VISITOR'S CENTRE

The landscape at the Visitor's Centre and some parts of the gardens is slowly shaping out in the way I wanted it to be. Although it is still not complete, but I am at least comforted by the mass flowers and butterflies drawn to the areas.


It should look better over time but is it good enough for this interim garden, I wonder?


Some lovely plants featured here are the following:

• Impatiens walleriana (naturalized form)
• Pseuderanthemum andersonii
• Strobilanthes dyerianus

HORTPARK 2

Today's weather - sunny

It is always such a a joy to visit HortPark and sometimes they bring back so many fond memories.


I love this native climber Tetracera indica that I planted at the Irrigation Pond area to conceal the manhole behind it.


The Clerodendrum quadriloculare across the Hands-on-House decided to show its beautiful pink tubular flowers that earn it the deserving common name Starburst Bush.


Over at the Prototype Glasshouse, the attention seeking Impatiens walleriana cultivars and the Tibouchina cultivar were wooing me with its amazingly beautiful flowers.


Then at the Golden Garden, I saw for the first time the unknown red flower Bulbophyllum in bloom. Since planting it, I have never seen it flower and I was definitely secretly excited by the excellent growth exhibited by the orchid on the Rain Tree fork. I hope they don't prune it away someday.


Just beside the Fruited Vegetables Garden, a clump of Strongylodon macrobotrys (common name: Jade Vine, Emerald Vine) flowers were hidden amongst the dense leaves covering the shelter.


Further up at the Floral Stitches, a sun lizard was so well camouflaged against the trunk of the tree that I almost missed it.


The unknown Terminalia was also fruiting for the umpteen time. As someone pointed out, the winged fruits reminded her of the plastic balls commonly used in washing machines to prevent the clothes from tangling together. Instead of having two glands on the underside of its leaves, typical of Terminalia trees, there is only one small gland on this one.


At the former Arbor Garden was a small bed of Lobelia chinensis, which I grew in waterlogged areas in the Car Park Garden in the past and which I have not seen in recent times.

SENTOSA - PART 3

I just removed my Impatiens balsamina to make way for a new plant but this is reserved for another post.

I have a serious case of backlog photos for posting and I wonder when I can catch up. Anyway, back to this post. Just look at the multi-colour flowers of the Balsam, aren't they all so sweet? Did I say before that I prefer double-petaled flowers? This is one reason why I prefer Impatiens balsamina over Impatiens walleriana at times.

HOUSE PLANTS

I posted about my monster Mirabilis jalapa previously and I feel so tempted to prune off the long stems because I am worried it would topple over the parapet onto the ground level below. But when I see the numerous developing floral buds, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

In addition, one can make out the Lantana montevidensis, Lantana camara, Impatiens balsamina in the photos too.

HOUSE PLANTS

This is the back view of my Mirabilis jalapa. From the front, it looked like a monster to me, especially since it suddenly grew so fast and so big. Yet it has not produced a single floral bud and to me, this is exasperating because I love my flowering plants to reward me with my efforts by flowering profusely.

On the other hand, when I bought the Impatiens walleriana, there were already lots of unopened floral buds. And it has been flowering non-stop since then.

The orange tubular flowers of the Hamelia patens is so strange and is somewhat an anti-climax. It lacks the large showy petals that would otherwise make it a very attractive shrub, and at best I can only describe the flowers and small reddish fruits as interesting. Right after taking the photos, I pruned off these 2 branches, so that there is enough light for the other plants hidden under it.

The Symphyotrichum laeve (synonym: Aster laevis; common name: Smooth Blue Aster, Glaucous Aster; Family: Asteraceae) is also starting to flower after some months. Links on this shrub are attached here:

1. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/sm_asterx.htm
2. http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=16
3. http://www.abnativeplants.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantdetail&plant_id=86

NB on 26 Dec 10: Last night, when I went out, I saw the Mirabilis precariously toppling over in the planter as if it was going to jump out of the planter. And this happened right after I complained that it is a monster in this post. Maybe I hurt its feelings? Luckily, I was able to tie it up to the wire mesh.