Thunbergia Grandiflora - A Sky Blue Curtain

I have this vine of Thunbergia Grandiflora and Tristellateia australasiae (Maiden's jealousy) planted on the right side of the house. Both were trained to clamber up the wall and cascade down the front of the car porch.

The Tristellateia australasiae vine is slower growing and just managed to reached the top of the porch. Its canary yellow flowers can be seen peeking out on the right side.

 This photo was shot in the late afternoon, so a number of blooms have wilted under the searing heat of the sun.


Over time this curtain gradually grew thick and lush.






The sky-blue flowers are the favourites of Carpenter bees.





A carpenter bee buzzes in without much ceremony.

  Thunbergia blooms on vine intertwined merrily with a tecoma stans shrub.

The flaming red spikes of Alpinia purpurata (Red ginger torch) added a dollop of dramatic pigments to an otherwise pastel curtain of sky-blue flowers.

Ants at a gathering on the underside of the leaf.

Come dusk, it was chow-down time for this scavenger snail.



A vessel of freshly-plucked flowers make for a welcoming eye candy.

The Sunbird Thief and the Denuded Stake

The Olive-backed Sunbird (Nectarina jugularis) or Kelichap Bukit in Malay are very bold birds that freely build nests in my garden. One day while photographing some flowers I heard rustlings nearby. As I moved towards the source of the sound, I discovered the mystery of my denuded plastic stake used as a support for the Philodendron Imbe. The covering of coconut fibres was frayed.

 

A female sunbird was so absorbed at plucking the fibres that she was totally oblivious of my presence. In fact I was only about eight feet away from her. The upperpart is dull olive-green while the underpart is all yellow.

With flapping wings, it jerked some fibres out of the stake with ...

its long, slender, decurved bill.

It then flew off and

 
landed on another part of the stake.

to tug at more fibres.

After more inspection and pecking, it flew off.  I suspect that it would come back later to pick up the fibres that it dropped.

 These unstaked Philodendron Imbe simply just sprawled invasively all over the flower bed, killing off the competition from other flowering plants.

 
The male sunbird appeared contented to leave nest-building to the female [as in humans, always so good at multi-tasking ;)]. Here, it's perched on a Thunbergia Grandiflora vine to take in the garden view. 


Thunbergia Grandiflora

 

The forehead, throat and upper breast is metallic blue-black contrasting with bright yellow underparts. The upperpart is dull olive green just like the females. The feet are jet-black.

 
The male Olive-backed Sunbird is more colourful than the female which does not have the metallic blue colouring.

 
The orange-red semi-double Hibiscus rosa sinensis.

This clump of Cyrtostachys renda (Lipstick Palm) form the backdrop for many bird activities. it supports the vine and also provide palm fruits for the bird's consumption

The base of the clump of Lipstick Palm sustains the growth of many Davalia denticulata (Corsage ferns).

Blogger Award

My thanks to Rosemary at Tales from my Garden for this nomination. To take a leaf from her webpage, its *BLUSH* all the way. 

Like Rosemary, I'm also new to awards. I was nominated earlier on for another gardening award but was clueless about what to do, so I let it pass. But in keeping with spirit of blogging, this time I thought I'll make an effort to accept. The task: I have to mention 7 things about myself and also nominate 15 other bloggers.
 

My List:

1. Flora and fauna fascinates me

Dawn dropwing dragonfly perched on bamboo stake.

Carpenter bee hovering over Thunbergia grandiflora.

  

2. We love our mutt to bits.

My neices, Charmaine and Charlene trying to put on a striped T-shirt on Tasha when she was a pup.

Tasha donning her 'Superdog top'

Tasha is terribly fond of rope-play and constantly on the look-out for playmates. While she runs after the rope, her sparkling blue bell tinkles along.

  3. Books can make me lose my precious sleep

 

I've watched all episodes in the First Season of 'The Game of Thrones'. As the DVDs for the Second Season were still not available at HMV, I decided to go for the book.

 

I've shelves of books which were obtained for a steal at 'The Big Bad Wolf' booksale. Foliage here is Philodendron Imbe.

 

4. I wield the needle to de-stress

These two pieces were my first attempt at embroidery. They were done more than two decades ago only during lunch time.

This cross-stitched piece was also a lunch time project.

5. At least once a year, I go footloose and fancy-free

Ta Prohm Temple at Angkor, Siem Reap 
 A stranglehold embrace by the deep roots of the ficus trees.

Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb, Ireland 
At dawn on the Winter Solstice, a shaft of sunlight penetrates the passage to light up the chamber for 17 minutes.

  

 

6. I love Music of all genres 

The ipod is a nifty gadget for thousands of songs

  

7. I tend to be adventurous when it comes to cooking. 

Recipe books are constantly trawled through for interesting recipes. New dishes are tried out with modification and customisation. Family members are the beneficiaries or guinea-pigs as they would like to be called.

 

There are many other bloggers who are deserving and which  I wish to nominate but they have already been spoken for, attesting to the popularity of their blogs. You know who you are out there.

List of nominated bloggers in no particular order;

1.  James Missier - http://jamesmissier.blogspot.com/

2. Autumn Belle - http://www.mynicegarden.com/

3. Stephanie - http://stephgreenspace.blogspot.com/

4. Breathtaking  - http://breathtaking-blog.blogspot.com/

5. African aussie - http://africanaussie.blogspot.com/

6. Ngeun Sysengthong  - http://ngeunsysengthong.blogspot.com/

7. Stardust - http://stardustenglishwriting.blogspot.com/

8. Giga - http://giga-wszystkooogrodnictwie.blogspot.com/

9. Bernie H - http://berniesgarden.blogspot.com/

10. Jill - http://www.sweetlifegarden.com/

11. Daylily Soup - http://www.daylilysoup.com/

12. Birds bees berries blooms  - http://birdsbeesberriesblooms.blogspot.com/

13. Zapach Piwoni - http://zapachpiwonii.blogspot.com/

14. Ummuaidan - http://oursimplegarden.blogspot.com/

15.  Pieces of contentment - http://piecesofcontentment.blogspot.com/