May Flowering Trees ( Part I )

I have been chasing after colours of the rainbow recently. I guess today would be a good time to show the results. About two days ago while shopping at Mile 7, I was lucky to come close to a drooping branch ( see inset) of the Golden Shower tree in the town's small park which was surrounded by rows of car parking lots. The Golden Shower tree ( Cassia fistula) is sometimes called the Indian Laburnum. It is deciduous to semi-evergreen in habit. During flowering the bright yellow flowers will drop or get blown by the wind forming a thin spread of golden droplets on the tree below which is most pleasant to see. If you walk past the tree you'll certainly be alerted by the drooping clusters of fragrant yellow flowers. A beauty to behold.

Golden Shower trees at Mile 7, Kuching.

Medium Shot of the Goa Tree in early flowering stage with beautiful lavender to light purple colours.

A full grown Goa Tree ( Andira surinamensis ) along a dual carriageway at Petrajaya, Kuching.

Goa Trees grow to a maximum height of about 20 m and are excellent roadside trees for the shade they offer. The flowers change colours to a darker purple when past their full blooming stage.

As a matter of fact, this morning news over the TV mentioned that the hot season in West Malaysia was reportedly hitting 36.5 degrees centigrade. For the life of me this is indeed very extreme. The temperature in Kuching ( East Malaysia) today is just around 33.5-34 degrees at its hottest. Indeed this steamy and dry month of May has induced flowering to many of the roadside trees here. This phenomena hopefully keep me busy for a few more weeks chasing after more colourful bursts of flowering trees throughout Sarawak's towns and countrysides.

The above picture was taken last week in Bintulu, showing the wide crown of the Yellow Flame tree ( Peltophorum pterocarpum) in flames of yellow.

I will not miss to plant this tree for our parks or bigger gardens here. The clusters of yellow flowers have crinkled petals. Like the Goa Trees they can stand tall to about 20 m high and provide much shade and beauty too. After each flowering season the Yellow Flame tree produces a multitude of rust-red and flat seed pods.

April Shower

I just can't stop admiring the flamboyant April showers of Kuching.
The Golden Shower tree ( Cassia fistula) dripping in showers of gold and the Shower Orchid Vine ( Congea tomentosa) bursting its velvety sprays into the April air is indeed a pleasure to see. This is the kind of green investment that brings much reward as well as admiration of Kuching as a botanical or garden city. Well you can say that its ROI ( Return of Investment) is in the flow of tourists clicking their cameras and videos while touring its gardens, parks and other landscaped urban spaces.

The Golden Shower ( Cassia fistula) with drooping clusters of yellow flowers seen at a mini-park at Mile 7 town,Kuching,

While shopping at the Satok Sunday market this morning, I came across this large evergreen shrub often referred to as the Shower Orchid Vine ( Congea tomentosa) showing off its masses of lavender pink to mauve bracts from a residential house at the edge of the market. A closer look at the inflorescence's reveal sprays of small flowers in groups. Each group is made up of four velvety lavender pink bracts. The center flowers are tiny and insignificant. The Congea is a native to this part of the world i.e. Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. However this species has been grown in many parts of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and happily naturalised there over time.

The Shower Orchid Vine ( Congea tomentosa) loves full sun and being a vigorous grower demands ample space.

Golden Thoughts

Thinking about the economic collapse of nations today can be very distressing. But is there a way to look at the brighter side of things? To keep me think positive and speculative about the future, I have two golden blooms to colour my thinking. First is the Kedah Gardenia ( Gardenia carinata), a rather small tree that has its origins in West Malaysia. Just before I left Bintulu for Kuching last week, I took this picture ( right inset) at the open space in front of Medan Jaya shopping area. March seems to be the flowering season of Golden Gardenia trees in Bintulu.What I find so special about this tree are the fragrant flowers it produced. The flowers are singular and the petals thick. The flowers will remain on the tree for weeks and when they fall the ground below are littered with beautiful yellow petals

CU of the fragrant Golden Gardenia Tree flowers.

Yellow blooms are symbolic of sunshine, brightness and optimism. It helps me visualise opportunity. Yellow hat thinking is opportunity seeking. When one wears a yellow hat, one tends to draw best scenarios. There is so much optimism in the air and I like the smell of opportunities. To be open requires me to think positively .

In Kuching, I came across this flowering Golden Shower tree ( Cassia fistula) located at the Main Central Padang area. Being semi-deciduous, the tree seemed to be enveloped by yellow flowers that hang in long pendulous racemes. At the same time it produced fruits that are long (30-60 cm) looking like drumsticks. When all the flowers fall the tree will be covered by these long pods which contain the seeds for propagation purposes. The golden shower tree, sometimes referred to as the Indian laburnum, is considered a medium -sized tree ( 10 -20 m high) and is suitable to be planted on small roads, gardens and open spaces.

Having its inflorescence's appearing in long golden bunches makes me think of gold dropping on my lap. It begs me answer the most important question economist ask - what's in it for me? For when one has explored positively and evaluated risks, they must arise some opportunities. There's no middle ground. Make sure that you are on the correct side of the fence when things get worse with the existing economic collapse ( slump - recession - depression). Save yourself first, before you save civilisation!

The Golden Shower Tree ( Cassia fistula)