Bloom Watching

Sunday - and feeling light and easy, I decided to take to the wheels and spin around Bintulu town to do some bloom watching. Luckily I spotted a line of Angsana Trees in full bloom at Kidurong township. Kidurong township faces the sea and is an ideal location for Angsana Trees ( Pterocarpus indicus) which grow naturally by the sea through out Malaysia. Bintulu's distinct dry spell now have induced many Angsana trees in town displaying their best blooms.

Angsana or sometimes referred briefly as 'Sena' is native to Malaysia. It has small yellow and highly fragrant flowers. I was amazed by the carpet of yellow flowers that gather below the trees I saw this afternoon ( See pictures at inset and below)

Angsana trees are huge trees with a shady crown and are normally planted on broad roads. When full grown it can reach a height of 30 meters.

Recently I have been very busy bloom watching and that hobby made me put up a new blog specifically to compile all the pictures I took of the plants since I started blogging about them. The blog is really a photo blog with very little data on the plants except their names. All the plants can be accessed here. It is my fervent hope that the compilation becomes a useful resource on tropical plants .

May Flowering Trees ( Part II )

Yesterday I took an afternoon off to visit the Sarawak State Library ( Pustaka Sarawak ) and lucky I did. I rushed to return the books I borrowed earlier albeit with a fine of 5o cents for not having returned them yesterday.Hmmm...But better things to see outside the library.
I came across two flowering trees just around the library building. At the inset is a cu view of the inflorescence of the Rain Tree ( Enterolobium saman).
A ideal tree for car parks and big open spaces. There are home to a lot of wildlife and a wonderful host to ferns and orchids. Observe how the leaves curl by late afternoon. Over here the tree is sometimes referred to as 'Pukul Lima' ( Five O'clock Tree) to depict its particular habit of folding in its leaves as evening comes and will stay asleep in that mode throughout the night till the next early morning sun when its leaves slowly opens up to a new day. The inflorescence are in clusters, forming a gossamer web of delicate pink feathery flowers. The rain tree can reach a height of 20 m and its wide canopy can have a diameter of 20 m too. ( Please click at the inset to enlarge the photo)

Long Shot view of the Rain Tree ( Enterolobium saman ) outside the Sarawak State Library.

A few yards away from the library I saw a line of Tembusu ( Fagraea fragrans) trees in full flower. What differentiates the flowers of the Tembusu to the Rain Tree are in the strong fragrance that they exude to the atmosphere all around. Walking past the trees is like walking through a long corridor of perfumes. The inflorescence's are in clusters of sweetly scented long-tubed flowers that will appear white initially and will fade to cream as they age . I find these trees very prevalent in Kuching but not in other towns of Sarawak though there are native to this region. They are splendid ornamentals and wonderful trees to grow in big parks and open spaces as they can reach a height of 30 m.

LS View of flowering Tembusu Trees around Sarawak State Library park compounds, Kuching.

Growing Heliconia Collection

After about a year plus of actively adding to my collection of heliconias at my Bintulu and Kuching gardens, I realise that for the purpose my 2nd Solo Art Exhibition there would be enough quantities for use as displays or floral arrangement during the occasion. Of course one of the highlights of the show would be a live demonstration by me on the different styles of daily cut flowers based on heliconias among other plants.
Heliconias have a unique tropical aura and exotic look to them since they are native to the deep rainforests of Amazon and Borneo. Commonly called 'Bird of Paradise ' or 'Parrot Flower', they are indeed long lasting as cut flowers mostly about 2-3 weeks with cut tips in water. The duration speaks volumes of its economics. I grow them for their very colourful bracts ( false flowers). My latest collection is the Rainbow Heliconia (Heliconia wagneriana ) as seen below. Other ideas I have for the show are; sketches, paintings, batik and abstract, photography, binders, post cards all based on the subject of heliconias.

Rainbow Heliconia ( Heliconia wagneriana )

Heliconia latispatha

Parrot Flower (Heliconia psittacorum)

Lobster Claw ( Heliconia spp)

Heliconia psittacorum spp.

Parrot Flower ( Heliconia psittacorum)

Parrot Flower ( Heliconia psittacorum spp)

Fire Crackers ( Heliconia rostrata)

Lobster Claw ( Heliconis stricta )

Heliconia 'Sassy Pink'

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.

The Apple Blossom Tree

We arrived safely in Kuching this late afternoon ( 6.30 p.m.) after a 10 hours journey by road from Bintulu. The weather was hot and sunny throughout except for a brief shower lasting for about 10 minutes before we reached the town of Sri Aman. With this trip Inul & Daisy ( see inset) would have chalked up another 600 km in their cumulative record to be the most travelled cats in Malaysia.

Along the Roban stretch of the Pan-Borneo Highway, I purposely made a pit stop at a primary school compound that has this beautiful Apple Blossom Tree or Javanese Cassia ( Cassia javanica) in early stages of flowering. Time flies. The last time that I wrote about this tree was here.,18th June,2008. With this observation, I can safely say that this tree flowers once in a year because I've been watching this tree ever since I had a picture of it taken approximately a year ago. Today I was keenly interested to have close-ups of the blossoms which I didn't managed to capture before.

Despite being native to South East Asia ( especially Malaysia and Indonesia) this tree is seldom planted in urban parks , roads or open spaces. I wish that more of these trees could be planted in future for its extremely lovely pink to red flowers that are heavily clustered. Propagation is through seeds that are borne in long pods after the flowering season. Note the ferny pinnate leaves and the prominent yellow stamens.

Another breathtaking view of the blossoms.

Daisy is alerted. She's got another 30 minutes to reach home. In the background slightly above her head are two 'durian' fruits in cement-ferro sculpture as icons for the town of Serian. Durian is known in Malaysia as the' King of Fruits'.

Yellow Flame

While driving around Bintulu town this morning I saw lines of Yellow Flame trees ( Peltophorum pterocarpum) that were emblazoned with striking yellow inflorescence's . A considerable number of major roads in Bintulu were planted with Yellow Flame since 20 years ago. Next to the newly renovated Chinese temple in town I saw one very established stand that provided much shade and beauty to the surrounding area. Yellow Flame is also referred to as 'Batai Laut' in Malay and is a native tree to coastal areas of Malaysia, Bintulu included. It has a fast growing habit and mature tress can be planted as instant trees if you wish to enjoy its beauty sooner. Bintulu's sandy, well-drained clayey soils and sunny temperatures are ideal for its growth. Its golden yellow flowers are borne on terminal branches.
The leaves are dark green and its light grey bark is used to dye 'batik' clothes producing a dark brown colour by 'batik' makers in Indonesia especially on the island of Java.
Judging from today's excellent showing I wish more roadsides will be planted with Yellow Flame in future.

Kuching Cannas

Kuching is a unique. For one it has two city authorities. The Kuching City North and Kuching City South both having one City Mayor each. Today I took a drive to the Kuching City South Building which is coloured blue as in the above picture. What delighted me was this wide row of cannas that is planted at the central road median leading to the building which is the headquarters of the Kuching City South administration. This is easily the longest stretch of cannas planting in Sarawak. It is about 200 m ( two hundred) in length. In my travels throughout Sarawak this planting plot is the longest I've seen for cannas so far. Three colourful varieties are planted here -Yellow, Orange and Red.
Cannas are native to tropical regions like Malaysia and South America. Cannas live exuberantly in the really hot sun and heavy rain partly due to its having soft and succulent stems requiring lots of water to keep the stems erect throughout the day. They are planted for their bright and large coloured petalled flowers that are a wonder if planted in big masses. However it is very important to remove spent flowers or stems as they might appear messy and not pleasing to the eyes. Being perennials they don't last too long probably 1-3 years with intensive care. Thus planting beds need to be refurbished with new manure and retilled to achieve best results.

The above shows two views of the central median with cannas as the center of attraction. Seen above are two other species that provide shirting to the canna beds. Firstly the golden leaves of the Golden Dewdrop ( Duranta repens) and the red coloured leaves of the Bloodleaf ( Iresine herbstii) both of which are low maintenance plants and suitable for open sunny locations and a survivor to heavy pruning.

Chewy Narcotic

A row of 'Pinang 'Trees ( Areca Catechu) with bunches of orange oval fruits.

In rural villages of Sarawak the sight of tall palms over topping the village landscape is a common if not typical scenery. Rural folks plant coconut and betel palms for their fruits. The betel nut palm is locally known as 'Pinang' and there is even a state in Malaysia that derived its name from the betel palm i.e. the island of Pulau Pinang ( 'Penang' in colloquial English), sometimes also known as 'The Pearl of the Orient' among tourism circles.

The betel palm ( Arecha catechu) is native to this part of the world including Indonesia. The palm is single-trunked and topped with a cluster of terminal fronds. Below the bases of the fronds are branches of the ripe fruits in colours of yellow, orange or red. To collect the fruits requires the skill of an experienced climber because the trees can reach a height of 12-20 meters high.

The fruits are sold ( see inset) as jungle produce items at many a local jungle produce markets throughout Sarawak. For landscaping purposes I feel that more betel nut palms should be grown in urban parks or open spaces in Sarawak. Presently they are being sidelined in favour of expensive imported palms, which I think is most unwise. Its narrow crown and slim trunk demand very little space and therefore suitable to be planted in small urban residential gardens. Furthermore its roots aren't too adventurous and yet withstand extreme wind velocities. I prefer to plant them in a small group of threes or fives forming a 'groove-like' composition.

CU of the betel fruit exposing the white-fleshed nut in the center, which is edible.

The Malays or native ladies of Sarawak ( my mother included) love to chew the nuts as a mild narcotic. The oval fruits is cut into half and the nut sliced thinly before it is chewed together with lime and betel pepper leaves ( Piper betel). There is a rich cultural tradition of consuming the betel nuts and betel leaves that survive to this day. The practise of consuming them is prevalent in marriage ceremonies, traditional healing rituals and many casual social gatherings.

From ripe seeds Pinang trees are easily propagated and the palms bear fruits throughout the year.

Colourful Hearts

View of side garden with coleus planted as cover in border planting.

I am pleasantly surprised to see the coleus plants parading their best colours today. It must have been the manure that I generously applied before I left for Bintulu two weeks ago that did the magic. Coleus ( Solenostemon scutellariodes ) are known here as 'Ati- Ati ' derived from the Malay root word 'Hati- Hati' meaning hearts. I plant them for their gorgeously bright multi- coloured foliage. In our tropical evergreen environment where the green wash is an everyday occurrence, splashes of colours can be obtained by planting the coleus plants. Being herbaceous perennials ( i.e. they don't have woody stems above the ground) they are rather short-lived,maybe surviving for 1-3 years at the most. However they grow very fast and thus useful for 'instant' garden results. It is important to prune them head back after every flowering season for renewed growth and fresh new foliage thus creating showy masses of colours in the garden daily.

Collection of Coleus Plant Cultivars at my Kuching Garden presently:

Fabulous Fibre

Tall coconut palms bending against the sunset on a remote tropical beach makes a truly tropical vacation. Coconut juices sipped from half -opened young fruits are part of the romantic scenery of a tropical resort . Here you can stretch your legs and be one with nature. Then there was this coconut head carved out of an old ripe coconut fruit I saw the other day. It was a funny looking head of a monkey. A fine example where the coconut skin and fibre right to its hard shell are fully utilised to create a unique craft work. The cupped ears are also made from the coconut shell .

Remove the hard shell and cut the thick skin and fibre into vertical strips (as shown above) and you'll get the best hanging container for pitcher plants.

Strip off the fibres from the skin cover and thick shell. Soon you'll have yards of loose coconut fibres that are ideal for mulching .

In my gardening work I always prefer to use coconut fibres as mulch because they are locally available, retain moisture well and decompose into organic matter and in the process help break up the soil and condition it as well. In certain cases the fibres are meshed and formed into a mat and pegged to steep slopes as growing medium for grass seeds or cover plants to prevent soil erosion. In other instances, the fibres can be used as infill material for thin cushion or sleeping mats in place of cotton. I guess the only limit to its use is our imagination.

Colour the Garden

Living in an evergreen tropical climate one's eyes is constantly washed by the refreshing and healing colours of green. Often times when I enter a room or an office my eyes are naturally attracted to live plants that would indicate to me that there is live, growth or stability in the living or work place I am part of. Green is easy on the eye.

Still, we do need colours in our lives just as we need them to add vitality, appeal, sparkle and warmth to the garden. The green wash is considered a 'cool colour' and it is the hot or warm colours that we need to paint the garden to make it look vibrant and invigorating. After about a year since we started digging and experimenting with our garden in Kuching, some positive results are showing up. My focus today is flowers of the red hue( fully saturated). Add a little white and the redness dissolves into more pink values (tints) and here I have planted a couple of species like the heliconia 'sassy pink', pink hibiscus and pink frangipani that hopefully would tickle my senses ( see inset above).

The green wash of the small lawn, palm leaves and shrubbery at the front garden gives out much oxygen and freshness. Besides the the overall greeness, I have added darker values of red ( shades ) to the lower storey plants, thus the dark red or maroon leaves of the irisine. Even the wild banana leaves are variegated with blood red shades of colour.

Pink Hibiscus

In order to enjoy the garden early my strategy was to complete the front garden first. The side garden and the back garden would evolve later. Presently I plant all sorts of species at the back garden as 'advance nursery' which would provide me with the required quantities and heights of the plants upon transplanting . This method is cost saving because you get to propagate the plants yourself instead of purchasing them which is not cheap considering the quantities involved later.

Above, I use a lot of the highly variegated coleus species ( darker shades of red) as under storey plants for the side garden which is slowly emerging.

Having spent a good morning walk about at my garden , I was delighted to make fresh cuttings of the frangipani, hibiscus and heliconia that make their starring performances today. As a test to my kambatik garden concept, I would put it that in our rich tropical diversity, one should be able to move out of the house and within minutes make a simple composition for the table. I attempted it just now and pleased to call this composition 'My Pink Lady'. For more fast compositions of floral arrangements from the kambatik garden please browse here.