a recent trip (parang ang layo...) to our backyard delighted me so much, that i decided to post about it. see, my dad (or pop or poppy, as i like to call him) has his own little garden at the back of our house, and i was so pleasantly surprised to discover how...umm...green...it was. haha!

obviously, i have no green thumb whatsoever. no plant lives through my hands. fakes ones, sure! hee! but live ones? give me a few days with it and it's all downhill, baby.

on the other hand, my folks have the greenest thumbs i have ever seen (not literally, of course). our house is filled with such thriving plants and i feel them staring at me whenever i pass one by, taunting me "killer...killer...". i mean, i love plants and i'm all for having them all over the house. i love that they produce oxygen so i can breathe. i love that they make our house look so much prettier than the other houses on our block. i love that they give pop so much pleasure when they bear fruit. i love that they delight my mom when their flowers bloom and permeate the air with their sweet scent. but oh, i can only admire them from afar. leaving a plant in my care translates to plant harakiri. seriously.

so anyhoo, the recent trip i made to our backyard was such a delightful experience for me. poppy has so many vegetables and fruit bearing trees, and these are actually what's served on our dinner table. cool huh? we have calamansi (calamondin), sili (chili peppers), basil, kangkong (water spinach), potatoes, eggplant, squash, okra, ampalaya (bitter fruit), mustasa (mustard), kamias (what the fuck is this in english???), kamote (yam or sweet potato), tarragon and mint. notice the pic of poppy's potatoes? they're of a different variety, where the plant is a vine and the potatoes are hanging. but poppy's potatoes taste just like your regular potatoes! yummm! i remember poppy even used to have broccoli, passionfruit, tomatoes and a lemon tree, but i don't know what happened to them.

my mom's forte though is on decorative plants and flowers. we have a long plant box in front of our house, right by the window, and it's filled with beautiful forget-me-nots. when these bloom, it's sooo lush and the blue flowers are a stark contrast to the dark adobe walls. beautiful! our neighbors can't help but admire mom's flower garden, and even passersby comment on mom's lovely plants. i remember asking my mom what her secret is, and she mentioned that she talks to her plants. it's weird to me, but apparently, people actually do this. once, i caught her crooning sweet nothings to her forget-me-nots. teehee!

so the next time you feel like veggie-binging or flower-picking, hop on over! i'm sure my folks will be delighted. me? you can find me in my room, hunched over my pc...blogging about the world outside. haha!


*** oh, and i forgot to take pics of my mom's beautiful flowers. these are all from poppy's garden. i'll try and post some over the weekend.