Pachira macrocarpa in my backyard

Surprise in my own backyard, now that is something to talk about on this blog. A plant that we bought many years back is now a small tree. It was a novelty that appealed to the Chinese wish for prosperity during Chinese New Year. It came as three separate plants with their stems intertwined like braids and that made a pretty presentation. I never expected to see flowers which explains why I almost missed this withered bloom. Luckily I saw it just before I went into the house and now I know, hey, I will be seeing more of these flowers hopefully!

Plumeria (Frangipani) - 鸡蛋花

When I was a kid, there was a row of four or five frangipani trees in front of a small post office that has since been demolished. As a child, I would accompany my mother to that post office where she would buy stamps, send parcels to relatives and renew her driving licence . The frangipani trees were a distinctive part of my childhood as was that particular post office. My mother told me that the pretty white flowers were called 鸡蛋花 (egg flowers) and I grew up always with that name stuck in my mind but never really thought about why they were called such. Looking at these close-up photos I suddenly realised why.

Alocasia?

Like a princess in the shade
Hey pretty maid
You made
my day.

Hibiscus that I have never seen before

It is obvious that this is a Hibiscus plant i.e. obvious to people like me. I saw a few of these plants at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and was so mesmerized by the unusual appearance of the flowers and the leaves that I was like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower unable to let go of their beauty.

Tiger Orchids - Grammatophyllum speciosum

I am so privileged to have seen these Tiger Orchid blooms a second time because they only bloom once a year. The first time I saw them was some years ago (or perhaps many years ago), and the second time was on Sunday. They were in the same location and most likely were the same plants.

It was like meeting an old friend, one I have not seen for years and who suddenly turned up out of the blue like my friend Margaret.

Of course I had to spend quality time with these lovely flowers. As I have mentioned before, I am not very enamoured of orchids for reasons that I do not really know myself even though I do take photos of them but only because they were flowers.

But these gigantic orchids are the only orchids that I set apart from the rest because of their sheer power to dazzle even in broad daylight.

So I circled this clump of the orchids that could hold the world record as the heaviest orchid, not once but many times and gave them the star treatment they rightly deserve.

I find it strange that no one stopped to join me in admiring these unusually huge orchid flowers. Could it be one woman's meat is another's poison? Maybe, maybe not.

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