“Come and experience 2 hours of exhilarating fun swinging from tree to tree five metres above the ground!”

The website says.

Five metres above ground? Hmph, I swear my 5-year-old daughter Erin jumps that high when she watches Kung Fu Panda and reenacts the fight scenes on the family bed! I have a concave mattress to prove it.

Swinging from tree to tree? I snorted at the computer screen. Must be a figure of speech, because photos show children wearing helmets and safety harnesses, instead swinging on vines ala Tarzan.

What I was most attracted to was “2 hours of exhilarating fun”. Yup, Erin will be occupied for 2 blissful hours while I sit down and lim ko pi. After all that exhilaration, she’ll probably need some rest, which gives me another 2 hours to do whatever I want. Sounds good, no?

In no time at all, I was on my way to Bedok Reservoir Park with Erin.

It was rather easy to find, but what the guide books don’t tell you is that you need to walk another 300m from the nearest car park to the actual venue. Erin and I enjoyed the walk nonetheless, thanks to the cool afternoon breeze.

When we finally reached the site, we saw an intricate suspension of boards, planks, ropes connecting one tree to another. And although we were there on a weekday afternoon, we saw quite a few kids carefully negotiating their way from one tree to the next. My heart skipped a beat when I didn’t see any nets, but then each kid was wearing a harness and secured to a safety line.

Erin’s eyes widened like saucers. “You mean I get to go up there?” She asked. “Yup!” I said. She promptly gave out several squeals of delight. “Quick! Quick! I wanna go! Now!”

My initial fears that Erin would back out of the course evaporated. “That’s my daughter all right.” I thought proudly. A friendly instructor got Erin suited up in a helmet and harness, and she was on her way, climbing up a ladder to her first challenge. Erin was to move from one tree to the next by walking on suspended planks.

The first hint of trouble came when the instructor asked Erin to stretch her arms repeatedly to touch the pulley. She’s supposed to be able to push the pulley in order to move from one challenge to the next. But Erin’s arms were clearly just a tad too short to do so.

The instructor looked straight at me and said, “I’m afraid I’ve gotta let her down. She needs to come back when she’s a bit older, say, in 6 months’ time.”

“But, but…” I stammered, as I saw Erin’s face fall.

To the instructor’s credit, he was really nice about it, and told me he understood how disappointed I was, having taken time off work specially to spend time with my daughter. He also offered to let Erin down the zip line (what’s more commonly known as the Flying Fox) instead of having her climb down the ladder, so that the trip wouldn’t be a total waste. Finally, he offered to give me a voucher so that Erin could come back in 6 months’ time for free.

I appreciated the fact that the instructor had Erin’s safety in mind, but I was reluctant to let Erin give up without giving it the first challenge a try at least. The instructor agreed, so Erin got to walk to the first tree, then return to the starting point. Erin’s face showed slight nervousness but she overcame it by taking one step at a time. And she made it in the end! And when she came down the zip line, she was all smiles again!

When we went to collect the voucher, the instructor praised Erin for not kicking up a fuss. Indeed, I was very proud that Erin had taken the news quite calmly, and promised to reward her with an ice-cream. Just as I was thinking these happy thoughts, I heard the instructor say, “So Erin, you have to take more vegetables and take up skipping so that you can be taller and stronger okay?” Erin nodded enthusiastically, and started jumping in agreement. “Oh no!” I thought, “I gotta buy a new mattress!”

Chen Hsin Yeow

Hey! Look at this! It will make you pleased. Brimmimg with colours of the rainbow, beautiful colours it can show. The leaves green as grass and red as fiery fire balls will make you look at it with awe. The leaves from autumn make a splendid climber, it will make you wander. It is the colours of Korea.

This climber is called Acer “Beni Maiko” and has a spring colour that is scarlet to fire red, combined with a semi dwarf growth habit.

When you think of the colours, it will make you wonder why the climbers can be so splendid with such glamour. Smell the scent of the lovely leaf, gaze at the climbers made with leaves of splendor.

Enjoy!

Cheri Quek HuiXin (Primary 6)

The sun was sinking in the west,
The sky was red as wine.
A familiar Koel sang his song,
As if to show me a sign.

I stopped a moment and I gazed,
At the silhouette of the tree.
It’s song as sharp as an angle’s harp,
It’s voice beckoned me.

My heart was filled with gladness,
My being filled with awe.
How could I let life distract,
The Joy that was always with me.

Whether one is listening to a bird sing or looking up at a mighty tree, the experience of nature is one of awe. One cannot help but marvel at the intricate design of a single leaf, or the whistling of the branches. Time spent in nature is time spent realizing that you don’t know it all and that you never will.

I’m sure there are moments in life when one might feel dejected, lost or tired. In such moments, don’t forget that there is a joy that’s always within you.

Lim Chong Han

I attended the first Community-in-Bloom Induction programme for CIB Friends at Hortpark. It was held early in the morning and we started the programme with a mass planting at the CIB plot. Participants got to try planting plants into the ground and it was a very good ice-breaker session!

CIB Friends is an initiative launched by NParks for gardeners who go for an extra mile to foster gardening spirit and bringing people together. CIB Friends enable participants to help out and promote gardening during events. CIB friends can also share their experience by giving talks or help others to start a garden.

After the mass planting, we went to the event room where we were briefed about the upcoming events and how we can contribute as CIB friends. We also have a networking session where we exchange ideas and contacts with like minded gardeners.

It was a very exciting programme and we learnt a lot from one another. Gardening is never just a planting and watering job but more of a friendship bonding and social activity! Those who are interested to become a CIB friend can sign up at NParks CIB website.

Richmond Tan

Community In Bloom (CIB) was invited to take part in the 50+ Singapore Exposition 2009 at Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre on 10-11 Jan 09.  The event, organized by Council for the Third Age and graced by Guest of Honour Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, was aimed at the baby boomers with the sole purpose of enhancing their quality of life. 

The CIB team supported this goal by promoting community gardening as a way of ageing actively. Our community gardeners, mostly seniors, were on site to engage and excite their fellow seniors about gardening.  

GOH Dr Vivian Balakrishnan meets our 80-year-old “Ah Ma” from Jurong Central Zone ‘G’ RC community garden.

Community gardeners from Marine Crescent Ville RC showing off their home-grown plants and answering questions.

Home-grown flowers, herbs and vegetables brought by our gardeners as display items were a huge attraction, drawing many eager visitors to our booth who showered our team as well as our gardeners with gardening-related questions. This also encouraged a large number of seniors to start their own community gardens in their estates, a good sign for the CIB programme.

CIB looks forward to more opportunities like this to spread the love for gardening to the masses.

Joey Gan

I am sure most of you have seen the Brazilian Fern Tree or Tower Tree (scientific name: Schizolobium parahybum , from the Family Fabaceae/Leguminosae) somewhere in Singapore e.g. SBG, Orchard Road. HortPark have these trees planted mainly at Floral Walk as you come down the Alexandra Arch and at the lower car park end of the Car Park Garden. However, I can bet that most of us have not seen them in bloom! During our HortPark official opening in May 08, two of these trees flowered but we did not manage to capture them and share it with you.

We do not really know the environmental stimulus that sets on the flowering, but to our amazement and delight, one of them at the Car Park Garden flowered towards end Dec 08. The inflorescence is still developing now and you can still catch them if you want to.

In addition, I am certain most of you have seen variegated whitish-green leaved banana (scientic name Musa species, from the Family Musaceae) plants either in HortPark or elsewhere. However, I wish to bring your attention to a variegated yellowish-green banana plant donated by Mr John Tan to HortPark in late 2007. This particular plant was planted with a very small rootball in the Home Garden (just behind the swing) before our soft opening in Dec 07. Apparently this Musa cultivar is uncommon and SBG is currently helping us to identify the scientific name of this plant. After slightly more than a year in the ground, this plant started to sucker and in late Dec 08, the inflorescence spike started developing rapidly and is still in flower. In order that you do not miss the unusual sight, I am sending you this invitation to visit HortPark once again to admire the beauty of this underappreciated plant.

This is a tribute to all plant lovers, brought to you by HortPark.

Gary Chua

Lily gave her first gardening talk at the library Saturday (27 Dec 08) afternoon and the topic she touched on was on hoys, something that was very close to her heart. She has been growing this group of vines for the past decade and has accumulated a lot of knowledge about their cultivation and growth requirement which Lily shared with the members of the public who came all the way to this library on western Singapore to attend her talk.

Lily’s first talk on hoyas was given at Jurong Regional Library.

The room was largely filled and I saw quite a number of familiar faces. Many thanks to Yong Kuan who came and also helped to take the pictures that I have put up on this blog. Quite a few members from the Green Culture Singapore discussion forum, such as Richmond and Teresa, were present to listen to Lily. I caught a glimpse of a handful of staff from the National Parks Board (NParks) too. Abby was also at the library where she brought along some seeds, such as those of the hoya, that were given out to the public to try their hands on to germinate at home.

The great turn-out at Lily’s talk.

Despite this was Lily’s first public talk given at the library, she did so like a ‘pro’. The presentation was well-paced and filled with enticing colourful photographs of hoya flowers. It was also delivered systematically and hence easy to follow for both novices and experts. Most importantly, this gardening talk was not overtly botanical as it can appear to be rather dry to some members in the audience. Sufficient notes about the botanical aspects of hoyas had been dispensed to ensure a basic know-how.

At the end of the talk - Lily was handing out the Hoya feather-light seeds from Abby and answering questions that the audience might have for her.

With Lily’s talk, we ended a year’s worth of gardening talks that were brought to all plant enthusiasts as a result of a continued collaboration between NParks, National Library Board and Green Culture Singapore. We will get to see Lily, myself, as well as, a few more other members from various organisations coming on board next year to share our knowledge on plants, gardening and wildlife around us! Keep a look-out for our talks and do come to support us!

Wilson Wong
 

Have you ever seen a real banana split? (Not the famous ice-cream dessert please!)

My very first encounter of such was given to Musa velutina, commonly known as the Velvet-Pink Banana or Self-peeling Banana. The common names are so valid and explain it all. In fact, the Latin species name ‘velutina’ already means velvety. It is so named because the whole inflorescence is covered with short trichomes (hairs), and naturally the fruits (i.e. banana’s skin) adopted the same velvety texture too.

The fruit of the Musa velutina is a glaring white (not even a hint of cream or off-white), with numerous hard black seeds, which can be seen even without bruising the flesh. Even though I read that it is inedible (probably due to the amount of seeds), I still go ahead and try it. It is not really fleshy, so I just imagine that I’m eating a custard apple…sucking what I can from the seeds. It is not tasty but nevertheless, I’m able to pick up some mild banana-sweetness in it still.

Tasting aside… I will definitely try germinating the seeds because I’m pretty curious about the look of a Musa’s seedling. Aren’t you?

Here’s almost a picture perfect with fruits & flowers in a frame. The splitting bananas are like second bloom to the inflorescence as it is just as attractive. In fact, to me, it is more attractive than the flowers. The plant can be found in FloralWalk, HortPark but I refuse to reveal the exact location. Treasure hunt is fun and who can’t recognize a banana plant right? I won’t spoil the fun but beware, as there are a few Musaceae along FloralWalk.

When I’m documenting this fellow on site…many HortPark visitors dropped by, greeting the plants with oooohs! and ahhhhs! With comments like… Is that a banana? Why is it white? Does banana spilt? Are those seeds? (when I dissected the fruits on site) Then a kid came by with his mum…he asked questions and I explained. Then I passed some seeds to this inquisitive boy, telling him to show his teacher the discovery he has made during his holidays. Witnessing the spilt already made my day, this little interaction with the boy kind of made it twice…

To make your day as much as I have made mine…here is a bonus photo showing some developing bananas from the flowers! Enjoy!

Keneric Ng