Kebun Raya

This is the second part of my visit to Kebun Raya, the botanic gardens of Bogor, about an hour's drive from Jakarta. Just click here to see Part One, my post for May's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

I love the incredible abundance and fertility of the tropics. In a moist forest-like atmosphere like Kebun Raya, where there is a thunderstorm virtually every day, the tiniest spore on the breeze has only to brush against the bark of tree or palm to take root. The variety of these tiny epiphytes, who live their entire lives on the surface of plants or rocks, never ceases to amaze me.



Lots of layers here including a cute, little, button-leafed creeper.

And the epiphytes are not always tiny, as you can see from these lush ferns on a palm trunk or the crows nest ferns in my earlier post.

There were some stunning specimen plants to be seen,

Traveller's Palm Ravenala madagascariensis

 as well as brilliant ideas for companion plantings,

A tangle of rhoeo, cordyline, heliconia, banana and hibiscus. I love the pink of the cordylines with the purple-undersided rhoeo.

Bird or crow's nest fern Asplenium with speckled Diffenbachia

and ideas for placement and plantings for water features and urns.

Spider lilies Hymenocallis littoralis form a semicircle around this water feature

I love the mauve creeper covering the pergola below. I initially thought it was Garlic Vine Pseudocalymma alliaceum,, but I'm not so sure now that I compare the leaves with the photo in my Tropical Garden Plants book. It's not Blue Trumpet vine Thunbergia grandifolia as it was more pink than blue.  I'm sure it's a member of the bignonia family, but that's as close as I can get.  Any suggestions?



Clerodendrum (quadriloculare?)

Anthurium

Water lettuce Pistia stratiotes

As I started this post with a tribute to the epiphytes, it seems fitting to conclude with representatives of a family famed for its beauty,which has many species favouring the arboreal lifestyle of the epiphyte: the orchids.

From Kebun Raya's orchid house...

Dendrobium hybrid



Dendrobium hybrid



Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchid

Dendrobium hybrid

Pastel toned Dendrobium hybrid

Vanda

Love the colours of this Dendrobium orchid.

So for now, it is farewell to Bogor and Kebun Raya.  I loved my visit and hope to return soon.  There is still so much to see.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day May 2012

My last two posts featured Bogor's markets and the pretty Hindu temple on the city's outskirts, but they were just appetisers.

Almost as soon as I found out I would be working in Jakarta and had done only the most basic research, I set my heart on a visit to Bogor's famed botanic gardens, the Kebun Raya.

The gardens, originally started by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, who was Governor General for a time, were expanded by Dutch botantist Professor Reinwardt and officially opened in 1817.

What could be more appropriate than to share Bogor's botanic bounty on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day?

The Presidential Palace

Lotus Nelumbo nucifera

Given my blog header photo, or, if a more frequent visitor, my oft-professed love of waterlilies and water features, you won't be surprised to see that my first step once inside the gates was to head for the lily ponds, adjoining the Presidential palace.

Then, like a butterfly spoiled for choice, I just fluttered from one beauty to the next. What a  feast for the senses!

Tree fern frond

Wonderful epiphytes on this massive branch

Love the speckled flowers on this mystery shrub (below)

Spathyphyllum, cordylines, heliconia and banana and a glimpse of the red crown shafts of a pair of lipstick or sealing wax palms Cyrtostachys renda dead centre.

Banana  Musa

More epiphytes: crows nest ferns straddling a branch

And still more water gardens... I was in heaven!

A perfectly poised dragonfly

Love the spiky crimped edges on these waterlilies

Giant water lily Victoria Amazonica

Maroon dragonfly

I don't know the name of this water plant,but I love its delicate flowers.  They are initially a mass of yellow stamens, but various visitors, like this butterfly, seem to knock them off, leaving a velvety green button instead.

That's the end of the road for now.  More from Bogor next post, and, to see what is happening in other gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.

A temple in the hills

One of the side trips on our visit to Bogor last weekend was to a pretty Hindu temple at Ciapus, a tiny village in the neighbouring hinterland.

At the entrance was a lovely statue of Ganesh, one of the most charming deities in the Hindu pantheon.

Believe it or not, the mouse is actually Ganesh's mount!

Despite its ancient appearance, the temple was built in 1995. It is a similar style to many of the temples I visited in Bali. The stone is very porous, which makes it easy to carve. It is also absorbent and 'mosses up'  quickly to give it an aged appearance, especially in a moist environment like Bogor, which is said to experience thunderstorms on 322 days of the year.

We were allowed to the lower terrace once we had tied a borrowed sash around our waists, and the guys wearing shorts were lent sarongs, as well as sashes. After purification prayers, the faithful then progress upwards to the temple proper with their offerings.

The road to the temple was bordered by a row of yellow irises,

and who could resist wandering along a path like this to see where it led.

The adjoining house served refreshments and had a photographic record of the history of the temple, as well as the prettiest garden and its own shrine.

All in all, a delightful retreat from the noise of the city and a wonderful place to reflect.