AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Time flies, it seemed not long ago that they showed the last movie and here the ensemble of Avengers were gathered to look for Loki's scepter, which contained one of six infinity stones that held strong powers that were capable of destroying earth.

The stellar cast of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel Jackson continued to play the key superhero roles and the new cast included James Spader as Vision, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch. I must say that Joss Whedon continued their usual Marvel directing and production standards and brought to the big screen an action-packed blockbuster movie of superheroes versus a legion of artificial intelligence beings but somehow, I felt that everything is the same other than the storyline. Everything is predictable in that none of them would die and regardless of how bad the situation was, all of them would eventually overcome all odds to emerge the final victors. Like my ex-boss used to say, same story different day. This seems more like a fairy tale with happy endings. So there is nothing too unexpected and even the death of the new character Quicksilver made no difference as the audience has not warmed up to him yet.

However, I am glad that Scarlet Witch is the latest addition to the ensemble of predominantly male superheroes because I really dislike Scarlett Johansson. I am going to incur the ire of many more people when I say this but I also do not like Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. The tension and budding romance between the Black Widow and the Incredible Hulk was completely unbelievable and unbearable to me.

The very brief easter egg segment was also boring and completely non-revealing about the next movie, which I will still look forward to despite the lack of pleasant plot surprises. 

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver joined the cast of superheroes

Captain America and Thor

Ultron was bent of eradicating humans to save earth

VINES

This is the first post in 2014 for me and here I am writing about climbing vines.

The first set of photos of the Scarlet Vine (Scientific Name: Mucuna bennettii) is about 3 months from the last post on the same plant in Oct 13. However, this time round, I would say the inflorescences are bigger and bolder! There are so many more clusters of the orange crescent-shaped flowers.

In the second set of photos is the Elephant Climber (Scientific Name: Argyreia nervosa; Family: Convolvulaceae) with purple flowers that remind one of the Morning Glory and large heart-shaped leaves. Although it is from the same Family, there are obvious differences such as the prominent white sepals and the white furry underside of the leaves in the former. I love the texture of the leaves and the feel of the underside is really nice, to say the least. But this climber tends to attract some pests such as mealy bugs that cause the leaves to crinkle up. It also attracts the large Carpenter Bees which thankfully don't sting people.

Purple flower with white sepals

Trumpet-shaped flowers resembling Morning Glory

White sepals left behind after corolla falls off

Furry underside of heart-shaped leaves

Fine hairs on the leaf and stems

PASSIFLORA FOETIDA AND COCCINEA

Passiflora foetida

Sometimes I can't help but wonder why some of these weeds never made it as ornamental plants. This Passiflora foetida (Common Name: Stinking Passionflower, Love-in-a-Mist, Wild Water Melon) wild weed is in fact a host plant of some native butterflies including the Tawny Coster and Leopard Lacewing.

The second is the more attractive looking ornamental Passiflora coccinea (Common Name: Scarlet Passion Flower, Red Passion Flower) planted in the Chinese Garden.

Passiflora coccinea

EUPHORBIA PUNICEA

I was privileged to see this unusual Euphorbiaceae succulent plant in bloom recently. Although I do not know the name of this plant, I am bewitched by its scarlet red flowers.

NB on 15 Mar 12: My very fantastic and knowledgeable colleague Harry identified this plant as Euphorbia punicea (common name: Jamaican Poinsettia) with a very apt reference to Poinsettia for its common name.

http://www.oglesbytc.com/cultural-notes/euphorbia-punicea/ 

JATROPHA INTEGERRIMA

The ornamental Jatropha integerrima (synonym: J. panduraefolia, J. hastata; common name: Spicy Jatropha, Coral Plant, Peregrina) from the Euphorbiaceae Family has always been one of my favourite tall shrubs because of its abundant vibrant scarlet flowers.

I like to let it grow into a small tree and pair it up with some other lower shrubs in a landscape. This lobe-leaved or what I call spear-leaved Jatropha is even more attractive than the usual variety. However, of late, I realized this shrub appears to be more susceptible to mealy bugs infestation. In fact, I lost quite a few big ones at the Car Park Garden quite some time ago.

I think we should harvest the ripe seeds and try to grow them and hopefully there will be a more resistant strain amongst them against the pesky pest. 2 links are below for reference:

1. http://www.floridata.com/ref/j/jatr_int.cfm
2. http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=JATROPHA_INTEGERRIMA