Miura Hydroculture Plants - updated

I came across these mini hydroculture plants in Megamall and I instantly fell in love with them! Aren’t they so pretty including their pots?! I’ve collected five of these in the span of one week! I don’t know… but I feel so happy seeing them and it seems like I’m kinda hooked to these plants.

I placed four of them into this wooden house-like piece I found at home.

While the fifth plant landed on top of our fridge to complement the wooden fish behind it.

These mini-plants are soil-less and are easy to maintain. No need to neither wash any jelly nor replace anything. The routine is just to water them 2-3 times a week. Their main purpose is for indoor use and sunlight is not recommended at all. So far, they are green and alive. I really hope that they will last for long.

I’m done with the house mini-plants for now, (I’m still itching to get a maxi plant for one corner of the house and that’s more costly). And my quest won’t be over yet until I got my mini-plant/s for my office cube. Also, I plan to give one of these to five of my “girl” friends as Christmas present and I hope they’ll like it (sshhhh…).

Update:
Already found these for my office cube. Just loving it! :-)

Update 2 (Mar 8, 2010)
I already got 10 mini plants... but 4 of them dried up already.  First one is the plant in the white pot (like alovera), probably due to overwatering.  Second is the plant in the orange-black pot (with red & green leaves), it requires more water than the rest and probably dried up due to lack of bright indirect light.  Third & fourth is the plant in the pink pot, I have two of these, one in the office and the other one at home.  The one in the office dried due to overwatering, but the one I had at home, I simply don't know.  I am sure I didn't overwater and that there was enough light.

I observed that the plants grow better in the office due to the consistent bright indirect light and cold temperature.  This goes true with my money plants that I setup in the office and at home.  Now,  even if I am tempted to try other plants at home, I think I'd rather not for now i might go for it next time I found a cute one. :-)

Update (Sep 15, 2010)
It's been a month already since the last miura plant at home finally gave up.   Thus, the next time I passed by the store, I decided to get a new plant and found this cutie...

sanseveria honey

And below are what I currently have in the office.  The one in pink pot is already 9 months old while the money tree is roughly 6 months.

fittonia verschafelttii-white & pachira aquatica (money tree)

Update (Sep 24, 2010)
Check out my newest plant here. 

First Christmas Tree

I promised myself and Reese that even if our schedule is quite hectic due to the recent move, we’ll have our very first Christmas tree setup for her. Keeping that promise in mind, we were off to the most populated area of Metro Manila (Divisoria) last Saturday to get Reese her very first Christmas tree. Seeing those sky-rocketing prices at the mall just added more reason to take this effort and it was SO worth it. We only spent roughly 2,300 pesos for our 6ft Christmas tree and its decorations!

I’m listing the breakdown here for future reference:

From Divisoria (Tabora St.):
6 ft Christmas Tree (non-pvc) – 1,300
1 dozen medium gold poinsettias – 190
1 dozen medium royal blue poinsettias – 170
18 pcs medium silver balls – 200
18 pcs small royal blue balls – 120

From SM Megamall:
100 bulb christmas lights (rice type, one color) – 199
1 roll of gold ribbon (for top), free ribbon setup by SM - 125

All for Reese... I'll be blogging next about that little spiky thing behind the Christmas tree. :-)

The Move

Taking advantage of the long-weekend, we finally made our move to San Juan last Nov 28. The movers arrived at 1 pm, an hour earlier than the target. I wasn’t prepared yet and needed to take a bath after massive exposure to dust! So we had them wait for half an hour outside before we let them in and load our stuff to the truck.

Gani supervised the loading in the truck while Len-len was the onlooker at the second floor and I took care of the ground floor. It was quite smooth and the movers were professional. They knew exactly what needs to be done and more importantly, they took care of our belongings and made sure that nothing was lost nor damaged. Our things were brought from Sta. Mesa to San Juan then to Sta. Mesa again (in-law’s house). We availed round trip service since the house we got is semi-furnished. Need to let go of other furnitures that we won’t be using and had loved ones find use for them.

So after the movers left San Juan for their last trip, all that was left were boxes, boxes and boxes everywhere! Even if it was our 2nd time to move, I know I won’t ever get used to the amount of time & effort needed to get everything organized. Our remaining energies were spent unpacking the necessities first, all related to food & clothing. The rest were taken care of during the next few days. Up to this writing, we still have some boxes to unpack and other stuff I want to place in storage cabinets.

But have you ever wonder where Reese was during those days? She was with her Lola and slept in their house for a couple of nights to give us more time and flexibility to pack and unpack our things. We just had her back 3 nights after the move (yeah… so sad but got no choice). Hearing her laughs and talks again are my rewards for all those hectic and tiring days! We are all together now to experience and enjoy our new environment. Another BIG leap in our lives…thanks to Ondoy… and above all, thank God for all His timely answers to our prayers.