passionate about passion fruit or markisa

I am beginning to fall in love with markisa. It is a sweet love, a definite love at first sight. First at seeing how the vines change leaves after the initial set, then the way the plants climb and get tendrils do the work for extra support and recently the flowers. To be in love is wanting to know more.

earlier post on markisa / passion fruit
~Reduce weight with vegetables and fruits
Monday, May 7, 2012
~Markisa and Okra
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
~Wishing Markisa good luck! 
Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Kelantan:  It started last year in Kelantan , when Azura gave a ripe passion fruit. The seeds were scooped out and germinated straight away. I think about hundred little seedlings appeared. I planted a few along the fence of our former Tanah Merah house. Then Razali got interested and took home a few. When we moved to Johor late last year, I had no choice but to take along a few seedlings still in polybags and quickly get them planted. The trellis is in the form of spare cloth lines. Little fruits begin to appear with our vines but Razali's far ahead.

markisa: a picture sent by Razali

Razali sent markisa and mulberry pictures recently, all doing nicely around his house. I reminded him about the origin of his markisa, that it wouldn't be around his place, if Azura didn't gave a ripe fruit last year. I didn't mentioned to him that the fruit was originally from the garden of Azura's mother.

Johor:  It's a rare opportunity to have markisa growing at the backyard. I am not too much into the eventual fruits, but to know a little bit more about the vine. It's fascinating to see how the first few leaves  stayed single, then much later developed into 3 lobes. Tendril is another interesting element in passionfruit vine.  Two fruits are forming, and they seem to growing quite fast!

markisa, passion fruit: the first baby

markisa flower: looking down

markisa flower: looking up

...........b a n g c h i k      a n d      k a k d a h ..........

j o h o r

another bunga bakawali

I realised that we are keeping two different types of pokok bakawali. The earlier one has softer leaves, quite flexible that one can almost roll and  fold the leaves .. The other one has stiffer and tough leaves.

The first variety we had been keeping which had been propogated to more than 10 new plants, originally was a gift from my younger sister Rosiah. She stayed in Pantai Remis Perak.  The blooming stage of this plant had been featured twice here (Bunga Bakawali Blooming, the stages.  January 17, 2011) and
and here  ( Bunga Bakawali Epiphyllum oxypetalum April 30, 2012).

The second variety was given by Fiza, Kakdah's friend during Tanah Merah days. The plant had bloomed twice before but always during our absence. I was around for the third blooming and surprisingly three bloomed simultaneously.  Kakdah was away on Cambodia Peace Mission  for 4 days. There's no fun doing time lapse shooting alone, therefore I just took a couple of shots through various angles. It was Thursday 10th of May 2012.

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali

bunga bakawali: 

10th may 2012 bunga bakawali: THE SECOND VARIETY, thin and long petals 
and with spiky look.

30th april 2012 bunga bakawali: THE FIRST VARIETY, very compact, 
nicely layered.

Of the two variety, the first is more pleasant to look at and the aroma is fantastic. The second is a bit skeletal and longish, lacking on fragrance. The experts would know the name of each, but I wouldn't, it's all bakawali first and second type to me, A blogger friend CBSR had booked bakawali seedlings for her new Bangi House, and I didn't tell her about 40 bakawali seedlings at our backyard.  Kakdah is just back from Cambodia Peace Mission trip, and today is her birthday!

    bangchik and kakdah    

    pasir gudang  johor   

Reduce weight with vegetables and fruits

I am no dietician. Just a blogger-gardener, who love to maintain a neat vegetable garden at the back of the house, and share beautiful moments with Kakdah as we turn leaves, pull weeds and spread fertiliser.  There are intermittent social offerings, in the form of fresh vegetables to neighbours.

2. So what's this reducing weight all about. Some food we take, will result in fat deposited in all corners of our body. Belly will end up as pot belly. The worst that could happen is fat deposited along the veins making it difficult for blood articulation throughout the body, and as a result forcing the heart to pump harder. Heart can get tired too, and will fail without warning .

3. Most vegetables and fruits are low in fat and calories. They also provide source of fibre which is good for digestion. Most contain minerals, vitamins and antioxidants which make us look good and protect from disease. I don't grow many vegetables and fruits, but enough for Kakdah to take a few steps and pick something for lunch everyday. These are currently growing at the backyard garden.

salad

ulam raja

sambung nyawa/ gynura precumbens

bunga kantan

pegaga

cekur

natural colouring

bunga telang ~ blue

kunyit / tumeric ~ yellow

roselle ~ red

vegetables

kangkung 

bayam

sawi

kailan/ kale

kubis/ cabbage

halia / ginger

tomato

chili

bendi / okra

basil

terung / brinjal

kucai / chives

serai / lemon grass

drinks, juice and jam

roselle

pineapples

markisa / passion fruit

natural sweetener

stevia

buah ajaib / miracle berry

4. By growing fruits and vegetables at the backyard garden, we can guarantee  it would be quite safe, without overdose of pesticides .  We don't really need acres,  a little plot is enough for chili, kale, roselle, okra etc. Some may wish to resort to container gardening, which is the only alternative for apartment dwellers.

5. I have been waiting to see the first markisa (passion fruit). Three of them are climbing the spare cloth lines at the back of the house. I can see flowers now....  These will not see the light of day without Azura who had given us a ripe passion fruit last year and insisted us to grow them. I will not forget another blogger friend who had regularly updating her markisa progress.......

bunga markisa / passion fruit flower

bunga markisa / passion fruit flower

soon there will be markisa / passion fruit juice!

bangchik and kakdah

pasir gudang, johor