Floria 2010 Putrajaya

Well, its that time of the year again...Yes Floria 2010 at Putrajaya. Running from July 10 - 18 2010, the theme for this year's exhibition is easy enough, being Heliconia. Not one of my favourite flowers, but showy enough and easy to grow and maintain. The exhibits this year includes various outdoor landscapes, garden displays as well as an indoor section with twilight garden (dark and a high chance of tripping over or being groped!) and floral arrangements. Not to be missed are the orchids on display, various stalls selling trees, plants, orchids, pitcher plants and garden necessities that would bowl you over if you like gardening. There are also food and handicraft stalls to complete the carnival atmosphere.

Bright flower beds greet visitors of Floria 2010 at Putrajaya



Orchids on display



Musella lasiocarpa - Golden banana flower



Ginger flowers - Zingiber spectabile


Vanda orchids on display



Cymbidium dayanum



Blue Vanda hybrid




Common Lantana on sale



Flower beds



Chrysanthemum beds



Floral arrangements



A floral bird...nice



More flower beds


Cosmos


Impatiens


Heliconia floral arrangements



Upright planters



Hydrangea macrophylla


Tobacco plant - Nicotiana tabacum



View of Putrajaya Lake with chrysanthemum beds in the foreground

Water water...where art thou

There has been no water supply in my area for like 2 days. The reason being a burst mains somewhere in the supply line. Guess what Syabas is doing? They are looking for the bloody pipe! A call to the help centre drew an absurd (at least to me) reply. Apparently they cannot find where the newly laid pipe is, so they cannot fix the burst pipe!!! Hey, if it is new, then how come the pipe burst?? Hmmm, shoddy work and shoddy planning if you go by me.

Pitcher Plants of Genting Highlands

Tropical pitcher plants from the genus Nepenthes are fascinating if not grotesque plants that trap insects with passive pitfall traps. Well, these carnivorous plants need little explanation, just remember that the pitchers are the leaves and the 'leaves' that you see are petiole wings.

At Genting Highlands, three intermediate/highland pitcher plants found there are Nepenthes sanguinea, N. ramispina and N. macfarlanei. Also, various hybrids between them are found whenever they grow and bloom in close proximity. First of all, the common Nepenthes sanguinea.

Exhibit No. 1: Nepenthes sanguinea

Exhibit No. 2: Also Nepenthes sanguinea. But this is a large upper pitcher.

Exhibit No. 3:  Nepenthes sanguinea hiding in the undergrowth.

Next we have the slender N. ramispina. These are the upper pitchers, which are smoky lime green on the outside. The lower pitchers are usually dark purple bordering black on the outside.

Nepenthes ramispina upper pitcher

Nepenthes ramispina

Finally, we have the more elusive N. macfarlanei, which have infundibulate lower pitchers on mature plants. N. macfarlanei has a unique feature which is a lawn of hairs on the underside of the pitcher lid.

Nepenthes macfarlanei - large intermediate pitcher

Some of these smaller plants could be small rosettes of N. macfarlanei or hybrids of N. macfarlanei, though I did not observe any other species in the vicinity.

A red seedling, possibly N. macfarlanei.

Another seedling - some hairs on the underside of the lid.

Here's an update: There were more large rosettes of N. macfarlanei on a site further up from where the baby plants were found.

N. macfarlanei lower pitcher. Notice the hairs on the underside of the lid.

Look at the hairs on the underside of this baby Nepenthes macfarlanei!

Remember...take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.