What the Cantonese call the “koon yam chuk“(’Goddess of Mercy’ Bamboo), is also known as the Ribbon Plant or the Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena Sanderiana). It is extremely common in Singapore. Many people plant it in pots in their gardens or along the corridors of our HDB flats. Because it can also grow in water, many office workers like to grow them in vases on their tables. Some Chinese also buy the stalks from the wet markets and place them at their family altars. Tropical fish enthusiasts plant them in their tanks to help remove fish waste from the waters as well.

Ribbon plant

But I wonder how many of us know that this plant also bears flower? I certainly did not, and thus was pleasantly surprised to see some blooming in our garden not long ago. I took some photos to share them with you.

- by Lam Chun See

We often lament about how we missed the kampong days when our lives were less complicated. Yours truly was born in the year 1969 - as Canadian rocker Bryan Adams put it in his catchy number Summer of Sixty Nine, “those were the best days of my life” - and I grew up in the era of “Apollo rocket ships”, “Flower Power”, “Nam” and black & white TV. But I think the kampong days has not left us totally despite our mass migration to the concrete jungle - in spirit, that is.

For in some corners here and there around our HDB neighbourhoods, little niches are sprouting up where aunties, mak chiks and Ah Peks get together to hang out and till the land, growing kangkong, bayam, cabbages, ladies fingers and many more. They’re re-creating their own litte gardening patches, which in a subtle way re-connects them back to the good ol’ kampong days..

Since the past 2 years, I’ve been traversing the island looking at these little gardening patches and I’ve found quite a fair bit of treasure troves in unexpected places - there’s even one on top of Tanjong Pagar Plaza! Many people love gardening and they do it for a variety of reasons. Ask Rosalind Tan from Alexandra Hospital and she’ll tell you that “patients who look into a garden recover faster than those who look into a wall”. I know of a hospice that does gardening for a remarkably noble cause - they help terminally ill patients grow seedlings that can be passed on to their next-of-kin upon the patients’ demise.

It’s been a journey of self-discovery, through meeting wonderful people like Rosalind, Sharifah from Tampines Street 11, Wilson Wong from Green Culture Singapore, David Naidu from Mayfair Park Estate, Anne from Marine Crescent, and many others. They are just ordinary men and women like you and me. But their extraordinary love for greenery and gardening makes them willing to go the extra mile to make sure that the people around them get to enjoy gardening.

Yup, no doubt it has been a fun-filled and meaningful 2 years helping people with their gardening efforts. I’ve discovered that there’s a gardener in everyone, if not, in most of us, really!

Tampines Residents

- by Mohd Azmi Shahbudin

Hi everyone, I’m just another coach potato living in an average HDB apartment, except for one thing - I have a little rooftop garden. I’ve been fascinated with plants especially if they are easy to look after and hence I decided to put together some plants and create this rooftop garden of mine.

I believe that plants planted by the streets and around our estates are not just for someone else to look after. Yes, the authorities do a great job with the plants in Singapore, but don’t we all breathe the oxygen that the leaves produce? Get to admire the beauty of flowers? Enjoy the cool shade which trees provide for us? The list could just go on. I strongly feel that we all have a responsibility in gardening, and we all should do our part in creating a greener outlook for our environment.

My little rooftop garden couldn’t possibly be compared to the wonderful gardens we see featured in the magazines, but it does contain some interesting plants and is after all, the work of my own hands. To me, my rooftop garden is beautiful.

Personal gardening and taking responsibility of my own garden, has always been rewarding to me. In season, delicate butterflies come and flutter about the flowers gracefully and even sunbirds pay a visit while chirping their joyful little songs. I have definitely faced some difficulties in growing plants along the way, but these problems can be overcome with a little help from friends and the Internet.

And now my hard work with the garden has paid off - the roses have bloomed! They’re gorgeous, aren’t they? Well, I guess I might be biased, but on seeing them, it is definitely worth the effort I had put into it.

All in all, the fruits of my labour are exceedingly sweet and after a hard day’s work, I take great pleasure in simply relaxing in my rooftop garden.

- by Ng Cheow Kheng

With the Lunar New Year/Spring Festival around the corner, our local nursery suppliers are all busy stocking up the popular Chinese New Year Plants, hoping to cash in on the New Year frenzy. Shopping for plants to display in the households during this festive period of the year is akin to buying a Christmas tree in December. However, the various varieties of Chinese New Year plants all have a different symbolism unique to themselves, which makes them hot property.

The Chinese refer the plant below as “Pussy Willow” or “Yin Liu” in Mandarin. You will be surprised that the Pussy Willow is actually a common tree in the forests and wetlands of Canada and northern Alaska. In Cantonese, “Yin Liu” sounds like “Yin Lou” which is similar to “Yin Liang” (money). Therefore, having this plant around during Chinese New Year would represent the invitation of abundant luck and prosperity into homes.

Pussy Willow

The plant below, Zamioculcus zamiifolia, has leaves that are circular in shape and this is closely associated with the round coin that China had in the olden days. Therefore, it is no surprise that the plant is called, “Jin Qian Shu”. If you directly translate the Chinese term for the plant into English, it explicitly implies that this is a “Money Tree”. There is also a local myth that if the plant bears flowers whilst in your home, you will be on a lucky streak and may even strike 4D/Toto.

Zamioculcus zamiifolia

Another interesting looking plant is the Dracaena, which resembles a pineapple. Coincidentally, pineapple is known as “Wang Lai” in the Hokkien dialect, and that means that good fortune will come along your way with this plant.

Dracaena

The newest addition that I have seen this year, is the Chinese Yellow Banana. However, this is not as common as the rest of the plants in commercial nurseries and will be an extraordinary addition to the range of existing Chinese New Year plants. Some Chinese refer it as “Luo Di Kai Hua”, which has the auspicious meaning of bearing fruit and being fruitful. The flowers are really lasting and it may survive up to 2 months or more, if well taken care of. Although it is a native plant from temperate regions, it is resilient enough to thrive in our local climate and produce suckers.

Chinese Yellow Banana

For decades, many Chinese have gotten into the habit of bringing in festive plants no matter what these symbolisms have been branded as - mere superstition, plain creativity and some have even said that the symbolisms attached to them, bears much truth to it.

So, have you done your New Year plant shopping yet? Who knows, one of these lucky plants may just bring you a windfall this New Year!

I hereby wish everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a prosperous new year ahead!

- by Woon Ling Ling

The Lunar New Year is around the corner and many households will soon go on a plant shopping spree to pick and purchase lucky plants to enhance the festive mood at home. Because we are heralding the Year of the Golden Boar, you may want to use the pitcher plant as a festive plant this year. The Chinese refer to the pitcher plant as “zhu long cao“, which literally translates into “pig cage plant”. This name is derived from the resemblance of the shape of the pitchers that occur at the tip of each leaf to the bamboo cages used to transport pigs in the olden days. As with many Lunar New Year plants, what makes a plant popular during the festive season would very much depend on whether it has any auspicious symbolic meanings associated with it. In the case of the pitcher plant, with a little bit of creativity, one can imagine that the pitchers attract and accumulate all the good luck and fortune that the Year of the Golden Boar brings. The more pitchers a plant has, the more luck and fortune you are likely to accumulate!

N. ampullaria, or ‘Brunei Red’, is definitely a lucky plant to have this Lunar New Year!

Insectivorous by nature, these plants are better known as “tropical pitcher plants”. All tropical pitcher plants belong to the 1 single genus Nepenthes in the Nepenthaceae family. Tropical pitcher plants are native to Southern China and Southeast Asia. Although they are termed as “tropical”, their habitats are very diverse and there are highland species that require cool temperatures to grow well. The appearance of the pitchers varies and they can range from stout and globose to a long and tubular shape. The colour of the pitchers can be purely green or red or have specks or streaks that are red or green, respectively. As the vine grows longer, the shape of the pitcher evolves and there is a distinction made according to basal, intermediate and aerial pitchers, which depends on the distance a pitcher occurs from ground level.

Something interesting about tropical pitcher plants is that the 2 sexes occur on separate plants. That means, a plant in your garden can either be a boy or girl! One is encouraged to buy pitcher plants from commercial nurseries. Please refrain from buying wild collected plants for conservation reasons. Many tropical pitcher plant species are considered threatened or endangered plants. Tissue culture is now employed to propagate large number of plants for sale to hobbyists so as to reduce the collection of plants from their natural habitats. It is not difficult to recognise recently harvested wild plants as they will usually appear limp and dry. The shock experienced from the uprooting process and drastic change in growing conditions make it challenging for the novice to re-establish them. Eventually, these wild collected plants will die and if the poaching of these plants was to continue, there will no longer be any pitcher plants for our future generations to look at when they go on field trips. On the same note, never attempt to steal a pitcher plant from your neighbour just for the sake of getting a free plant. The act is sinful and it would be inauspicious for the Lunar New Year if the pitchers were to dry up or when the plant dies soon under your care.

From left to right: Nepenthes (N.) rafflesiana, N. ‘Ventrata’, N. ‘Miranda’, N. ampullaria

At present, the tropical pitcher plants retailed locally are lowland pitcher plants that can do well in Singapore’s climate. These plants are available at very affordable prices and hence you do not need to go to the wilderness to search for them! The lowland species include the Nepenthes (N.) rafflesiana, a plant with stout ellipsoidal basal pitchers named after Sir Stamford Raffles. A hybrid, N. ‘Ventrata’, which is a cross between N. ventricosa and N. alata, has tubular basal pitchers. Another hybrid that was spotted in a couple of nurseries is N. ‘Miranda’. It has cylindrical, green pitchers with red streaks. For a wider range of plants to select from, consider the option of ordering plantlets produced by tissue culture from reputable overseas nurseries. N. ampullaria ‘Cantley’s Red’ and ‘William’s Red’ are 2 costly cultivars available from Borneo Exotics that have an auspicious red colour on the pitchers. A more affordable cultivar is N. ampullaria or ‘Brunei Red’, which can be ordered from the same nursery. A pity that it is not available locally now but it would surely be selling like hotcakes if it is. Last but not least, the tropical pitcher plant has uses in folk medicine. In Malaysia, the boiled roots of N. ampullaria are applied as a poultice on the stomach to alleviate stomachache and treat dysentery. A decoction of the aerial parts of the same plant is taken for fever. Fluid from unopened pitchers of N. boschiana is also used in Indonesia to reduce inflammation of the eyes.

For more information on the growing of tropical pitcher plants, check out the Green Culture Singapore Discussion Forum. Registration is free and you can get to know more like-minded friends who can help you kick start your hobby. Tropical pitcher plants can be very addictive!

- by Wilson Wong

There is a giant tree outside my window. This great tree, the silk-cotton or kapok, towers over the house. It is a native of the Amazon and is one of the largest trees found in the jungles. Periodically, this tree loses its leaves, sometimes from a few branches, other times from most of the tree. Seeing brown leaves blown from the tree is one of the most delightful experience to me. When the new leaves appear, they have the color of a most refreshing padi green.

Sometimes, flowers and fruits will be produced after a “leaf-drop”. The fruits like fat cucumbers are about 15cm long. When they ripen, they split to reveal masses of silky cotton with pea-shaped seeds hidden within. Fluffy bits of cotton are then carried by the breeze, carpeting the grass with bits of cloud. I have collected a jar full of them from a past fruiting season.

This great tree is probably about a hundred years old and has massive buttresses from its base going up to over 3m from the ground. Spreading widely from the tree are large snake-like roots that children delight in playing on. Though it is so huge, some leafy branches actually hang down so low that they are almost touching the ground. This giant stands patiently, rain or shine and it has a comforting presence to me because its always there, outside my window.

- by Wong Wei Har