My Sister has this plant. The base of the plant has leaves that to me look kinda like a dandilion. There are stems that come up from the center of the plant with elongated flower buds that at 9:00 p.m. open to a bright yellow flower about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in size. A couple of minutes before 9 the flower bud which is a darker green color will start to turn a lighter pale green color and within a couple of minutes the yellow flower pops out. In the morning they are hanging down or on the ground. Her friend originally got the plants somewhere in Ohio but she can’t remember where. These plants come back each year but they don’t seem to spread. I don’t know if they come from a seed or a bulb or?

I would like to get some of these plants but don’t know where to find them. If anyone knows about these flowers or where I can find them please let me know. I’m talking about the flower that only bloom at night for one night. Where would you look for seeds? As soon as the flower dies there are no seed pods, just the leafs close to the ground and the flowers don’t seem to have any seeds on them but I don’t know what I’m really looking for.

Here are some photos about the plant I’m talking about…

Dennis Mitchell

Hi.

On 23 June evening the cactus plant which Annie and I nursed for 15 years  bloomed. We were amazed at the beauty of the white cactus flower and enjoyed watching it briefly. The next day the flowers faded away.  It is surprising that such a not so good looking and harsh plant can produce such beautiful flowers. Its short appearance kind of remind us that life is so fragile.

My Cactus!

Its beautiful white flowers!

Thought of sharing with you…

 From,

Mr Tay Joo Thong

If trees would talk, then it would make writing stories on them an easy task. As this is not possible with trees in terms of talking as humans do, the way it is done to know more about them is through research, be it in science, the arts & the learning on our own or from others. 

Having an interest in gardening and trees, Mrs Chew Bee Theng (Helen Tan) was very happy to discover that a tree her husband planted around 1970 had survived the waves and tides of change and progress, and still standing strong today at busy Thomson Road (beside bus-stop no. 8 ). She had contacted NParks to request for its identification.

Angsana Tree along Thomson Rd

Hock Keong and I were both eager to meet up with Mr and Mrs chew that morning to share with them what we knew about the Angsana Tree (Pterocarpis indicus) and to find out more about what that tree meant to the couple, who are parent of four grown-up children. We measured its girth to be 4.5m and estimated height 25m.

Mr & Mrs Chew

They told us that up to about 2000, they had operated a coffee shop, food and drinks business at Thomson Rd. Mr Chew, a young man then, was helping his dad at their shop when three cut branch saplings were planted around 1971 onto the site in front of the building block along the road. This surviving tree is the middle one as the other two had long been removed (or killed by termites?) and replaced with Yellow Flames (Peltophorum pterocarpum). During those days, an older and more experienced neighbour had taught him how to grow Angsana tree saplings from cut branches and they had salvaged the tree cut branch saplings from other pruned trees for planting at this site.

Mr Chew also encouraged other shop tenants to do the same as well in front of their block. Within 5 years, the trees planted had grown a canopy each to provide some shade to the shop houses. Planting trees and gardening had certainly brough fond memories for these folks in this community. They had hoped that this tree would continue to be retained and maintained, even after they were no longer tenants of the shop.

Mr &Mrs Chew, and Ms Yap.

As at June 2008, Mrs Chew expressed gratitude and thanks for the survival of this Angsana tree, which had provided the much needed shade for their shop in those days from the mid day and setting sun. She was delighted she is able to take pictures of this tree with her family. She also told us that she has a balcony garden, filled with potted plants at her apartments in Woodlands which she enjoyed with her neighbours. Her friends and visitors had exclaimed in delight that her garden is like a forest! Hurray!

Brendon Phuah

Today was an exhausting day for me but one that was very fulfilling. I was “gardening” all day long or more exactly, involved in various gardening-related activities which started at about 10 am in the morning which lasted only in the evening.

The first event was community planting at HortPark which commenced at about 10 am. I was so tired out by work in the past week that I overslept quite a bit and had to take a cab to rush down to Hyderabad Road. The skies were overcast and that meant quite a comfortable day ahead without the glaring sun that was well-suited for outdoor gardening.
My friends, namely, Albert, Chong Ren, Eng Ong, Phillipe and Xuan Hong, were also there to support the community planting event organised by the Community in Bloom (CIB) at their display plot at HortPark. Shirley from CIB invited us from Green Culture Singapore to introduce us to gardening enthusiasts from the various community gardening groups. It was nice to be able to meet up and interact with fellow community gardeners! Tak a look at the pictures below that are saturated with lots of smiling faces that I took during the community planting event:

It is a good initiative by the CIB to organise community planting sessions at the CIB plot at HortPark. In my opinion, this serves as a good opportunity for community gardeners from various groups to come together to know each other. After the casual planting activity was over, we were treated to some refreshments and I felt quite pampered as the CIB has ordered some Delifrance coffee and tea as well as some pastries. How nice right?

We then adjourned to the Fruit Room located below the Visitor Centre at HortPark for a talk by Dr Varughese Philip from the Agri-Veterinary Authority (AVA) on the fertilisation of plants. He covered some basic knowledge on plant nutrients, the types of organic and inorganic fertilisers that can be used to feed our plants and ways to spot nutrient deficiencies in our plants. These are something that would be useful for beginners. I was happy to meet up a friend, Ms Rosalind Tan, our famous Madame Butterfly from Alexandra Hospital, whom I have known from doing gardening, at the talk.

The activities at HortPark ended roughly at about 1pm and I was back in my lab in NUS to do some labwork. I guess I was a little slow with the work on hand but I knew I cannot rush through the cell culture work that I have planned to do. I have to be meticulous and focussed with what I was doing and that took me a full two hours. It was around 3pm when I was done and I have to take another trip via a taxi to fly me down to Bishan Community Library to attend a talk that was organised by GCS, CIB and the National Library Board (NLB) at 3.30pm.  The speaker of the talk was Mr Gan Cheong Weei, a fellow member from the GCS discussion forum. As mentioned before, he is a butterfly enthusiast as well as a avid Nature photographer and in this talk, Mr Gan shared with members of the public on how to use the popular “point and shoot” digital cameras to take good plant pictures. It was very well-received, I must sat as the room was filled. The talk was concise and definitely not too technical. The tips given throughout his talk were very useful as well.

 

Wilson Wong

Some time ago, my aunt and cousins went to Ipoh and brought back some ribena ruits. They gave me some and asked me to plant them in my planter.Now the plants are growing up and I saw my first ribena fruit!

Ribena fruits

Young ribena seedlings

My ribena plants growing happily!

The last time my aunt boiled the ribena fruits with sugar, it tasted really good. Just like the ribena drink but with a stronger aroma of the berries. I hope I can make my own ribena drink with the fruits from my planter soon!

The ripen ribena fruits

My home-made ribena drink!

Shirley Tey

“I’m in a team that is in charge of the park connectors.” – an answer I always give when asked of my occupation and job description in National Parks Board. 

An all too familiar response would be “Oh, I see,” followed by an awkward silence. Through their eyes, I can almost hear voices in their mind whispering, “Park connectors? What’s that? Doesn’t sound like a park to me at all.  How boring could that be, working in a ‘park connector’.”

Many do not know exactly what a Park Connector is, despite the recent media release on our first completed cycling loop – the Eastern Coastal Park Connector.  Park connectors are links from one park to another, providing an avenue for recreational cyclists, in-line skaters and joggers who do not wish to shorten their life by breathing in exhaust gases while doing their thing.

In fact, with the completion of the Eastern Coastal Park Connector, many organizations, big and small, have hosted their sports events along our park connectors. For example, the up and coming Sundown Marathon in 17 May 2008 by Hivelocity, Delta Senior School’s involvement in NPark’s Adopt-a-Park program along Alexandra Park Connector for their school’s curriculum, Health Promotion Board’s Feet-to-Walk to promote healthy lifestyle among the community and many more.

APSN Delta Senior School’s students conducting gardening activities at Alexandra Park Connector. 

Most sections of our park connectors are actually linear gardens, with attractive, colourful and luscious trees and shrubs lining the dull and boring canals, thereby enlivening the park user’s experience while carrying out their exercise regime or recreational activities.

So, a note to everyone out there reading this, don’t miss out on the Park Connector EXPERIENCE!!

Go to one nearest to your residence and sweat it out while enjoying the beautiful blooming flowers of the shrubs and trees, fresh air and everything a park has to offer, or simply take a relaxed stroll either in the morning (cool morning breeze), evening (park bustle with children laughing, pets and their owners jogging, and housewives chattering) or night (romantic ambience), each offering a unique experience, or meet up with your friends to take a night cycling trip around the Eastern Coastal Park Connector.   

This interesting plant is called Cleodendrum myricoides, also known as Ugandense. It is native to West Africa. 

Park Connector- Linking the FUN to U!

Cheers,

Wendy Lee

It was a warm and sunny April afternoon when Mr Lucien and myself decided to accept Mr Krishnan’s invitation to view his grape vine which he had nurtured for 9 years. After these years of patient gardening and nurturing, Mr Krishnan’s efforts had finally borne fruit, to all our surprise in sunny, warm, hot, humid and tropical Singapore, and for the second time in his living memory, too. This is the time when it is more common to see the durian kings & queens enjoying the king of tropical fruits. The little, humble grape stuck it through.

 As it was about lunch time, Mr Lucien & myself thought that we should pop by for some free grape sampling appetizer as promised, from Mr Krishnan. Though, the grapes were small they tasted sour-sweet to our surprise. Now, that’s an indication of a good variety with crude upbringing. From a distance it was thought they were a seedless variety from Sheng Siong supermarket.

Grapevines growing at Mr Krishnan’s balcony.

Nevertheless, it was an achievement for Mr Krishnan as his untested gardening skills was indeed witnessed by us in his beautiful and roomy 5-room HDB flat balcony with inclination to invite ‘birds of any feather’.

 Mr Krishnan is an avid nature lover and his high rise balcony garden includes his aquaria with water plants and freshwater fishes and if I am not mistaken, caged birds and free roaming rock pigeons ! He told us that he gets frequent visits from such free roaming birds that are brave and friendly enough to pass by for a free meal.

Mr Krishnan and his grapes. 

 We had an enjoyable 45 minutes session at Mr Krishnan’s residence discussing the joys, trials and tribulations of maintaining our own gardens. He shared with us his career in Singapore and his wish that he can spend more time in his retirement days working in the parks and gardens of Singapore which as a nature lover, is something close to his heart.

Brendon Phuah

For many people their garden is also the main source of rice, their staple food.  During the monsoon season (October to March) the garden’s productivity is at its highest, with some (like the one below) yielding over a metric tonne of rice per year in a good harvest, enough for an extended family of 20-30 for the following year. There are two main types of garden – swamp padi, and hill padi.

 

This is my brother-in-law Joseph’s swamp padi field.  It is kept free of weeds during the monsoon season by flood-water channeled into the field from the nearby stream.  If the rains are not heavy enough, then manual weeding is “back-breaking” work.  Swamp padi can be grown each year for 3-4 years before a “fallow” year is necessary

Here my Sister-in law Catherine has grown hill padi on the foothills of the mountain.  Hill padi outgrows the weeds better, but still needs manual weeding.  It does not like as much water as swamp padi. Two fallow years are needed in every 3 years for hill padi. It is also commonly grown with other food plants like Jerri , which is Sarawak’s “Pearl Barley”, also called  Job’s Tears Coix lacryma-jobi,  seen in the foreground), pepper (Piper nigra) in the middle distance, and Durian (Durio graveolens) on the well-drained mountain slopes. 

What do the kampong children do when Mum & Dad are weeding padi?  They run away of course – who wants to weed padi in the baking hot sun?  The forest is much cooler, more mysterious and always holds out the promise of “finding something”. 

What do they “find”? A swimming pool of course – what better way to spend a hot day!

 

Simon Longman

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