The Sound Of Music: Nature's Beauty @ Pasir Ris Park

[edenstrauss 3]

Woodpecker

We were surprised to see an Olive-backed woodpecker high up on one of the trees, working hard on the huge sturdy stem. I reckon that the tree must be grateful to the woodpecker for eating up worms & parasites residing on it...

My version of a photograph looked really blurry. As such, I've attached a professionally taken photograph of the woodpecker by Mr Paul Huang:

There are many breeds of woodpecker. For those of you who are curious as to how some of the other breeds in the family looked like, kindly visit Mr Paul Huang's website at http://www.naturestops.com/. Click on the "Birds" & type in "woodpecker" in the search engine.

Edited November 26, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

We're not sure if this bird is known as Shama, which is commonly found during singing bird competitions.

Edited November 27, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Hornets

A close-up photoshoot of a colourful-looking hornet (or is it a beetle??) amongst a green, leafy creeper.

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Footage of the same hornet (or is it a beetle??)

Edited November 29, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Squirrels

Squirrels were also part of the natural habitat @ Pasir Ris Park but I felt that they looked a bit too lean & thin as I've seen larger & fatter ones.

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Butterflies

It has been said that a butterfly garden would be created at the Pasir Ris Park, where some of the prettiest blooms would be cultivated. This would attract many butterflies and become a hot spot for photographers who love taking snapshots of butterflies in action.

We've managed to take photographs of butterflies using our mini digital camera. It was definitely tough becox we've got to be really careful & hush-hush about moving around them as they might jux get skittish & fly off before we manage to capture those beautiful & colourful moments.

Although our digi-cam's resolution isn't as sharp but those butterflies still looks colourful & reasonably clear in the photographs as attached below:

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

[edenstrauss 3]

[edenstrauss 3]

Flowers

Seven Golden Candlesticks (Scientific Name : Cassia Alata)

After loitering into the premises of the nursery @ Pasir Ris Park, I was pleasantly surprised & elated when I spotted an abundance of this marvelous breed of medicinal plant known as the Seven Golden Candlesticks.

Its scientific name is Cassia Alata. And because its medicinal uses are varied across cultures, it is also commonly known as the Candle Bush, Gelenggang in Malay or Akapulko in Philippines.

I've been nicknaming this plant "Iron-Fan princess" because the shape of its leaves resembled that of the Iron-Fan pricess' magical Iron Fan in the chinese folklore of fairies known as Journey to the West where the mischievous Monkey King dealt with devils & evil spirits who were hankering after the flesh of his guru, Tripitaka.

As the plant produces alot of nectar, it attracts many huge red ants who were eager to get a share of food.

For the plant to survive, it requires plenty of sunlight to flourish. The photograph below shows a picture of a spray of flower that stands tall on the top of its plant.

For more information about the plant, please visit the following website:

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/candlesticks.htm

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The Seven Golden Candlesticks continued ...

Please allow me to share my experience with this plant. I had a strong & long-standing affinity with this plant as far back as in the 1980s. As a child, my skin had been frequently plagued with problematic skin. My feet would break out in blistered-like rashes & itch throughout the day. The skin on my feet didn't just break out in sores during childhood but the skin started peeling to the extent that it became scaly.

Dermatologists were consulted but the condition couldn't be cured. In fact, the condition was making its way upwards from my foot soles all the way up to my ankles. To sum it up, my feet was not only gruesome looking but it was rotting with a bad stench!

It was during a fateful trips to one of the dermoatologists in a private hospital where the adults in the family chanced upon an old aunty whose also a patient. She told my parents to visit her bungalow as she had a plant that could cure my skin condition.

As we were all driven out of desperation, we accepted our invitation & drove up to her place. That was the very first time when we got to know all about this miraculous plant known as the Seven Golden Candlesticks.

Method:

The old aunty cut down about 5 stalks of leaves from her plant & my grandma rinsed them in water prior to boiling them in a metal pot of water. Once the leaves were boiled & cooked, you will notice that the "soup" is a shade of green.

The "soup" is then transferred into a huge aluminium of enamel-coated basin. While the liquid is still hot after boiling, I would force my feet into the basin & I assure you that this procedure should be done at every user's discretion. My threshold for heat is pretty high. Needless to say, it still hurts a big deal!

However, I must say that the "soup" of this Seven Golden Candlesticks works best when it is still hot (not lukewarm) because the hot temperature seemed to have a catalytic effect on curing the stubborn skin condition for my feet.

When my condition was extremely bad in the beginning, there was a stinging sensation during the feet soak. It hurt so badly that it felt like there were thousands of ants biting into those freakish rashes.

The colour of the "soup" gradually changed from a greenish shade to brown! This feet soaking ritual went on everyday for a period of 6 months before all the rashes were completely gone.

And I continued with the feet soak for another 6 months because all in the family were fearful that the skin condition might just relapse.

The results were remarkable becox not only did the skin on my feet heel, the skin texture looks good too!

This is a humble photograph of the current condition of my feet after a painstaking effort of adopting an intense feet soak using the "soup" of 7 Golden Candlesticks & I am extremely grateful to the old aunty who recommended us this plant & shared with us the remedy. God bless her soul!

So for those of you out there who are lucky enough to own a home garden outside your landed property, I would highly recommend that you groom such a plant - but of course, you've got to be mentally prepared for a huge battle with those giant red ants!

Here's a photograph of a giant red ant getting itself transferred from the plant to the wooden shade nearby :

Edited December 15, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

4-o-clock Flower Shrub (Scientific Name : Mirabilis jalapa)

This is a flowering shrub that was found in my granny's home garden while I was a kid. I could still recall one of my sisters stuffing the seeds into her nose & being admitted to the hospital when the seed got stuck at the entrance of her nostril!

I was quite surprised when I learnt that the shrub's country of origin was in Peru, which explains why it was also known as the Marvel of Peru. Whoa, that's a loooong drift all the way here to Singapore ...

Seeds of the flowering shrub which are easily collected by picking on the black ones as shown in the photograph below.

These seeds would then germinate easily in the soil & grow into seedlings, which would subsequently develop into a flowering shrub if the conditions are right.

Photographs (of the 4-o-clock flowering shrub) taken by my hubby at the Pasir Ris Park:

For more information about this flowering shrub and other types of plants or animals, please visit National Park's Flora & Fauna Web at the following link:

http://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Home.aspx

It's a plant & animal dictionary and is definitely useful & informative.

Edited December 5, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Madagascar Periwinkle (Scientific Name : Catharanthus roseus)

Periwinkle flowers are not my favourite. I used to see them all over along the streets during my childhood. In my opinion, I always had the impression that they are "weeds" ...

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Orange Cosmos (Scientific Name : Cosmos Sulphureus)

We noticed that butterflies love them and the shrubs of these orange blossoms were found to be clustered in Pasir Ris Park.

And these orange, cheery-looking flowers had definitely added alot more vibrance to the palette of colours in any garden.

This photograph shows the yellow version of the flower, which is not as abundant in bloom as compared to its orange counterparts:

Photographs of its shrub with pretty orange blooms (with a few yellow versions):

Edited December 5, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

More photographs on the Orange Cosmos shrubs ...

A weather-beaten shrub after a heavy downpour that took place throughout the day:

Applying softening effects on this photograph to achieve a dreamy effect:

Edited December 4, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Honolulu Creeper (Scientific Name : Antigonon leptopus)

I think most of us would find this creeper a very common sight especially decades ago when Singapore isn't as urbanised as these modern times.

I used to recall that many old houses in the past were surrounded by green or even rusty wire mesh-like fencing & they would be flanked by Honolulu Creepers or Blue-bell plants.

These Honolulu Creepers had a lengthy list of commonly-known-as names, such as the Chinese Love Vines, Chain of Love, Hearts on a Chain, Queen's Wreath. Which speaks alot on love & romance...

Since the Honolulu Creeper is so closely associated with love & romance, and has such a saturated tone of fuchsia pink, then it must be an auspicious flower to be grown in parks & perhaps, the Registry of Marriage could consider having such creepers planted within its vicinity too!

I've incidentally fished out its chinese name from National Park's website, which says: 珊瑚藤 or 朝日藤.

For more information about this flowering shrub and other types of plants or animals, please visit National Park's Flora & Fauna Web at the following link:

http://florafaunaweb...ov.sg/Home.aspx

Edited December 3, 2011 by edenstrauss