Sunday, 13 April 2014

Tropical flowers

I recently wrote to one of my online friends about how I love spring flowers, and we don't get them in the tropics. She was very surprised. Surely we have lots of colourful flowers here? Ah, I said, but we also have a lot of foliage as well, 100 to 1000 times as much! So the flowers don't make the same impact.

Soon afterwards, a tree near my condo burst into flower. It happens with this particular species – it might be a flowering trumpet tree or a pink mempat; it's not a cherry tree! But it's not a common sight. So a few of us took pictures of it. After that, I took a few more pictures of flowers around my condo.

Lovely tree – it might be a flowering trumpet tree (thanks, Umi & Tsuru!) or a pink mempat (thanks, Muskaan!)
Periwinkle

Ixora bush

Ixora flowers

Bougainvillea

Bird of Paradise flower

See what I mean about the foliage in the tropics? Much more plentiful than flowers.

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12 comments:

  1. muskaan13 April 2014 at 23:02

    Oh, Grace ! I live in the tropics too, but there is so much construction & urbanization that one is starved of this luxuriant foliage :-)
    I love the flowers & photos you've taken. All these are pretty common here as well; although air pollution takes its toll on the colors & ambiance :-((.
    If you could take a close-up of the pink flowers in the tree, it would be easier to identify - there are 2 possibilities 1. bottlebrush type of flowers (albeit condensed rather than elongated) - Rain Tree . Or 2. Pink Mempat flowers/tree. In trying to Google, here's what I came across : http://ganchau.blogspot.in/2010/04/oh-singapores-own-sakura.html
    http://blog.nus.edu.sg/lsm2251student/2010/04/17/the-singapore-sakura/ These are Actually called Singapore's Sakuras ... so you weren't far from the cherry-blossom truth :-))
    Enjoy your verdant spring !

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    Replies
    1. GraceT13 April 2014 at 23:31

      Thanks, Muskaan! Yes, from afar they look look like sakura. The flowers when close up do look quite different, though. :-) From the NUS article, I think it's the pink mempat. I'll take another look if I get the chance.

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  2. Sally Kerson13 April 2014 at 23:17

    Just spoken to my son in Singapore and now I read this, beautiful pictures. Must admit I was surprised to see so many flowering plants and trees when we were in Singapore last year and even more surprised to hear the birds singing in the evening, they go to bed when it gets dark in England.

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    Replies
    1. GraceT14 April 2014 at 00:42

      Wish I had known you when you visited Singapore – it would have been nice to meet up! :-)

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    2. Sally Kerson14 April 2014 at 05:13

      Will let you know when we plan our next visit to Singapore and then hopefully we can meet up.

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    3. GraceT15 April 2014 at 14:32

      I'll look forward to that… :-)

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  3. Robin Perfetti13 April 2014 at 23:23

    Pretty! Your post makes me want to visit our local botanical gardens...I haven't been since last spring :)

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    1. GraceT14 April 2014 at 00:41

      Oh, but you must go while the flowers are in bloom! I certainly would. :-)

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  4. Umintsuru15 April 2014 at 23:34

    The flowering tree is beautiful. I love the pink mempat too but that is the flowering trumpet tree.

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    1. GraceT16 April 2014 at 00:18

      You may well be right! I haven't had a chance to really check the flowers up close. I'll amend my blog entry… :-)

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  5. Margarets designer cards18 April 2014 at 01:58

    Hi Grace,
    Just catching up on the blogs, your photos caught my eye I just had to visit you, beautiful tree and lovely display of plants, thanks for sharing your pictures.
    Thank you fir your kind comments over the last few weeks it was very much appreciated.
    Margaret

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  6. Elsiel27 May 2014 at 12:58

    That's a beautiful tree. It's always good to see such green leaves and colourful blooms. Plenty here in Kuching too, I am sure you remember well. I painted quite a few here http://elimgs.wordpress.com/

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