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Do you have a place where you can say you are home? A place that you have not seen for a year but yet, you know exactly, you are home?
The view from my dining room.
I am home in my tropical garden again. I am happy to be here around my beautiful plants and flowers but sad to say, our beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog Angus who lived in the Philippines since 2011) passed away a few hours after my hubby and I arrived to our second home Philippines, from our long journey from Germany.
The graveyard of our beloved Angus. He will be missed forever.
Angus just waited for us to come back to our Philippines home. He used to greet us with wagging tail and hugged us when we came back home from Germany. He was so sick and was confined to our city Vet clinic the day my hubby and I started our travel. When we arrived at the airport of our destination, we immediately collected him from the clinic and brought him home. Angus wagged his tail when he recognised my voice. I saw that he was happy seeing me but tears came both from our eyes. Angus and I knew, we had a few hours to say goodbye to each other. It was supposed to be a happy day but it was not. He reached the age of 11 years old. We buried Angus in my beautiful garden just in front of our veranda, surrounded by many flowering plants where he used to pee before.
Mussaenda Dona Sirikit flowers from my garden.
My tropical garden is getting wild. It looks like a mini forest now. I know, I can't trim the plants in a day. I need time and a helper who can climb. Our mango tree should be trimmed too but there are still fruits hanging in it. I have to wait that all fruits are gone, harvested in any way. Mind you, I am happy when it is windy because the ripe mango fruits just fall down on the ground. The pomelo tree and carambola/star fruits are bearing plenty of fruits as well. The fruits should be all harvested before the fruit trees will be trimmed. There is one fruit tree that bears fruits for the first time. The rambutan fruit tree of my late father. The fruits are still green and I am hoping that I could taste the fruits before going back home to Germany.
Here are some new photos of my beautiful flowers 🌺
Bougainvillea plants.
Palm tree, pomelo, banana and guava trees.
Bougainvillea, banana and other plants.
My Tropical Garden video.
Water spinach under the wax apple tree and pomelo tree on the side besides Oleander flowers.
Bougainvillea swaying back and fort with the pink Mussaenda Dona Sirikit besides other plants under the pomelo tree.
I am still looking for the name of this plant. Very easy plant to take care of.
Crotons or as we called it Parpagayo in the Philippines.
Hibiscus flowers side by side with Oleander.
Birds of Paradise
Mussaenda Dona Cory with its stunning yellow color.
Stunning bougainvillea with Mothers Tongue and other plants around.
I could post more of my plants but I think it is enough for now. I don't know the names of some of my flowers in my garden. If you like, you can comment the names of the plants you know. It would be very much appreciated. I have not written on my blogs for more than 2 months. Didn't really feel into writing. I am still mourning, you know. I miss Angus roaming around my plants and just sitting silently on my lap.
Kalabo is a Philippine oregano. Also called origanom vulgare, Suganda in Tagalog language and coleus aromaticus, its scientific name. The Philippines oregano plant can grow up to 90 cm (from my tropical garden) tall and the leaves can grow as big as a baby hand. The leaves are in heart form and a bit hairy. Kalabo is a perennial herbal medicine which is not only used by the local people in healing their coughs and colds but also using the leaves in their cooking. The leaves are very aromatic and they have balsamic flavor.
My Kalabo Plant
I was in my home country for a few months last year. The weather was so hot and humid. I think I was no longer used to the tropical weather that I thought my childhood asthma was coming back. There were days when I was okay and there were nights that I kept on "barking". It usually happened in the middle of my sleep. Water was always nearby to consume. One evening when I was attacked by my coughing, I remembered my herbalist late grandmother. She had always chopped herbs packed in wilted banana leaves just in case one of her children and grandchildren got sick. The packed herbs were then roasted in an open fire in our "dirty kitchen". We cooked with coconut firewood and charcoal at that time. No electricity yet.
Kalabo, Philippine Oregano
How my grandma made Kalabo / Oregano tea:
I remembered how my grandmother made Kalabo / Oregano tea. She prepared every afternoon wrapped Kalabo/Oregano in a piece of wilted banana leaves for emergency purposes.
1. She got a handful of Kalabo or Oregano from her packed herbs, washed them and put them in a mug.
2. Then she poured boiled hot water from the thermos in the mug.
3. Left the Kalabo leaves in the mug for around 15 minutes.
4. Remove the leaves from the mug.
5. She then added brown sugar from sugar cane she bought from the market.
6. Then she gave the Kalabo tea to me and I had to drink it.
After that drink, I was able to sleep well. It reduced my coughing and it was very calming to me that I could rest the whole night. Kalabo was and still is the best organic plant remedy for my coughs and colds.
Remembering the sleepless night when I had an asthma attack, I saw my grandmother in me now, collecting Oregano leaves in our backyard. How I wish she is still here beside me. I have a lot of herbal questions to ask.
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P.S.
Some parts of this post were published before on Niume site in 2016, which is now gone forever.
Here are some beautiful plants in my tropical garden:
