Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Let the sunshine in
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/10/2016
» A Filipino friend of mine who lives in the US was enamoured with a plant he saw on Facebook. It was rather expensive but he bought it anyway. The seller was in the Philippines so he had it delivered to his sister, with whom he stays during his visits home.
From the ground up
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 13/11/2016
» Last week's column about a sick bodhi tree in the yard of a temple in Tucson, Arizona, reminded me of a letter from Murray Thomas last April seeking advice on the cultural requirements of the edible creeper Piper sarmentosum, known in Thai as cha plu.
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.”
Too big for your roots
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 17/11/2013
» Reader Alan Platt, whose letter last month triggered a two-part article on bamboo, sent me another email to say that I was right about his plants being too big for their containers. "For their continued good health, I know I should put them in bigger pots," he wrote, "but I have a problem. I don't want them to grow any bigger, which will happen if I repot them.
Terrace chants, The best place to buy balcony plants
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 18/08/2013
» Nigel Sellman has a large balcony, just over 20 square metres, and would like to make it green. "I would prefer foliage plants, but with some flowering ones mixed in, especially if they attract bees, butterflies or birds," he wrote. "I would like a small tree or large shrub at either end of the balcony, maybe a citrus tree. I'd prefer native species, but I'm not going to be restricted to them.
What's the secret to a great garden? Understanding plants needs
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 19/05/2013
» When I read last week's column, I realised that I had been day-dreaming at the keyboard about what I would include if I were to write a book on plants and gardening in Thailand and did not actually answer Jan Steuten's letter. A resident of Chiang Mai for 21 years and an avid gardener, he wanted to know how to take care of indoor and garden plants, which was why he was asking whether there was such a book in English to guide him.
Take it to the bank trees to plant by rivers
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 15/07/2012
» Nick Ferren sent me an email saying that he built his house on the bank of a tributary of the Moon River in Ubon Ratchathani. ''With the flooding, the soil at the bank should be protected,'' he wrote.
Alternatives for when the neighbours are raising a stink
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 12/08/2012
» Dhanasak Chullakesa wrote to ask: ''Do you know any plant or tree that absorbs unwanted smell? I'm talking about a big area, not indoors.'' Mr Dhanasak has the misfortune of living next to a pig farm, and his letter came the day after the publication of the ''Green Fingers'' article of July 22 which mentioned that, according to a Nasa study, plants have the ability to clear the air of indoor pollutants and that plant-filled rooms contain 50% to 60% fewer airborne moulds and bacteria than rooms without plants.
The heat is on
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 27/05/2012
» A friend has just come back from Bangladesh with some bhut jolokia, which is said to be one of the hottest chillies in the world. The heat of a chilli is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU), and this chilli is supposed to be between 855,000 and 1,463,700 SHU, which makes the Thai prik kee nu, the hottest of Thai chillies, mild by comparison at between 50,000 to 100,000 SHU.
Be sweet to yourself with soursop
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 19/02/2012
» The Jan 1 article on soursop (Annona muricata) generated letters from readers. Dr Kittipongse Sumipan, a retired scientist who worked at the National Research Council of Thailand, wrote to say that the fruit is common in his hometown of Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand.