An Interesting Weed

Every now and then this weed would appear around the base of the plants and i would try to pull it out.  A few days ago, i spotted a big plant which was flowering. A pleasant surprise! I have absolutely no idea the flower would look like this.  An absolutely wicked looking black flower.  Why would a flower be black in color? Interesting!!  I did not smell anything in the air but perhaps i was not equipped to. 

Curcuma roscoeana

This ginger is extremely difficult to get.  It is supposedly medicinal (not sure what it cures) but i really love it for the color of the flowers.  The bright orange color really gives me a boost everytime i see it in the morning.  No need for coffee!

Barbados Cherry

A very nice red cherry ready to be plucked. The fruit is slightly sourish but the sourness diminises as the fruit ripens. 

Three Different Gingers

Curcuma longa (Tumeric)

The beautiful white flowers of the tumeric ginger looks even more stunning in the morning sun.  The roots can be used fresh or dried and grounded into tumeric powder, used in many curry dishes.  One to two leaves added to chicken curry imparts a unique spiciness so typcal of Malaysian and Indonesian curries.

Curcuma zedoaria

This ginger produces beautiful deep purple flowers and has roots which produces interesting edible "storage tubers" like a potato.  These tubers are produced from root extensions from the main ginger root.  I tried to produce new plants from these yam-like tubers but it didn't work so i guess they are purely for storage of food reserves.  The plant went dormant for some time and i thought i'd lost it so i bought one more root but soon afterwards it re-appeared, growing even bigger this time. The leaves of this ginger have a purple stripe that runs along the mid-rib.

Unknown Ginger

Another beautiful ginger. But i still don't have the name of this one.

Basil and the Fly

A fly is coming in for a landing on one of the Basil flowers. 

The fly is now leaving the Basil flower (and the mealy bud).

Barbados Cherry

One of my Barbados cherry seedling grew into a plant which produces white instead of pink flowers.  However till today none of the white flowers are able to set fruit.  I wonder what is wrong with the flowers?

Could it be a male plant?

Curcuma zedoaria

After digging them up and re-planting them a few months ago, this curcuma ginger finally flowered again producing a very brightly colored ginger flower.

The brightly colored parts are actually the bracts.

The flower is actually yellowish in color.

The leaves have a purple portion on both sides of the mid-rib.