Bintulu Trees By Airmail !

If one were to drive along the Tg. Batu scenic road , passing the Taman Tumbina , one would notice a line of trees that grow luxuriously on both sides of the road shoulders and also at the central median.
This stretch of road was planted with Tecoma pentaphylla or commonly called" Poui".

Believe it or not, the seeds of these trees came in an envelope on 19th July 1985.

The sender was Mr.George Alphonso. The moment I received the seeds I asked Ibrahim to straightaway germinate them in a soil mix of very coarse sand and to be kept damp.
By about 2 weeks, we had thousands of these seedlings in our nursery. Later they were transplanted in polybags of various sizes and some ended in planting holes along the Jalan Temasya after they were about one meter high.

Fom these trees we were able to obtain more seeds. The story goes that from Bintulu these trees began to find home in Miri, Sibu and other smaller towns in Sarawak. What made me choose these trees? It was a trip to Singapore that left a strong impression of the beauty of these trees. After all these trees do well in coastal areas and flowers best where there is a distinct dry spell. It prefers too ,the salty sprays of coastal regions like Bintulu and Miri.
All these to show that we cannot underestimate the power of an envelope!

Poui trees along Singapore roads.

George's letter (above) accompanying the seeds.

" Poui" trees along Jalan Temasya / Tanjung Batu scenic road.

( Re-post from my blog "my BINTULU history" - http://mybintuluhistory.blogspot.com/2007/07/bintulu-trees-by-airmail.html )

Bintulu's First Horticultural Consultant

Photoshoot with Arthur George Alphonso in my office at BDA 

Fondly called as 'George' , Mr. Arthur George Alphonso's appointment as 'horticultural consultant' to BDA was most timely.  George was a Kew -trained horticulturalist and most avid plant collector with special interest in propagating new and exotic orchids.

He was Senior Curator under Burkhill ( Humphery Morrison Burkhill was the Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1957-69) and took post of chief administrator of the Gardens after Burkhill left.


George through his tenure ( 1970 - 1976) carried on the Holttum tradition of furthering the Gardens reputation as a world famous garden for the collection of orchids species, hybrids and advice on hybridization.( Ref: Bonnie Tinsley (1983)Singapore Green.Times Book International, Singapore)

George's deep understanding of horticulture and early experience in the greening of Singapore were successfully transferred to Bintulu which started its greening programme as early as 1980. George's contribution on the landscaping of Bintulu covered these varied projects which were all funded by the BDA :-

1) Bintulu and Kidurong roadside tree planting and roundabouts.

2) Bintulu Golf Course ( 1 st Nine Hole)

3) Bintulu Wildlife Park ( later re-named Taman Tumbina)

4) Tanjung Batu Coastal Reserve Park

5) Children's Playground at MLNG and BDA Housing Areas

6) Sungei Terus Park Landscaping

7) Bintulu Divisional Mosque Landscaping( later re-named Masjid Assyakirrin)

8) Speaker at various courses organised by BDA for landscaping participants throughout Sarawak Brunei and Sabah

9) Setting up of BDA Plants Nursery at Sungei Plan,Kidurong.

Despite his mature age and problems with eyes sight especially in early 1990's, he was extremely dedicated and committed as a professional and a true friend.

His services continued even after he left Singapore to migrate to Australia. Around 1993, due to a frail old age, his visits to Sarawak and Bintulu which he was always keen and looking forward to became less frequent. We continued to met in later years as friends because by then I had left the BDA to join the private sector as a landscaping contractor.

(Re-post from my blog "my Bintulu history" - http://mybintuluhistory.blogspot.com/2007/09/bintulus-first-horticultural-consultant.html )

In the year 2013, an Ecopreneur I became

A nature park in Bintulu 

In the year 2013, an ecopreneur I became.  Is there a time in your life that you can have the greatest fun doing what you love?  I have, and that happened in 2013 when I decided to call my eco-farm in Bintulu - the Kambatik Park.  It is the culmination of my strengths in landscaping, writing, photography, wildlife, aesthethics, planning, entrepreneurship, healthy life style, and passion in plants and life-long learning.  Here I build an eco-model for the cultivation of oil palm.  The sub-heading of the Kambatik Park's blog reads:" A private nature park developed by MOOD based on the principles of ecological diversity, oil palm integrated agro-forestry practices and Kambatik landscape design philosopohy and aesthethics".  You don't have to visit the park to experience it.  Making use of internet  technology I blogged on the development and happenings at the park for the whole world to see.  It has been more than two years since  and the story and discoveries keep on coming.  My ultimate vision is to see the model adopted along the 1000 km length of Sarawak trunk road such that it become a chain of 'kambatik park', the longest nature parkland  developed by rural entrepreneurs in Sarawak.

Sarawak - you are just so beautiful.

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak.

( This is the 13th and final posting for my writing contribution on what it is meant to be a Malaysian as a way for me to celebrate Malaysia Day this year, 2015)

As time goes by - The Making of a Garden Oasis

                             

Sunset view from the main door (2010)

A view on any day . Note the Drunken Sailor's ability to climb over and creep along the front porch's ceiling.

When we decided to move to Kuching about three years ago I was intent on making the house garden an example of my concept of the Malaysian Garden called " Laman Kambatik". In this post I would like to share how I achieved it at the front porch garden space. In later posts I shall talk about other sections of the house garden .

Over time one or two plants that did not do well were replaced with alternatives but to a large extent the original choice of plants proved suitable. To help me explain the job I have prepared a sketch below that could act as guide in recapitulating the making of the front garden. The front garden will hopefully mature in about a year's time from now when other garden features ( hard landscaping) will be added. At this point of time the focus is on soft landscaping i.e. the cultivation of plants and turves. On this note I would add that the latest feature is the Yellow Bamboo ( shown inset) that took the place of the Murraya paniculata after I noticed it was unable to fend itself from diseases that attack its roots.

In the beginning - date of photo 25 Nov' 2007

The above shows how the site looked like in late 2007. The plant worth noticing is the Carpentaria Palm ( Carpentaria alexanderae) which was just less than a meter high when planted. The broad-leaved Calathea lutea is an important plant in the design for the shape of its leaves. The soil is hard and not fertile and I only managed to top-up the whole area with good topsoil later when I decided to turf the space. All these plants were brought from my garden in Bintulu. I did this to save me time to scout for plants in Kuching besides I can load plenty of plants at the back of my pick-up every time I drive to Kuching.

Progress dated : 7 June 2008.

The above is view of the site in slightly less than a year. The tiny lawn has been turved. The Ixora coccinea is flowering beautifully with orangish blooms. The Blood Banana in the far background is seen higher than the Carpentaria Palm. The Sea Cycas ( Cycas rumphii) and Calathea are doing well evidenced by the dark green colour of their leaves.

Progress dated : 14 June 2008.

The Sea Cycas was also brought from Bintulu. Around the base of the Cycas tree are variegated rhoe plants. The lawn is planted with " Pearl Grass". A line of 'Mother-in-law's tongue' ( Sanseivera trifaciata) is seen planted along the concrete edge.

Progress dated : 4 December 2008.

In a year's time the Carpentaria Palm has risen 5 feet tall. To the left of the picture is Murraya paniculata which produces tiny white flowers that are strongly scented.

Unfortunately the Murraya plant did not perform well and last month I replaced it with the Yellow Bamboo.

In the design of the front garden the role of scented plants is emphasised. Another species included is the " Sepenuh" -Proiphys amboinensis

Inset to the left : Close-up of the tiny and scented white flowers of the " Kemuning" in Malay. It's scientific name is Murraya paniculata.

Progress dated : 25 Jan 2009.

Progress dated : 6 August 2009

Progress dated : 4 Feb' 2010.

After about slightly more than 2 years the garden is shaping up according to plan. For more bright colours the Yellow Croton (Codiaeum variegated) is added. At the lower storey ( not seen) many numbers of Iresine plants ( Iresine herbstii) are planted for its deep red colours. The feather-leaved palm behind the Sea Cycas is the Yellow Cane Palm ( Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) which is a small-sized palm.

Progress dated : 4 June 2010

                                                   Whooopi !! the Carpentaria palms have grown 15 feet in three years.


Three years in contemporary age of the Internet is virtually unfelt. It has whisked by like the fallen frangipani petals at the front garden. Kept by a busy schedule of travel from Bintulu to Kuching and back on an almost monthly basis I have not wasted the window of opportunity to create a much needed urban oasis a step out of the house. I will of course add a little bit of smaller plants to hug on the lawn floor in future but this will have to be thought judiciously especially on the maintenance aspect because we're not everyday in Kuching. Unlike trees, smaller plants require more intensive care. After all we're always rewarded by the basics first and pretties are added bonuses.

(Re-post from my blog "My Sarawak (3rd Ed.) - http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/search/label/Garden%20Design )

Season of pink and White Poui blooms in Bintulu

A row of Poui trees along the Tanjong Kidurong Highway (9 June, 2019)
Its the season of pink and white Poui blooms in Bintulu right now. These large flowering trees were introduced to Bintulu about 34 years ago. Many don't realise that the first seeds of these trees came in a brown envelope in 1985 from Singapore.

There is a letter written by Arthur George Alphonso ( ex- Director of Botanical Gardens, Singapore) attesting to this story.
Please follow this link to see the letter and other stories about these beautiful Poui trees that came in to Bintulu by post.
...>>>>http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/search/label/Poui

and here...>>>>http://mybintuluhistory.blogspot.com/…/bintulu-trees-by-air…

(Note: This is a re-post from my FB, 12 May'19)

Once there was a roundabout

Combo picture to show R1 before and a recent satellite image of the same area

Roundabout One

A visitor to Bintulu in the early 1980's - 1990's would be familiar with the pace of rapid development in roads infrastructure to meet rising traffic and population of this newly booming town.  Roundabouts were once  a novel and regular feature that dotted the road map of Bintulu.  In the mid 80's - 90's I was kept busy with the landscaping of three major roundabouts around town.  These were Roundabout 1, 2 and 3.  Up to a certain point roundabouts do serve their function well and beautifully.  The construction of these roundabouts entail lots of planting space for landscaping.  Furthermore the whole landscape is enhanced by the presence of traffic islands adjacent to the roundabouts that were also given landscaping touches. At the point of writing (2 Sept'14) all these roundabout have been replaced overtime.  These pictures which I took while implementing the landscaping works do tell the story of how beautiful Bintulu was with these properly landscaped and maintained roundabouts and traffic islands.  Today I  have taken the liberty to update with  google earth satellite maps the sites of the three roundabouts.

Combo picture to show R1 before and a recent satellite image of the same area.

Combo picture to show R2 before and a recent satellite image of the same area

I have written quite a fair bit on these roundabouts in another blog of mine. Checkout the story of Roundabout Two here and Roundabout Three here . In retrospect it is much to the prevalence of these beautiful roundabouts that Bintulu has earned the identity of a beautiful town besides its miles and miles of shady and fully landscaped roads.  I felt good that in my time the groundwork for proper landscaping of the town was laid down early.

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!

 (Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

Combo picture to show R3  before and a recent satellite image of the same area

I have written quite a fair bit on these roundabouts in another blog of mine. Checkout the story of Roundabout Two here and Roundabout Three here . In retrospect it is much to the prevalence of these beautiful roundabouts that Bintulu has earned the identity of a beautiful town besides its miles and miles of shady and fully landscaped roads.  I felt good that in my time the groundwork for proper landscaping of the town was laid down early.

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!

 (Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

Once there was a nursery

Planting works with materials from Green Acres nursery, for one of the many MLNG houses at Kidurong township

Green Acres Nursery logo

 In 1992, I set up a nursery business as one of the many ventures upon joining the private sector.  The nursery business was run as a firm.  It was to provide all the planting materials for landscaping jobs undertaken by another company of mine.  Throughout the 1990's landscaping was a worthwhile business to go into because of the increasing number of residential houses built to meet the rising demand when more people began to work and stay in  Bintulu as a result of the first boom period (1979-1983).  Demand for landscaping jobs grew also from the corporate sectors and government organisations.   The demand increased further during the second economic boom 1998 - 2000.  To meet increased demand I decided to move the nursery from its small site in town to a new location about 22km away from town along the Bintulu-Tatau road.  The nursery was instrumental in developing an eco-farm and finally a nature park on the same site but with expanded acreage.  If not for the nursery my dream of having a nature park would not have been realised easily.  To see more happenings today at the nature park, please go here .
Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!!


(Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

Planting project for expatriate housing at Sanctuary Villa housing, near Park City, Bintulu

( Re-post from my blog :My Sarawak (3rd Ed.) -- -http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/2014/09/once-there-was-nursery.html )

Once there was a flower

Pink Poui (Tabebuia rosea) along a major roadside in Bintulu.

Date: 13 May, 2012

Pink Poui and Olive-backed Sunbird

The Poui trees (Tabebuia rosea) are now a familiar tree in Bintulu.  Its magic is evidently seen by its crowning glory of large and bunchy pink and white flowers.  The first ever batch of these trees were planted along the Tanjong Batu scenic road.  Gradually over a period of 35 years the trees were planted on major roadsides in Bintulu.  I can write endless stories about these trees but suffice to say that it was from the Bintulu experience  that other town councils began to adopt these trees as landscape trees in their main towns and rural areas.  Not many people know that originally these trees came to Bintulu in an envelope.  The story is here. Over the years too I regularly blog about them.  The relevant blog postings can be accessed below:

1) http://myussop.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-pink-and-white-glory.html
2) http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/2010/11/be-there-right-time-and-moment-in.html#comment-form
3) http://mybintuluclicks.blogspot.com/2014/04/flowering-pink-poui.html

It is from this tree that my association with Arthur George Alphonso was first nurtured and provided me with many learning experiences on landscaping matters based on his experiences in the greening of Singapore.  Just a couple of years ago I planted one Poui tree in my garden in Kuching.  I consider the Poui tree as an essential tree for the Kambatik garden or Malaysian garden.  Check out more of my gardening experiences on this tree in Kuching here.

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!

  (Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

 

White Poui (Tabebuia alba)

Photo shows me (extreme left) and George Alphonso (middle in blue shirt) entertaining Japanese volunteers (JOCV) at Pantai Ria, Bintulu. Date taken : 26 October,1990.

Checking out the wildlife

 Back garden showing new feather-like leaves of the Sea Cycas (Cycas rumphii) at center of picture

Location :  Back garden

Came back to Kuching on the 29th of March ( the second time this month) for a short stay before embarking on a journey to KL.  Checking out the garden I noticed that the grounds are wet and this has been especially so for the last month.  It seemed that despite the drought in Peninsular states resulting in water shortage, Sarawak especially Kuching has had no similar nasty experience the first three months of the year. A short walkabout found the common wildlife are still there - birds, grasshoppers and dragonflies.  The Brown-throated Sunbird was seen piercing at the base of the Bignonia magnifica flower to have direct access to its nectar. The Chestnut Munia are easily spotted throughout the day as they busy making their homes in the garden especially at the bamboo clump.  Finally the typical Kuching bird - the Pied Triller was at the Tabebuia rosea tree perching briefly as if to greet me on my return.

Brown-throated Sunbird and the purple flower of the  Bignonia magnifica

Pied Triller at the Poui tree ( Tabebuia rosea)

(Re-post from my blog " my Gardening projects" - http://mygardeningprojects.blogspot.com/2016/03/checking-out-wildlife.html )

Wildlife at the back garden and green thoughts

An everday sight at the back garden

Olive-backed Sunbird

 Staying close to nature is my favourite pastime. There are many side interests that enhance this experience like a hobby in wildlife photography, birding, painting, bloom hunting and gardening.  It does not matter whether you have a tiny plot of land in your urban house setting or a large space to work with.  There are ways to attract wildlife in all its diversity to call your garden home.  Don't worry excessively about climate change. since  this is a global phenomena that only your government can attempt to solve on G2G basis.  Do your little bit to solve the biodiversity issues by using your hands to create a little green eden around your immediate surrounding - your tiny spot in this big blue planet.  We can act as an individual to act on protecting biodiversity by having a garden space around where we sleep before the night curtains fall.  And when the morning breaks, go step outside the garden and enjoy the fresh air and leaves to refresh your eyes.  This is what is relevant at the local level , you as an individual can do to protect and encourage more wildlife and greenery in urban settings. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to solve the climate change problem. Just do what is relevant as an individual.  The birds, bees and butterflies need you. If there are not around  there will be no germination, no forests and clean air. So, start living naturally by  letting go your green fingers.  You'll be surprised to know along the way how you need the wildlife and greenery more than you could possibly  imagine.

Back garden - view from the kitchen.

(Re-post from my blog " my Gardening Projects" - http://mygardeningprojects.blogspot.com/2016/03/wildlife-at-back-garden-and-green.html )

Flowering today at the park

In my attempt to create a nature park I have resorted to planting more and more native plant species.  Here's three that caught my attention today.
The Senduduk  or Straits rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) ( See pic at inset) grows wild and natural at the park and is visited by many birds and insects.  They are a hardy pioneering species and are very attractive to wildlife.  The Asian rosebay (Tabernaemontana divaricata) is another hardy shrub that has slightly fragrant white flowers.  And then there's the once common but now more difficult to see local orchid called Bromheadia finlaysoniana.  This is a terrestrial orchid that grow into a small bush with white fragrant flowers held singly or in pairs on tall stalks.

 Tabernaemontana divaricata (Asean rosebay)

Syn : Ervatamia divaricata, E. coronaria)

Bromheadia finlaysoniana

( Re-post from my blog " The Kambatik Park, Bintulu" - https://kambatikpark.blogspot.com/2013/06/flowering-today-at-park.html )

Broad leaves in the landscape

Against the cool and soft green wash of the evergreen tropical forest, broad leaves are a refreshing variation to its profile.  Broad leaves of many plant species are planted to make the park more interesting to look at because big or broad leaves provide much drama, character, accent and scale to the overall landscape.  At the inset is a view of the park looking north-west at Zone D showing the interplay of broad and big leaves of the Traveler's tree and another jungle species.  Below are some more examples of broad leaves that I managed to photograph this morning.

Broad leaves of the Breadfruit (Artocapus altilis) or Sukun in Malay at left and Banana leaves at right

Calathea crotalifera  - Rattle snake plant

Terap in Malay or Lumok in Bintulu Melanau (Artocarpus odoratissimus

Shrubby dillenia or Simpoh air in Malay (Dillenia suffructicosa

( Re-post from my blog " The Kambatik Park, Bintulu" - https://kambatikpark.blogspot.com/2013/06/broad-leaves-in-landscape.html )