Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

Notice Board

Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11
Welcome to our exotic world of everlasting summers and tropical rainforests!

Friday, December 11, 2009

HELP! There are UFOs in The Garden!


1. The first UFO is an Unidentified Flowering Object


I found this violet/lavender flower at The Secret Garden of 1-Utama. There was no tag on it. This is definitely not a morning glory because it is not a vine. It grows in a pot and has a lot of flowers. Perhaps the leaves may serve as a clue.

Is this a species of the Browallia or Amethyst Flower or Sapphire Flower?

Can someone please help me identify this beauty?
Update: My grateful thanks to Dr. Francis Ng for identifying this flower as Ruellia humilis aka blue shade aka wild petunia, native to Texas, USA. My special thanks also to Stephanie of Steph's Green Space for providing the initial lead.


2. The 2nd is an Unidentified Flying Object. This tiny butterfly is resting on an Aztec arrowhead (Saggitaria montevidensis) flower. This poor thing seems to be injured as its wings are torn. I'm sure the little ant didn't do it. But then again, why not? Maybe it was Atom Ant who was undergoing some transgressions and became a villain.

Is this a gram blue or pea blue butterfly?

Update: My grateful thanks to Kanak of Terra Farmer for helping me identify the butterfly as cycad blue/chilades pandava.


3. This 3rd Unidentified Flying Object is a bird. Can this be the yellow bird ? I mean the same yellow bird that I have always dreamt of seeing from the "Yellow Bird on a Banana Tree" song. By the way, this is not a banana tree but a palm tree.

Note: All the photos are taken at The Secret Garden of 1-Utama.
Update: My grateful thanks to Dr. Rezlan (aka Tabib) of Birds and Nature Photography Blog for helping me identify the bird as a male olive-backed sunbird.

This post is dedicated to Ms Noelle Johnson (Azplantlady) of Plant Tips and Guidelines for the Desert Garden from Phoenix, Arizona, USA. She was my first commenter for my previous post. I am very glad to know her through Blotanical. Through her blog, this qualified garden consultant has shown me how beautiful desert gardens can be. She eliminated many of my myths about greens in deserts and she gives great gardening tips.

This is my entry for Blooming Friday, 2nd Week of December. The theme this week is Remembering a Particular Event'. As I am having UFOs here, so I'll think of Star Wars, starring Yoda (flower) Han Solo (ant), Princess Leia (butterfly) and spaceship (bird). My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.

This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday. My grateful thanks to Tootsie at Tootsie Time for hosting Fertilizer Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, visit
here.

This is also my entry for Today's Flowers #70. My grateful thanks to the TF folks: Santilli, Denise, Pupo and Valkyrien for hosting Today's Flowers. To participate or view other floral displays around the world, click
here.

31 comments:

  1. I bet Darla can identify that butterfly...she is at more family and flowers...
    I have no idea what the flower is...but it sure is pretty...and that bird...could it be a finch of some sort? I don't know that either!
    thanks for linking in this week...sorry I am no help at all...just a happy viewer!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Autumn Belle I am sorry I can't help with the UFO id and the yellow bird looks a little like the banana quit we have here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another happy viewer here... lovely photos!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow Wow Wow my eyes were wide open from the very start (nice headmast) till the end. Flower, injured butterfly and an ant..I'm speechless. TQ

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely post Autumn Belle! Beautiful!! photos of your blooms, bird and butterfly. I love the rich colors! Carol

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wish I had some answers for you. Enjoyed your photos just the same!
    *hugs*deb

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like your UFOs a lot! A very amusing post with great pictures.
    Have a lovely weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tootsie gives me way too much credit...everything here is still UFO's to me...very pretty!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Since they are labelled as UFO, why not leave them as UFO. That's more fun!! 0_0

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your UFO's are very nice whatever they are - sorry I can't be of much help. Cute post - I never would have thought of UFO's - but then I don't get paid for thinking anymore so why bother. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Autumn the butterfly picture is just gorgeous and the bird is so camouflaged with its coloring it almost gets lost in the greens.
    Beautiful pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  12. How delightful Autumn Belle. I had to laugh at your list of memes that this qualifies for at the bottom! You are very efficient with this posting! I wish I could help on any of them, but can't, although I am familiar with Daaayoooo.... :-)

    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  13. All of your UFO's are very pretty, but I don't know the names of them. That bird is just so cute. I just love the coloring.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello AutumnBelle,

    Thank you so much for your very kind comments. I love dispelling some of the myths of desert gardening. We don't even have sand where we live ;0) I am sorry, I do not know what type of plants they are, but they are so beautiful. I love your post title!

    ReplyDelete
  15. First pic is most probably Ruellia or Violet Wildflowers and the other is Aztec Arrowhead or Tropical Arrowhead. I like both plants! Yes you are right, they are beautiful. They would make good addition to my garden... one day ha ha... Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cannot help you, sorry. I just admire your fantastic flowers. So lovely. Happy to se something else but cold winther. Have a nice weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Autumn Belle, thanks for dropping by and once again identifying the flower for me. I am hopeless in names of flowers, insects and many other things , I just know how to enjoy and appreciate nature and its beauty.. heheee sorry, can't help you. hope u have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, Autumn Belle,
    I can't identify any of them, but I love the names you gave them ... they don't need any other.
    Pam xxoxx

    ReplyDelete
  19. 3rd UFO is a Male Sunbird, probably Olive-backed Sunbird.
    Love the second picture - 3 in 1.

    ReplyDelete
  20. All so lovely, Autumn Belle! The butterfly looks very much like the Cycad Blue/Chilades pandava. Family: Lycaenidae. I usually check out www.thaibugs.com
    Great site for identifying Asian bugs. Love your photos:-)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey AB, I really love that white flower..so unique! I think I've seen the purple UFO bloom around but can't think of the name..doesn't that drive you nuts?! Looks like a great place to visit though, thanks for sharing with us ;)
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  22. Beautiful photos, as always, and also a great theme - both "unidentified flowering objects" and the Star Wars naming. A fun post.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Autumn, Sorry I haven't commented as of late. Your photos are beautiful. I wish I could help with the IDs but I am I am not familiar with the butterfly or flower. The bird definitely looks like a sunbird but I could be wrong being I have never seen one outside photographs. I hope you have a good day.

    Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dear friends, thank you very much for dropping by to view my UFOs and for your sweet and nice comments that I have enjoyed reading very much. I’m glad you all have enjoyed the pictures and stories. It doesn’t matter if you can’t give me any ID. It is the comments I enjoyed the most, no matter how late. It is like having you all visiting me in Malaysia.

    Stephanie, my special thanks to you for helping with the Ruellia suggestion. I have given feedback on this to Dr. Francis Ng via a comment on his blog as he has just published his latest post, looking for ID of this plant. Let’s wait for his expert opinion.

    Tabib, my special thanks to you, Dr. Rezlan for coming over here to help me identify the bird. Wow, you can even ID the gender!

    Kanak, my special thanks to you for helping me identify the butterfly and leads on the useful links.

    Jessica, I’m glad you are much ok now. I know that you and I always have each other in mind and reading each other’s blogs even though not commenting on every post.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love those deep violet colored flower!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I get these birds visit my garden very often. And yes, these are sunbirds - the male is colourful - yellowbird with a blue throat but the female is all grey.
    The often come in pairs or in a group. They come for my heliconia and also for hibiscus.
    If Im not wrong - its name is Olive-Backed Sunbird.

    Its just too late for me to get them on my camera and if I do, the shots aren't good.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Jama, this is indeed a nice shade of violet.

    James, actually I was sitting on the bench at the entrance to the Secret Garden when I saw this bird chirping happily among the palm leaves. I had to use my maximum zoom feature and that's the best I could get. I wish I had a more powerful camera.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hello AutumnBelle,

    I looked at the purple flower as you asked and it does look very similar to my Baja Ruellia, but it is not the same. The leaves of the Baja Ruellia are a light green and have smooth edges and a smooth texture. The leaves of your UFO look similar to a lantana leaf. I do hope you find out what it is though. I would love to know :-)

    ReplyDelete
  29. I've come to your blog by reading your comment on other people's posts, primarily, and am so delighted to 'meet' you across the miles. This post gave me a great pleasure, especially the mention of the song "Yellow Bird in Banana Tree." My father loved that song as sung by Harry Bellafonte.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Jodi, Welcome to My Nice Garden. The Yellow Bird song was my favourite too. I first mentioned about it in my banana post. Thanks for telling me the name of the singer. I thought it was a folk song.

    ReplyDelete

Words are like the voice of the heart... Confucius

Note: If you are unable to comment on my latest post, click on the post title to reopen the post and try writing your comments again. Comments under "Anonymous" will be automatically treated as spam if no name is included.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin