Abong da Apong: April 2016

Arrived Jan 14, 2016...

everything seems a bit greener from last time...

the yellow bromiliads has grown and multiplied but they are turning green. wonder why.

the potted red plumerias still trying to bloom...

Those carabao grass are now beginning to grow all around the abong...

we added some solar/LED walkway lights on the pathway to the abong and they look great at night!
the locals refer to our place as 'the park'...

added some stepping stones...

stepping stones?

more pics around the abong...

apong baket Remi watering the red Plumerias by the palisdaan...

view from the back...

installed another lightpost at the back. Couldn't find a straight pole, so we used used this crooked kakawati tree trunk then added a bromeliad to its trunk. it looks funny...

looking at the light pole...

yellow and purple bromiliads accent...

replanted those giant Gabi leaves to the ground hoping that they will spread out and grow bigger...

added a night spotlight on the bornay fountain.
looks great at night!!!

found this old (antique?) "alsong" (large stone mortar used to hand-pound rice).
will try to make pinipig from this one someday.

Plants around the abong...

Most of the plants around the abong are the old existing plants. I just trimmed them to make it esaier on the eyes. I am still trying trying to calibrate the place for some new plants to see if they thrive.

This is one of the four dwarf coconut palms tree I planted in 2014. If everything goes as planned, they should bear fruit by next year or so. These are of the "Catigan" variety I got from the Philippine Coconut Authority as a "test"plants.

some of the plants and flowers planted around the abong.

apong baket Remi watering some of the flowers...

more plants around tyhe abong...

someday we will have these veggies... for now we went to the market for these ;)

one of these days we will have all these available...if not we can always get the at the market...;)

papaya harvest...its what we have for breakfast everyday...

one of those papaya trees. these are Dole Hawaiian variety. they are small round shape and sweet unlike the local variety.
they are not dwarf but fruit can be reached by hand (or stepladder). there are about 30 or so spread all over the place.

this is one of the many bamboos we are trying to grow in the property. this is a Thailand Golden bamboo variety. currently, there are five varieties of bamboo growing around the place. we plan to grow more in the future.

and this is Lemon Grass (citronella) locally known as "baranibod" in Ilocano and "tanglad" in tagalog.
it keeps the mosquitos and other insect off...;)

and this one of the many "malongay" (moringa) trees growing around the property. brought back some of the leaves, dried and powdered them and we used it for tea.

Flowers around...

red plumerias...

bonsai white desert rose (adenium)

bonsai red desert rose (adenium)

some of the red ti plants and hawaiian palms...

another variety of red plumeria

this is my favorite plumeria plant. I wanted yo get a whole tree but could not locate one.
one of the workers suggested if I would settle for a branch. I said that would be okay
and just like that it appeared one day. I asked where it came from and was told 'you don't want to know'.

yellow gardenia, I thin...

Free range birds...

freedom...
This baby geese has a broken feet, trampled by the bigger geese when he/she was still a baby.
I nursed and hand feed this guy until he/she was able to move around.