Creating a "garden" to feed Sunbirds

 

Olive-backed Sunbird and Cypress plant - photographed by RDZ

Welcome back to Ichi's Garden! It's been a while since the last article that I published. Today I am going to share a new thing in this blog; creating a "garden" to feed Sunbirds. It sounds good and promising to help this bird in city life, isn't it? 

"Garden", why I should call my "garden"? It might be a little bit weird for some of you because of unfamiliar activities who live in an apartment. Generally, people who live in an apartment have never had an interest in gardening for some reason. First, maybe they are not keen on gardening, secondly, people do not have time to do the planting, third, it could be space is the real issue. I think many motives behind why someone does not do gardening. However, for me who is interested in flowers and plants, I intend to do gardening wherever I live. It doesn't matter where I stay, I would grow my flowers and plants even if in a tiny space! That is why I call my garden is "garden" because I do gardening in such a little space which is my corridor in the HDB apartment.

Dwarf yellow Hibiscus flower from my garden that attracts Sunbird - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

To be honest, I had grown my cypress vine or also known as the little trumpet flower, a few years ago. Back then I was trying to plant it because I liked a tiny red little flower that this plant has. So, I bought the Cypress vine flower seeds at a hypermarket nearby while shopping for my groceries. What happened next was I realized that this kind of flower easy to grow and low maintenance. Moreover, It grew fast and attracted a tiny little bird that has a beautiful song. Not only me, my cat, Ichi, she liked to sit tight at her TV window and started sing to while saw these birds stopped by. What a beautiful and peaceful harmony. 

Unfortunately, we had to move and said goodbye to my tiny red flowers. And someday without any warning, I saw a tiny sprout of Cypress vine flower in my Betel leaves. It was last year actually. After dormant for about 2 or 3 years, this tiny seed of Cypress awakens from the ground! What an intriguing event and made me have a big question, "does Cypress vine seed can grow after a few years?" It looks like the seeds from old plants do not want to leave behind and wants to go with me and left some seeds on the pot where betel leaf has been grown.

It has been a few months since this little red flower grows. I moved it to another pot with sticks. Now, they are blooming with the red tiny flower that I could account for. You can see there are lots of pods seed there and ready to make the pot crowded. Every day my Cypress vine grows and produces buds daily. Even though I do not give it fertilizer and haven't given it proper pot soil but this flowering plant looks to adapt to the environment surrounding quickly. This indicates that the Cypress vine flower is low maintenance and easy to grow.

The intriguing event is the fact that Cypress vine attracts Sunbird. This bird often passes by in my "garden" to take the nectar inside. Not only Cypress but Hibiscus flower also makes Sunbirds daily visiting my tiny "garden" with their beautiful sounds. We have red color and yellow Hisbiscus flowers. Another plant that captivates this bird is a green leafy plant with a small pink flower. The pink flower shape is like a bird. When the weather is perfect, the flower will bloom and engage Sunbird. I am still figuring out the name of this plant. 

Olive-backed Sunbird perched on my Jasmine flower - Photographed by RDZ

The Sunbird that visiting my "garden" is Olive-Backed Sunbird. Sunbird has some interesting color and I think has a cute look. I wish I am a researcher who studies this bird. However, it is not easy to take their pictures, once they notice someone watching them, instantly these birds will fly away. 2 days ago was our lucky day, a couple Olive-backed Sunbird perched on Cypress vine stick and stayed for a while on my Jasmine flower and played a little bit on my kaffir lime soil. It looked like they had a little fun and took a rest for the day. So, we had a chance to take pictures. I wish we did a video, unluckily forgot about it.

I think creating a little "garden" in the apartment could provide food for this tiny creature. First thing, I love flowers and plants so I want to grow some or many flowers in my corridor. But who's knows, when I do gardening will create tiny wildlife or give hope to the Sunbird to live in the city. Sometimes butterfly flies around too. So, for me, gardening is not a hobby like most people say that this activity is a part of hobbies. Personally, by planting flowers or plants at least it could give benefits not only me but also tiny creature such as birds or butterfly to live, and other people. You do not know, last time when I grew sunflower, my neighbor granddaughter was very happy to see it. Seeing other people I feel that I am happy too to give them an opportunity to see how beautiful flowers are.

Thank you for reading my article. I hope I could publish another article on Ichi's Garden blog. But I can't promise about it because I have another work to do. Anyway, I am glad that I could write this article to all of you. Bye for now 🖐🙂

Note:

• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Photographed by RDZ and Acik Mardhiyanti
• Do not copy this article without permission
• Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permission