LANDSCAPE PLANTS

Tecoma stans

Landscaping is a very personal thing because everyone has their own preferences, likes and dislikes. What appeals to one may not appeal to others.

The interesting thing about landscaping is no two individual designs and landscapes are similar, because of the vast palette of plants available to choose from, unless it is a deliberate attempt to duplicate it. Different species and cultivars also have different growth habits and conditions, so it makes a landscape even more personal especially if the owner is involved in picking out the plants for the garden.

Here is a range of flowering and foliage shrubs that I recently recommended for planting although big trees and palms were not included.

Close up of Tecoma stans flowers.

 

Galphimia glauca

Close up of Galphimia flowers

Cuphea hyssopifolia

Close up of Cuphea flowers

Sanchezia nobilis

Caladium bicolor

Codiaeum variegatum

Carphalea kirondron

Close up of Carphalea flowers

Melastoma malabathricum

Justicia brandegeeana

Ocimum basilicum

Aglaonema cultivar

Alpinia purpurata

Xiphidium caeruleum

Asystasia gangetica cultivar

Stachytarpheta cultivar

Nymphaea cutlivar

Arachnothryx leucophylla

Tibouchina cultivar

Xanthostemon cultivar

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.