Storm clouds

Here''s how it looks like on the 18 floor. we had plenty of rain the past two weeks

Ferns in Singapore's Changi airport

Dicksonia antarctica is an evergreen fern that is native in southern parts of Australia such as New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. This one is at least 4 metres in height

Simei

Star Fruit tree

Rotting fruits

Close up view of a Star Fruit

We had to move to Simei so that I could be near my office. There are intersting fruit trees that you do not normally find in Singapore. When I saw so many Star Fruits rotting on the ground I thought that it was a waste not to eat them. I plucked a couple of fruits and tried them at home. There was a bland taste unlike the ones that you buy from the supermarkets. My guess is that our local soil is not suited for producing nice tasting Star Fruits.

Here comes the rain

We had rain the last couple of days thanks to Typhoon Fengshen that brought havoc to the Philippines.

Mango Trees

Mango trees in Hougang

The Mango trees are bearing fruit at this time of the year

The local Mangoes are green in colour unlike the ones fron the Philippines

The excavators came and cleared the vegetation. The Papaya trees and Jack Fruit all destroyed. I guess that's life

More rain today but I will rather it didn't rain as it was reported that Cyclone nargis had killed at least 15,000 people in Myanmar.

Rain

It rained a bit in the afternoon. I think there was rain due to a cyclone that hit Myanmar yesterday as reported by BBC news.

Weather situation in April

The Straits Times reported on 4 April that on the previous day about 107 mm of rain was dumped between 4.20pm to 6pm. That was 60 percent of the monthly average rainfall in April!!

But towards the later half of April the weather started to get hot and dry. Looks like I have to water the saplings to help them make it thru the dry season.

The Jack fruit tree is another one of my experiment

Weather in March

The Straits times reported on 3 April that last month was the coolest March in nearly two decades. Due to the La Nina effect which brought more rain the temperature fell to 21.8 deg celcius. the rainfall received was double the average with up to 570mm dumped on parts of the island.

I hope this continues in April so that the saplings can grow well.

The North East Monsoon has ended. Without the strong winds one really feels the humidity. I hope the La Nina conditions will persist to bring rain into the area.

Top part of the trunk snapped off this tree aka Pterocarpus indicus

According to the National library board website wood from this tree is used in furniture making. Its red latex is used in native medicine

There a number of majestic looking Angsana trees along Gerald Drive. There are less Angsana trees around these days because thier branches are more fragile and break easilt during thunderstorms. Sometimes the whole tree collapses. These trees were planted extensively by the British in the late 19th century. But a disease that spread from Malacca in Malalysia destroyed them. when singapore embarked on the Garden City campaign in 1967 Angsana trees were planted in great numbers as they grew fast. Sad to say diseases have struck again and other trees have taken its place

A coconut sprouting

There are a number of Cocos nucifera along Lorong Buangkok

Residents of Lorong Buangkok planted these Papayas

Acacia auriculiformis line Lorong Buangkok Road

Close up of the leaves and flowers

According to A Guide to the wayside Trees of Singapore they come from Thursday Island in the Torres Straits. This tree was judged unsuitable for Singapore due to excessive shedding of leaves flowers and seeds.

My most successful plant was the chilli plant. They can do with little water and they always produce fruit.3 months is all it takes for it to produce fruits. But once the fruits turn bright red, folks staying in the area will dig them out and bring them home. Capsicum frutescens is another immigrant from Latin America

Avocado sapling aka Persea americana that I planted 3 months ago

It had been dry for much of Febuary. The plants that I planted downstairs have dropped their leaves in response to the drought conditions. I was seriously thinking of watering them. March proved to be a wet month not because of global warming but La Nina weather conditions.
The Avocado tree is originally from Mexico like the Papaya plant.I will have to wait between 5 to 13 years before I can taste the fruits of my labour.I doubt this Avocado sapling will be viable unless I water it three times a week.Found that out visiting the website of the California Avocado commission www.avocado.org

Papaya saplings grown on my window ledge before being transplanted

These four papaya plants aka Carica papaya were planted a year ago. They have yet to bear fruits


I might be living in an apartment but that did not stop me from doing any gardening. It helps when my wife has a landscape company and I get to help her experiment with the different kinds of fruit trees. The Papaya plant is easy to grow.They are grown all over the planet where it is warm and frost free. They are believed to have originated in Mexico and Central America.I think they take longer to bear fruits compared to 8 months in commercial plantations because I leave them alone after transplanting.Or maybe they are all male plants as fruits will only be produced by female or hermaphroditic plants.

This is what we see when we look north from our apartment block.Lorong Buangkok Rd leads to Gerald Drive

This is what I see when I look out of the window in my apartment. On the left side of the woods is one of the last kampongs in Singapore. Imagine the whole north eastern part of Singapore used to look like this before new towns like Sengkang or Punngol was bulit.

This is a blog on Singapore, a garden city. Located at the southern tip of Peninsula Malaysia and with a land area of about 600 square kilometres. With four million people living on this island attention was paid to green the island to prevent it from turning into a concrete jungle