Firespike in Heaven!

My sister Luchie calls this plant with a different name and I forgot what it is. We're really pretty clueless about names. But somebody from TodaysFlowers told me it is called Firespike. This plant is very prolific that Luchie would plant it everywhere in our house Heaven because they thrive (even with the dogs *O*), loves the sun and rain, and has gorgeous variegated leaves and magenta flowers! When Luchie trimmed the leaves in the front yard (Luchie said this will encourage the plant to grow lush again), I cried and protested that if she trim them to almost bare again, I will not water them anymore! Pretty childish attitude really (my bad!) plus I really have no heart not to water the plants so it's an empty threat. Below is a sequence of photographs from stalk to leaves. It only takes 2 months for the leaves to reach a meter high which is why Luchie trims them so often! And it takes a really good sunny day (practically the whole year in the Philippines!) for their dainty flowers to come out and greet you every day! I share our Firespike plants for Maia's MacroFlowers and for TodayFlowers hosted by Santilli, Denise, Pupo and Sandy.

We are having a threat of a coming super typhoon Megi (locally named Juan) to reach landfall on Sunday in Northern Luzon (I live just south of Manila). The last time the weather bureau predicted a storm heading north the storm changed its course and hit us directly at dawn! So today we are preparing for it by bringing down all hanging plants, tying up our trees, covering the dog's houses, posting early in case of brownouts and praying for everyone's safety. I hope everybody will have a safe flowery weekend . . .