Garlic Vine flowers

I never tire of this vine just as it seemingly never tires of flowering so frequently. These flowers are most enchanting when they are newly bloomed. Time drains them of their colour each day as if taking its rightful due. "A rose will bloom, it then will fade; so does a youth, so does the fairest maid." Snippets of a song from Romeo and Juliet years ago - the only song that I can somehow recall almost all the lyrics correctly. Looks like there are some things time cannot take away easily at will.

Ochna kirkii - Mickey Mouse flower

The flowers are yellow and if you only see the yellow flowers you will not think that this plant is not quite so extraordinary as its name suggests.

If you get to see the flowers in this state of development, you will begin to see the reason why it is called the Mickey Mouse flower. So cute!









Family: Ochnaceae
Origin: S.E.A.

Water Lilies

Why do I bother to post a flower every day?

Because in giving time to appreciate a flower

I get paid back in happiness and if my day

turns out not to be as fine as it should be

then at least I have given some time and thought

in a day to something nice and perhaps

cheered up some people along the way.

Hoya Pubicalyx 'Silver Pink' - (球兰 - qiu2 lan2)

These beautiful flowers were not seen at a park. Instead, I saw them at a friend's house and they were amongst several interesting plants nurtured by her sister-in-law. It was in this garden that I encountered for the first time in my life the hoya, roselle and even lavender that I thought could only be grown in colder climates. There I was in that amazing garden. There were so many potted plants and some were so close to each other that their leaves became mixed up with each other. Some of the leaves in these photos do not belong to the flower. It did not bother me at all as the flowers were all I had eyes for.

Stereospermum fimbriatum - Snake Tree

These flowers of the Snake Tree were strewn on the grass in the early part of March when I happened to see them. The tree gets its name from the seed pods that dangle from the branches high above ground looking like snakes. That was the second time I saw these flowers though the tree has been around for years standing unnoticed (until it flowers perhaps)and blending into the landscape of the Singapore Botanical Gardens near the main entrance.

I recall that when I first saw these flowers, I was so excited because they looked nothing like ordinary flowers with their feather-like petals looking like elegant costumes left behind by fairies after a midnight party.
I wish I could have seen these flowers before they were detached from the tree. This is really not possible with this particular tree because it keeps its flowers and leaves way up high, beyond our reach.

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine

Too late to see any flowers. These palm trees present, instead, gems like precious rubies glittering in the strong morning sunlight as if they were wearing their best jewellery for those who took time to appreciate their beauty. For my eyes only because no one else was around except a doting grandfather ushering his tricycle-riding grandson home and then I was truly alone. On my way to the carpark, these regal-looking Pulai trees beckoned and I responded to their telepathic call. I almost expected royalty to appear beneath their impressive forms.

Leopard Flower

Ta-da! Did you expect to see this flower? Doesn't matter does it? Celebrate the day the way this flower celebrates life if only for a short while.

Tomorrow's flower

Tomorrow, this bud will blossom.

Saraca trees

Gold in the distance, I see

Let's stop a while to admire

the lovely flowers of these trees

lighting up my path with fire

Slow, slow down the car

quick, wind down the window

and let me wave my magic wand

that is my camera and hey presto!

Flowers framed

don't even think, just click

any angle, near or far

just so long as there is no car

Oops, here comes one and we better move on...

but see, see how can loveliness be bypassed

like they don't exist at all?

Belamcanda chinensis - Leopard Flower

Family: Iridaceae

Common name: Leopard flower, Blackberry lily, Leopard lily;

Origin: China

Leopards lurking in the background. Two different cameras, two different parks and two different days.