Happy Birtday, Meryam Halimah

Tanggal 31, bulan 8, 2003 ... Meryam was born at Hospital UKM.

Meryam is my first child, and she was born in the early hours of the Merdeka Day. The name is also special becoz 'Meryam Halimah' is taken from the name of her grandmathers (Meryam is my mother-in-law's and Halimah is my mother's).

Here are some photos on her 6th birthday celebration.

The cake, an ice cream cake from Baskin & Robbins


Blowing the candles, her younger brother, Hazem, was also blowing the candles, much to her displeasure. As a result, we had to light the candles twice.


The three siblings waiting to cut and taste the cake.


The birthday present, from her mother.



Her birthday wish was to have a barbie wristwatch ... and she got it! It is original, by the way, comes with the special box.

My Amaryllis picture is used by a US company for its online business

I know I have been taking great-looking pictures of Amaryllis/Hippeastrum flowers, but I never expect that my pictures are worthy of inclusion in an on-line catalogue.

I found that 2 companies in the USA are using my Hippeastrum Cybister 'Bogota' picture for its on-line business, without informing me or obtaining my permission. The two companies a big corporations and are offering many varieties of bulbs.

Here is the picture of the flower that I took using my Olympus u840, with a purple background. The paper is slightly crumpled.




The image that they use. Notice the slighly crumpled paper behind the topmost petal.


And here is the picture being displayed at Willow Creek Gardens

Amaryllis Bogata at Willow Creek



And another at its sister company, EasytoGrow Bulbs
Amaryllis Bogata at EasytoGrow Bulbs



Plagiarism is a form of flattery, I guess :-)

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Happy Birthday Hazem, part 2

More of Hazem's picture on his birthday, celebration among the closest family members.

The birthday cake


The birthday card


The inside of the card, written by Meryam


Hazem is blowing the three candles


Hazem reading the card


Weighing the birthday present


And the present, a toy car


that transforms into BumbleBee

Happy Birthday, Muhammad Hazem

Born on 10th August 2006, at 3:32pm at Hospital UKM. The above picture was taken at 4:16pm, 42 minutes after his birth. Hazem is my 2nd child, and so far, my 1st and only son.

Daddy got you and daddy love you.

Nick name : Hazem

Favourite drink : susu kow-kow

Favourite movie : Ultraman yang best (top at the moment). Also Cars, Baby Einstein, The Incredibles, Buzz Lightyear (Toy story) ...

Can not leave home without : pampers

Go to bed with : His baby blanket, his baby pillow, his ultraman soft toy and his plane toy

Best time to tease : Just after waking up from sleep, before drinking milk and eating any food

Commendable trait : Obediently swallow all kinds of medicine.

Worth mentioning : Talkative and expressive


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Hippeastrum Amy Maguire

Another bulb purchased from Australia, Hippeastrum Amy Maguire is in bloom today. So beautiful, white with red veins, dots and red picotee ...









The veins, the dots and the picotees

Hippeastrum Equestre or Puniceum - red

I have been trying to find an ID for this widely available here. It somehow resembles the species Hippeastrum Gracile.

It is red, the bloom measuring about 4 inches, on an 12 inches scape. The colour is darkish red, with creamish turning to green throat. Loves to multiply.

Here are the pictures











With Tosca

Germinating Rain Lily Seeds

Zephyranthes, also known as rain lily, propagates through producing offsets or through seeds.

However, from my experience, Zephyranthes Citrina, bright yellow-coloured rain lily, do not produce offsets, but will produce 10-25 seeds from one seedpod.

My first experience with germinating seeds from Z. Citrina happened more than a year ago ... I was trying my luck by just planting the seeds in a pot next to my Agavae.

The seed pod, just splitted and ready to be harvested


The seeds, there were 12 seeds from the one and only seedpod, harvested on 16th July 2008


Then, a week later, to my pleasant surprise, needle-like leaves were seen growing


And on day 17, they grow even longer ....


And this is on day 37


Then I moved them to a bigger pot and forget about it. And they still survive without much care from me :-)

Hippeastrum Orange Rascal

My cutest hippeastrum yet, blooms measuring about 2 inches on a tiny scape, just slightly bigger than my rain lilies







Next to a ruler


Next to Roseum


Next to my rain lily, Zephyranthes Citrina

Hippeastrum Roseum

Widely available here. May be considered heirloom hippeastrums, already naturalised by the road side in in almost every body's garden in Malaysia.

I got mine given by my neighbour when he did his garden makeover in Jan 2008. I planted them en masse in my garden bed. It does not require any cooling period to bloom, may be just a semi dormant state. It can be forced to flower by cutting all of its foliage at the neck level, the the blooms will be forthcoming in about 2 months time.

Mine that are planted in the garden bed, in its second season of blooming, has been producing blooms since Feb 09 till now. I let them to bloom naturally without forcing.

Th blooms are salmon-orange-pink, with green throat, measuring 3.5 inches on an 18 inches scape.









With the red Puniceum


With Tosca


With Chico






With Night Star


With Germa


With Giraffe


With Blossom Peacock


With Andrea Maguire


With Zephyranthes Citrina, rain lily