While I was Away

I was away for about 5 days for my birthday unexpectedly but it was an amazing and a trip to remember by. That will be shared at my personal blog but there is one relevant news that I can share here - we are moving to a 10,000-sq-ft property with at least 4,000 sq-ft land for me play around! The sort-of downside is that the move will be in 2 weeks.

However, I came back to a couple of nice surprises and a couple of sad endings. Let's start with the nice ones, shall we?

The platys are doing great. Bifurcatum sisters show growth differently - the younger is growing shield whilst the older sister seems to be growing 2 more fronds. Well, actually I'm unsure about that so let's just wait.

But, the biggest surprise of all is my Ridleyi girl is growing a fertile frond!

 Meanwhile, I requested 2 orchid planters from my dad who made from scratch. Absolutely love them. Can't wait to put the After Darks on these. Speaking of After Dark Orchid, before I left for my short holiday, I pulled them out from the new sphagnum moss only to find the roots starting to rot. I quickly trimmed them and removed some of the moss and loosen them up so they don't pack so much water. Trimming of Magnolia Lily's roots also seemed to have worked (I gave her a second trim few days before I left), she's growing shoots although a couple tips of branch seemed to turned black.

What's not awesome to come back to was bachelor's buttons died and balsams died. I cannot believe I suck at growing balsams, a plant that I grew up planting. I hope I will have higher success at the new place. With that said, let me share with you the interest plants that I saw during the vacation.

The new house has a porch that's an orange-flowered creeper (trumpet vine?) and I was just wondering to change them to a different creeper for a makeover. I was never a fan of Rangoon Creeper until I met her at the resort we stayed. She has such a beautiful scent in the evening. Curtain Creeper and Rangoon Creeper are my top options at the moment. Although I will add that the current creeper is pretty old, I remember the stems were fat so I'm not that eager to change it. Maybe I just grow Rangoon and let them interwine for a mix of color?

Might be getting this orchid. The color is so gorgeous.

 This reminds of Magnolia buds. I should have asked the inhouse botanist during his jungle walk.