The Chinese Spring Festival (Chun Jie / 春节) which falls on 10th February 2013 is celebrated worldwide by the Chinese diaspora regardless of religion. It has no religious connotations, simply the joyous celebration of Spring, though very often, those of the Taoist persuasion offer thanksgiving prayers to the Heavens or deities and also for a smooth year ahead. During this period, Chinese homes are spruced up with plants, fresh flowers, and fruits following a long tradition of symbolising Spring and rejuvenation. A feel of Spring and festivity is strongly palpable even though in the tropics there is only the wet or dry season.
This azalea was bought three years ago and is still hale and hearty. It was from Holland and generally notorious for not blooming at all thereafter. So I was quite thrilled when it blooms frequently.
It is pink with streaks of white.
This year I bought this salmon coloured azalea. The nursery people assured me that the China variety will definitely have repeat blooming.
I plonked it into this ceramic container with oriental design.
During this season many flowers, fruits and plants considered auspicious are on sale. They are steeped in symbolism of good fortune. Nurseries and florists are chokeful with a vast array of vegetation and cut flowers.
Huge blooms of Hippeastrum grown from bulbs.
Kalanchoes in lavender and vermillion are popular buys.
Solanum pseudocapsicum symbolises abundance and fertility.
Calamansi (Citrofortunella microcarpa)
This is the window display of Robinson at Gardens, a shopping mall in the capital. 'Chun' - Chinese character for Spring is written with fake calamansi.
A broad strapped-leaf Bromeliad
It is considered an auspicious fruit. I bought heaps of these pineapples not so much for the message it conveys but more for consumption. They are sweet and juicy eaten fresh and the pulp is cooked with sugar to fashion into pineapple cookies.
It is a tradition for me to make these pineapple cookies for Chinese New Year. I stick a clove in each to represent the stalk and it gives the cookie a mild spicy flavour. Tiny gold ingots and traditional gold coins are some of the ubiquitous ornaments.
Here's to wishing all Chinese bloggers and those who celebrate this festival,
"Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Chinese New Year"
Happy New Year Stiletto!
ReplyDeleteKong Hee Fatt Choy..Xin Nian Kuai Ler!!
May you have a prosperous year and be blessed with good health and more wealth :)
I love all your pictures!! Makes me envy you having azaleas in many colors. Kalanchoes are gorgeous as well.
Good thinking you bought the ananas for the tarts! They look authentic too. My mom loved to bake her pineapple tart just like yours with clove sticking in it. She also carry a purse full of cloves to put under her tongue as natural mouth freshener.
Thank you Ash for the CNY felicitations and kind words.
DeleteThe pineapples sold at the market are so sweet, sometimes I can't decide whether to eat them or bake them :) I've solved this dilemma by buying a different variety for the cookies. So far, I've bought more than 50 pieces and still buying... reminds me of the Cookie Monster of Sesame Street.
That's a lot of blooms, auspicious for CNY. Our Chinatown and the Malls are also exhibiting lots of ornaments and fengshui things these days. Maybe your climate is not as hot as ours because your azalea is flowering. Are you sure those hydrangeas are from Holland, maybe just from the Cameron Highlands. I am always so impressed with those fruiting citrus fruits, i wonder what they do to make them fruit that much. Ours are from China i think
ReplyDeleteThe hydrangeas are from Holland. Those from Camerons look different. (not bad that you know about Cameron. The nurseries here import flowers from all over the world. Most of the citrus are from China and Vietnam. I've one citrus plant that is more than 2 decades old and still fruiting abundantly. It was bought during the CNY season.
DeleteYour pink and white Azalea is just lovely. How wonderful that it keeps on blooming for you. Fingers crossed that the salmon coloured one does the same. Thanks for sharing all the beautiful blooms that are part of your CNY celebrations. It sounds like a truly wonderful time of year.
ReplyDeleteWith all the blooming and greening, the nurseries are having a riot of colours. Its wonderful time to indulge in plants. This time round the weather is milder, so its quite pleasant.
DeleteAs the joy I felt after seeing azaleas love you too. I greet warmly and wish you a happy New Year
ReplyDeleteThank you for warm wishes. I love azaleas too and the best part is that they can be grown here in the tropics, unlike peonies. If peonies can be cultivated here, I'd rush out to buy them.
DeleteStiletto, Happy New Year! This holiday is wonderful in each country, and more with so many flowers and nice fruit trees. I love this Braided Dracaena, is so unusual! From the fruit I love pineapples, but sometimes I buy semi-sweet, I can't choose them!
ReplyDeleteThank you Nadezda. I've seen the braided Dracaenas in hotels and shopping malls. They look lovely in that luxurious setting unlike in the nursery where they pasted some plastic ribbons on them. However they are on the expensive side.
DeleteOver here we like to eat cut pineapples dipped in soy sauce and hot chillies!
We are right in the middle of a snow-storm where I live (no joyous celebration of spring for us) so you can imagine how therapeutic it has been seeing such greenery and colour on your blog post today, and even pineapples! I've never heard of these pineapple cookies but they look delicious :)
ReplyDeleteHi Rosemary, your spring will come a short while later and I'm sure you'll have a joyous celebration.
DeleteThe pineapple cookies are yummy. I've sent some to my English friends in UK and they absolutely love them. The filling is sweet and sour and the butter pastry add to its richness.
I think it's a lovely tradition to celebrate spring and I wish you a good year, full of good health and happiness.
ReplyDeleteIt's refreshing to see so many pretty blooms on your post. I am such an admirer of the azalia plant and have 40 or more in my garden, some of which are in bloom at the moment, and a couple look like your first and second photos.
I really like the impressive way the Bamboo is braided, and those pineapple cookies look delicious.
Enjoy your day
Warmest Regards.
Azaleas are indeed lovely, so its not surprising that it has many admirers. Your garden must be very lovely to have so many varieties of them. The braided draceana has been around for several years but still quite steep to purchase.
DeletePiękne azalie, bardzo je lubię. Ponadto wiele pięknych kwiatów pokazałaś, co jest bardzo przyjemne, gdy u nas zima. Życzę szczęśliwego nowego roku. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful azaleas, really like them. In addition, many beautiful flowers you showed, which is very nice, the winter with us. I wish you a happy new year. Yours.
Thank you Giga for your wishes. Even though we celebrate this festival following a long tradition, it's not really spring for us. We are in the tropics which means its either the dry or wet season and its mostly hot throughout the year.
DeleteHappy Chinese New Year to you - what a wonderful welcome to the spring - the plants are so beautiful it must be difficult to know which ones to choose. I am so pleased to learn that pineapples are considered auspicious - tonight we are having what we call pineapple upside-down cake. I sponge cake topped with caramelised pineapple which sinks through the sponge as it cooks, you then turn it upside-down to eat. Your cookies look very tasty.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rosemary for your felicitations. During this period, we have to open our wallet a bit wider when we visit the nurseries or garden centres. Your upside-down pineapple cake must be delicious. In fact its even more auspicious when it's upside down.
DeleteHappy New Year! I have a friend whose husband is Chinese and she takes a week off work every year to celebrate with his family in another state. Your azaleas are really beautiful. Those cookies look great! Too bad you can't zap one to me through the computer. ;o)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wishes. Some Chinese (particularly those self-employed) work almost without a break throughout the year, then take 2 weeks to a month break to celebrate.
DeleteI too wish I can zap some pineapple cookies to each and every one of my fellow bloggers.
Happy Chinese New Year, Stiletto! What a beautiful post! Your salmon azalea is beautiful. You weren't the only one taking a look at the striking chrysanthemum (the fake one)! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth. I prefer the salmon one too. I felt so foolish when I realised that my eyes had failed me even from such close quarters!
DeleteRecently my mum bought the azalea plant and she was very sure of it that it would live.
ReplyDeleteI was very doubtful that they can survive for a year or so until they die out.
Can they survive in our climate?
Would love if you could write about how to care for them and tips.
Actually Azalea can survive and thrive in our hot tropical climate. I was inspired to plant it when I saw my tailor's plant with frequent blooms. She has it with her for years.
DeleteWhen you first get it from the nursery, let it be so you can enjoy the blooms while they lasted. When all the blooming is done with, re-pot it into a slightly bigger pot with good potting material (if possible, get the 3-in-1 or even 5-in-1). Ensure good drainage. I like my pots light, so I use broken pieces of styrofoam or coconut fibre at bottom of pot. Place it under the shade of a taller plant so that it gets filtered or partial sunlight. Fertilise with a sprinkle of organic pellets once every fortnight. I find that from my experience, this works with most temperate climate plants bought from the nursery.
When they bloom, you can then bring the plant indoors or into the patio to enjoy. My nursery guy told me that those from China will have repeat blooming.