Tree Detective

Pick up a fallen leaf, and tell me where it came from.    

Crepe Jasmine

Jasmine is a commonly sighted bush in many parks here. This particularly interesting flower shape is from a Variegated Crepe Jasmine I saw in Botanic Garden. The long pointy white petals seem to form a fan that’s whirling in strong wind.

Mussaenda Glabra

What an inviting sight at the entrance to botanic garden. Lovely tiny yellow flowers and fresh rain drops lingering on comparatively large white colored bracts (modified leaf). This is an evergreen shrub native to Malaysia and Singapore and given Endangered conservation status.  The plant also offers edible leaves, which can be made into tea to […]

Run Wild

Title: Run wild / David Covell. Publisher: New York, New York : Viking, 2018.©2018 You can borrow the book here:   Link of this book at National Library What a fun book! This book encourages your kid to Run Wild into the nature,  far away from digital devices at home. To embrace the sun lights, the […]

The Usborne Outdoor Book

Title: The Usborne outdoor book Publisher: London : Usborne Publishing, 2016. You can borrow the book here:   Link of this book at National Library You can find out more: Link of this book at Usborne’s website We brought this lovely book to Bishan park, Gardens by the bay, and Bird park. We identified some leaves, birds, […]

Our city in nature, our city for the future.

What will the city of the future look like? In Pixar’s film Wall E, the future of the city may not be so beautiful: the sky is full of yellow sand, full of garbage, humans are forced to leave their homes, leaving only robots to sort out the garbage. And humans roaming in space will […]

Foxtail grass

In Chinese culture, these are called Dog’s tail grass. But these actually are harmful for dogs. Their sharp seeds can get into the skin of dogs to cause injury and potential infections. Not so commonly seen in Singapore. There is however a large swamp of them at Jurong Lake Garden.  A lovely sight, and popular […]