Clerodendrum paniculatum - Pagoda flower

If I had a huge garden, I would most certainly have some of these shrubs in it. If well looked after, the clusters like these will brighten up a garden.

Pagoda Flowers in the Singapore Botanic Gardens

Pagoda flowers

Clerodendrum paniculatum - Pagoda Flower (佛塔花- fo1 ta3 hua1)

Rainy days are cool but I prefer sunny weather. The heat may be intolerable at times, the humidity a killer. Nothing beats brightness to chase away the blues. Today has been gloomy and these leaning pagoda flowers by the lily pond in the Singapore Botanic Gardens taken one lovely Sunday morning never fail to cheer up a blog.

Clerodendrum paniculatum - Pagoda Flower(佛塔花- fo1 ta3 hua1)

I saw a row of Pagoda shrubs lining the outside wall of a condominium in Sembawang and they were just too attractive to ignore. So I whipped out my handy IXUS 800 that is my constant companion since I bought it a month back. Since the clusters of flowers were in varying stages of flowering, I had to be more selective of which ones to photograph because I had to find one that looked most like a pagoda. It took a while because the symmetrical ones were way above my head. In choosing those that were at eye level I was also able to take close-ups of the clusters. It is really difficult to find a bloom that is perfect in that it contains all flowers and not a mixture of buds and flowers.

Family:Verbenaceae

Origin: Southeast Asia