Garden Chronicles Tour with Ms. Kuan Nee Koay (28th Jan 2022)

 

INTRODUCTION:

I often get gardeners coming to my garden to visit and see the real deal instead of pictures from my blog and YouTube channel - usually it would be very much a private tour based on appointments and also I share details on how I care and cultivate my tropical garden.

This time around, I was blessed with two great icons who I admire greatly and they took the trouble to grace me with their presence to visit my humble garden.

Professor Chan Eng Heng together with  Ms. Kuan Nee Koay.

Ms. Kuan Nee Koay enjoys travelling and photography. In her leisure time, she hones her artistic talents by capturing frames of little things in her neighborhood and nearby parks. 

She is sees things in different light, her inspired works also found in her Instagram account @framesoflittlethings, inviting her followers to journey with her as she discovers and learns about the flowers in Malaysia. 

She is a professional photographer and the author of the book: Frames of Little Things  

Do check out her personal handiworks (link above) in her book: Frames of Little Things that includes a user-friendly visual directory of 130 types of tropical flowers in Malaysia categorized into five color groups for easy reference.

MEMORABLE  MOMENTS  TO REMEMBER:

These are the joyful, excited memories that I have from this warm visit:

Earlier Ms. Kuan was following up with me to visit my garden and would love to take some shots in my garden - I was reluctant as my garden was in dire mess and was not able to clean up due to few matters that took place within those weeks.

However, it was almost three weeks where she followed up with me where I thought it is OK, though I did mentioned that my garden is still in a mess and not yet really manicured to my expectation and she is ok with it. I wished I had more time to clean and clear up to give more impressive garden for them to worth the visit and I hope they enjoyed my garden scene.

Dr. Chan Posting From FB:

I had the privilege to visit James David with Kuan Nee Koay
this morning and was totally blown away by the array of plants in his garden.
So inspiring!
I really need to work more as a gardener .
I was gifted with so many plants too.
Thanks so much James and Kuan Nee for making this most delightful visit possible.

Comment Reply from Kuan Nee Koay:

You are most welcome Prof! 

It was such a privilege to visit James’ Amazing Garden, 

James David, You are truly a Master Landscaper! 

Thank you for your Time and Sharing your knowledge with us

The Affirmation and The Encouragements that I received from both of them where truly heart warming and truly blessed be and I feel so glad bring inspiration to these great people I met that day.

Ms Kuan was very much interested in capturing the Blue of the Blue from this particular plant known as the Japanese Spiderwort.  I had very much cut and given most of them away for the last Plant Exchange / Giveaways for PEE5 few weeks ago. There are some few plants left here and there and was glad that she was able to capture these beauties in the morning.

Usually these flowers are very short-lived, the bloom profusely in the morning but immediately fade away by noon - usually when the sunlight start scorching them with intense hear. However, I also noticed that they need the full sun condition to bloom as they do not bloom in shaded condition. Very much similar like a morning glory - these intense blue coloration are quite a challenge to capture in their true color when using digital photography and I'm truly glad and admire Ms.Kuan artistry ability's the capture the moment before these flowers fade away in that moment to pass.

A little information concerning this plant:

Commonly known as Japanese Spiderwort / Dayflower (Commelina erecta)

Often used traditionally as a blue dye in Japan to paint patterns on fabric before it is tie-dyed. These thrive in Japanese gardens: In Japanese, murasaki-tsuyukusa means “purple rainy-season flower,” or “purple dew flower,” because it is a showy cousin of the local tsyukusa, or Asian day-flower, (Commelina communis), which is native to Japan.

More information are found here in this link:  Japanese Spiderwort

I must say that I truly marvel and take joy to see the expressions of people when the visit my garden. And I must make an emphasize to note that I found that she has this child-like joy in discovering something new for the first time - it sparks and shows the glow of excitement in her voice and the excitement also shows so much life in her eyes - and that very moment when the magic happens - she capture that moment in that "plant eyes"

Often she would say, James - I'm not doing justice to the garden that you have, it is too beautiful and I'm unable to capture it. Again, I must say - she had captured my sea in her oyster with precious pearls - a beauty only one can discover and marvel at her photography works.

Again, knowing her for a short while, I had found that she is the type of person who humbles herself even more when she knows a lot and doesn't show off in pride - that child-like heart that appears in self-discovery - life journey is written all over in her joy, especially when she see a flower blooms.

Indeed she is like a pure soul where she seeing everything in pure light;

Something that I believe, "To the Pure, Everything is Pure"

This particular Fire Cracker Plant is the another wonder to see when nectar drinking birds - the Olive Backed Sunbird. The male with strong dark throat in color made appearance for both of the visitors to see the live action - these birds were very fast and you can only witness this in seconds and then they fly away making a lot of noise marking their territory as not to allow other sunbirds to claim ownership of this region.

I was touched when she shared few of her experiences, that she mentions that when she visits some gardens and see the plant - its just the plant, however she sees my garden as a whole together in harmony with all other plants thriving together.  Hence my landscaping works in putting the plant together is truly a beauty to behold. 

Another Joy that I was able to share what this full bloomed Jasmine Rose that rarely appears, this time - it was just blooming at the right time for these visitor. I had gifted this bloomed cutting to her, and the fragrance just mesmerized the whole garden throughout the morning. 

I hope she get to enjoy the fragrance for a few more days as this flower can last for few days as a cut flower in a vase. It was also fun to watch when she asked the professor to be the hand model while she captured the photography to show in comparison how big the jasmine bloom is.

I do not have Autumn in my garden, however when I look at this captured moment, it truly spark that sense of golden fall in that season in my every-green tropical garden. I remember when she says, each time she takes a picture - she sees a story behind in every picture. And I'm so glad that she came and took these pictures to tell their stories.

We sat and spoke a lot more about gardening and plants and how to care and cultivate them, sharing my tips and ideas and was too overjoyed with the encouragements I receive from this two visitors. Saying that I have done a good job and continue to cultivate and share the knowledge and help others in gardening.  These encouragements truly warmed my heart and gives me a lot more passion and zeal to help others and to give more attention in cultivation a garden and sharing that joy to others.

The sound of the cascading water from the water fountain gives that subtle rhythmic scene of calmness and serenity while we chat and laughed about plants and our experiences. It was truly an enjoyable encounter with both of them.

 

After taking all the pictures, she had wrapped up together with the tripod but when suddenly she discovered this dandy blooms of these begonias - she got so excited and reset everything again just to capture these beauty. 

The stories you won't know by the background works of this photographer - it is often unsaid and missed until you truly know that when one is full of joy and shows dedication. Something that I say which is worth mentioning about Ms.Kuan works.

These are the pictures taken by her and truly it shares the wonder of the beauty of plants. The unique beauty of gardening and plants in it's own appearance of how I see it and when I see it in a different perspective and through the lenses of another - it truly marvels me.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot more art than science in her works - and a lot more to be said in photography portfolio by experts and photo journalism. However, this is my personal interpretation of my opinion how I see it. It may be different to each perspective in their own viewing experiences.

I'm so glad and truly appreciate both of them - Professor Chan and Ms. Kuan who made a wonderful morning to remember in my Garden Experience. 

Thank you for your visit.

Garden Chronicles Garden Tour are very much arrange as a private garden in a residential area hence it is rarely promoted for viewing except by appointment. Apart from this - most of the garden plant profiles and details are found in this Plant Blog and my 

YouTube Channel link below:

Garden Chronicles of James David