Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Ginger up
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 27/11/2016
» Regular reader Paul Schiller sent me a photo of a plant growing in a flower pot at his summer home in Khao Lak, Phangnga province. "Do you know this small beauty?" he asked. The plant was a cluster of lance-shaped bright green leaves, with a terminal pendant inflorescence hanging from each stem. What's attractive about the plant was the unusual inflorescence, which comprised of showy, widely spaced purple bracts. From the base of each bract emerged the long, tube-like pedicel of a small yellow flower. The plant's stems and leaves are those characteristically belonging to members of the ginger family.
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.
Euphorbia leads to euphoria
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/02/2014
» Richard Dawson sent me an email saying that he had gone over a few dendrology books but kept getting stumped as to the name of a tree growing in his garden.
Pharmacy on the forest floor
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 10/11/2013
» After making a name for herself as one of Thailand's top marine biologists, Hansa Chansang took advantage of an early retirement scheme to pursue her other passion: growing trees. She cleared most of her family's rubber plantation in Cherngtalay, near the popular Laguna tourist area in Phuket's Thalang district, and planted it with many different species of forest trees. Visiting her plantation recently, I marvelled not only at how tall her trees have grown since I last saw them five years ago, but also at the diversity of wild plants growing on the floor of the man-made forest.
Hedging your bets with bamboo
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 06/10/2013
» When we talk about reafforestation and greening the environment, the first thing that comes to mind is to plant trees. Millions of trees have been planted as part of environmental awareness programmes initiated by conservation groups, government agencies, and companies wishing to improve their corporate image. But I have yet to hear about bamboo being used to rehabilitate degraded forests.
Despite development, Phuket's botanical bounty remains
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 18/11/2012
» The once sleepy tin-mining town of Phuket is now a thriving metropolis, with traffic jams a regular feature of every day. If the intrepid tourists who fell in love with the natural beauty of a deserted beach called Patong, where they stayed in 25 baht a night bamboo huts in the early 1970s, were to return today, they would not be able to recognise the place with its many five-star hotels, bars and shops. In Patong the only place not overrun with buildings is the beach itself, but even this is covered from tip to tip by reclining chairs for rent.
Make gardening an inside job with these houseplants
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 22/07/2012
» Some time ago, Johan Hanssen wrote to say that he had tried numerous plants indoors, but they all withered and had to be moved outdoors. ''Can you recommend plants for ... inside a house in Thailand?'' he asked.