Showing 1 - 8 of 8
The plants are bugged
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/04/2016
» There’s a sad footnote to the story about Petchsuporn Rapley’s date palms in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai (Green Fingers, March 6). For those who did not read the article, Ms Petchsuporn planted some 100 date palms as an experiment a little over three years ago. A year later two trees started to flower, followed by a few more last year. Braving sharp-as-nails giant thorns, she and her workers cross-pollinated the trees manually and these successfully bore fruit for the first time last year.
Plant of plenty
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 07/02/2016
» After reading the article about how juice from green papaya leaves could treat dengue fever, and how tea from its dried brown leaves could guard against 10 types of cancer (Green Fingers, Jan 24), a friend told me he had no idea papaya could be so useful.
The mother of all blooms
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 09/08/2015
» I used to give my mum a white rose on Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on the second Sunday of May in the Philippines, where I grew up. Now that I am a mother and grandmother, I get jasmine instead.
Master of a growing art
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 21/06/2015
» If Caladium bicolour, or fancy-leaved caladium, can be compared to works of art, then the plants you see on this page are masterpieces. They are the works of a master breeder who creates hundreds of cultivars with just one stroke of his brush. No two plants are exactly the same, so if you want to be the proud owner of a masterpiece or two, or even more, head for the plant market being held along Phadung Krung Kasem canal behind Government House before next Sunday. It is open from 10am to 7pm daily.
From small seeds grow fig ideas
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 22/03/2015
» I know I promised I would not write about Chatuchak plant market again in a long while. But when reader Ian Windsor wrote to ask where one could find fig trees in Thailand, I felt obliged to find out.
Sweet tips for sour trees
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 15/02/2015
» The recently concluded agricultural fair at Kasetsart University might not be the much-awaited event it used to be for agriculturists and fair-goers from all over the country. However, I go every year anyway as there are always new plants to see. Lek Monchai’s lime hybrid, for example, was not even registered. Making its debut at the fair, he had not even decided what to name it.
The diy path to a dazzling garden
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 19/08/2012
» Years ago, when several houses in my neighbourhood had lawns, there was a man who made regular rounds of the houses on weekends to mow them or prune trees. We had a gardener at the time so he did not work for us, but he had several customers in my neighbourhood. I could see him mowing the lawn of my nearest neighbour one weekend, and pruning the shrubs in the garden of a house farther down the road the next.
Enjoy the fruits of your labour
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 24/06/2012
» Thailand is a paradise for fruit; it is never without fruits in season, and they are very cheap. Yet I find that a ripe papaya, mango, guava or banana picked from my own trees tastes so much better than those bought from the market. They are fresher and the joy of being able to eat fruit from my own garden probably also makes them more delicious.