I was so thrilled when I first saw the Strophanthus preussii Engl. & Pax. (common name: Corkscrew Flower, Spider Tresses, Poison Arrow Vine, Tassel Vine; Family: Apocynaceae) plant, which behaves like a scrambling climber when there is a support for it to lean on. These ones at Floral Walk are getting taller but the one I planted at the base of the staircase landing beside the HortMart has climbed at least 4 m up the Maranthes corymbosa Blume (synonym: Parinari corymbosa, Parinarium corymbosum, Parinarium griffithianum, Parinarium palauense; common name: Kayu Batu ; Family: Chrysobalanceae) tree. I guess a photo speaks a thousand words and I will take some photos to post it separately.It always amazes me to find the slightly fragrant flowers having such long filamentous ends. What ecological function does it serve, I wonder? 2 links on the bearded plant are as follows:
Next to this patch of plants is a rain tree with a huge cavity midway up the trunk. To prevent water collection that may breed mosquitoes, I did an unorthodox thing by planting the common garden weed Asystasia gangetica ssp. micrantha within the depression. I love to try such unconventional methods of planting just for the fun of it. Surprisingly, it has been doing well for so long and there was no necessity for us to water it. In fact, there are flowers from time to time. Hopefully, what I did would not contribute to further decay of the tree within a short span of time though.
Floral Walk and Home Garden have undergone extensive relandscaping in the last couple of months and with relandscaping comes newly introduced plants. Somewhere near the rain tree was planted with a batch of spotted-leaved Heliconia cultivars. I do not know the cultivar name though and where it was bought since I wasn't the one who purchased or planted it.
