November 26, 2009 at 7:23 am
· Filed under General
It was with great pleasure that both Azmi, Maxel and myself were at ST Kinetics HQ in Jurong to celebrate Tree Planting Day with their President Mr Sew Chee Jhuen and about 200 of their employees. We joined in planting the trees and it was great to see the enthusiasm and support of the staff in our greening initiative. Our CIB team had been providing their green clubs with advice on how to start a garden project, books and materials on gardening, organised visits to community gardens and workshops to train our staff on the basics of gardening.
The company had decided back in 2008 that every staff of ST Kinetics should plant a tree or a shrub within a 5-years period. Close to 3000 local staff are committed to plant at least 600 trees or shrubs each year. They also in the midst of redeveloping Jalan Boon Lay and Chin Bee premises, and some of the planting would be an integral part of the landscaping of the redevelopment.
Since 2008, Staff of ST Kinetics have already planted more than 2500 trees and shrubs, far exceeding our initial plan of about 600 per year. For the next 3 years, they will continue to plant more trees and shrubs in all of their facilities.
Staff of ST Kinetics during Tree Planting Day celebration.
We were also privileged to be in the judging panel to assess 5 of their community gardens created by their staff. The gardens were creative, providing wonderful places for people to sit, relax and enjoy themselves amidst the pleasant landscapes.
Ng Cheow Kheng
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November 5, 2009 at 8:39 am
· Filed under General
Do you know that you can help to reduce disease transmission?
Have you ever noticed that your Orchid might have some black spots on the leaves? When you cut off the ‘black spotted leaves’ and continue to trim other healthy Orchids without cleaning your equipment, you are actually infecting your other healthy “babies” with diseases. So to prevent such situations, try to sterilize your scissiors by heating the metal tips or cleaning it with ethanol after gardening.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/attachments/beginner-discussion/16449d1217208384-suspected-virus-black-spots-streaks-orchid-leaves-img_1403-1024×768-800×600-.jpg
Do you know that use of asexual propagation might transmit diseases?
Yes, plants are cheap but treatment for the plants is expensive. Did you know that tiny nematodes which look totally harmless can destroy a huge Pine tree? The annual loss of pine timber in Japan is 2.4 million cubic meters. This is caused by the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. You might wonder what has that got to do with Singapore, but haven’t you realised that Singapore is surrounded by huge trees? Imagine the consequences if one of these nematode or insect hops on to our all time favorite local tree – the Rain tree (Samanea saman)? That might be the end of Singapore’s trees. So, maybe it’s time to start propagating through seeds and watching your cultivation hygiene?
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/syllabi/302/new/graphics/D/division.jpg
Do you know that our plants names are not in English?
Frequently, we don’t really bother or know how to write our plants’ names correctly. For example, soybeans are also known as Glycine max. This is not an English name but a latin and/or Greek name, therefore we ought to italicise the name. The 1st name (Glycine) is known as the genus name or the “family” name, whilst the 2nd name (max) is known as the species name or the “individual” name. If you are not sure about the scientific name, then using the common name is fine. However, do remember that there are different common names describing the same plant. Maybe it’s time to learn a new language?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71YHBXR6WGL._SL500_AA240_.gif
Matthew Tan
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