The Rumah Puteh Garden

The family house in Ayer Itam has a nice (mostly container) garden in the front and a small fruit/vegetable garden at the back. One of my siblings, ZA has always been a garden enthusiast, even leaving his council job to set up a garden centre. Unfortunately the garden centre was too far away from town to thrive, so he had to close after a while. But he continues being interested in plants and gardening, and so ensures the family house always has nice plants around.

The recent Hari Raya holidays saw some new plants at the house. I especially loved the kenanga or ylang-ylang (scientific name: Cananga odorata). This dwarf variety was beautifully in bloom in a container in front of the house. Did you know that this fragrant flower is used in perfumery, even in Chanel's No 5? Kenanga is a favourite flower of mine, so now you also know my favourite perfume. ZA also had purple, pink and white petunias in hanging pots around the house. They are really so beautiful to look at.

Ylang-ylang in the morning, at the Rumah Puteh (CNB 2011)

Beautiful white petunias in hanging pots (CNB 2011)

Yellow flowers of the Cosmos sulphureus greet you as you
walk in towards the Rumah Puteh (CNB 2011)

The container garden at the Rumah Puteh (CNB 2011)

A beautiful red double hibiscus (CNB 2011)

The fruit/vegetable garden at the back, usually tended by my nephew RO, was quite 'fruitful' with the asam belimbing, rambutan, chillies, and bananas. Unfortunately the three bunches of bananas were not yet ripening then, so there was no chance to eat them before we left for home in Shah Alam.


A beautiful banana bunch (one of three)
 at the Rumah Puteh (CNB 2011)

Asam  belimbimg 'season' at the Rumah Puteh (CNB 2011)

Green common chillies galore (CNB 2011)

Quite a few plants in my own garden in Shah Alam are rhizomes from the Rumah Puteh garden. The kantan (torch ginger) rhizome I took from here over a year ago have matured and I have harvested a few bunga kantan already. There is also the lengkuas (galangal or blue ginger) which I will use to cook rendang, i.e. when I buy a suitable tool (a parang?) to harvest it, ha ha!