RAIN LILY

Rain lilies, as they are called, are such pretty plants.

Though the flowers are small, they come in a few colours - white, cream, yellow and pink.

I love all of them, particularly if they are planted together. When a dry spell is followed by rain, they all bloom in unison, hence their common name.

I love rain!

BULBUL

I saw this pair of Bulbuls yesterday.











They landed on this cane wreath. I didn't have my camera with me so i had no choice but to snap them using my mobile phone camera.

The quality didn't come out too well, but they still looked so loving and lovely.

SNAKE

I saw this interesting ad yesterday on the MRT home.

What caught my attention was not the actual product but the accompanying text and graphics that brought a smile to my face.

This one reads: the most venomous creature in the corporate jungle, the office snake's favourite snack is a new colleague. The ultimate saboteur, the snake will slither its way into your confidence, before ruthlessly suffocating your career.

Don't we all recognize someone in the office who behaves like this? In fact, there are more of them e.g. vulture, that are equally amusing to read.

Which one of this is us?

WATER FEATURES

I love water features, especially when it is beautifully landscaped with cascading pools, rocks etc.

Nothing beats having a water feature that calms your nerves down and provides the sound of moving water.

I also like the peek-a-boo planting where you can see some plants only at certain angles.

LIME PUPA

I have a bad feeling that you are not developing normally. Although I am new to butterfly breeding, I have seen quite a few pupae already.

Somehow your pupa case turn brown soon after you pupated. In fact, I saw some black liquid oozing out and dripping onto the leaves below.

What happened to you? Are you parasitized by something? I am watching you everyday and hope that someday you will emerge fine. I cross my fingers.

ION

I saw two huge supertrees at Orchard Ion the other day. Or should I say, two artificial trees with super huge trunks and branches that were supporting the extended roof of the iconic development along Orchard Road.

The development is not completed or opened to the public but the multi-faceted colourful display screens and the supertrees etc already captured my attention and imagination.

Initially, I thought why did the developer or architect choose this tree structure? Then I saw the real trees that were planted and which probably gave rise to this unusual design concept.

The trees that were planted are cotton trees. I have never seen any development thus far using this tree as the focal point, much less this species of planted tree of such a tall height. So this is really unique. I am not sure if this tree is really suitable for this location, only time will tell. But kudos to the courageous architect for choosing this interesting tree for the development at this most important crossroad.

You can sort of see the tiered branched effect now. To know how big and majestic this tree can grow to, just look to Singapore Botanic Gardens' grand bandstand for the idea. It would eventually have a massive trunk and take on an imposing look.

If you are lucky, you may encounter a 'snowing' effect after the tree blooms are pollinated and the fruits release the cotton wooled seeds. I think it would look nice during the Christmas season when this happens.

I am already looking forward to this year's Christmas!

BOUGAINVILLEA

Do you know that the multi-coloured papery leaf-like structures of Bougainvillea are modified leaves known as bracts and are not the flowers?

The actual flowers are the three small whitish structures within the colourful bracts. This beautiful, reliable and easy to maintain plant comes from tropical America but can be found almost anywhere in Singapore, especially the espressways and overhead bridges.

Here are just some snapshots of the beauty of this commonly planted shrub.

GOLDEN TREE

I usually don't think much of or pay attention to street lighting or even bother to take a second look at it.

Somehow on 19 June 09 as I made my way home, I saw this Yellow Flame tree at the bus stop and it was lit up by the street lamp. It looked like a golden orange tree! The photograph didn't quite capture the actual lighting and the beauty, but it's still a pretty sight to behold.

Now I have to learn to appreciate street lighting more. I really need to consciously learn to stop amidst my busy schedule and smell the roses.

BAT

I found you on the grass patch on 19 June 09. You looked so small and inconspicuous.

I didn't know how long you were dead but it must not have been too long because you were not decomposed yet.

How old were you? What happened to you? Were you attacked by something? Was that why you were not with the rest of the group?

Good bye, my little friend!

WEEDS

This pretty flower is not a white rose, although it reminds me of one.

It is actually the flower of a weed, that I found growing amongst the grasses. The flower was actually taken at close range and is only half a centimetre across. But it stood out from the low lying grass blades.

We often overlook such beautiful weeds. In fact, most have small dainty flowers, if we care to stop and admire them. Imagine that we are ants and these would be giant flowers standing in the field of tall grasses.

Such wild weeds are often ignored because they do not immediately capture our attention, but they are beautiful in their own subtle way. Perhaps we should try to conserve some of these weeds for education before they disappear from our world without us even realizing it.

If we can learn to appreciate the beauty of all things big and small, then there will be no weeds in this world.

Until such a world exists when all, regardless of whether we are strong or weak, pretty or ugly, are treated as equals, some of us may also be regarded as weeds in our own families and society. I can only live in hope that this world do exists in our time.

MOSSES

When you look up the trunk of this tree, what do you see? The small lumpy growths are actually clumps of mosses that have been dried out by the recent dry weather.

If you look at them close up, they are made up of beautiful individuals. I collected some back and hopefully with some watering, they will recover their original lush green look.

BEGONIA

i love Begonias, especially Cane Begonias because it is a combination of two things - a bamboo-like plant which i like and a flowering plant.

But do you know some plants have separate male and female flowers? I don't know Begonias have different flower sexes until a friend showed it to me. Interesting?

The ones you see in the foreground are the male flowers and the ones in the background are the female flowers. Confused already?

Fret not. The female flowers look like this. Behind the petals appear to be this winged sac, which is apparently the ovary carrying the seeds. Can you spot the difference now? Nature must have its purpose and reason for producing different sex flowers.

TARENNA

An interesting plant resembling the Ixora but is actually not an Ixora.

Belonging to the same family as Ixora, this shrub produces beautiful white flowers that turn to yellow over time.

It emits a faint fragrance.

What I also like about this plant is the interesting stamen with joined anthers that thrust out of the individual flowers like arrows on a bow.

Can you imagine an army of warriors poised to shoot the arrows in unison?