From a yard on the other side of the world

July, 2009.

These plants and flowers are a few of the plants from the yard of Clove Garden House, the place where we stayed during our trip to Bandung (West Java), Indonesia, this July.

Tropical hibiscus.

Asplenium nidus or Bird's Nest Fern

Pentas.

Azalea.

Staghorn on clove tree.

Adenium obesum or Desert Rose.

Orchids.

Heliconia.

...

China Hat, red flower.

China Hat, yellow flower.

Euphorbia.

Variegated ginger.

Hoya.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Angklung - Bamboo Musical Instrument

July 15th, 2009.

Not too far from where we stayed, about 5 - 10 minutes drive (traffic permitting), there's a bamboo musical instrument cultural center, called Saung Angklung Udjo (Udjo's Angklung Pavillion). Here, bamboo musical concert is performed by local children and teenagers. You get to learn how to play the instrument, too. The concert is performed daily at 3.30 pm for about 1.5 hours, admission Rp 80,000 / US$ 8,00.- It's amazing how traditional music instruments can play international numbers like Symphony 40 by Mozart.

The official website of Saung Angklung Udjo (in English) is:

http://www.angklung-udjo.co.id/sau/index.php

Learn more about angklung, its history and development, and also about the Saung in the website.

The main stage of Saung Angklung Udjo.

Refer to this Youtube video for an insight of the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p5n5YOVy28

The children dancing performance.

Bamboo musical concert (ARUMBA)

performed by children under 12 years old.

The angklung being distributed to the audiences.

Audiences playing angklung together

lead by the master of ceremony.

Last but not least,

the teenage students of the Saung playing

Symphony No.40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Refer to this Youtube video for an insight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50QfpR0-Or8

and this for a whole Symphony performed at Marriott Hotel, Jakarta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkx9IsOfJts

A Cafe in a Village of Leaves

July 15th, 2009.

We ended the nursery tour with lunch in a cafe, still in North Bandung. It is called Kampung Daun (Village of Leaves). It's a beautiful and peaceful place to eat and has a mature garden around it. It serves Sundanese food. It has cultural exhibits, too.

Learn more about it at: http://kampungdaun.net/about_us_eng.php

There's a natural waterfall at the back of the cafe.

The walkway is roofed by angel trumpets, bamboo trees,

ferns, and other green plants.

Small individual huts are on either side of the walkway.

Pick your own hut and have your dinner there.

An outdoor fire pit with seats made of natural tree trunk.

The lampshade made of bamboo,

hung on bamboo structure,

surrounded by trees.

Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, Cattleya, Vanda...

July 15th, 2009.

Orchid close-ups.

From an orchid centre in Bandung (Indonesia), Citra Bunga Anggrek (read more about the place in my previous posting).

I'm still learning orchids so I am not going to try to identify them unless I am 100% sure.

I know this for sure. It's got to be phalaenopsis.

It is call Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid) in Indonesia.

Cattleya.

Purchased from the nursery for US 15.00 (IDR Rp. 150,000,-)

Vanda.

This was purchased in a supermarket in Bandung

for US $ 18.50 (IDR Rp. 185,000.-)

Learning orchids:

http://www.orchidweb.com/cultural.aspx

An Orchid Nursery in Bandung

July 15th, 2009.

After Henary Nursery, we went up further to Parongpong, to a village called Cigugur Girang and visited an orchids nursery called "Citra Bunga Anggrek" (anggrek = orchid). On our way there we passed through a road called Cihideung, where nothing but little nurseries with abundant of varieties of plants on both sides of the 3 miles / 5km road! Amazing!! I'll touch on that in another post.

Passed Cihideung, we drove through a new subdivision (Triniti Subdivision) on one side of the hill and local farmer's vegetable gardens on the other side. It was unbelievable where this orchid nursery is located. We turned to a very narrow earth road, which I thought a one way road, but I was wrong, it was meant for two way traffic. Small plastered brick houses with colorful paint colors on either sides; women crowded a pickup truck full of household items for sale; children running, crying, and staring; and men working on their houses or gardens. We had to drive real slow. Then at one point when it seemed impossible to make a right turn, the car turned, and voila... a spacious parking lot with big greenhouses were in sight! It's the Citra Bunga Anggrek, the orchid center!

The office of Citra Bunga Anggrek.

One of the greenhouses.

There are about six large greenhouses in the property

with earth floor and bamboo as the structural frame.

Orchids are grown in terra cotta pots

and placed on top of bamboo benches.

Their main collections are dendrobiums and phalaenopsis,

but cattleya, vanda, and oncidium are also available

although not as rich a collection as the main two varieties.

Price wise.

The price of a pot of phalaenopsis / dendrobium is about US$ 7.50,

less than half the price of WalMart / Home Depot

which is US$16.00 - 29.00 / pot.

Cattleya and Vanda are about US$ 15.00/pot in this nursery.

Not surprisingly, should you purchase phalaenopsis / dendrobiums

outside this nursery, like for example at a resort restaurant nearby,

you would have to pay the same amount of money

as in WalMart / Home Depot, US!

A greenhouse full of anthuriums.

Zebra plant and maiden hair fern are also available.

They grew these underneath the bamboo benches

where it's really dark, cool, and humid.

The nursery has a website, but it is in Bahasa Indonesia:

http://www.citrabunga-anggrek.com/

The address is:

Citra Bunga Anggrek

Jl. Cigugur Girang Kp. Kebon Hui Rt 02/02

Desa Cigugur Girang

Kec. Parongpong, Kab. Bandung Barat 40559

Learning about orchids:

http://www.orchidweb.com/cultural.aspx

Henary 4 - Rooftop Garden

July 15th, 2009.

Here's the last batch of pictures from Henary Nursery in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.

White cactus on Henary's rooftop garden.

The white cactus and red-flowered Euphorbia.

Kale.

Pink-flowered bee balm and Red Button Ginger

(Costus woodsonii) flowers among others.

Another corner of Henary's rooftop garden.

It has manmade waterfall on the back wall, too.

This garden can be rented for a party or wedding place.

Orange-flowered cosmos and geraniums

with Bandung city rooftops on the background.

Henary 3 - Flowers and Fruits

July 15th, 2009.

Still from Henary Nursery's garden.

Tropical hibiscus.

Plumeria.

Probably a ginger plant. Nice red flower.

This was called "Lipstick Plant".

Portulaca.

I've never seen portulaca in this color of foliage before.

A trailing plant by the front wall fence.

Pomelo.

Jackfruits.