of new beginnings cut short... plant style

spent 3 hours conducting terminal surgery (more like mutilate) on some 15 chillies, which were going bad anyway, to pick out the seeds. still cannot understand why i have this urge to smuggle plant seeds back home to Singapore from Aus once i finish studies this december.... and i'm not know to keep even mould alive (haha...).

a friend gave me a pandan plant sometime early last year, and i've only used it twice or so, and now it's karked. really strange b'cos usually these plants are quite hardy, but either it's dying of too much nutrients, old age (?) or sun, i put the final nail when i took it out of the washroom (yes.. it was living quite happily there until the 3 other plants around it was reclaimed by their owners) and brought it out to the full sun, resulting in sunburnt leaves (white, weak torgor, not the yellowing chlorosis of most other symptoms), and in a last-gasp effort i twisted it's roots into the pot to shorten the height so the growing tips will touch soil, not air. it'll be waiting to twist my legs when i go to hell after this.

hmm... some other victims of my un-green thumb... 2 baby orchids in plastic tubes and the most recent avocado seed, which sat like a proud lady on months-old putrid tissue paper in a dish since March, and finally decided to strike (aussie slang for germinate). was rather excited about the growing shoot peeking from the split centre after waiting so long, but the tip just turned brown and black afew days ago. could be due to the still chilly mornings (heck, i can take it, why can't it??!! have more survival will man!!! and grow up like a grown tree!!!), or the recent transplant to the bigger 1kg peanut butter jar. or maybe my neighbour's loud cries of love-making ecstacy made it wish it was somewhere else... if only it had legs (haha). possible failure again... am hoping more apical meristemic shoots will decide to be stronger and show the first-born what growing up is all about, then i'll worry about getting it through customs...

quite afew seeds of native australian everlasting-daisy in a bottle (hope i won't be contributing to the global problem of exotic invasive species.... maybe i won't plant them afterall), and today's 3 hour chilli seed pickings... which Dave Yates (botany lecturer and friend) got us to relieve some of the chillies from his garden plant 2 fridays ago during an invited dinner with friends. will pot these ones since fruits won't be dispersed by wind (from 6 storeys up), and i'll get to eat them. hopefully will get to have harbenaroes from mexico someday.... heheheh!!! provided they all survive my abuse.

latest addition to the family.... a pot of native sea-parsley, an extra from our course project assignment, and decapitated before we even touched it. had it out in the backyard, hope it survives longer than the mould on my bread...