / Glory Vine

Zeptheranthes citrina (Yellow Rain Lily)

Pebble of the Ninja Cat Clan cites the principle presumption of innocence when accused of climbing up onto shelves where seedlings are kept and sleeping on them.

Heliconia psittacorum (Parrot Heliconia) UNKNOWN cultivar possibly Lady Diana

Evidence produced by prosecution that Pebble of the Ninja Cat Clan has aquired the required level of Ninja skills to have climbed up onto the shelf where the seedlings were kept.

 Caspar "Stoney" Livingstone of the Ninja Cat Clan who was latter caught in flagrante delicto sleeping on seedling.




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/.

 

Additional information:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover “A blog about art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing 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)

Random Photos of Flowers, Kittens and Birds

Random Photos of Flowers, Kittens and Birds

Sorry everyone this post with just be one with random pictures of Flowers, Kittens and Birds.

I will include some details as to what they are and where they were taken but that is it. For once it looks like I am able to upload photos on Blogger in while Samoa so I will try and upload some on to the other posts I have been writing for publication latter.

A Pink Rain Lily (a.k.a Magic Lily) Zepheranthes robusta after rain

A White Rain Lily (a.k.a Magic Lily) Zepheranthes grandiflora after rain

A Samoan Triller (Mikivao)

A Honey Bee on the petal of a Pink Orchid Tree

White Rain Lily

Caspar Livingstone a.k.a. Stoney / The Silent One ... was lurking amongst the Purple Ground Orchids while I was trying to take some photos and made his presence known.

So ofcourse Pebble a.k.a. The CRAZY One also decided he just HAD to be in a picture too.

 

By the way THANK YOU to all my readers for visiting Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters as well as my other blogs if you have visited them (the links are below).

According to the stats provided by Blogger I have had visitors from the following countries:

United States, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ukraine, South Korea, Hungary, Brazil, Malaysia, Fiji, India and Samoa.

Additional information:

Here is a list of my current 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/

 

 

Hurricane Evan PART 1

Hurricane Evan PART 1

Not long after I arrived in Samoa Hurricane Evan struck ... pretty much without warning. I say that not merely because on the morning of the hurricane I was delighted with the rainy weather and taking advantage of it to do some gardening: planting some cuttings of Indonesian Wax Roses and weeding the tautalaititi out of the Zepheranthes beds. No ... I say it struck without warning because although the night before there was some public announcement warning that scrolled across the screen briefly on the TV that was about high winds and possible flooding in low lying areas, but nothing about a cyclone.  Maybe there was one but I did not see or hear anything and no one mentioned anything about a Cyclone approaching to me.

It was only as the evening approached and I commented on how the constant rain and wind seemed like pre-cyclone weather that I found out that there was indeed a cyclone approaching. Someone said that that was supposed to have been passing by us but then decided to stop by for a visit.

As for me planting things in the rain that is how I prefer to do things as otherwise it is just too hot. For me rainy weather is perfect planting weather. It is cool and overcast and the rain is not only refreshing but saves me having to go around watering everything. Preferably I try to do major transplanting into the ground during the Rainy Season which also just happens to be the Cyclone Season.

No biggie it was windy in the morning and throughout the day but the Cyclone did not really hit till that night and lasted throughout the next day and night.
 

During the cyclone we could not do much else but sit around looking outside. Fortunately the house at Alafua has a long overhang and even with all the wind not much rain got into the house even though it has big screened windows without louvers.  I cannot recall who drew the plans of the house but I like their thinking since the wide overhang all around keeps it well shaded and there is absolutely no need for louvers which I hate with a passion. I was even able to go out during a slight lull in the cyclone and take some pictures and videos of some of the damage although the quality of the images are not that great. This is because I do not have a waterproof camera and the only way I could take photos was to stick it in a clear plastic ziplock bag and seal it in and then go outside. I stayed mainly under the overhang of the house but also went to the old butchery shed but after a while all the rain drops on the plastic made taking photos pointless.

Here are some pictures of the cyclone viewed at Alafua. The pictures do not really give a good idea of the strength on the winds. According to reports there were gusts of up to 210 km/h (130 mph). The wind uprooted lots of trees or broke branches off. The rivers and creeks overflowed and washed away homes and everything in their paths and there was considerable flooding in all the low-lying areas especially in Downtown Apia such as Taufusi, Fugalei, Lalovaea, Maluafou and Mulivai areas.

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

 

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/.

 

Facts:

Cyclone Evan struck the Samoan archipelago on 13 December 2012. It was rated as Tropical Cyclone Category 4.

 

The Samoan archipelago is comprised of the Independent State of Samoa and the American Territory of American Samoa.

 

Additional information:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover “A blog about art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing 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/

 

or some planned blogs

·          fait justicia ruat coelum - Let Justice be done though the Heavens Fall (Socio Legal issues):

·          ventus me vocat – The Wind calls me (Occult and esoteric matters, Ancient beliefs and belief systems, magic and religion): http://ventusmevocat.blogspot.com/

 

 

Rain Lilies and kittens

I know that in the the song it is"rain drops on roses" but I have no roses although I do have whiskers on kittens and lots of Rain Lilies (Zepheranthes). The rainy season started and a whole bunch of the Pink Rain Lilies sent up flower buds
and then bloomed.

When this pot flowered I brought it inside and put into a blue ceramic pot for a couple days as well as photograph it.

It was a bright sunny day and at first I thought that I might have problems with the photographs but these actually turned out alright.

The camera kept insisting that I used the flash but I think that these turned out quite nice. I admit I had to do some manoeuvrings with tables and books to get the right angles and keep all the unfinished renovations out of the picture.

Although I planted patches of Pink Rain Lilies in anticipation of spectacular swathes of pink flowers. I also planted little clumps in holes in the front lawn where some clumps of an undesirable species of grass had been dug up from. Some of these sent up a few flowers too. While not a swathe of colour they were still quite eye catching.

The kittens were running around outside having fun after the rain on both occasions and just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The tortoiseshell is Jasper (formerly Jasmine) while the ginger is Ichigo and the Mackerel Tabby is Dee Dee. Tweedle the other Mackerel Tabby did not feel like being photographed as she was busy climbing a tree.

 They do not even look like they are posing. Talk about professional models.
I should sign them up.



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/.