THEOBROMA CACAO

Yes, this is the tree (Family: Malvaceae) where we get our cocoa for our chocolate.

The ones in Colonial Garden are getting quite established and quite a number of its fruits are produced on the trees.

The developing fruits along its trunk

A ripening or ripened cocoa bean

CLERODENDRUM WALLICHII & PSEUDOGYNOXYS CHENOPODIODES

It is not often that the Clerodendrum wallichii flowers so well here in Singapore. The recent cool weather must have brought on this incredible flowering at the Colonial Garden. Anyway, the best flowering I have seen of this species was in Chiang Mai.

I am very glad that the Pseudogynoxys chenopodiodes is taking off here in the Malay Garden.

Mexican Flame Vine

I WAS HERE

Weather Station site

This is my series of "I was here" photos. Ok, it is very lame and stupid.

World of Palms

Colonial Garden

MUCUNA BENNETTII

It has been some time since I last wrote about some uncommon or interesting plants in the Bay South garden.

If one looks at the first photo of the area near the koi pond, it is not surprising to miss an interesting sight that I want to draw attention to.

But if you look closely at one of the trellises that rises from the pond and goes over the footbridge that connects Colonial Garden (Heritage Gardens) and Discover Garden (World of Plants), you will notice a splash of fiery orange against a mass of green leaves. The colour reminds one of the flowers of Spathodea campanulata (Common Name: African Tulip; Family: Bignoniaceae) but a Spathodea it is most certainly not.

If you are able to look at the flowers closely, you will find that it is growing from the tropical woody vine commonly known as the Scarlet Jade Vine or New Guinea Creeper (Scientific Name: Mucuna bennettii; Family: Fabaceae), which is less common compared to the green Jade Vine (Scientific Name: Strongylodon macrobotrys). This highly sought after climber produces thick woody stems over time with clusters of foot long cascading inflorescences supporting crescent-shaped orange flowers which contrast brilliantly against the backdrop of green leaves, where each single leaf is individually made up of 3 separate leaflets.

In time to come, when this vine matures and covers the span of the footbridge, I am certain the blooming would be a more spectacular event not to be missed.

FLOWERS POWER - BAY SOUTH

When I looked back at the more recent posts, they were hardly on plants and I talked more about the movies I watched instead. I guess it's time to go back to plants since that is what this blog is primarily about. It's not easy to juggle a few blogs, on top of managing my 2 home marine aquariums, even though they are really small.

Anyway, just 2 weeks ago, Gardens by the Bay was abuzz with lots of flowers. To cut things short, I will just list down the locations and species that I am highlighting here:

• Chinese Garden - Mayodendron igneum (Synonym: Radermachera ignea), Phyllocarpus septentrionalis which I saw flowering for the first time since I have not seen the one I planted in HortPark in bloom before, Cymbidium ensifolium, Hibiscus mutabilis 
• Hub & Colonial Garden - Grammatophyllum speciosum which was flowering synchronously in the gardens where some had at least 13 spikes when we counted them
• Meadows & Baby - Posoqueria latifolia, Calotropis gigantea and Afgekia sericea
• Discovery - Commelina (Family: Commelinaceae) with blue flowers