Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tabernaemontana orientalis - The Perennial Bloomer

Tabernaemontana orientalis is a shrub that can be groomed into a small tree. This is a popular garden plant mainly because it is year-long profuse bloomer. It thrives well in almost any soil types and commonly seen growing robustly by roadsides. Pampered with good soil and plant nutrients it will flourish in all its glory.

  
A male Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Egg Fly) settled on an inflorescense before deciding to partake of its nectar. 

It continued to perch on the flower and basked in the sunshine.

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough" ~Rabindranath Tagore  


These numerous buds will in no time burst into large inflorescences.

  
The five-petaled white flowers are pin-wheel in shape.


This shrub branches readily forming an umbrella-like canopy. Lower branches have to be trimmed off for grooming into a tree.




The shiny, dark green leaves will bleed a milky sap when removed from the stem.


A
shot at dusk of Tabernaemontana orientalis.

An ant scrambled at a frenetic pace to get at the goodies before night fall.


 
Caladium leaves growing cheek by jowl with the dwarf Tabernaemontana.

The dwarf variety needs no trimming.  It just grow into a bigger round bush. it needs minimal maintennance and is most ideal for the lazy gardener.

Tasha having a romp on the grass.

Tabernaemontana and Magdagascar periwinkle flowers afloat. Unwilling to relegate freshly-shed flowers to the compost bin, they were collected for watery baths such as this.

 
My goldfish went to piscean Happy Valley, so the bowl became a vessel for my flowers. 

Tabernaemontanas afloat with fragrant tea lights for a dreamy night ambience by the porch.

Posted from Cork, Ireland (I'm on a one-month sojourn in Ireland for the whole month of October)

23 comments:

  1. Krzew ma przepiękne kwiatki i listki. Dodatkowo go ozdabia piękny motyl. Pozdrawiam.
    Bush has beautiful flowers and leaves. In addition, it is decorated with beautiful butterfly. Yours.

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    1. What a wonderful concept about the butterfly as a garden ornament.

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  2. Nice floating flowers. That butterfly is beautiful, great dark colour. A cute dog!

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  3. These lovely butterflies (Jacintha Eggfly)have been fluttering around my garden - such a welcome presence. I have these floating flowers as I do not like to throw them away.

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  4. Really great post Stiletto. Such pretty flowers. Wonderful photos as always. Love the one with the Caladium. Great shot of Tasha too, lol, very cute! :)

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  5. Hello Stiletto! You have a pretty plant there. I can see how well it beautify your garden and home. Love how the blooms look floating on water like that. Good idea :-D

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  6. The butterfly and the flower compliment each other perfectly, each bringing out the colours of the other. I love your arrangement of the flowers floating on the water.

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  7. What a lovely plant. White flowers always look great in the garden don't they.

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  8. these are commonly grown along the roadside in our town and always seem to be in bloom.

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  9. Love these butterfly shots. We don't have them around here. Very pretty colors.

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  10. Very nice butterfly! What is this flower commonly known? I've seen it in my condo compound too. Very creative of you to place them in the bowl with lighted candles!

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  11. Lovely blooms and photos, Stiletto. The egg fly is very pretty and Tasha is a little cutie. All the best! :-)

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  12. Your Pinwheel Jasmine is really beautiful.
    I often find devotees collecting these flowers early in the morning to use this flower for their prayer altars.
    And being so - I often wonder why is this flower chosen in this sacred ritual.

    Regardless - its truly a beautiful though it doesn't have fragrance nor the flowers ever turned into fruits.

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  13. Hi James, Yes, I've noticed that the flowers were extensively used for prayers by the Indian Malaysians while the Chinese Malaysians use chrysanthemums. Both type of flowers have no fragrance. Its probably because of strong convention and tradition.

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  14. Hi Lithopsland,
    Thanks for being so kind. Tasha is a scruffy looking mutt but she's full of character and she has an attitude.

    Hi Stephanie,
    Floating the flowers keep them looking fresh for several days. This way there is no necessity to get cut flowers from the florist.

    Dear Rosemary,
    Can't agree with you more on how the flowers andbutterfly complement each other. The pristine white of the flowers bring out the white egg-like patches on the butterfly's wings.

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  15. Hi Missy,
    White flowers are always very endearing. I've many other white flowers too.

    Hi Africanaussie,
    Same observation here as in Malaysia mainly because it is a hardy plant and never fails to bloom prolifically.

    Hi Rohrerbot,
    Jacintha Eggflys are very common butterflies in our gardens. I love how they provide lovely fauna interest and accents to the garden.

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  16. Hi Ash,
    As fellow blogger, James of Garden Chronicles have mentioned, there are known as Pinwheel Jasmines. Floating your own flowers is a good way to bring the colours of your garden indoors for furtheer enjoyment.

    Hi Beth,
    Thanks. The gorgeous Jacintha Eggflys are critters that are always welcome to my garden while Tasha is as lovely as she is cute.

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  17. Happy Valley for the goldfish? Very funny! This shrub looks like jasmine. I wish it grew here. So beautiful. :o) I love that butterfly! Is it black or purple?

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  18. Happy Valley indeed. The butterfly is black with a touch of purple on the outer edge of the white patches.

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  19. Thanks. Floating flowers which are without stalks is a simple and effective way of showcasing them. This way the flowers stay fresh longer. Best of all, they can be gathered from your own garden.

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  20. Looking at your pictures of the floating flowers, I am reminded of the spas and retreats!

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  21. Hi Autumn belle,
    Mini spas and retreat for the little critters' pleasure.

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  22. Thank you for this post! I was looking for the name of the flower and I think I found it here. Cheers.

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