My funny sunflowers

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All four plants were grown at the same time, yet are so different right now! And yes, they're all set to bloom, including the tiny one.

Finally, after months of trying to germinate seeds, and then to keep the young plants alive and growing, we have sunflowers beginning to bloom in our garden!

The funny and interesting thing about the plants is that they’re of such different heights and strengths, even though they’re from the same batch of seeds. The tallest one seems to have peaked at 1.52 metres while the shortest one is a mutant – it looks like a miniature sunflower, at 50cm high! Just look at the four of them in the picture – they couldn’t be more different from each other!

The flowers are also smaller than I expected, at about 10cm across. I suppose if I want big flowers, I’ll have to grow the Russian Mammoth sunflowers. These, however, are the normal sunflowers with supposedly edible seeds.

I’ve been following the growth process quite avidly. Here’s the journey…

Young plants with leggy stems can be salvaged - plant them deeper and give them a support to grow against. Remember to loosen the ties as the plant grows, or else the ties will cut into the stem as it thickens.

The flower bud starting to form at the apex of the stem - see the dark edges appearing. It is still pointing skyward at this time.

The sunflower bud still developing... It looks like a lotus flower at this point, but it's not!

Finally, the head is bigger and rounder, and there's a glimpse of black within. It's about to open, and the head is tilting forward.

The head leans forward now and the petals begin to unfold. This phase somehow reminds me of the Little Shop of Horrors - "feed me, Seymour, feed me!"

Fully opened sunflower. It's a beaut, isn't it?

Now, I read somewhere that the head of sunflower plants follow the direction of the sun from east to west before the flower blooms, and I did observe that. I also read that when they bloom, they face west. So, when I decided to plant sunflowers around our big bird’s nest fern, I positioned them so that they would be in an arc where we could appreciate the pretty flowers facing west.

Well, guess what? My flowers are facing east, and somehow I don’t think the fern appreciates their beauty as much as we would, if we had an unobstructed view of the flowers… :|

I’m quite pleased to note that there are several other buds forming along the stems of the sunflower plants, so even though the first flower at the apex has finished blooming, there should be a few more to enjoy in the weeks to come. Will I plant more? Yes!

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Not to bee…

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Former home of wasps on the ground.

Another dream is busted. We had pest control in and they informed us that the hive on the mango tree was not of honey bees, but in fact, small wasps. So, we were advised to get rid of the hive. The pest control guy sprayed the hive, and the poor insects started dropping to the ground, dying. Within a couple of days, the hive itself fell down. It smelled awful, because I guess the larvae that were growing in there had died and were decomposing. I feel like such a murderer… :(

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The Blue-winged Pitta

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One thing about living on a tropical island is the astounding number of migratory birds that pass through. I didn’t realize what a variety there are because I used to be one of those people who didn’t pay much attention to the fauna around until I had a nice camera in my hand and was looking for willing subjects. Only then did I realize that it was more than mynahs, doves and pigeons that came to our garden. Many birds come and go so silently that you only get a glimpse of them, and using a camera to capture their images is the only way to be able to identify them.

The multi-coloured Blue-winged Pitta.

A few days ago, I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a brown shrike. The shrike usually visits a few times a day, hunting for live food on the ground. In fact, this bird had a similarly coloured underbelly, as well as a black band across the eyes. What was odd, however, was in that quick glance, it seemed bigger than normal, and was on the ground, standing on the edge of the drain and watching the ground under the mango tree. I’ve never seen a shrike on the ground for that long. So, out came the camera, and the hunt began.

It wasn’t easy to get a good picture of the bird – lighting was not great under the dense canopy of the tree, but fortunately I knew enough of my camera to use the fastest speed to brighten my shots. Several blurred photos later, I was thrilled to finally get a picture in fair focus, and was amazed at the colouring on this bird! Besides the peachy-brown belly, it had green wings that were edged with an iridescent blue, as well as a red patch at the, ah, vent area. The black stripe across the eyes seemed similar to that of Black-naped Orioles, going around the head, but broader.

The Pitta from front view - see why I thought it was a shrike?

Some online hunting revealed the identity of the bird – the Blue-winged Pitta (Pitta moluccensis) of the Pittidae family of birds. They can be found in Asia, Australia and parts of Africa, and are particular to moist forest floors. That would explain why it likes the overgrown and leaf-littered corner of our garden, particularly at this rainy time of year…

They apparently feed on snails, insects and other invertebrates, so watch out, you garden pests! *evil laugh*

I read that they over-winter here in Singapore but are normally wary creatures. The Pitta certainly didn’t fly away when we stood at a distance observing it, but if we stayed too long, it got nervous and disappeared. However, it returned shortly thereafter to almost exactly the same spot each time.

What excited me most was that Pittas are supposed to be territorial with their wintering grounds. Since it’s been here sporadically for the past couple of days, I hope that means that the corner of our garden that’s a bit overgrown can be considered as wintering grounds for it. The only problem is, our dogs have good hunting instincts and love chasing birds. I hope the Pitta has good survival instincts honed from living in the wild and will not become a casualty. It’s kind of fun to look out and try to spot it amidst the shade and leaf litter under the mango tree. I really hope it stays for a while. You know me, I like new stuff in the garden!

Learn more about the Blue-winged Pitta:

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The balance of nature

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Female sunbird sipping nectar from peacock tree flower.

I was just thinking about getting rid of some ornamental plants in our garden to make way for more edible plants, and was reminded by my conscience of how we humans tend to force our environment into shapes and forms that we find pleasing, regardless of how beneficial or otherwise it may be to the environment.

Why the prick of conscience? Well, consider this example:

I thought about cutting down one of my peacock trees to have more space to plant veggies. It’s just ornamental, right? I mean, it’s tall, bushy and is loaded with colourful flowers. I love how pretty it looks! But then it takes up quite a bit of space and is quite thorny and can be dangerous. I’ve been scratched and pricked by those vicious thorns any number of times.

But I am not the only one with an interest in the tree.

Several sunbirds visit daily, hopping from branch to branch to feed on nectar from the flowers.

Other birds like sparrows and mynahs perch on it for rest and shade.

Garden lizard in the peacock tree. Notice the big thorns along the stem it's on?

Green parakeets come by when there are bean pods on the tree. It’s amusing watching them split the pods open to eat the beans inside, and drop the empty pods to the ground when they’re done.

Some kind of butterfly or moth likes the tree, too, as evidenced by the little caterpillars that hang down on sticky threads and land on unwary heads or bodies if you walk under the tree. Yuk!

Garden lizards use the tree for shelter, and I think they also eat insects they find up there.

Ants scuttle along the branches, doing whatever they do. In fact, some of the older branches appear to have rotted inside, and ants have set up residence in there.

In response to the ants and the rotting wood, woodpeckers have also been attracted to the tree, tap-tap-tapping at the wood and getting nourishment.

And let’s not forget the earthworms that would migrate when the shade of the tree is removed.

I’m sure there are other creatures I haven’t noticed that find some use in the peacock tree. My point in all this is, everything in nature works together in perfect harmony. When we remove one aspect of the environment, everything is thrown off balance for a while, until they settle down again. In essence, that tree is an integral habitat – just one of the several that make up our garden and neighbourhood.

So, what would probably happen if I cut down the peacock tree is that the garden lizards, ants and caterpillars would have to take up residence elsewhere, affecting the overall ecosystem, and the birds wouldn’t come by as much or at all. And we wouldn’t have the pretty flowers to brighten up the place any more.

Ah, the dilemma…

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