Archive for September, 2008

Budding Horticulturist in the Making

September 25, 2008 at 10:07 am · Filed under General

Below are a couple of blog entries by Zhangde Primary School, who are members of the school’s Horticultural Club:

“I feel that our Learning Gardens at Zhangde Primary School are SUPER! We have learnt a lot of information about plants and animals here.”

 By: V. Velan

Primary 3 Hawthorne

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A member holding a starfuit grown from our very own garden.

 

 

“I feel that Zhangde’s Learning Gardens are very beautiful and are like learning towers. They are clean and colourful like rainbows.”

By: Salleh

Primary 3 Nectarine

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Another member with a ‘giant’ starfruit also from our garden.

 

 

“It’s fun gardening in our own plots at Zhangde during our Horticultural Club activities. We learn how to plant and what plants need. We also get to learn about many different plants and trees from our gardens.”

By: Vinod

Primary 5 Harvard

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Our Members from Zhangde Primary School’s Horticultural Club

 

 

“I love our school gardens. They are the heart of Zhangde and they surround us with greenery and beauty.”

By: Siti Khadijah

Primary 6 Darwin

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Weeding and getting our garden plots ready for planting.

 

 

“My school has many different types of gardens. We have ‘The Jurassic Forest of Ferns’, ‘The Healing Forest of the Elves’. ‘The Cactus Garden’, ‘Orchard Lane’, ‘The Orchid Garden’ and ‘The Heritage Garden’. We also have a pond with water plants and fishers. There are also tadpoles and frogs here. I love all the plans in my school gardens. They are soothing to the eyes. I also learnt useful Science concepts about plants.”

By: Jegathees

Primary 6 Darwin

 

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The plants are growing well and we are pulling out the weeds.

 

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‘Community In Bloom’ Ambassador Award and Friends

September 18, 2008 at 1:16 pm · Filed under General

I have recently been informed by the Community in Bloom (CIB) of the National Parks Board that they have officially launched two new initiatives designed specially for the avid gardeners of Singapore, namely, the ‘CIB Ambassador Award’ and the ‘CIB Friends’ scheme.

I find the debut of the ‘CIB Ambassador Award’ and the ‘CIB Friends’ scheme very timely. The number of plant-lovers and gardening enthusiasts have been on the rise with the start of the CIB programme that allows Singaporeans to garden as a collective group in the green spaces around their homes and organisations.

Hence, the ‘CIB Ambassador Award’ and the ‘CIB Friends’ scheme will serve as excellent ways to recognise those who have contributed the promotion of gardening to Singaporeans from all walks of life.Quoting from the CIB website, the CIB Ambassador Award recognizes individuals who have contributed through various means and channels to foster the love for gardening to the people in Singapore. CIB Ambassadors are volunteers with passion, who go the extra mile to spread the gardening bug and help others enjoy gardening. They contribute time, effort and/or resources regularly and actively engage with the community to facilitate the community’s gardening-based initiatives.

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The ‘Community In Bloom’ Ambassador Award

In terms of criteria, nominees for the CIB Ambassadors Award should fulfilled some or all of the following criteria:


Shared gardening knowledge to the community - facilitated or provided gardening ideas and tips through seminars, talks, sharing sessions, articles in media, web-based gardening blogs or forums, opening-up community gardens for learning, etc.
Facilitated gardening-based community projects - helping community groups in housing estates, schools and organisations to set up or sustain their gardening projects through providing guidance, resources, materials, etc.
Promoted the love for gardening - organised initiatives that resulted in greater awareness towards the benefits of gardening, engaged the public to spread gardening during road shows, exhibitions, community events, websites, blogs, etc.
Conducted themselves positively - in a manner that resulted in a sustained positive impact on gardening.

CIB Ambassador Award winners will be determined by a selection panel. Winners are selected from nominations based on their record of achievements and extent/impact of contributions made. Winners of CIB Ambassador Award will receive a plaque at the Clean & Green Singapore 2008 launch ceremony.

Nomination for CIB Ambassador Award is now open and must reach NParks by 24 Sep 2008. To nominate, download the nomination form from the following link:
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/docs/CIB/CIBA%20Award%202008%20Nomination%20Form.doc
 

The completed form can be sent back to the CIB via e-mail (communityinbloom@nparks.gov.sg) or fax at +65 67621383 or snail mail to:
Secretary, CIB Ambassadors Award 2008
National Parks Board
Raffles Building, 1 Cluny Road,
Singapore 259569.

The second new initiative is the ‘CIB Friends’ which is a scheme that provides opportunities for individuals to play a part in fostering the love for gardening among the people in Singapore by volunteering their time and effort to help others enjoy gardening. Individuals who have a passion for helping and volunteering can sign up to be CIB Friends.

Volunteers who sign up as CIB Friends can contribute in the following ways:   

 

Host visits to Community Gardens - Volunteers can help to facilitate and guide visitors during visits to community gardens
Contribute gardening articles or write-ups to gardening blogs and newsletters - Volunteers can share their ideas on community gardens, gardening or plants through writing articles which will be posted in NParks website
Conduct gardening talks - Volunteers with gardening experience and knowledge can share their knowledge at the sharing sessions held at various locations
Facilitate the setting-up of community gardening projects - Volunteers with gardening experience and knowledge can help community groups set up community gardens through the sharing of basic gardening skills (theory and hands-on), working out suitable garden layout and selecting suitable plants for the new community garden
Help maintain community gardens - Volunteers can take part in helping to maintain community gardens in charitable homes through planting, weeding, etc.
Promote gardening during exhibitions - Volunteers can help man CIB exhibition booths put up by NParks during community events, to promote gardening to visitors.

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The ‘Community In Bloom’ Friends Scheme

Active CIB Friends can look forward to the following benefits:  

  • CIB Friend volunteer pass
  • Annual gathering for the CIB Friends
  • $10 token compensation per volunteering session
  • A CIB Friends T-Shirt
  • A chance to enroll in Gardening-related courses and workshops

     

To sign up as a CIB Friend volunteer, do email to communityinbloom@nparks.gov.sg the following details:

  • Area of volunteer work perferred: (1 or more)
  • Name
  • Age
  • Contact Number
  • Mailing Address
  • Occupation
  • Language proficiency
  • Gardening/Plant knowledge
  • Availability (pls specify day and time)

 

Wilson Wong

  

   

    

  

   

    

 

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Harvest Time at Jurong Zone G RC’s Community Garden!

September 11, 2008 at 12:20 pm · Filed under General

We planted 2 Horse Radish Trees at our community garden a year ago but both trees have not flowered. Nevertheless, we decided to harvest some of the leaves for our Indian ethnic members.

Our members harvesting the leaves of the Horse Radish Tree and shared it among the other Indian residents in our neighbourhood. I was told the leaves are good for curries, which also contained some medicinal properties. They have pruned the trees and hoped that it will bear flowers soon and look forward for the next harvest of the fruits, which they called drumsticks.

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Our bountiful harvest! 

 

We hope to see the flowers soon!  

Mdm Kamisah

Gardening Leader (Jurong Zone ‘G’ RC)

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Tree Museum

September 4, 2008 at 9:15 am · Filed under General

Just the other day, I was listening to Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi during my bus ride home from work, and these lyrics from her song suddenly stuck in my head:

They took all the trees

Put ‘em in a tree museum

And they charged the people

A dollar and a half to see ’em

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Til its gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot 

These lyrics started to make me think: “What will it REALLY be like if all the trees were gone?” I didn’t dare to imagine too much as the mere thought of it is both sad and scary at the same time. I can’t imagine not being able to see our familiar Angsanas (Pterocarpus indicus) and Rain Trees (Samanea saman) lining the streets, nor can I envision having to visit a tree museum just to see trees!

Woe the day when we are deprived of the shade and lush greenery provided by humble trees. Fortunately for us, Singapore takes pride in maintaining her greenery and a simple comparison of Orchard Road with other famous boulevards in the world reveals the stark lack of greenery and foliage in other cities. I hope that after reading this, you will begin to have a greater sense of appreciation of the trees around us. No, I am not encouraging everyone to become crazy tree huggers. On the contrary, I feel it is sufficient to just cherish the trees we see everyday and to recognize the subtle benefits they bring to our daily lives. With such a mentality, we can rest assured that there will never be a tree museum on our island.

Joey Gan

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