Ulam Raja / Pelampong (Scientific Name : Cosmos caudatus Kunth)

When we visited the Pasir Ris Park recently, we spotted another breed of cosmos flower growing amongst the Orange Cosmos.

This version of the Cosmos flower is in ombre pink (meaning that there's is a graduation of white to pink on its petals).


Not unlike its orange counterpart, the pink cosmos flower attracts both butterflies & bees as shown in the photograph below:


Based on National Park's Flora & Fuana Web, this breed of flower's scientific name is known as the Cosmos caudatus Kunth.

It is also commonly known as Ulam Raja or Pelampong and its leaves were known to be of medicinal value e.g. it is used to increase blood circulation in traditional medicine in the South East Asia.

Its leaves were also consumed as a vegetable in Malay cuisine.

Golden Trumpet Flowering Climber (Scientific Name : Allamanda cathartica)

This is a flower that is pretty commonly found in nurseries and even at some public places.

HIBISCUS (Different breeds)

Hibiscus flowers are a common sight found in the private gardens of homes & nurseries all year round.

I've tried my luck on Hibiscus but they were tough on me & would usually die off as they require alot of sunlight. The nurseries had also advised me that Hibiscus plants are prone to diseases and not advisable for homes that do not receive much sunlight.
(Rule of thumb: Flowering plants require adequate sunlight to survive & bloom)


The Hawaiian Salmon
As I couldn't find the breed of this Hibiscus flowering plant from the National Park's website, I've looked elsewhere & found that it's known as the Hawaiian Salmon.





The colour of such breeds of Hibiscus does look like the meat of cooked salmon. They are characterised by hanging multi-coloured flowers & are fast growing. According to sources, they are good for outdoors.

Hibiscus schizopetalus

To start with, we didn't know that this was also a breed of Hibiscus because the flowers looked nothing like the typical Hibiscus.



The Schizopetalus Hibiscus was said to be a weeping tree hibiscus. Its flowers are characterised by a parachute-like appearance and can be identified by the dangling stamen and lacy petals. It does look like a pretty, red chinese lantern, which explains why it is also commonly known as the Chinese Lantern / Japanese Lantern.

A less desirable nickname is the Skeleton Hibiscus.

Don't you think that these flowers look like pretty chinese lanterns with tassels & dangling from the branches?


When we first spotted the plant at Pasir Ris Park, it looked quite pathetic although there were plenty of freshly bloomed flowers. Its stature resembled nothing like what we have seen in the photograph attached below. The photograph's version of the Hibiscus looked really healthy with good growth of green leaves.



The version in Pasir Ris Park looked neglected & quite "bare", to the extent that there were only 3 to 4 stalks of leaves on the stem even though there were 5 hibiscus flowers growing from it.

The buds of these blooms resembled smooth-skinned peanuts as shown in the photograph below:


More photographs of the red lanterns


 

The Chinese lantern being flanked by another breed of Hibiscus:

Honolulu Creeper (Scientific Name : Antigonon leptopus)

I think most of us would find this creeper a very common sight especially decades ago when Singapore isn't as urbanised as these modern times.

I used to recall that many old houses in the past were surrounded by green or even rusty wire mesh-like fencing & they would be flanked by Honolulu Creepers or Blue-bell plants.

These Honolulu Creepers had a lengthy list of commonly-known-as names, such as the Chinese Love Vines, Chain of Love, Hearts on a Chain, Queen's Wreath. Which speaks alot on love & romance...



Since the Honolulu Creeper is so closely associated with love & romance, and has such a saturated tone of fuchsia pink, then it must be an auspicious flower to be grown in parks & perhaps, the Registry of Marriage could consider having such creepers planted within its vicinity too!

I've incidentally fished out its chinese name from National Park's website, which says: 珊瑚藤 or 朝日藤.

I love the saturated shades of pink! Don't they look yummy?

Floral series : Madagascar Periwinkle (Scientific Name : Catharanthus roseus)

Periwinkle flowers are not my favourite. I used to see them all over along the streets during my childhood. In my opinion, I always had the impression that they are "weeds" ...

Floral Series : 4-o-clock Flower Shrub (Scientific Name : Mirabilis jalapa)

This is a flowering shrub that was found in my granny's home garden while I was a kid. I could still recall one of my sisters stuffing the seeds into her nose & being admitted to the hospital when the seed got stuck at the entrance of her nostril!

I was quite surprised when I learnt that the shrub's country of origin was in Peru, which explains why it was also known as the Marvel of Peru. Whoa, that's a loooong drift all the way here to Singapore ...

Seeds of the flowering shrub which are easily collected by picking on the black ones as shown in the photograph below.

These seeds would then germinate easily in the soil & grow into seedlings, which would subsequently develop into a flowering shrub if the conditions are right.

Photographs (of the 4-o-clock flowering shrub) taken by my hubby at the Pasir Ris Park:




For more information about this flowering shrub and other types of plants or animals, please visit National Park's Flora & Fauna Web at the following link:
http://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Home.aspx

It's a plant & animal dictionary and is definitely useful & informative.

Floral series : Seven Golden Candlesticks (Scientific Name : Cassia Alata)

After loitering into the premises of the nursery @ Pasir Ris Park, I was pleasantly surprised & elated when I spotted an abundance of this marvelous breed of medicinal plant known as the Seven Golden Candlesticks.

Its scientific name is Cassia Alata. And because its medicinal uses are varied across cultures, it is also commonly known as the Candle Bush, Gelenggang in Malay or Akapulko in Philippines.

I've been nicknaming this plant "Iron-Fan princess" because the shape of its leaves resembled that of the Iron-Fan pricess' magical Iron Fan in the chinese folklore of fairies known as Journey to the West where the mischievous Monkey King dealt with devils & evil spirits who were hankering after the flesh of his guru, Tripitaka.



As the plant produces alot of nectar, it attracts many huge red ants who were eager to get a share of food.

For the plant to survive, it requires plenty of sunlight to flourish. The photograph below shows a picture of a spray of flower that stands tall on the top of its plant.



For more information about the plant, please visit the following website:
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/candlesticks.htm
Please allow me to share my experience with this plant. I had a strong & long-standing affinity with this plant as far back as in the 1980s. As a child, my skin had been frequently plagued with problematic skin. My feet would break out in blistered-like rashes & itch throughout the day. The skin on my feet didn't just break out in sores during childhood but the skin started peeling to the extent that it became scaly.

Dermatologists were consulted but the condition couldn't be cured. In fact, the condition was making its way upwards from my foot soles all the way up to my ankles. To sum it up, my feet was not only gruesome looking but it was rotting with a bad stench!

It was during a fateful trips to one of the dermoatologists in a private hospital where the adults in the family chanced upon an old aunty whose also a patient. She told my parents to visit her bungalow as she had a plant that could cure my skin condition.

As we were all driven out of desperation, we accepted our invitation & drove up to her place. That was the very first time when we got to know all about this miraculous plant known as the Seven Golden Candlesticks.

Method:
The old aunty cut down about 5 stalks of leaves from her plant & my grandma rinsed them in water prior to boiling them in a metal pot of water. Once the leaves were boiled & cooked, you will notice that the "soup" is a shade of green.

The "soup" is then transferred into a huge aluminium of enamel-coated basin. While the liquid is still hot after boiling, I would force my feet into the basin & I assure you that this procedure should be done at every user's discretion. My threshold for heat is pretty high. Needless to say, it still hurts a big deal!

However, I must say that the "soup" of this Seven Golden Candlesticks works best when it is still hot (not lukewarm) because the hot temperature seemed to have a catalytic effect on curing the stubborn skin condition for my feet.

When my condition was extremely bad in the beginning, there was a stinging sensation during the feet soak. It hurt so badly that it felt like there were thousands of ants biting into those freakish rashes.

The colour of the "soup" gradually changed from a greenish shade to brown! This feet soaking ritual went on everyday for a period of 6 months before all the rashes were completely gone.

And I continued with the feet soak for another 6 months because all in the family were fearful that the skin condition might just relapse.

The results were remarkable becox not only did the skin on my feet heel, the skin texture looks good too!

This is a humble photograph of the current condition of my feet after a painstaking effort of adopting an intense feet soak using the "soup" of 7 Golden Candlesticks & I am extremely grateful to the old aunty who recommended us this plant & shared with us the remedy. God bless her for her kindness!


So for those of you out there who are lucky enough to own a home garden outside your landed property, I would highly recommend that you groom such a plant - but of course, you've got to be mentally prepared for a huge battle with those giant red ants!

Here's a photograph of a giant red ant getting itself transferred from the plant to the wooden shade nearby :

The Sound Of Music: Nature's Beauty @ Pasir Ris Park (Brief Introduction)

After Hubby Dearest brought me for a long-distance jog into Pasir Ris Park, it was tough to ignore the beauty of mother nature in there.

So, I have decided to do a write-up of plants, lived-in insects and animals found at the Pasir Ris Park.

As usual, please enjoy the photographs which had been taken painstakingly by both Hubby Dearest & myself.

We didn't have any issues with the plants becox they don't move around.  However, the real challenge came with the insects & animals as they don't stop fidgeting & some flew off at the slightest movement or noise coming from their surroundings.

We hope that readers for this topic would enjoy the photographs as much as we did as the owners of these photographs. :)

I was surprised to see how a boat had been used to create a pond & took a snapshot of the boat. Oops, the 2 stalks of withered papaya leaves are showing up in the photographs like sore-thumbs! Forgot to remove them before photographing.

 

Please stay tuned for more photographs of the inhabitants of Pasir Ris Park & we promise nature lovers that you wouldn't be disappointed in the outcome! :)

Demise of my three "musketeers" ... *SOB*

Finally, the potted plants breathed their last breath and didn't manage to get revived even when I brought them down to the community garden.  ;(

These plants had brought us plenty of joy & happiness, helping us to get closer to mother nature in befriending yellow spotless ladybirds & olive-backed sunbirds.

Even towards their last remaining days, they had never failed to add beauty to our environment with their pretty blooms.  And for that, we're extremely grateful to their existence & their subsequent recilience against diseases.

As such, we would like to recite an eulogy in this blogging entry to commenmorate our precious plants who had died at our hands of excessive kindness (too much fertiliser) & we shall do so with deep regrets.

There is no night without a dawning

No winter without a spring

And beyond the dark horizon

Our hearts will once more sing...

For those who leave us for a while

Have only gone away

Out of a restless, care worn world

Into a brighter day

(No Night Without, by Helen Steiner Rice)



Adieu my darling plants, for I am sadly reminded by your presence through your "babies" who are found to be thriving so beautifully in the community garden. *SOB*

But perhaps, we felt a strong sense of consolation that you are survived by your young ones that are growing so vigorously & healthily at our neighbourhood's community garden!

The story of My "tree" musketeers - Signs of ailing health

After pruning off stalks which had aged beyond their ability for further growth, we were pretty relieved that new shoots had made its way out of the surface of the soil.

However, we did notice that these new shoots aren't as healthy as before because one of them came up with holes "burnt" into the stem as shown in the photograph below.




The rest of the green shoots seemed to have a reasonably healthy appearance as shown in the photographs attached below:

The Yellow ladybird - A faithful friend of my ailing plants

This regular visitor who is a friendly companion to my "Ginger" plants was seen frequently by myself.


Isn't it cute?

Doesn't it remind us all of the Volkswagen beetle as shown here in the photograph below?


Disclaimer: I do not own the photograph featuring the Volkswagen yellow bettle as shown above. Kindly give full credits to the owners of this image. Thank you.


More photographs of my "Ginger" plants in a state of blooming :

The Olive-backed Sunbirds' feast

There was a great feast for those olive-backed sunbirds today.

A hole which is clearly seen on every flower is a clear indication that the sunbird/s had already extracted the nectar. I believe they did it by "drilling" (piercing) a hole into the bud with their long sharp, needle-like beak.


After a heavy downpour yesterday, we were surprised that the "Ginger" plants were blooming vigorously. And as usual, we didn't manage to take any snapshots of the birds becox they would fly off the minute they sense any movements near the plants.

Even though the photographs of our "ginger" plants were repetitive in style, we hope that viewers would enjoy them as much as we do.

 

A hopeless struggle against Symphylans ...

Although my plants do have freshly bloomed flower buds which are "harvested" by the olive-backed sunbirds within a day of its appearance, it is sad to notice that the green leaves were infested with fungal spots as shown clearly in the photograph attached below:



Those yellow fungal spots were akin to skin diseases for plants & aren't curable. A strong & effective fungicide would have to be applied thinly on the leaves regularly to control the fungal condition.

The latest photographs of flowers that sprung out of the "scales" of the red "corns".





Although it isn't blooming as vigorously as before, having some flower buds is better than not having any at all.

So we've just got to take comfort in being complacent with the existing situation. We're keeping our fingers crossed that these plants wouldn't die on us...

Struggling against Symphylans (pests) ...

After repeated attempts to till the soil & pruning away many "dead" stalks of the "ginger" plants, I observed that there were improvements even though the plants aren't as healthy & lush in its growth as compared to the past.

These are some of the recent collection of its blooms for the past 1 month: