For My New Year 2010

Garden plants do not usually excite me until the more I have to learn about them, the more I slowly grew to appreciate them.

I saw the broken variegated Schefflera Arboricola stubs that were used for the new year's party decoration and I asked if I can have them. Then the kind landscape lady handed me two different plants in the poly bags. My new year gift in the morning at work!
Schefflera Arboricola or its common name, Dwarf Umbrella Tree,  is a flowering plant in the family Araliaceae and it is believed that this plant is native to Taiwan and Hainan.

It is great to know that this common houseplant is tolerant of neglect and poor growing condition. This is the plant that is most suitable for a "gardener" like me then. The most interesting fact about this plant is that it will produce aerial roots under the right condition. When the aerial roots reach the ground, they will become fully functional roots. Wow, like the mangroves Rhizophora family. 

The second plant from the lady is a Dracaena family. I'm guessing that this variety could be the "Indonesian Pinwheel" based on the darker green stripe in the center of the leaves and lighter green stripe at the sides. In Greek, Dracaena means "female dragon" and I am clueless why it is named as such.
To me, Schefflera Arboricola represents resilience and the Dracaena represents strength. In the hope that from this new year 2010 onwards, Langkawi will be blessed with ecosystem resilience and strength to ward off any further developments.
2009 is the year I started blogging out of encouragement from Dr Paul Saffo. Thank you, Dr Saffo. I wish to take this opportunity to thank these people for helping me  identify the species and generously sharing their wealth of knowledge:

Mandy of Not Just Ordonata blog for being my spelling and grammar checker

Dr Wee Yeow Chin of Bird Ecology Study Group, for helping me with garden plants

Chiew and Dr Ruth Kiew of FRIM, for helping me with forest plants

Ria of Wildshores of Singapore, for sharing the common interest of our shores

Ku Ismadi, for his pictures and identifying local plants

Azimi, for his turtles expertise

Nina and Seng (MNS Bird Group), for birds id

Aida of LangkawiNatureKakis blog for being a gig too

Also to my blog followers! If I had missed out any other names, please give me a shout

And of course, Wikipedia! I have done my tiny weeny part to prolong Wikipedia's life.

I look forward to your continuous support and checking in. Happy New Year to all Nature Lovers!