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Thursday, Feb 08, 2024 - 20:49 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Clump And The End


Counter with a view


Being on medical leave for the week, I figured it would be a good opportunity to catch up on blogging and reviewing, and so here we have the other end of the roof terrace. The aluminium cabinet and bar counter had been outfitted with Dekton Trilium as its countertop material due to its essentially weatherproof qualities (as opposed to say granite), though it can get sizzling hot after some hours of direct sun. The built-in sink allows it to function adequately as an outdoor kitchen given a portable induction cooktop and microwave oven in the countertop cabinet behind the Batman singlet, with the washing machine also situated within for easy access to drying options.


Dangling and green


But on to the hangers. At the far left, we have a Thai lipstick pink plant (so named for the flowers, which have yet to appear); the leaves facing the direct sun haven't fared well, and I might replace that side with something hardier to sunburns. And in the middle, we have two varieties of pothos money plants, standard and marble. Also known as devil's ivy for being essentially unkillable, they've certainly lived up to their reputation here - if ever there was a beginner's plant, this has to be it. Currently, I'm just waiting for the vines to hit the floor before getting the shears out. And finally, the portulaca japanese rose, which had consistently bloomed in the afternoon sun, but mainly just does its own impression of a green fuzzball these days.


More succulent than herb


Back to the corner of the bar counter, there's a mini herb garden originally planted with the usual stuff - mint, parsley, oregano etc. - but they all became rootbound in short order, and I haven't had cause to replace them as yet. The cacti have been doing rather better - the porcupine planter at the front was a housewarming gift, by the way - with the occasional rains supplying all their moisture needs. Speaking of which, I've gone from being wary of overwatering and root rot initially, to figuring that if all these plants can flourish after days of thunderstorms, an extra litre or two surely can't hurt during the sunny season.


And there's more!


There's actually been a slow expansion of the garden after it got started with the eight main pots on or below the side table, and the pomegranate bush next to the Zen fountain, which is one of those that I've found it more or less safe to provide as much water as it wants. There's also an aloe vera out-of-picture that's doing okay, if with some browning lower leaves, and then there's a red coleus that should probably have been pruned early, to keep it from getting slightly leggy. I've finally taken off the tallest stalk, after it kept getting blown over.


The temple can't run, the plant can't either


Zooming in on the tinier plants, here we have a couple more succulents that have survived getting repeatedly knocked over by fainting coleus, and a fittonia nerve plant that has rounded out nicely... with a stray green sprout emerging from within. I guess we'll have to wait to find out what that is. The tiny green pot part-hidden by the fittonia contained an airplant, but let's just say I need to get another one someday. And a quick correction here - while we had referred to a laksa plant in the previous posts, it turned out to actually be a curry (leaf) plant; the laksa plant (and initial coleus) didn't last too long, but seven out of the nine originals lasting is a passing mark.


What could it be?
[Enlarged]


The sago palm's mystery guest as introduced last Friday has also bloomed, and to put a name to it, I uploaded its cropped photo to Pl@ntNet - which identified the specimen as ageratum conyzoides (tropical whiteweed, a.k.a [billy]goatweed, chickweed, etc.) with 58.85% probability. Well, weed it might be, but it's supposedly useful against a number of diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia. Since we're at this, it is also possible to note here the quite well-known anti-inflammatory properties of aloe vera, and the perhaps slightly-less recognized uses of ixora red in Ayurveda (Indian folk) medicine.

Coincidentally, a recent institutional conversation with Google representatives also had the potential of Ayurveda discussed, in particular diagnosis by tongue - which is also widely practised in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) too. In fact, I had also come to review a paper on automated Ayurveda tongue diagnosis quite recently, and more than a few TCM studies in the past few years - them's the perks of being a (technical) methods guy, one gets passed... interesting works on uncommon applications.

Now, I really have nothing against (Indian/Chinese/Eskimo) folk medicine; as long as the scientific method is followed, I'm more than willing to assess the findings, and in any case the more holistic nature of such systems meshes well with the current preventive medicine drive* (likely in part to skimp on the health budget, but meh). Like, some athletes swear by ice baths, some by heatpacks (or moxa), yet others by alternating hot and cold... I'm hardly gonna insist that they're mistaken, and in any case I believe this is termed "patient-guided precision medicine" in these more-enlightened days.

However, there might be certain critiques, primarily that folk medicine studies seem to... kind of assume that the underlying system (and physiological mechanisms) are sound. For example, it is not rare to have an experimental setup of, say, no treatment versus burning herbs placed on the (whatever) meridian acupuncture point**, with the outcome being say increased brain activity at the stimulus; to this, I somewhat suspect that my brain activity would spike if the sinseh lumped the burning moxa on any random bodypart, so maybe additional controls might be warranted, but that's just me.

[*Yes, this recalls the old joke about the chap who, when advised by his doctor to exercise daily and abstain from junk food, alcohol, cigarettes, recreational drugs to live to a hundred, questions why he would want to live that long in that case.]

[**On acupuncture points, their biggest popularizer in wider culture may well be the seminal Fist of the North Star manga, where vigorously poking the correct points has... exciting effects on the human body. While there have been some sequels, including the well-drawn Blue Sky and Regenesis, the funniest offshoot for my money would have to be Send My Regards To Kenshiro, if you've read the original. It starts a little slow, but soon enters LOL territory, and also has the obligatory Eastern vs. Western medicine showdown soon enough.]


And now a live action adaptation too!
[N.B. Note famous Raoh returning to the heavens page]




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