Our Ipoh trip this time was welcomed by the cactus flower at SiewPeng’s home.  The light pink colour flower was very beautiful.  The flower pedals were multi layer.  There were lines on the flower stem as well.  The flower size was about 3 cm in diameter which was almost the same diameter as the cactus itself.

When I checked on the flower on the day we reached Ipoh, I knew that it was the third or forth day (last 2 days) for the cactus to show its flower. 

I have a similar cactus in Kuching, but the flower was white in colour, it bloomed few years ago.  From my previous experience I have learned that this type of cactus flower will only bloom for 3 to 4 days, and it will open up its flower petals during noon time from 12 to 4pm for about 2 to 3 hours.  The rest of the time, the flower was too shy and closed temporarily.  It is exactly the same happen to this cactus here.

From the fifth day and above, the flower was not as beautiful as before, and it turned into brown colour.  Then it had gone.  The whole flower stem was removed from the cactus by itself because of the wind or the weather.  If it were in the desert it supposed to stay there and produce fruit and seed to allow the cactus to propogate.  Different weather makes different stories.

There are 4 more flowers to bloom, but it will be in few weeks or months time.  From the picture above you can see that there are 4 flower buds waiting to bloom.

If you are also having a cactus that is flowering, don’t miss it.  Remember it only opens up its flower during noon time. 

I have recently cut down a very big willow tree in my garden.  There were about 10 big branches.  I cut down all of them except the main branch.  And I removed the leaves on the main branch as well.  Two weeks later, now, it becomes like this.  There are more that 30 new shoots now and I know they are going to become big branches in the future.

This is the first time I post “photoshopped” pictures in this blog.  I was inspired by the background of the photo above.  I wanted to remove the background or make it blur while I was taking the picture but it is not possible because the fence is too close to the willow tree.  Then I try to solve the background problem using photoshop.  I used Hue control to make the willow shoots have a higher contrast with the background fence.

Suddenly I discover that using the Hue control in photoshop to change the colour of the leaves to create different feeling on the pictures.

This is the look in the fall season, giving me a feeling that the leaves are going to disappear soon, and the weather is getting colder. 

This is a totally different plant where its shoots are in red colour.  Some trees has its new leaves in red colour and turn to green slowly.

Adding green colour to this picture makes it look like artificial plant.  Some bamboo trees have this colour, you have to touch its leaves physically to determine whether it is the real plants.

I don’t like to “photoshop” (edit) photos usually.  I prefer to keep the photos’ original colour.  But today I have tried and discovered something new.  I know why!  This world is colourful, beautiful and wonderful, that’s why this post is colourful as well.

OK, what happens if I change the leaves into purple or black and white colour?  I don’t think I want to post them here and you will not like to see them as well.  You will only find nature photos here.

This is a special variety of ShuiMei flower which has multiple layer of petals.  It has a very nice smell especially in the evening breeze.

In Chinese ”Shui” mean water, “Mei” means plum.  Therefore it’s also know as Wild Water Plum in English.  Besides, it has the name of Water Jasmine in English because of its smell I think.  It is under Apocynaceae family, and its scientific name is called Wrightia religiosa.  From the information I have got from Singapore National Park website, its origin is from Malaysia and Thailand.

It is a good plant where you can turn it into bonsai in any shape because of its flexibility.

Now, please follow me, use your imagination to imagine the smell of this flower.

First lets us imagine the smell of jasmine.  It has the similar smell as the jasmine flower but it is different.  It’s a bit sour, just like the plum (since it is called water plum), not too sour, but very nice.  Please imagine the taste of plum.  Now, you can imagine the smell when the plum mix with the jasmine.  Yes, that’s the smell.  But it is not the taste of ice lemon jasmine tea.  Now, imagine the smell, not the taste, the smell of jasmine plus the plum which is not too sour.  That’s right.

This is normal ShuiMei flower which only has single layer petal.  When making bonsai, this is the first choice instead of the multi-layer-petal ShuiMei because of the size of its leaves.  Although its flower has only single layer, but its leaves are smaller which make it more suitable to become a bonsai. 

It grows very well in tropical climate and it can bloom throughout the year as long as you know how to control it.  In order to make it bloom, what you need to do is just to remove all its leaves, then water it frequently, it will bloom in 4 to 6 weeks.