Instead of planting Calathea Lutea in the ground as is normally done, I had them planted in several pots several months ago. These tall majestic plants belong to the large prayer plant family, the Marantaceae. Their broad bluish-green leaves provide much welcome shade and reduce the glare from the hot afternoon sun. Tiny yellow flowers are carried on maroon cigar-like bracts. Read that in some South American country, the leaves are used as food wrappers for cooking in the way we used pandan leaves for pandan chicken.
Calathea fronds partially covered by a ginger torch plant
For dinner I wanted to make a leek and mushroom pie from a recipe that I’ve tried over the Chinese Spring festival. Leeks then were abundantly available. This morning I bought leeks but forgot about the mushroom so this dish would have to be taken out from tonight’s meal.
As
I was cooling my potted Calatheas with buckets of water, I noticed a
bunch of wild mushrooms sprouting at their bases. For a moment, I
wonder whether I could make use of these but quickly banished the idea
though they look rather innocuous, wholesome and palatable.
Calathea fronds partially covered by a ginger torch plant
The flowers themselves are transient; probably lasting a day or so but the long lasting bracts are both an oddity and a novelty.
For dinner I wanted to make a leek and mushroom pie from a recipe that I’ve tried over the Chinese Spring festival. Leeks then were abundantly available. This morning I bought leeks but forgot about the mushroom so this dish would have to be taken out from tonight’s meal.
As
I was cooling my potted Calatheas with buckets of water, I noticed a
bunch of wild mushrooms sprouting at their bases. For a moment, I
wonder whether I could make use of these but quickly banished the idea
though they look rather innocuous, wholesome and palatable.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIts almost a year I didn't hear from you or your garden progress.
Glad to note that you are blogging again.
You know I was kind of really looking for this plant name and searching it under the family name of Heliconia & now you mentioned it here that it is Calathea Lutea - it is now easy for me to profile it.
Hope to hear more from you soon.
Hello there! I moved house on Deepavali last year and has been busy. Started on my garden from scratch. Now, that my garden is more mature, I thought I will post some images. Most of the plants were cuttings taken from the my older garden.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's been such a long time! I still remember your golden bougainvillea blooms. Great to see your blog post again.
ReplyDeleteThe C. lutea leaves are indeed exotic looking. I've seen golf courses and resorts growing lots of these plants.
Hi Autumn Belle, nice to hear from you. I'm back. The Calatahea are really easy to propagate and grow. They are rather spectacular particularly when planted in the ground and can reach up to 15 ft or more. I've seen some really tall ones outside the lemon cafe of Shangri la Hotel, KL
ReplyDeleteAloha,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great choice for your shade garden...I need to start planting more of these. Malaysia must be a fun place to grow tropicals in true humid conditions.
noel
Indeed true about the variety of plants that we can plant here and so is Hawaii, which is much cooler. I've been there about a quarter of a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to acquire calathea crotilifera (rattlesnake) for variety and uniqueness.
Calathea lutea...I dream of having this beautiful plant in my garden, but it is too cold. We have it in our Houston Butterfly Center in an atrium where it grows up to 10 feet tall! Great plant!
ReplyDeleteDavid/:0)
Mine are about ten feet tall too. I saw some at the Shangri La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur last Christmas, and they reach up to 15-20 feet high, perhaps even taller!
DeleteVery nice and attractive post. Fungi also looking so beautiful.
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