Flowers of Scotland

One great thing about cooler temperature country is the variety of colorful flowers. In Scotland, there are beautiful wild flowers everywhere. And then there are the planted flowers in gardens and homes. We couldn't get enough of the flowers and visited 2 Botanic Garden - 1 in Glasgow and 1 in Edinburgh.

Here are just a few of the interesting looking flowers. For more of them, go to my Facebook album or Picasa Web Album.

Enjoy the nice flowers but don't ask me what are their names cause I sure don't know.

Loch Lomond, Scotland

The most famous place in Scotland is probable Loch Ness, home of the mythical Lock Ness Monster. Naturally that was on our must visit list until all the locals we spoke to told us not to waste our time travelling there. So in the end, instead of Loch Ness, we ended up at Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond is the largest lake in mainland Britian - i.e. England and Scotland and is about 71 sq km in surface area. Certainly it was big cause we could see that it stretches on and on and even when we were driving up to the highlands, we keep passing signs pointing to Loch Lomond.

We decided that the earliest way to explore it is to take one of the short cruise. There are different cruises available including sunset dinner cruise but we had only time for short cruise. What we saw on this little cruises were beautiful houses along the river banks. Most of them have been converted to hotels and it seems celebrities from all over the world flock here to stay and escape from the crowd.

 

There was even an island which is Scotland's first naturist island! Unfortunately we didn't get to land there to take in the "sights" although I am sure with the bitter cold wind, there won't be any brave soul baring all on the other.

Anyway, there are plenty of other kind of birds, the real kind that is. Seagull, ducks are in abundance flying all over the place.

But what really got M excited was the first sighting of black berries! And there were plenty of them growing wild all over the places. 

 

At Balloch, the part of Loch Lomond that we were at, there was a small Bird of Prey Centre and naturally we had to go in and see and we got up close to many beautiful owls and eagles. More photos will be posted up on my Facebook Check it out there..

We also discovered an automated toilet.

Visitor has to put in the correct fee and the door will open.....and the toilet cleans by itself. How about that!

From Loch Lomond, we moved on to our first castle......

Singapore Garden Festival 2014

I have been going to the Singapore Garden Festival for the past few years. Usually it is held indoor at Suntec City but this year they decided to have it at Garden by the Bay South which was pretty cool or so I thought.

I first went on a Tuesday with a group. It rained early in the afternoon but by they time we got there, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. Which was the first problem. It was hot. Freaking hot especially with the crowd. So we avoided the outdoor exhibits which was a pity. To ensure that the plants survived the heat and rain, there was also a huge air condition tent to house the rest of the exhibits. But no matter how big it was, it was still much smaller than Suntec. And there was a series of a pavilions and not all of them were air conditioned which means we were subject to the heat. 

One of the outdoor garden display with the air con tent in the background

Another of the outdoor display

The orchids exhibits and contest area were housed separately in the Flower Dome but here again the exhibit area was so much more smaller than Suntec. The orchids were displayed together and there were queues everywhere to see them.

We have to queue (foreground) to go in for a look at the winning orchids entry

The main display for the orchids was in this structure where they planted the orchids all the way to the top on  the inside of this structure. Unfortunately one had to queue to go in and see the orchids.

And this is what the inside looks like. 

So I think they should move the show back to Suntec. If they really want the connection to Garden by the Bay, then maybe hold it at MBS and people can walk over to the Garden if they so wish.

Anyway, here are some photos of some unusual looking flowers from this year Festival and from the Flower Dome.

Tiger Orchid

Mother Nature seems to be having fun with Singapore the past months. First there was this flower bloom all over. Then came the Tropical Swallowtail moth. And now there is this Tiger Orchid blooming all over Singapore.

I first heard about the blooming in the papers. Before that I swear I never even seen a single stalk here in Singapore. Then I saw it at MacRitchie Reservoir, a place that I go so regularly and yet have never seen it before. And suddenly I have friends telling me where they seen it. 

One of the beautiful Tiger Orchid at MacRitchie Reservoir

And on Saturday morning, I saw a big clump at Upper Peirce Reservoir, another place that I go so often and yet never seen the plant before.

The Tiger Orchid at Upper Peirce Reservoir

Some may ask what so special about the Tiger Orchid. After all, there are plenty of orchids in Singapore. Well the Tiger Orchid is supposed to be the biggest orchid plant in the world. Not the flower but the entire plant. And it flowers like maybe once in 5 years.

And the just concluded Singapore Garden Festival has a whooping 300 kg plant on display. Each stalk is approximately 2 metres long. How that for big!

The Tiger Orchid at the Singapore Garden Festival

MacRitchie Reservoir

I go to MacRitchie Reservoir pretty often. Most times to run. Very rarely for any other things. During a run, it is pretty difficult to spot anything except maybe the monkeys or occasional monitor lizards. Some people have spotted snakes but while I seen them, this was not during a run but a hike.

Recently I went with a group of students for a hike to the Tree Top Walk. And because we were not running, we spotted so many things that I never noticed in my run.

Like this patch of beautiful Tiger Orchids just outside the ranger station. Now I stopped at the Ranger Station on almost every run for the past 6 years and I swear I never knew there was a big clump of Tiger Orchids growing just outside it. 

Then there is this little mushroom on the floor. It was covered by the fallen leaves and a Nparks officer showed it to us. Apparently it can eject a puff of powder if disturbed hence it is called the powder puff mushroom.

And everybody who been to MacRitchie is familiar with the long tailed macaques or monkeys as we called them. Unfortunately most of the sightings are either of them around the Amenities Centre scrounging for human food or chasing visitors for more human food. But how often have we seen them in their natural habitat in the trees or eating fruits like what we saw when we on the tree top trail?

Last but not least, how many people have seen a flying fox in MacRitchie? This one we saw was so near I could almost touch it.

Isn't these sightings good enough reasons for us to slow down and smell the flowers and look at the rich wildlife that abounds in MacRitchie.

Gardens by the Bay

Finally I managed to drop in both the Conservatories at Garden by the Bay. I have bee to the Flower Dome previously but not the Cloud Forest. These are the highlights of the Garden by the Bay in addition to the Supertrees.

Since it was the last day of the Tulip flower shows, I decided to go down and take a look at both the both.

Here are some photos from the visits.

This is the flower dome. There is a center area where the flower exhibits can be changed. The whole place is climate controlled to the cool dry Mediterranean region. In addition to the flower exhibits, there are display of plants from all the region such as olive trees, cactus and so on.

The Tulip exhibits with tulips from the Netherlands. Tulips of all colour and size. Beautifully arranged although sadly because this was the last day of the exhibit, a number of the tulips were already withering.

A close up of some of the tulips

Other flowers in the Flower Dome

The Cloud Forest is a stimulation of the mountainous region complete with a 35 metres waterfall and artificial mist. Plants here are those that can be found in the sort of altitude with many species of orchids, pitcher plants and bromeliads.

The main "actions" is on this 35 metres high tower cum waterfall. There is a lift to bring visitors up to the top and slowly walk down the bridge to the bottom while viewing the plants alongside.

Some of the flowers found there

Didn't have time to go over to the Super Trees. Was there last year and took some photos of the trees in the night.

Certainly while the Garden is a bit artificial, it is still worth a visit to gawk at the exotic plants and the colourful trees.