HUB

The Hub is one of the two areas of convergence from the Heritage Gardens, Supertrees Grove and World of Plants. So I must say this is one of the important areas of the gardens and I am happy that this part of the garden is planted with a grove of big and small Ceiba speciosa (Common Name: Cotton Floss Tree) trees, varying in their trunk thorniness and colours of the flowers.

So far, the trees have been flowering separately but never synchronously. That is the only pity. Nevertheless, when the big ones do flower, it is quite remarkable. There are also a number of variegated Ceiba but I don't think I have seen any of them flower before. Other than the Ceibas, there are quite a number of other plants including Pseudobombax, Plumeria cultivars, Jatropha cultivars, Vinca rosea, Ruellia rosea, Ludwigia etc.

some tall Ceiba peering above the walkway

close-up of the pink flowers

thorny trunk of some of the trees

close-up of the thorny trunk

one of the few variegated Ceiba

close-up view of the flowers

variegated palmate leaves

palmate leaves of the Pseudobombax

a sea of lanceolate leaves from the variety of shrubs

purple Crinum 'Menehune', yellow variegated Pandanus toei, silver Dianella

pink flowers of Crinum 'Menehune'

Pseudobombax ellipticum

seed pod of Pseudobombax

HUB (ROSE)

Today's weather - sunny

This pink Arundina was planted at the Indian Garden but mine at home finally sent out a new shoot after so many months of growing it since I bought it at last year's World Orchid Conference in Nov 11. To me, I am not as amazed by this colour variety then the more common white-purple A. graminifolia (common name: Bamboo Orchid).


Back to this post, I am actually posting the beautiful plants at the Hub, which is also known as the rose. It is no coincidence that the flowers have a pink tinge or shade. These spectacular plants are namely as follows:

• Plumeria 'Dwarf Singapore Pink'
• Ceiba speciosa (common name: Silk Floss Tree)
• Rondeletia leucophylla or Arachnothryx leucophylla (common name: Panama Rose)
• Plumeria rubra variegated
• Vinca rosea or Catharanthus roseus (common name: Periwinkle)

SARAWAK (KUCHING) PART 5

Their roads look similar to those in West Malaysia. On the way, I saw a small creek and stopped by to look out for any interesting plants and animals. There were quite a number of freshwater fishes.


On the trip, I saw clusters of Acanthaceae like plants. Finally, we made a stop and upon close inspection, they were actually Clerodendrum myricoides shrubs, albeit with lighter coloured flowers.


At the orchid farm, there was a huge Ceiba pentandra that was in flower. The cotton was everywhere on the ground. In the nursery, they did not have much uncommon plants and in fact, most of them can be found in Singapore. I gathered that what are unusual are those native plants that they protect and grow in their botanical gardens and nature reserves. These plants are protected from being released for commercial propagation and sales.


Near the end of the trip, we went to buy their native products, such as the famous pepper seeds. That was where I saw the Pepper plant on display outside their shop. In the store, they had a team of workers who worked along an assembly line, to pick out the dirt from bird nests that were later repackaged for sales.