Strange plants

Three types of flowers make a pretty picture. I really like the way this photo has turned out.

Phyllanthus pulcher - Tropical leaf flower

(Thanks Slurp for the ID of this plant)

From the look-out point of Kent Ridge Park where the sky meets the sea and the trees touch the heavens.
Flowers or leaves? I have no idea but they are sure captivating.
A deterrent to those who think of stealing flowers or plants from this park.

Fiddler on the Roof

Gardener fiddling with gardening tools. What an unusual roof top.

Garlic Vine

A garlanded fence in the neighbourhood. How can one see and not look? On this particular day, I stopped my car in the middle of the road after ensuring that there were no cars behind mine to take a picture of the floral display that only nature could produce.

Where is this garden?

The first person to email me and tell me where this beautiful garden is gets a free lunch from me. Just kidding! I just want to show off the photos of the lovely orchids without having to labour over what to write as it is already past midnight. The answer will be on my website soon.

Dianella ensifolia

Camoensia scandens

Once a while when you least expect it, extraordinary flowers appear before you surprising you with their size, fragrance, shape and colour. I stumbled upon the Camoensia scandens which is a native of tropical West Africa that boasts of the largest flower belonging to the family Leguminosae in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. This plant is a climber and is grown for ornamental purposes. If you look closely at the photo below you will see several large, white flowers amongst the leaves.Each flower is as large as the palm of my hand and a few of them are still at the peak of their flowering although some have wilted. Here are two flowers that share the same stalk and look almost like identical twins.
Here are two beauties waiting for their debut.Older relatives with impeccable good looks.
Mother and child.

Calendula - Marigolds

I remember these flowers adorning the shiny black braids of Indian women and pots and pots of these flowers in the nurseries for sale before Chinese New Year that people would buy to pave their driveways with 'gold'. They are undoubtedly attractive and used to full advantage in garden landscaping. Flowers I have often taken for granted because they are always present in great numbers until I watched the movie "Monsoon wedding" a touching story of love permeating through the various relationships that existed within an Indian family that withstood the destructive forces of lies and deceit with good, old values of honesty and sensitivity. There were marigolds aplenty in that engaging movie with an old-fashioned theme and perhaps they signify abundance, joy and sustenance. That was when I really took notice of this flower and appreciated it beyond its appearance that was ordinary because of sheer numbers. There are many different types of marigolds, the most common here is the one in this photo:These two flowers were photographed in Mt. Faber some time back and look different from the ones above. But they are marigolds. I thought that this flower will be a good choice for this first post of the year of 2007 because of its bright and cheery appearance. Happy New Year!