Eichhornia azurea -Water Hyacinth

This aquatic plant originates in South America and is a weed that can wreak havoc in waterways and lakes in some countries because it is an extremely fast grower. Here in a small pond in Kent Ridge Park its function is ornamental and should it threaten to enshroud the entire pond, its spread can easily be controlled. The flowers are lilac in colour and each petal sports a yellow heart design making them very attractive and appealing to photographers as well as bees. I had originally labelled these flowers as "Eichhornia crassipes" and found out later that they are Eichhornia azurea or commonly known as the Peacock water hyacinth. The water level in the pond appeared to have receded a little as I was able to examine this bunch of flowers at very close range without stepping on water.

I can see that it is a very hardy plant because the leaves are strong and sturdy and the flowers are upright and hardy.

It was great to have come across these lovely blooms.

Hibiscus flower

Hibiscus flowers are typically red, pink, orange, yellow in colour. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was taking a walk around the neighbourhood one day and came across this lilac coloured hibiscus planted outside one of the houses I passed by. When I searched the internet resources on hibiscus flowers, I realised that there are quite a few types of hibiscus plants with flowers that are of varying shades of purple. I have not found the name for this one yet.

Bougainvillea (Flaming Khlong)

What joy at home to sit and gaze

at my bougainvillea plant

engaged in a third wave of flowering

Blooms reaching out to touch my face

Each time I open the gate

to receive its ever ready blessing

What joy, what joy

nature brings

simplicity without

the complications of

modern living.

Gustavia superba

I never cease to be amazed by the variety of flowers present in the parks of Singapore. Though many are not natives of our island and come from similar climatic zones from countries as far away as tropical America and Africa, we are very fortunate to be able to see these flowers, plants and trees in real life thanks to the superb efforts of our National Parks Board. There is nothing that can be compared with the ability to see a real flower, to touch it and feel the softness of its petals and to drink in the beauty of its colours and form. When I first saw the fruits of this plant in West Coast Park a few years I did not know what the flower had looked like. Then I saw the fruits in the Botanical Gardens a second time with their lovely flowers and was just interested in photographing it. There was no necessity then to know the name. But now there is and I found out that it is called the Gustavia superba.

Common name: Membrilla

Family: Lecythidaceae

Origin: Costa Rica, Panama Columbia

Reference: 1001 Garden Plants in Singapore, NPark's Publication, 2003.

Mimosa pudica - Touch-me-not

Family:Leguminosae

Common name: Touch-me-not, sensitive plant, malu-malu

This is a plant that kept me enthralled each time I came across it in my childhood because the leaves close immediately in response to touch hence the common name "Touch-me-not". I never paid much attention to the rest of the plant and the absence of flowers did not bother me. It was the leaves that held my rapt attention the way none of my science teachers ever did with their perpetual textbook descriptions of the living and the dead in nature. When I saw this patch of mimosa right next to a road with a bus-stop across, I stepped into their midst and for the first time took an ardent interest in the flowers, buds and pods and discovered parts of the plant I had never seen before. There were a few yellow flowers that looked like they belonged to the same family as the pink ones and I cannot identify it for sure. But from my search on the internet, the yellow flowers seemed to look like a plant called Acacia dealbata (Silver wattle) that originates in Australia.
I found out from one of the books I have that this yellow version of the mimosa flower belongs to the Neptunia Plena or commonly known as Aquatic sensitive plant. It originates in Tropical America.

Ipomoea pes-caprae - Beach morning glory (海牵藤 - hai2 qian1 niu2）

I was walking along the embarkment of Seletar Reservoir when I noticed that it was covered with a creeper that had beautiful purplish flowers. At first glance I thought they looked like the morning glory flowers that I was familiar with that grew on fences or dangled from trees. But these flowers were creepers and had thick butterfly-shaped leaves. I wasn't sure if it was a specie of morning glory and searched for images on Google. Found out the name of this particular one and also discovered that there are hundreds to a thousand species of Morning Glory. It was mid-morning when I photographed these flowers and as can be seen, they were in the prime of their morning lives - sturdy and fresh without any wrinkles or sign of aging. What a way to live!

Common name: Beach Morning Glory, Railroad Vine, Bayhops,

Goat's Foot Creeper
Family: convolvulaceae

Native to Florida, USA

More information on this creeper could be found in this document here:http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/shrubs/IPOPESA.PDF

Plumbago auriculata

Common names: Cape Leadwort, Plumbago

Family: Plumbaginaeae

Origin: South Africa

I never got over the fact that these pretty flowers that I once had in my garden went by the name of "Plumbago" as I thought that it was such a technical sounding name and invariably made me think of plumbers.

For some years, this shrub with its ability to flower over and over again adorned the fence in my front garden and provided a feast for the eyes everytime we stepped out of the house. It was a hardy plant and needed constant cutting and tidying and probably a lot more care than what we gave it.

Strangely, this shrub is not that commonly seen, at least not in my neighbourhood where people seemed to favour hibiscus, the yellow allamanda and the bauhinia kokiana.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

At the Economic Garden, the bougainvillas were blooming profusely.

The garden was peaceful and quiet on a weekday afternoon. Parts of the garden reminds me of the gardens in UK in summer.

I saw the usual black swans swimming in the lake but a strange whistling call drew my attention to these two ducks. The looked and behaved like ducks.

But these ducks do not quack! What ducks are these? By chance I came across a book on ducks at the National Library that had a picture of this duck. I found out that it was a Radjah Shelduck that is found in Australia. Did they fly all the way here or were they flown here as a gift from Australia to Singapore? More information could be found in Wikipedia here.

Hibiscus acetosella

Hibiscus acetosella
(African rosemallow, Maple Sugar, Red Hibiscus, False Roselle, Cranberry Shield)

I found this unusual hibiscus plant up on Kent Ridge Park. What caught my attention were the red leaves and I almost missed seeing the pretty, pink blooms amongst the leaves. Luckily I saw them. I am glad to have taken these photos that morning. This plant and its sweet flowers kind of made up for the loss of a paperback novel that I had carelessly left behind on the park bench.

More photos>>>

Multicoloured bougainvillea

Ever since I set eyes on this unique bougainvilla, I have been dying to photograph it but timing, the weather and forgetfulness delayed the deed. I finally did it this morning, after stopping my car next to it, wound down the window and whipped out my ever-ready Canon IXUS 800. The owner of this house moved in after months of re-construction of a one-storey corner terrace to a three-storey house that could probably win an Architectural Design as well as a Best Landscaping and Garden Award.

The most outstanding action of the owner after he moved in that commanded the rapt attention of everyone in the neighbourhood was the planting of an assortment of trees in the garden. It was as if a part of the Botanic Gardens was re-located in this corner of Singapore. Just when everyone has gotten used to the amazing landscaping and flora within the grounds of a private house, the owner surprised us once again with this multicoloured bougainvilla plant. When I saw it I could not help but think about "The Emperor and the Nightingale" - a children's story about how an emperor was tired of the real nightingale and replaced it with a gem-studded clockwork bird that sang when it was wound up. In this case, this artificially created plant (probably through grafting) is keeping the neighbourhood in suspense about what will come next and meanwhile I just love looking at it for it is quite a work of art (whoever created and nurtured it to this state) and brings joy everytime I slow down my car to take in its myriad colours.

Lagerstroemia indica - Crepe Myrtle

Hooray! I found the name of the flowers from the following references:

"Botanica's Trees and Shrubs" published by Laurel Glen and "A Field Guide to Tropical Plants of Asia" by David H. Engel and Suchart Phummai.

More photos on my website here:

http://www.flowersinsingapore.com/flowers06l.htm

Burst of flowers

They say blogging is addictive. I agree. I have no time to look up the name of these exuberant blooms currently at the prime of their lives at Lower Peirce Reservoir but I was dying to put it up on this blog. So I thought I would just put this one picture and if a kind soul could enlighten me on the identity of this flower it would surely save me some precious effort in ploughing through my books. I promise to upload more photos of this flower to show how I went wild with my camera when I chanced upon these flowers, most of which were taken with the right hand in control of the camera and the left hand holding my handphone to my ear as I chatted with a friend who happened to call at that time. I have never enjoyed multitasking so much before, never mind what the joggers and other park visitors thought of me. I only hope that after I left, they would take an interest in these lovely flowers if only because someone else (like me) found them refreshingly beautiful against the backdrop of the Lower Peirce Reservoir.

Tembusu - Fragraea fragrans

In my numerous walks in the parks of Singapore, I have been pleasantly surprised many times by the flowers of the Tembusu trees. The first time I saw these attractive blooms was in the Botanic Gardens. Subsequently, I saw and photographed these lovely flowers in Sembawang Park, East Coast Park and Kent Ridge Park next to the boardwalk. Over time I saw them in various stages of blooming and even saw the berries that turn red when they ripen. As suggested by the name, these flowers give off a sweet fragrance that is almost addictive.

Botanical name: Fragraea fragrans

Family : Loganiaceae

Origin: SingaporePeninsula Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia and the Pacific islands

The most famous Tembusu tree is in the Botanic Gardens and is designated as a Heritage tree. When I was young, I sat on its 'arm' to have my photo taken. The tree has since reached a majestic height and that particular branch continutes to provide a seat for the young and the starry-eyed while their precious moments are captured with the camera. But if you look closely at the photo, the branch is being supported by two pieces of wood. According to the information given in the National Parks Board Website, this tree has been around at the time that the Botanic Gardens were first laid out in 1859. I also found out that a picture of this tree is on the back of our five-dollar note - the one that has the late President Yusof bin Ishak on the front.

Other details about the tree are captured here from an information palette along the boardwalk at Kent Ridge Park: