BRUGMANSIA

Ah, Brugmansia cultivar, otherwise more commonly known as Angel's Trumpet. It has been very rewarding for me to grow this plant.

I kept telling my colleagues that my Brugmansia is flowering non-stop these days. I am not sure if they believe me but this is proof of it. There was once when it had 20 flowers and opening buds in total. This photo was taken on 11 Dec 09.

The location must really be good for it although it can be really windy at times. I allowed the flowers to overhang over the parapet wall and it can be seen from downstairs. Do you know I have to water it everyday and mostly twice a day because of its heavy watering requirements? I suppose they need all the water to support the multiple blooms.

At night, I can smell the beautiful scent of the flowers just outside my door. Yes, I know it's supposed to have some hallucinogenic properties (confirmed by a colleague recently) and that is why it was never planted in Singapore. That is about to change as I planted at least 15-20 of them at HortPark.

By the way, the climber on the right is Petraeovitex wolfei (Wolfe's Vine) and the one on the left is Antigonon leptopus (Honolulu Creeper, Coral Vine, Chain of Love).

TAKA CHRISTMAS

The 2 beary pink and brown christmas trees at Takashimaya were the same ones I saw last year. Is this a case of not enough budget for the decoration?

I still prefer the ones from last year because I remember there were other colours e.g. green and red, of the cute bears. If you look at the bears carefully, I feel they all have a slight difference in their facial expressions probably because of the stacking and pressing!

Do they all come alive at night just like 'Night in the Museum'? Can you imagine a gallery of pink and brown bears running amok? Ha.

NAFA

On the same day on 9 Dec 09, I saw the newly completed National Academy of the Fine Arts building at the junction of Bras Basah Road and Prinsep Street.

When I was still managing the area, I recalled their submission to take over the former Dhoby Ghaut Open Space and convert it into a campus grounds for their students. Their plan was to conserve the Angsana trees within the area and I wondered how they intended to do it. It's not possible to see from the photos but an Angsana tree was heavily pruned and appeared to be wedged between and below the buildings.

What they did was innovative but it is not necessary good for the tree.

CLARKE QUAY

Clarke Quay by day struck me as being very colourful with its multi-coloured walls of the shophouses along the waterfront.

Small crowns of the Dalbergia oliveri trees peeped back at me through the small gaps between the outdoor umbrellas. At Central Mall, a 7-8 m tall silver x-shaped christmas tree adorned the entrance from the promenade side.

The photos were taken on 9 Dec 09.

LEECH

I was clearing some things on 8 Dec 09 and found this from a recent trip to Malaysia in early Nov.

At FRIM, I found a leech on me after a visit to their forested area. The small leech was attached to my left waist and I finally managed to remove it after using my colleague's medical oil!

The handiplast was covered completely with dried blood whilst the tissue had dried blood wiped from my waist. The card was the location map of FRIM.

What a memorable trip!

SNAKE

Wow, my colleague found this snake within the Butterfly Garden enclosure on 8 Dec 09 with the carcasses of a few dead butterflies nearby. Within hours, the pest control guy came and caught it.

I am not sure what snake this is and if it is venomous or not but it is just so beautiful with its black and white markings. If there were visitors in the enclosure, I am sure they would be freaked out!

NB on 12 Oct 10: This is established to be a Paradise Gliding Snake or Paradise Tree Snake (scientific name: Chrysopelea paradisi). Apparently it is rather common in Singapore and is mildly venomous.

IPOMOEA QUAMOCLIT

This Cypress Vine or Star Glory is a most unusual Ipomoea. Easily grown from seeds, I first found it growing on a Ficus tree planted near HortPark's bus coach bay.

As I love the filamentous growth of the leaves, I decided not to remove it. It grew relatively fast and started to trail all over. I removed a lot of the plants on the ground and allowed this to spread like a mat. Now it has covered most of the ground with its interesting leaves and small red flowers.

Now I have it growing along my HDB common corridor and I shall let it grow and droop over the parapet wall!

AFGEKIA SERICEA

Ah, this interesting Silky Afgekia vine was bought by me a few months ago from a local nursery World Farm.

The new leaves are silverish and as it gradually expands, the upperside becomes green while the underside remains silverish. The leaves have a felt-like texture to the touch.

When it was left to grow in the pot, it didn't perform so well. The growth was straggly and unimpressive. But when I planted in out in the ground at HortPark's Car Park Garden, there was a tremendous spurt in its growth. Unlike the numerous climbers I planted, this one took only about 2 months to cover the entire trellis in dense foliage.

Then it started flowering at the top of the trellis. You can see there are numerous buds on the plant, but because of the height, I only managed to capture this photo on 7 Dec 09 showing a whole inflorescence of small lilac flowers borne on a panicle.

GARLIC VINE

This garlic vine can be found at various parts of HortPark e.g. at Floral Walk and Car Park Garden. It's botanical name is Mansoa hymenaea or Pseudocalymma alliaceum.

When not in bloom, the plant just looks green but when you crush the leaves, they emit a garlic smell, hence the common name.

I love this plant because the newly bloomed flowers are just so eye catching. At any one time, you will see the abundant flowers in various shades of purple, and this makes the plant more interesting than those with monotonous flowers.

From experience, this plant flowers about 3-4 times a year and at times, their spectacular blooms cover the entire plant. The only thing I do not like about this plant is when the flowers fade, they take on a drabby dull colour.

I am now trying to grow it on a vertical wall to see how high it can reach. Thus far, it has grown about 5-6 m already although there are no flowers yet. Nevertheless, it is still impressive!

The photos were taken on 7 Dec 09.

HOSEA LOBBIANA

This is an interesting climber that was planted maybe about 6 months ago. The new leaves start out orangey but turn green over time. The orange leaves remind me very much of Citharexylum quadrangulare (Fiddlewood) whose leaves turn the same shade of orange before they senescence and are shed.

The climber on the other end of this trellis at HortPark's Car Park Garden did not produce much new leaves, and hence lack this spectacle. If you look carefully, you would find the clusters of orange flowers being camouflaged amongst the leaves since they bear the same colour. The pink stamens extend very much beyond the corolla of the flower. It looks like a possible nectar plant for butterflies but I have yet to see any visiting the flowers.

Time for me to find a plant with flowers and try it out within the butterfly enclosure. The photos were taken on 7 Dec 09.

313@SOMERSET

313@Somerset was crowded with people on 6 Dec. And why not since it is a relatively new shopping centre and this is their first christmas! Just look at their 2 christmas tree decorations here.

i love the colour scheme, which was predominantly white, silver and purple, which I used at the Garden of Seasons. I swear I did not copy it from them.

Whilst there, I saw these two pairs of legs

dangling in a small pool of water teaming with fishes. Ah, it's a fish spa. But it was strange why there were 4 caucasians sitting there, but the majority of fishes only flocked to these pairs of legs.

Did someone say these 2 pairs were dirty? Ha, I heard someone said the same outside the spa. Maybe we should start a fish spa somewhere at HortPark since there are many waterlogged areas.

GARDEN OF SEASONS

I started the planting of this on 4 dec evening, in preparation for the wedding fair. The preparations were delayed for a while and I had no choice but to scramble at the last minute.

I went scouting for plants on the morning of 4 Dec and I wasn't pleased. I always hate to rush my work because quality would inevitably be compromised somehow. But I guess a beggar cannot afford to choose, so I had to settle with whatever I had.

Fortunately, I had purchased some christmas related plants earlier. In this case, the blue spruce was the one that stood out with its silvery blue leaves.

Amidst the heavy downpours, I finally completed it around 6 pm on 5 dec. What a relief! The end product was not exactly how I wanted, but it would do. The attached photos were taken on 7 Dec, a day after the media preview.

STINGING CATERPILLARS

I was stung by this caterpillar of the moth Parasa chloris on 3 Dec 09. You heard right, it was a stinging caterpillar! What a fright it caused me.

I collected 3 of them from the car park of rb on a Syzygium tree and some time at night, I transferred it using my bare hands when one of them tried to crawl out. Immediately I felt a stinging sensation on my fingers.

I have reasons to panic because I am allergic to some insect stings and was rushed to the A&E twice because I developed severe hives and breathing difficulties.

I panicked for a while and googled it soon after because I do not want to die from a butterfly caterpillar sting. Can you imagine how stupid that would be? Fortunately, the sting was more harmless than it seemed! The photo showed one of them developing into a cocoon. Maybe that was the one that stung me and was too embarassed to face me the next day!

Although I know how it looks as an adult moth, I will post the moth photo when they eclosed.

HOUSE SHREW

The date was 1 Dec 09. This is the second shrew we caught in our butterfly enclosure in a few weeks. It first ate up our fruits for the butterflies. Then it ate up our butterfly pupae.

For a while, we didn't quite know what was the culprit or what we were dealing with. Finally we caught it after some failed attempts. You greedy little thing!

This was the first time I saw a shrew. Apparently, it looked slightly different from a rat. It looked more like a cross between a rat and mole. So should I call it a role or a mat? It seemed to be a nocturnal creature, which explained why it had such small eyes.

Well, it was so cute that I couldn't bear to kill it. So we released both of them somewhere. Hopefully, it is having a better time elsewhere and hope it doesn't create anymore havoc in our enclosure!

NB on 12 Oct 10: This is established as the House Shrew (scientific name: Suncus murinus).

DATURA METEL

I bought this pot of Datura metel recently at Kovan. Isn't it beautiful? I first saw it in Chiang Mai in January 09 when I went on a plant sourcing trip with a colleague.

This double-petaled variety which I bought from Kovan apparently has leaves that are slightly different from the one I grew from seeds from the Thailand batch of plants.

The exciting thing is I understand there is a white double-petaled variety too. I will definitely keep a lookout for it in our nurseries!

UFO

Just look at the 3 cruiser butterfly pupae lined side by side against each other. Don't they just look so out of this world?

All belong to the same butterfly but see the different colouration of each? I have not mastered the art and science of butterflies but I believe this is due to either different sexes or forms?

Nature designs different plants and animals so intricately in the name of adaptation and evolution. So what are the functions of the 2 hooked-like apparatus on the sides that looks like wings of a bat, I wonder?

Hmmm.......

ORCHARD CENTRAL

Just look at the beautiful Calathea zebrina and Costus curvibracteatus in front of Orchard Central.

I have not seen such lush C. zebrina for a long time and it has rekindled my interest to use it at HortPark.

FIRST!

This is my first blog on plants and animals. The thought of starting this excites me so much and I have been toying this idea for the longest time.

Well, here it goes!

PARASA CHLORIS

I was stung by this moth caterpillar on 2 Dec 09! I cannot believe it!

I brought 3 of them home from SBG's Syzygium plant at the Raffles Building car park. After I walked my dog, I noticed 1 caterpillar was climbing on an empty plastic container, and so with my bare hands, I pinched it off the container and transferred it into the plastic bag. That was when I suddenly felt a burning sensation on the thumb and finger which I used to grab the caterpillar.

I was slightly paranoid but fortunately nothing bad happened. I did not develop any allergy or what. The fingers just felt pain. After consulting an expert, I found it to be a Parasa chloris moth caterpillar. Apparently it's quite commonly seen and its back has spines etc that help to ward of predators.

GATEWAY WEST

I found these photos recently as I was doing housekeeping of my files etc. These were taken on 19 Dec 2006 at Gateway West just before we shifted office to SBG.

We were there for all of 8 years and it was the best office I ever had. It was near to the MRT and there was good food, shopping areas, cinema and so on.

I miss those days!