OCIMUM BASILICUM & COMMON BLUEBOTTLE

I have always love the Sweet Basil or the Ocimum basilicum with the purple bracts and white flowers. The contrast in colour and its leaf fragrance, especially when crushed, are alluring. I am glad I planted it in the Malay Garden and can enjoy the sight of this wonderful plant when going about my rounds.

On a separate note, I saw a beautiful butterfly with a very obvious blue streak across its wings at the Colonial Garden on last Friday. I suspect it was a Common Bluebottle (Scientific Name: Graphium sarpedon; Family: Papilionidae) which hosts on the Cinnamomum iners tree. What surprised me was the fact that this butterfly is a forest species and to see it here in the new gardens was just amazing.

ANN SIANG HILL PARK PART 1

Today's weather - sunny


I was at Amoy Street Food Centre for lunch and took the opportunity to take some photos of this Ann Siang Hill Park, which I was involved in developing. Looking at the park, I could spot areas of improvement, which I prefer not to refer to as mistakes. I have gained more experience over the years and would have done things slightly differently.

This was also the park where I first tried out the Syzygium buxifolium, which was previously mistaken as Myrtus communis. I am glad that the plant is still around. The Clerodendrum inerme is one of the less attractive member of the genus but it is an uncommon plant in a garden. 

The spiral staircase is one of the highlights of this small pocket park. But before I climb up the stairs to the cantilevered upper deck, I walked along the footpath to the foot of the structure. The area under the deck was enclosed by a grid fence and the Quisqualis indica was planted within a verge less than 30 cm wide. On hindsight, we shouldn't have constructed such a narrow strip of planting area and I should not have chosen this climber too. The climber had few flowers and was displaying nutrient deficiency symptoms. Looking at it, I felt the grid has a huge potential for a beautiful, sustainable greenwall project.

Till today, the very uncommon Litchi chinensis is still suffering from water stress, presumably because it is on a steep slope with half the root system buried under deep soil and the other half of the roots drastically severed.

Up on the timber deck, the wooden swing was removed and the Quisqualis was growing all over the trellis, the severely nutrient deficient Bauhinia kockiana grown within the narrow and shallow planter and the beautiful Cinnamomum iners tree.

TAMPINES ECO-GREEN PART 4

There is something about such natural environment that makes it so irresistible for me. The blend of wood, water and reflection complete a picturesque scenery. Even the grove of dead trees in the pond looks so artistic to me. Like I mentioned before, mother nature is really talented as an artist and often creates a canvas of beauty from just simple raw materials.

I thought the nature scape seems quite poignant with an inverted wheelbarrow in the picture. In the midst of everything, there were a few Cinnamomum iners trees and surprise surprise, I saw some beautiful Common Mime butterfly caterpillars on its young new leaf flushes. There was more Ludwigia, a clump of bamboo and some wild weeds that give the place a somewhat meadow look at some areas.

CINNAMOMUM

Once again, this is another one of those unknown trees although we are sure it is a Cinnamomum species because of its typical 3-veined leaves and flowers.

Unlike the common Cinnamomum iners, this tree near the children's playground has smaller more elongated leaves and attractive pinkish, not reddish, new leaf flushes. And this is the only such tree we have in HortPark and the nursery.

But the terminal end of this tree is dead and I hope something is done to make sure the tree grows well into a mature shade tree in time to come.