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

SYZYGIUM MALACCENSE

There are quite a number of Syzygium malaccense (Common Name: Malay Rose Apple, Jambu Merah; Family: Myrtaceae), which are slightly different from the Syzygium samarangense (Synonym: Eugenia javanica; Common Name: Jambu Ayer), planted in the garden. 

One of these areas is the Malay Garden and one can sometimes see the beautiful red staminate flowers of this tropical fruit tree before they are pollinated and develop into red crunchy fruits.

OCIMUM BASILICUM & COMMON BLUEBOTTLE

I have always love the Sweet Basil or the Ocimum basilicum with the purple bracts and white flowers. The contrast in colour and its leaf fragrance, especially when crushed, are alluring. I am glad I planted it in the Malay Garden and can enjoy the sight of this wonderful plant when going about my rounds.

On a separate note, I saw a beautiful butterfly with a very obvious blue streak across its wings at the Colonial Garden on last Friday. I suspect it was a Common Bluebottle (Scientific Name: Graphium sarpedon; Family: Papilionidae) which hosts on the Cinnamomum iners tree. What surprised me was the fact that this butterfly is a forest species and to see it here in the new gardens was just amazing.

STERCULIA

The day after National Day, I was greeted by another sort of fireworks. I walked along the bridge connecting the Malay Garden and Colonial Garden and was pleasantly surprised to find a tree in the Supertree Grove covered with reddish pink fireworks.

My eyesight isn't very good but with the help of my Nikon camera, I managed to take these photos for record. That is the advantage of having a powerful mega-zoom camera because it becomes a pair of binoculars for me. Without which, I would not be able to keep track of the flowering seasons of plants.