Capparis micracantha - Thorn caper

These flowers are new to me. One day at the Bukit Timah Core of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, I was lucky to have seen quite a few unusual blooms. This tree had several delicate, spider-like flowers and there were fruits as well. I read that it has medical properties.

Flowers for today

I think of tinkerbell and Peter Pan

when I see these flowers in a stream

arriving here from Never Never Land

floating in the air following a dream..

Leopard Lily

Feast for the eyes along Harbour Front at Vivocity. Flowers were the last thing on my mind this morning. Before the crowds arrived, Vivocity was a pleasant place to spend a Sunday morning. Breakfast, window-shopping and the Page One Bookshop - a change from the walks in the parks. The flowers, they never change in their appeal wherever I find them.

Tamarindus indica - Tamarind Tree and fungi

Have you seen a tamarind tree from which we get the tamarind fruit from which we get one of the flavours that make our food in Singapore so mouth-watering? I have seen both tree and fruits and only recently came upon the flowers. Here are the fruits in comparison with a flower. In the picture above you can see a young fruit in the background.

And here comes the surprise for me - some tiny fungi that I thought were parts of the tree. When they remained stuck to the ground, I got curious. A closer examination showed one of the most interesting type of fungi that is receptacle-like containing spores.
The tamarind flowers were an exciting find for me but seeing these fungi and photographing them for the first time was a refreshing encounter with nature.

Clerodendrum calamitosum - White Butterfly

A gardener was trimming these plants that were growing on the perimeter of a rain shelter in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I moved closer to look at these flowers and was pleasantly surprised by the mild fragrance in the air around them. A colourful butterfly, disturbed by my presence, fluttered away. I thought of photographing it. Too slow, too late, too small. I missed the chance. So it was back to these lovely blooms and amongst them I found this sphere-shaped cluster. A reward for letting the butterfly go on its way.

Related to the Lagerstroemia speciosa?

My car came to a halt near a traffic-light junction alongside this small tree with flowers that looked familiar. I have seen flowers like these in West Coast Park. What struck me as odd were the leaves for they were dark green with a tint of burgundy. I remember the flowers but somehow they seemed out of place on this tree. The seconds ticked by and I expected the light to turn green any moment. I waited reaching for my camera in my handbag on the back seat. Despite fumbling for the camera with eyes on the lights and foot on the brake pedal I managed to point the camera in the general direction of the tree and snapped two photos. I did not have time to focus. This is where the point-and-shoot camera got its name - after users like me.

Plumerias - Frangipanis

These flowers thrive in the heat, it appears

While I tend to lose part of my senses

in extremely hot weather

I cannot help but admire the will of these plumerias

to stand firm against the sun no matter

how mercilessly its rays beat down on their petals.

Beauty in the eye of the beholder

I have yet to see a Rafflesia in deep jungle

or a blue gentian up in mountain high

Between here and there, then and now

I simply hold a humble flower to the sky

A peach-coloured hibiscus, a gift from a friend

A moment taken to be enjoyed for life.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Flowers with colours that run the range of the colours of the rainbow - almost. Played around with the manual setting of the Canon 400D and using a 55 - 200mm zoom. Too lazy to change lenses and some shots were below satisfactory level. Anyway, it was a re-discovery of how to use manual settings. The last time I used them was with a Pentex K1000 (antique by now). Manual settings rock!

Flower of a Ginger plant Heliconia
Plumeria (Frangipani)

Jacaranda filicifolia

Etlingera elatior (Torch Ginger) Thunbergia grandiflora

Common Names: Bengal clock vine, clock vine, sky flower

Family: Acanthaceae (acanthus Family) Schefflera actinophylla - Octopus Tree
Heliconia buds

Dillenia philippinensis(Philippine Dillenia)

Canna

Flowers through different lenses

Same flowers but through different lenses. The Canon 400D was not my choice of camera because I prefer small, compact cameras that do a reasonable job as I only want to enjoy the moment of recording what I see and to review at leisure what I have recorded and then to reflect upon what I have seen. These are my best pictures so far - a few amongst many disappointing shots. Perhaps I need to use this camera more often and to learn more about it. Perhaps I need to get better lenses than the standard and the 55 - 200mm zoom lens that I now have. Perhaps I should just get a better compact camera like the Nikon 5100 that a friend of mine recently bought. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

HydrangeasDurian tree flowers

Palm seeds

Bubul surveying the forest
Plumerias in the setting sun.
Never get tired of plumerias.
Copperpod tree

Murraya koenigii - Curry Tree or Curry-leaf Tree

Recently, I saw these flowers of the Curry-leaf tree in one of the nearby nature reserve. It has been a while since I came across these flowers.

The first time I ever saw these flowers was in my own backyard when my curry tree bloomed in 2001. I remember how thrilled I was because the curry tree was given by a family friend.

The flowers must be sweet and fragrant for they attracted butterflies such as this one here.
Then I saw the fruits.

It was some years later when I saw the fruits of this plant again. This time it was in garden in a community centre. I was initially attracted by the black berry-like fruits and was surprised to see that they belonged to a curry tree.

Family: Rutaceae

Origin: India and Sri Lanka