Red Golden Penda

 It has been a long time since I have not updated stories and pictures about the Kuching garden. Being locked-down in Kuching due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my holiday time in Kuching is naturally extended. Today is the 39th day of staying at home in Kuching.  However, looking at the positive side this staying at home phenomena has given me time to take care of the garden.  This gardening activity makes staying at home a lot more bearable.
Today I'm trying to trim some climbers and small flowering shrubs that have grown pretty wild.  I will have more time to blog about the Kuching garden later.  This first posting  focus is on the Red Golden Penda ( Xanthostemma chryanthus).

Red Golden Penda (Xanthostemom chrysanthus)

Zooming in at the Pink-necked Pigeon

I saw one Pink-necked Pigeon perched on the tall "Poui" tree (Tabebuia rosea) at the back garden this afternoon.  I was about 50 meters away.  I heard its whistling call and soon another male bird joined it.  I did not see any female of the species at today's sighting.  Now it seems customary for them to gather at the Poui tree at the start of day and in the evening before sunset. This is one beautiful bird that decided to call the garden its home.  Over the years I noticed that its preferred areas  for making nests are on the branches of the 'Ong Lumok' (Artocarpus odoratissimus) tree and Yellow Bamboo clump nearby the Poui tree.  The planting of tall trees in the Kambatik garden is essential if you want to attract these lovely birds to make home in your garden.  This fact has been proven many times over at the Kambatik garden here in Kuching.  This is one of the highlights of gardening the Kambatik way.   Here wildlife is most welcomed.

Whites in the garden

Spider Lily - Hymenocallis littoralis
Back garden, 15 Aug'16

Spider Lily - Hymenocallis littoralis

White Cempaka - Michelia alba

White Cempaka - Michelia alba

White frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa)

Flowering and fruiting trees

Flowers of the Starfruit tree (Averhhoa carambola)

Coconut tree in flower

Kedondong fruit

 There are two flowering fruiting trees in the garden right now while at the same time there are also two fruiting trees.  The flowering trees are the Coconut tree and the Starfruit tree.  What interests me the most is the Coconut tree which sets record for the first time flowering since  planted a few years ago,  The Starfruit tree has flowered and bore fruits before in large quantities and it seems that this time around it would not  be that productive judging from the quantities of flowering branches.  A short distance from the coconut tree is the "Kedondong"(Spondias dulcis) and "Ciku"(Manilkara zapota) tree, both are bearing fruits.

Kedondong fruits at Back garden

Ciku fruit at Back garden

Scent of a garden

 On this August visit, there is an abundance of White Cempaka flowers in the garden.  These highly scented creamish flowers is the source of one of the most expensive perfume in the world called  'Joy'.  Earlier in May I have thrown lots of fertiliser at the plant base and after a period of more than 2 months have resulted in an exuberance of flowers and fragrance in the garden.  The flowers have attracted butterflies too, especially the Eggfly Butterfly as shown in the pix below.

The Eggfly butterfly lands on the highly scented flowers of the Cempaka Putih - Michelia alba

The Cempaka Putih tree is planted somewhere in the middle of the garden, partly shown at the top left section of the picture above.

Smoke gets in your eyes

Burning of grass cuttings, old branches, fronds and ferns, weeds etc  in progress

Yellow Penda in CU

 There is no rain today,which is exceptional for Kuching.  I say this because it rains almost daily in Kuching especially after 4 pm.  It is speculated that the remaining months of this year the rains in Kuching (and Sarawak in general) will be heavier with the coming of El Nina, starting just now!. The small window of opportunity accorded me this afternoon made me rush to carry out much needed garden cleaning up works and later quickly made the debris disappear in smoke.  Project completed!
After everything looked fine, I zoomed my camera lens to the green canopy.  Focus on the lower story, then middle story and finally a picture of the garden in LS (long shot). Below are the images of the garden today ,17 May'16.

Long shot view of the greenery
Note the flowering Yellow Penda tree (Xanthostemon chrysantus)

Lower story
Note the grass lawn that has just been given a low cutting.

Middle story - in the center of the picture is the Yellow Penda tree

Two yellows and a Penda

A maturing garden - attracting attracting the 3 B's ( birds, butterflies and bees)
Note the Golden Penda yellow flowers at the top centre of the picture.

 What's interesting on this trip (44th trip to Kuching) is to see the garden gradually maturing.  For one thing the trees are getting taller and giving out much shade and shelter to the birds. The lawn is steadily thickening and spreading out to areas that were lately developed.  Three yellow flowers caught my eyes today.  They are the flowers of the Yellow Bells ( Tecoma stans), Cassia biflora and the Golden Penda (Xanthostemon chrysanthus).

 The sights and sounds of a maturing garden are evidenced by the presence of 3 B's - birds, butterflies and bees, not forgetting other insects that would like to join in the list like the grasshoppers and  beetles.
The flowers that bloom for the first time are Golden Penda ( Xanthostemon chrysanthus) and we felt rewarded now by our effort to introduce this plant in the garden nearly two years ago. 

( Note: This is a re-posting.  For full stoy and images, please follow this link...>>>http://mygardeningprojects.blogspot.my/2013/08/two-yellows-and-penda.html )

Outside looking in

Poui tree starting to flower - view towards house, looking north
Kambatik garden, Kuching

 It was magic when I stepped into the garden this morning.  Looking south from the car porch I saw columns of light mauve and pink washes.  The Poui tree (Tabebuia rosea or previously known as Tecoma pentaphylla ) has began to flower.  I am always excited to see this tree everywhere I travel around Sarawak.  This is because of an envelope I received from Singapore that contained the seeds of this tree and from which thousands more trees originated in Sarawak.  The link to the story is here   .  At this stage the tree is not yet in full flowering, probably in a day or so it will.  The large bell-shaped flowers may be white or pink  depending on the form.  'Tabebuaia rosea' when it is pink and 'Tabebuia alba' when white.  In any form the colours are pastel and impressionistic and touching to the soul because underneath the tree you can have party (picnic) and consume the beauty of nature and its enriching qualities. Try.

( Note: This is a re-posting.  For full story and images, please follow this link ...>>>http://mygardeningprojects.blogspot.my/2014/08/outside-looking-in.html )