Sunset On 30th Day MCO

Our Thursday's meals were simple ones. There was no lovely sunrise that morning after the previous night's heavy downpour.

 My purple Periwinkle bush

 My cassava or tapioca plants in front of my house.

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We had buns given by a friend with hot milo and coca drinks for breakfast.

For lunch, we had homemade steamed minced pork buns.

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Dinner

 We had homecooked stewed duck, leftover fried chicken wings, angled loofah and steamed rice for our dinner.

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Even though I didn't have any sunrise shots, I managed to capture some sunset shots that evening.

 Sunset at 5:25 pm

 5:26 pm

 5:26:22 pm

 5:27 pm

My house faces north and this was taken at 5:27:28 pm.

Linking to Friday Bliss & Skywatch Friday.

How constantly I find myself upon the verge of sin;

this source of sorrow always stares me in the face.

(Psalm 38:17, The Living Bible-TLB)

From Deep Pink To Very Light Pink Periwinkles

Once I planted the deep pink periwinkles in my garden, they have self propagated and are now growing here and there in my garden. Some of them have even found their way outside my garden and are now growing outside in the small garden patch.

These have even overshadowed my Amaryllis plants in the small garden patch.

This is the purple periwinkle.

Every morning I will sweep the cement floor around the small garden patch and one morning I noticed these familiar green droppings of the caterpillars.

2 green droppings of the caterpillars, 2 black ants and one open seed pod with seeds from the periwinkle plant.

I started my hunt and found a few fat caterpillars feeding on my periwinkle plants.

The caterpillars love my periwinkle leaves.

Time to transfer them away from my garden patch.

One morning, I was surprised to see this flower from a periwinkle plant growing in one of the flower pot. I had not planted this colour in my garden and I didn't know how it appeared. Though the colour is of very light pink, I still find it very pretty with the small pink and yellow centre. 

It is happy and blooming.

Sometimes the flowers appeared to be white.

Hopefully this will self propagate elsewhere in my garden.

I like this colour. So sweet and pretty. 

The pink seems to fade in the hot sun.

The bud has a deeper pink.

Below are my water jasmine flowers.

These are the single layer flowers from the water jasmine plant.

These flowers give off a nice fragrance when in full bloom.

They may be very tiny flowers but they are so pretty when you take a closer look.

A simple Christmas tree at the Tesco Mall.

WISHING EVERYONE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS
AND
A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Linking to Floral Bliss & Wednesday Around The World

Blessed be his glorious name forever!

Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and amen!

(Psalm 72:19, The Living Bible-TLB)

Growing Rosy Periwinkle Plants In My Garden

Sometime last year, I visited my friend in Taiping and I saw this beautiful deep pink flower under her porch. I have the same kind of plant but the colour of the flower is light purple. 

This plant is the Rosy Periwinkle or Madagascar Periwinkle plant.

Its scientific name is Catharanthus Roseus.

My friend gave me two stem cuttings and when I reached home, I quickly plant them in a small container with garden soil. 

I have re-potted them into a bigger pot and they have been flowering non-stop.

Rosy Periwinkle plant is easy to grow. I only feed it with fertilizer once in a while.

It loves the warm climate and grows well in well drained soil.

The leaves are oval shaped and green with white veins.

When any parts of the plants is brushed against, it gives out an unpleasant smell.

Rosy Periwinkle comes in various shades of deep pink, pink,

light purple, purple, white, and etc.

For Rosy Periwinkle to grow healthy, the soil should not be too wet.

Too much water or over watering will cause root rot and it will die.

It grows well under full sun or partial sun.

Recently another friend gave me some white and purple flowers periwinkle cuttings.

Propagating through stem cuttings for my friends.

A pair of seed pods inside the purple circle.

Propagation can be done through seeds.

Once the seed pod is matured, it will burst open and disperse the seeds.

Medicinal uses:
Information from the internet:-

• Traditionally, Rosy Periwinkle has been used by Madagascan healers to treat diabetes.
• It is claimed that extracts from Rosy Periwinkle contains anti-cancer properties.

Rosy Periwinkle is a fast growing plant with very little care.

The plant can be trimmed back to promote a bushier plant,

also to encourage more branches and more flowers.

The trimmed off stems can be used for further propagation of new plants.

Rosy Periwinkle is suitable for growing in containers, hanging pots, flower beds,

as borders and for landscapes.

Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone.

The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come,

and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.

(Song of Solomon 2:11-12, New Living Translation-NLT)