WEEDS & GARDEN PLANTS

I always admire such weeds, such as Ficus, growing in crevices of walls and so on for their resilience and ability to overcome the harsh adversities of the site.


I also remembering salvaging some of these Ficus weeds and growing them in pots in my attempt to train them as bonsai plants. Well, that was all in the past.


On the other hand, my resident neighbours must have grown these medicinal and culinary herbs and plants, such as Plectranthus amboinicus, Pomegranate, Chili, in the neighbourhood garden. Frankly, I don't fancy edible garden plants because they are usually very boring to look at with its bland green leaves. That explains why I am still very weak in this area. The only such plant I appreciate is the Vinca rosea I posted earlier.

ROOFTOP GARDEN

This is one growing rooftop garden. Initially, there was only the one on the right with the Cyanotis cristata (synonym: Commelia cristata, C. racemosa, C. cavaleriei, Tradescantia cristata, T. imbricata; Family: Commeliaceae) arranged in modular trays to form an interesting design that can only be viewed from above.

Links on this wondrous plant, with leaves that are usually green with enough water but which turns violet when the soil medium and the environment turn hot and dry, are attached here:

1. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=240001180
2. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=240001180
   

I am not sure when the garden on the left on the upper level sprouted up but I could see edibles like Papaya and Cabbages, much like those grown in community gardens where edibles are the all-time favourites of the day. This is not a garden for me as I am more into ornamentals.

CHRYSOPHYLLUM CAINITO

There is something about trees with beautiful coloured foliage. It feels so nice to be standing underneath this Star Apple tree with bronzy-yellow leaf undersides. The other common names include Cainito, Caimito, Golden Leaf Tree etc.

This tropical tree from the Sapotaceae Family has gained popularity in our Streetscapes and it is really not hard to understand why. By the way, the fruits are edible.

Some links are attached below:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysophyllum_cainito
2. http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/star_apple.htm
3. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/star_apple.html

FICUS AURICULATA

I posted about this Ficus before but did not show the fruits. So here they are.

Do you know the fruits are edible? Anyway, 2 links are attached below:

1. http://www.natureproducts.net/Forest_Products/Ficus/Ficus_auriculata.html
2. http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=FICUS_AURICULATA