Skull-like seeds of Rain Lily

Skull-like seeds of Rain Lily

In-door White Butterfly

White Butterfly cheering me up in office

Squirrel @ West Coast Park

Squirrel @ West Coast Park

Toadstool @ West Coast Park

Toadstool @ West Coast Park

Cannonball @ West Coast Park

Cannonball @ West Coast Park

Random picks @ West Coast Park

Random picks @ West Coast Park

While sons were having a great time swaving at the park, I was happily clicking away.

My 100th post to-date

Wow - I've hit 100th post!

Something has been bugging me the past few days - that I've not post about our national flowers yet. So today, I will dedicate this post to Orchids, our national flower, although not the exact species. This was taken from West Coast Park last weekend.

Marimo from Taiwan

[Marimo, Cladophora Ball, Lake Ball, Moss Ball, 毬藻]

A marimo is a rare growth form of the species where the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance. Colonies of such balls are only known to form in Iceland, Japan and Estonia. The Japanese believe that Marimo will bring good luck.

I bought these for SonS when I toured Taipei (Taiwan) in July. I was told that it will grow at a rate of 5mm per year, and will take up to 150 years to grow to the size of a baseball. Currently protected by the authorities to prevent extinction.

Recently, I have seen pretty big ones in local aquariums.

Big Mushroom at the Treetop Walk

At the treetop walk

In trying to spend some 'spare cash' and work towards a healthier lifestyle, my colleagues and I were at the treetop walk after a treat at a Japanese (and for a couple others, Prata) resturant. It threatened to rain (many prayers unanswered as bowling in cool comfort was the contingency plan) but it turned out to be sunny and windless. All of us managed to complete the work, I mean walk (~2.5 hours), and we spotted a slow-moving giant monitor lizards, energized squirrels and many agressive-looking monkeys along the way. Special mention required regarding a 6-foot tall gym-going 'guy' actually dash and hid behind me and exposed me to danger when one unspotted primate sat quietly on the wooden guard watching us.

After the walk, some of us ended up in an ice-cream shop for another treat of fondue and finger food. So much about healthy lifestyle. It started to pour when we were heading home. Luckily we were already out of the 'jungle'.

Spotted the giant mushroom near the Venus entrance towards end of the trail. Many teased about the heavy load on me (the camera, ok, apart from body mass), and these were the only photos I took that day.

Purple Back with White Flowers

Tradescantia spathacea

[Oyster Plant, Moses-in-the-cradle, Boatlily, Moses-in-a-boat,
紫背万年青, 荷包花, 蚌兰, 红三七]

Vibrant! Simply lovely....

Plectranthus scutellarioides
[Painted Nettle, Coleus, 洋紫苏，五彩苏]

Wayward if not managed

Syngonium podophyllum 'White Butterfly'

[White-Veined Arrowhead Plant, Arrowhead Vine, American Evergreen]
Origin: Mexico to Panama

These are great climbers... otherwise, they would be classified as such, right?
They will root themselves in the little gaps between the wall tiles (so trying) and go all over the places. It could be a little difficult to 'contain' and some will "get away" as they attached to anything.

So like human-like, isn't it?

Happily blooming away on sunny island

Adenium obesum

[Desert Rose]
Origin: Eastern Africa and Northern Arabia

It was extremely hot on this sunny island and sun loving and heat-tolerant plants are happily blooming away.
It's the best blooms to-date.

Two species on one.

And, here's how... (see bottom-left)

Even this little plant which started small, been around for almost 2 years started it's first bloom and it's so pretty.

Last of the series @ HortPark

More flowers blooming @ HortPark

Part XIII

Time and flowers wait for no one - capturing on them in bits and bytes make them last forever.

Hope to be back at the 23 hectare horticultural park, also known as the "Gardening Hub" of Singapore soon.

Clematis aristata
[Traveller's Joy, Goatsbeard]

[Daisy, 雏菊]
A pity these daisies are behind a glasshouse.
But the glasshouses are there for good reasons.
As Singapore is near the Equator, its climate is perpetual summer. These glasshouses will have cool temperatures and low humidity similiar to springtime in the Mediterranean regions. Plant species are grown and tested here for the Cool Dry Conservatory to be built at Gardens by the Bay.
Can't wait for our next garden to be ready, but it's going to be quite a wait - Phase I will be only ready end 2010.