FEBRUARY RAIN

After weeks of sweltering heat, there was a heavy downpour on last Friday afternoon, that ended a dry spell for most people in many parts of the island.

I said most people because whilst my colleague said it was raining cats and dogs in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, it was just a passing drizzle at HortPark.

I wished I was caught in the heavy rain, so I could enjoy the peltering raindrops on me. Well, it is now back to the hot weather once again. On the news, there were earthquakes at Chile. Seriously, we should take a look at what we have done to mother nature to bring about such freakish weather that is becoming more and more common everywhere.

Earth Day is approaching, so perhaps we should think what we can give back to mother nature what we have taken from her so far.

PAW PRINCE (3/4/01 - 19/2/10)

That was what I called you sometimes, because you always leave your paw prints on the sparkling clean floor of the house wherever you walked. But beyond that, I called you that because you were my boy, my little baby prince in my heart. You were the first dog I ever had that truly belonged to me.

Frankly, we were destined for each other. I had such a strong affinity towards you. Perhaps that is because I was also born in the year of the dog. I dreamt of getting a maltese if I ever wanted a dog and my sister got just that a few months after that even though I did not share with her about my dream. How you ended up with me was another story altogether.

So you could imagine how hard it was for me yesterday to see the life crept out of the small lithe and limp body of yours at Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital. A day before, I had an inkling that you might not make it through this round. In the recent months, you fell sick frequently, but you always recover the following day. However, I knew something was wrong the night before when I had to feed you water through a syringe. I planned to bring you to the vet in the morning but looking at you, I somehow knew nothing more could be done to save you. Moreover, if you were to die, I would rather you die at home in a familiar place than for you to die in an unfamiliar vet hospital.















In addition, I had to be at work that morning because I had to present to a judging panel for HortPark. Before I left the house, I cradled, kissed and looked at you intensely because I was afraid I would not see you alive when I came back. I planned to rush back immediately thereafter to keep you company till you pass on. Unfortunately, the judging was postponed to the afternoon. Could you imagine my tension and nerves? My stomach was in knots then. Yet at the same time, I had to act professional and not betrayed my emotions to all.

Anyway, as soon as the judging ended, I rushed home immediately. By then, you were already so feeble and unresponsive. Your eyes were just staring into space as if I was not there in front of you. Your breathing was shallow as I carried and placed you in the usual bag I brought you out with. I drove you to the vet but when I reached there around 4:20 pm and took you out of the bag, I saw urine and poo and instantly I knew you were gone.

The next moments were a daze for me. I saw you one last time in the morgue before I arranged for your cremation. Forgive me for not being around with you in the morning but I am grateful that you waited for me to be home for me to see you one last time and planted you a kiss before you left me.

My boy, my dearest boy, you were finally gone after being with me for an entire decade. The consolation I felt was that you no longer need to suffer anymore from the fits and you were free from being pumped with daily medication twice a day for the last 10 years. I hope I had given you a good life all these years.

As I saw you on the morgue table wrapped in a cloth, I was reminded of the day I brought you back from the SPCA on 3 April 2001. You were dumped at Clementi and they found you at Bukit Merah. To this very day, I still remember cradling your tired body in my arms then as we took the taxi home. You were wearing the red collar that I bought for you before you were lost. I did not know when it was your birthday so I declared 11 April, the day you were found and brought back by me, to be your birthday.

The next few years were both happy and miserable for me. Happy because as I truly enjoyed your presence in my life. I remember running around the living room in circles as you played with me at Jalan Merah Saga. I remember holding you high up in the air and swung you around as if you were a baby and all you did was look back at me lovingly without making the slightest noise or protest. You have shown me what it means to be happy and contented.

Miserable because it was hard to see you suffer so much from fits. I remember you writhing and yelping in pain under my bed and bathing in the urine patches. You were also a terror because I could not house-trained you and you peed at the corners of the house everyday for the next 10 years and I had to wipe the house frequently. In the last few years, you became more grouchy and would also bite me when I carried you the wrong way or when you were not happy. Time was not kind on you as you looked more haggard and tired in the last year. In human years, you would have been about 70 years old, so I could imagine how time had ravaged and taken a toil on you, what with all the years of fits and medication. Your tummy was unusually huge because of the medication and the need to drink lots of water.

Despite all that, I know you love me because you would always lie near my feet as I watched the tv and sleep outside my room door every night waiting for me. If there was anything that you love, it would have to be going out for walks twice a day and food treats! You would always wag your tail in excitement when you knew it was walking time and food time. I hope you know I love you very very much too.

This photo was taken of you when we visited the new neighbourhood playground University Road Park after we opened it. That day was so hot and your tongue really stuck out so long in the heat!

The next was taken of you and Ginny when she was still alive.





I will always remember and love you. I had many photos of you and from last year, you looked really terrible. But I want others to see and remember you fondly this way at your best, so I am posting these beautiful photos of you. Your sleep posture wasn't graceful and sometimes bothered on being vulgar, but to me you were just plain adorable in those postures. These last few photos where you were caught sleeping were taken in August or September 2008, about a year and half ago.

So good bye, my beloved baby, my boy, my prince, my son..... Sleep well. For you will always live in my heart. I hope you are somewhere in heaven or at a better place now. Papa miss you and will always remember you ...... I cannot and don't want to quit you. Till death do us part.....

TIGER

It is now officially the year of the tiger. for this year, I was reminded to keep a low profile because it is not a good year for me. I wonder how I can really do that yet get my job done at the same time? Hmmm.

On a separate note, I read in the recent newspapers that tigers are now poached close to extinction in the wild. Previous estimates put the wild population at 100,000 but the figure has dwindled down to just about 3,000? If nothing is done to stamp this illegal activity, we would not see another tiger in the next cycle of the tiger year in 2022.

I hope man would be more responsible towards such wildlife because the earth is really dying because of our years of exploitation of mother nature and its inhabitants. Would man ever wake up to realise the folly of his mistakes? I hope so.

ANTIGONON LEPTOPUS

I just realized I didn't post any interesting plants for Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day 2 days ago.

I have this Antigonon leptopus (Honolulu Creeper, Coral Vine) from the Family Polygonaceae with heart-shaped leaves planted along my corridor and it is flowering so reliably. Too bad I couldn't take photos of the leaves and pink flowers drooped over the parapet wall without risking my life!

So I took photos of this climber this morning at my resident kopitiam and wish everyone a belated but wonderful Valentine's Day. See the numerous heart-shaped leaves? Hope this year brings you all lots of love!

VINCA ROSEA

Pardon the overlit photo taken this morning of a neighbour's Vinca rosea (Periwinkle) overhanging the corridor parapet wall.

I actually like this wild purplish pink-flowered Periwinkle very much. Somehow the more commonly sold cultivars are not so drought tolerant compared to this. In fact, I love it so much that I planted them at HortPark's Flora Stitches and Home Garden.

I am trying to grow my Periwinkle to droop in this manner along my corridor too!

STERCULIA CORDATA

I love this Sterculia cordata when it is covered with a dense crown of leaves and clusters of pendulous pink flowers.

Taken this morning, this tree in my neighbourhood park was almost completely bald. The recent hot and dry spell must have caused it to shed its leaves. So it is a deciduous tree after all!

Frankly, I think this post surpassed the one on Grevillea in terms of the number of photos because I just cannot decide which photos to drop.

I love Sterculia trees because of the interesting beautiful flowers. In an earlier post, I talked about the Sterculia rubiginosa at HortPark. When I first saw this flowering S. cordata, I fell in love with its strong architectural form and branches. So I planted a few at HortPark but they are still so small in comparison to this huge one at my neighbourhood.

I do not know why the name of this tree is given the specific epithet cordata because I don't find the leaves having a distinct heart-shaped as characterized by the term. Anyway, there were just a few branches with leaves and flowers and that was all it took for me to snap away with my camera this morning. Midway, my camera batteries failed me and I had to come back a second time to continue with the photo taking.

It was just so irresistible. On the bare branches, I could see leaf buds and new leaves emerging from the tips and leaf nodes. I can almost imagine this tree planted as a solitary tree in the middle of a grass hill and me just lying beneath it on the grass, just admiring the beauty of this tree as I watch the clouds drift by. Hmm, how serene this all feels?

YELLOW IXORA

I often look at these few clumps of yellow dwarf Ixora (Flame of the Woods, Needle Flower) every time I walk my dog in my neighbourhood park.

They actually look prettier at night. Ixoras are seldom planted these days, especially yellow-flowered ones. These were the clumps that inspired me to plant some yellow Ixoras at HortPark's Golden Garden.

The close-up photo of the yellow flowers taken this morning is beautiful.

IRON CROSS

Just look closely at the raised "spines" on the surface on this leaf. Does it occur to you that this is actually a leaf if I did not mention it?

Commonly known as Iron Cross Begonia (Begonia masoniana 'Iron Cross'), it is actually rather commonly sold in plant nurseries together with other rex Begonias.

Begonias are just one of my favourite plants but I have never purchased this cultivar before because I have other favourites. But somehow this one attracted me recently and I bought it. My corridor is too windy, so I hope it would grow well and not succumb to the strong wind conditions that dry the air and reduce the high humidity relished by this group of plants.

Does it occur to you that the leaves look like asymmetrical hearts?

REVIVAL

I saw this plant sprouting from the base of my Strobilanthes dyerianus (Persian Shield) this morning.

Is this what I think it is? I will keep my fingers crossed and we will see in due course whether this is a pleasant surprise for me.

DEAD HYDRANGEA

Remember the straggly Hydrangea macrophylla that I mentioned in an earlier post that I want to save?

It is officially dead this morning and I threw it away.

The point I am trying to make here is that even I kill plants. I don't believe in green fingers. I have killed cacti and money plants before too.

In fact, someone called me black fingers. We need to know our plants in order to know how to grow them and make them happy. But sometimes, even if we know their maintenance requirements, we can and may still kill them accidentally. When that happens, we just have to move on.

CROZIER

As I was replanting the Butterfly Garden enclosure on 12 Feb 10, I was captivated by this unfurling crozier of a fern I purchased from Thailand last Jan 09 and couldn't help but took photos of it.

I just found it so beautiful - the way it curled near the tip of the frond and the way it unfolded itself as it grew. Yet, the pinnate fronds were similarly uncurling at the same time. It is just amazing!

PSEUDERANTHEMUM BICOLOR

Recently, our nursery's Pseuderanthemum bicolor flowered so profusely that I used some of them for the Garden Of Seasons in early Feb and at the Butterfly Garden on 12 Feb 10. Otherwise, I don't really find this shrub species very attractive even though the underside of the leaves are purplish brown.

What surprised me was that after placing the plants in the Butterfly Garden enclosure on 12 Feb 10, all the Tree Nymphs flocked to it, as evident on these photos taken on the same day! My gosh, I did not know that this plant was so attractive to this butterfly species like fish to water.

On some pots, there were at least 6-7 butterflies on them. Frankly, I didn't smell anything from these flowers but clearly the butterflies could track them and zoomed in on them. So I told my staff this is a must have plant for the new Butterfly Garden.

SCALY-BREASTED MUNIAS

I posted about them before. This photo was taken on 12 Feb 10 on my way to my office.

The Lonchura punctulata, a particular species of finch, is a passerine bird common in Tropical Asia and can be observed to feed on the grass seedheads in overgrown areas.

I have spotted them rather frequently along this stretch of Pasir Panjang Road and sometimes in HortPark's Nursery Holding Area vicinity, but I have not seen the less common White-Headed Munia (Lonchura maja), Chestnut Munia (Lonchura malacca) for years now. The last I saw them was at the former Punggol fields. before the development razed everything to the ground, when I was doing a project in NUS.

EPISCIA CUPREATA

I am sure this Episcia cupreata (Flame Violet) is nothing unusual to all gardeners. In fact it is a plant that was popular since my mum's time and this is by far the most common variety. What is unusual is the way this plant is trained to grow!

I saw this in my colleague's office on 10 Feb 10 and could not help but took this photo for reference. Interesting?

CNIDOSCOLUS CHAYAMANSA

I grew to love this unusual plant after I planted it and observed it for a while.

From a small 1.5 m shrub with straggly branches and few leaves, it developed into this multiple-branch tree with leaves all over it.

I have to say the multiple-lobed eaves were what caught my initial attention. Since then, the white flowers were also a delight for me to see. Without fail, I would almost always see at least 1 Leopard Butterfly going to the flowers for nectar.

PINK RUSPOLIA

This pink Ruspolia hypocrateriformis from the Acanthaceae Family was a recently new addition to HortPark. It was planted barely 6 months ago at the children's playground area and they were performing much better than the red flowered variety.

This photo was taken on 8 Feb 10, and thus far I have always seen them in bloom. Since they are closely related to the Pseuderanthemum, they should be very easily propagated and I shall plant some nearer the Visitor's Centre in the near future.

NB on 7 Dec 10: I think this plant is known as Ruttyruspolia 'Phyllis Van Heerden', an intergeneric hybrid between Ruttya ovata and Ruspolia hypocrateriformis. 2 links are shown here:

1. http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=x_ruttyruspolia
2. http://plants.newplant.co.za/view/size/4/page/246

SARACA CAULIFLORA

This commonly planted Yellow Saraca (accepted name: Saraca cauliflora, Synonym: Saraca thaipingensis) planted by me beside the children's playground at HortPark produced clusters of yellow floral buds recently, as observed by the photos taken on 8 Feb 10.

These trees exhibit cauliflory, that is, the flowers are produced from the trunk or branches, unlike the more common floral buds arising from the leaf axils in most other flowering plants. Other trees that show cauliflory include the Couroupita guianensis (Cannonball Tree), Phaleria clerodendron (Rosy Apple).

I noticed the flowers have opened on 12 Feb 10 but I have yet to find the time to take the photos. Compare the difference between this and the Saraca declinata that I posted earlier. Interestingly, these trees produce pendulous and pinkish new leaf flushes, that resemble soft pink handkerchiefs. Hence they are closely related to the Maniltoa.

BAUHINIA SEMIBIFIDA SSP. PERKINSAE

Nearby the Kleinhovia hospita was this prolific Bauhinia semibifida ssp. perkinsae.

When we tried to identify this climber previously, it posed a huge challenge because no one was able to positively identify this climber. What's interesting is this Bauhinia sprouts beautifully bright orangey-red new leaf flushes. It is a very vigorous climber although it is almost impossible to propagate it by cuttings.

I have this climber planted at HortPark's Car Park Garden and the bridge linking the two halves of the Flora Stitches.

They have been flowering very frequently and these photos were taken on 8 Feb 10 at the Flora Stitches. However, the flowers are not very conspicuous and attractive compared to the leaves.

KLEINHOVIA HOSPITA

This interesting heart-shaped (cordate) leaved plant Kleinhovia hospita was planted at HortPark along the tree buffer separating the display plots within the Flora Stitches and the Nursery Holding Area.

In the photos taken on 8 Feb 10, the small pinkish flowers were a contrast against the brown fruit capsules.

FICUS RELIGIOSA

I have always been in awe of this Ficus religiosa species. I mean, this is supposedly the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment!

I heard from a colleague who visited India last year that the Ficus trees there were just humongous and majestic! He mentioned the huge tree trunks and heights of these trees that he observed before scaling Mt Everest. It would be such an experience to see this tree in its native habitat.

Anyway, this particular tree on the hill slope at HortPark is seen flushing here with its beautiful new pinkish leaves, as captured by these photos on 8 Feb 10.