Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Embracing bee season
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 31/07/2016
» I was standing on the veranda of our country home when I noticed a swarm of little white butterflies milling around the canopy of a rainbow eucalyptus. The tree was in bloom, and as I watched the butterflies fluttering from flower to flower, I could not help but marvel at the wonders of nature. Where did the butterflies come from? Other plants were in bloom as well, but why were they only attracted to this particularly tree? I had no doubt in my mind that the flowers were also pollinated by bees and other insects, but why were they visited by only one kind of butterfly?
Reach for your buzzers
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 10/07/2016
» I know that bees gather nectar and pollen from flowers to produce honey to feed their young. As they fly from one flower to another they pollinate the flowers. I also know that there are beekeepers who raise bees for their honey. The bees are let out in the morning to gather nectar and return to their hives before nightfall.
Succulents are not totally cactus
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/07/2016
» Plants are like fashion: They come and go. Years ago, cacti were all the rage. Some gardening enthusiasts grew nothing but cacti and succulents, and had the time of their lives grafting one species of cactus on another and showing off their creations at plant exhibitions and contests. Then, in the years and decades that followed other species of plants caught the fancy of growers, until the much loved cacti were all but forgotten.
A question of design
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 25/10/2015
» The photos you see on this page came from Alastair North, whose garden design is intended to apply to a small to middle size urban or suburban garden of about 150-200 square wah, or 600-800 square metres.
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.
La vie en rose
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 07/06/2015
» ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness…” English poet John Keats was not thinking about roses in particular when he wrote that poem in 1818; he only mentioned “musk-rose blooms” in passing. Yet, there is probably no other flower which has given so much joy since ancient times than the rose.
Tree foundations vs building foundations
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 18/05/2014
» Trees around the house make the surroundings cool and lessen the air-conditioning bill. They provide privacy and screen the house from the heat of the sun and dust. However, trees grow big, and planted too close to a house or building, they can cause problems in the long run. A big branch of a large tabebuia tree behind my brother-in-law’s house once broke in strong winds and landed in a neighbour’s garden. It missed her roof by a couple of metres and, luckily, it did not hit someone.
Fruitful search for elusive trees
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 30/03/2014
» I had two people in mind when I went to Kasetsart University at the start of the annual agricultural fair, better known as Kaset Fair, last Saturday. Ken Banks had written to say that in his 11 years of visiting Thailand and finally living in Khon Kaen, where he moved from beautiful Hawaii, he had never seen a breadfruit tree until recently, when he spotted two trees on a street across from the Khon Kaen train station. “They look a lot like the Hawaiian variety, based on the leaf color, shape and luster,” he wrote. “This is a delicious, unseeded cultivar that I would dearly love to have.”
Casuarina and effects
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 23/02/2014
» For some people, the mention of “sun, sea and sand” calls to mind a clear blue sea and a beach fringed by coconut fronds. For others, it evokes having a picnic or lazing the day away by the sea under the shade of a casuarina tree. The truth is that the former is a sight common only in travel brochures; from Rayong in the East down to Phuket in the South, it is Casuarina equisetifolia, commonly known as ironwood or horsetail casuarina (son talay in Thai) that is an integral part of Thai coastal areas. There are more casuarinas on Thai beaches than coconuts.
A flora in the system
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 08/12/2013
» A reader writing under the pseudonym ''Mrs Clover'' bought a passiflora with flowers a few months ago. ''At the moment the plant is very healthy with lots and lots of leaves, but no flowers,'' she wrote. ''As suggested by the seller, I apply fertiliser once a week, but it doesn't work. Your advice would be most appreciated.''