Given my long hiatus, I think I owe it to myself and all those reading to put up some photos of plants I have grown, encountered, bought, "stolen", acquired so far. Most of these photos were taken with my brand new Canon 7D DSLR and Canon 100mm f.2.8 Macro lens. Needless to say, there will be more in due course.
I found this fella chewing on my Costus varzearum one early morning. I've not managed to identify the species but i'm sure it would morph into something quite spectacular.
On Sunday, I took Lex with me to Song Orchids. As he can't walk, I carted him around in his stroller. Lex has always been fond of plants, smelling them during his walks and occasionally, relieving himself on them. Even in his current state, he seems to appreciate the orchids as he would look at the ones that I pick and even have a whiff of them when I bring them to him. I do wish he'll be able to walk again. 
I got this hybrid 'J4' along with 3 other hybrids from Thailand through an order put through by Lyndi some 2 years ago. This is the first time it has bloomed for me, possibly because i've been taking better care of my plumerias. I'm trying to get them to grow a lot bigger in time for the new house. This one produces a nice tight posey of flowers which has hues of peach, yellow and pink. The flowers are also larger than most other plumerias, so in all, it makes quite a statement in any garden. So far only another has bloomed, with the remaining still pretty much in stunted growth. Perhaps i'm not given it ideal growing conditions.
I first chanced upon this beautiful flowering shrub planted along the drive-way of NPark's headquarters at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It has beautiful lavender coloured fowers which grow in small bunches. Unfortunately, it is unscented. When I saw a lonely specimen planted in a bag for sale at Ji Mei, I grabbed it without any haste. It remains potted in the bag today but continues to flower profusely. This is an evergreen shrub which can grow up to 3ft tall. It requires regular moisture, full to part sun and thrives well in fertile, well-drained soil.
The only place to see this lovely Etlingera is at the Singapore Botanic Garden's Ginger Gardens. It can be found blooming occasionally behind the waterfall. 
Another rare ginger which can only be found in SBG's Ginger Gardens, the Etlingera burttii is a large ginger with a creeping rhizome that gives rise to leafy shoots which reach to a height of over 7 m (23 ft.) tall. Each shoot holds up to 30 large leaves that can grow to 100 cm (40 in.) long and 20 cm (8 in.) wide. The inflorescence sits on the ground and holds numerous, densely clustered, yellow flowers with a red stigma. The shooths and the fruits are edible. Tubu Ligan is native to Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, where it grows in montane forest to about 1500 m (4900 ft.).
The Jungle King aka red ginger or Alpinia purpurata remains one of the most popular and beautiful gingers of all time, given the striking colour and showy size of its blooms. Although immensely popular with gardeners and seen in many tropical gardens the world over, I find this ginger difficult to grow. For some reason, they "downsize" under my care, to the point where it shrinks into oblivion. According to various literature, this ginger, like most other gingers, prefer fertile, organically rich, well-drained soil. It can thrive in full sun to bright broken light. I grew mine in a mixture of compost and mixed soil, so surely that does constitute "fertile, organically rich" soil. Then again, I noticed that nurseries usually grow them and other zingiberacae in very "clayey" soil. I guess i'll have to continue experimenting until I get the right mix.
