• LIFE

  No slacking off in hunt for salak

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 14/08/2016

  » Roy Cruise sent me an email asking where to find chempedak (Artocarpus integer), salak (Salacca zalacca) and gandaria (Bouea macrophylla) in Thailand. A friend of his in Cavite, Philippines, had asked him to look for the said fruit trees but he has not been able to find them in Mae Hong Son, where he lives. "I was wondering if you had any idea where I may find them?" he asked.

• LIFE

  Prickly customers

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 28/08/2016

  » If the number of stalls selling a plant can be an indication of its popularity, then cacti and succulents are clearly back in favour. At Chatuchak midweek plant market there are certainly more vendors selling these miniature beauties than ever before. Many are species and hybrids newly introduced from other countries.

• LIFE

  Time for cutbacks

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 29/05/2016

  » We have had thunderstorms and rain this month. Hopefully the summer heat will soon be a thing of the past as the rainy season starts.

• LIFE

  The best way to turn over that new leaf

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/01/2016

  » I have a young friend who lives in Fresno, California. She teaches science in high school but does volunteer work in her spare time, taking a group of elderly people to a public park to do gardening. “There are plots in the park where the elderly can plant flowers or vegetables,” she said when we talked on the phone recently. “They love it. They find it invigorating. Growing plants has given them a new purpose in life.”

• LIFE

  More than their rare share

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 11/10/2015

  » The early bird gets the worm, so serious collectors do not visit Chatuchak plant market on Wednesdays and Thursdays. They go on Tuesdays, in order to be the first to get their hands on rare or newly introduced plants. The market does not really get busy until 6pm, when office people have returned from work, but many stalls are ready for business as early as 3pm.

• LIFE

  Space invaders

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/08/2015

  » What’s in a name? It may not sound funny to you, but I find it amusing how American lawmakers could waste so much time and energy, not to mention taxpayers’ money, deliberating over what to call a fish. Last year, Senator Bill Hoffman of Minnesota was concerned that the name “Asian carp” was “hurtful” and “offensive” to some people so he sought to change the name to “invasive carp”. And guess what, the Minnesota Senate approved the bill.

• LIFE

  All the fruits of the fair

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 24/05/2015

  » Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha seems to have the lot of agriculturists at heart. Once again he turned the road behind Government House into a marketplace, this time for Thai fruit and vegetables, and presided over the opening ceremony himself on May 6. Dubbed the Thai Fruit and Vegetable Festival, the market opens at 10am every day. It closes at 7pm from Monday to Thursday and at 8pm from Friday to Sunday until the end of this month.

• LIFE

  Try hedging your bets

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 05/04/2015

  » Reader Poonsri Pupipat wrote to say that she lives in a very busy lane used as a shortcut by all types of vehicles from early morning to late at night. She planted rows of Polyathia longifolia var pandurata trees, known in Thai as asoke India, along both sides of her fence to alleviate noise and air pollution, but two died recently.

• LIFE

  The problem with papaya

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 20/07/2014

  » Papaya is one of the easiest plants to grow, but I don’t see it planted in many Bangkok backyards. This is probably because the fruit is available all year round and can be purchased at any time. This is OK if you are not particular about the variety, but those who prefer kaek-dahm complain that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find.

• LIFE

  Visiting thewet's forgotten delights

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 27/10/2013

  » In the past, when plant lovers and gardening enthusiasts wanted to spend some money on all things green, they either went to the Weekend Market at Sanam Luang or the Thewet market in the Dusit area. Thewet had an advantage as the row of permanent stalls along Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, from the intersection of Sam Sen and Krung Kasem roads to the end of the soi just a stone's throw from the Thewet pier, was open every day. A few years after the Weekend Market was moved from Sanam Luang to Chatuchak, it was decided that separate days would be devoted to the plant market. Now nursery owners and plant lovers swarm to Chatuchak every Wednesday and Thursday, while Thewet seems to have been forgotten.

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