Flora for Colour

Certain plants contain substances in their flowers, leaves, fruits, barks and other plant parts that impart colour and can be used to colour food or dye fabrics. In some cases their use is very regional and may not be known to the general public. In this issue of Garden Asia we would like to introduce some of the plants for colour to be included as part of your garden landscape.

Natural dyes that originate from plants are called vegetable dyes and these can be extracted using various techniques. Sometimes the colour to be extracted is visible in the living plant for instance the yellow colour of the spice turmeric, the blue flowers of Clitoria ternatea but some colours are not visible such as in the case of Indigofera species which can produce the colour known as indigo. The coloured substance that we see in plant tissues is because these substances absorb light that humans can see, that is, between 400 and 800 nm wavelength.

Mont’Kiara Palma - A Garden For Sharing

In the early days of introducing the condominium as a form of housing, the developers had to promote the lifestyle to residence who were accustomed to having at least a small patch of land for their garden space. High rise apartments or flats were then associated with low cost council flats that do not have any greenery. However the pioneers in condominium buildings, the early developers that started to introduce condominium living to the higher income group showed that not only amenities can be shared but the gardens also can be shared especially when adequate space is allocated.

One such development was done by Sunrise, a developer of housing in the Bukit Kiara area. We visited the gardens of the Mont’Kiara Palma Condominium to see how the gardens were planned and maintained. The condominiums were built in the 80’s and now there are numerous other high rise buildings being built in the surrounding area.

The Science of Naming Plants

Not unlike people, plants also have names. You may be familiar with many common plant names but usage of common names can bring about some confusion. There are thousands of plants and most of these have no common names, many that have common names have numerous names and many may share the same name. This is mostly due to locality, culture or tradition. Every single plant on the planet is known by one correct scientific name that is known throughout the world. Linnaeus, a famous botanist, developed the current scientific system of naming plants. This system was then incorporated into the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature in 1867.

Managing lilies in the lowlands of the tropics

We featured lilies in our volume 16 and it was a learning curve for us in our garden to try and manage the lilies that we normally purchased in pots during festive seasons. Most of them came from the highlands and some were imported from Holland. We have already been planting the ubiquitous spider lilies, the Crinum asiaticum and the Zephyranthes. These lilies are easy to manage and there are not many pests that we need to be on the lookout for.

A Walk Through Putrajaya - A Garden City

Putrajaya is well known for being the new Federal Government Administrative Capital of Malaysia, taking over from Kuala Lumpur. This development, the largest integrated urban development project in the history of Malaysia was undertaken by Perbadanan Putrajaya when the master plan of the city was approved in 1993. The brainchild of our former Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir Mohammed, the city was named after the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. The site chosen, Perang Besar is in Selangor and is 25 km south of Kuala Lumpur. The site was chosen because of several factors and one of them being the existence of interesting natural vegetation and land form that can be incorporated into city planning and development.

The concept of a City in a Garden means the presence of many parks and gardens as the master plan calls for “The Making of a Greener Living in Putrajaya”. It is home to various public gardens, including the Botanical gardens, the Agro Heritage gardens, and the Wetlands. We have featured these gardens in our past issues. However, Putrajaya has many more gardens, with different themes and in some cases functions.

Planting Clitoria ternatea

A typical fencing provided by developers in a housing estate would be a chain link fencing, made out of metal wires linked in a chain form, hence the name. It is the basic boundary usually provided for terraced houses and most house buyers would eventually change it to their own designed boundary fencing. The chain link fence however is useful for planting creepers especially light creepers. The Clitoria is one such creeper. Apart from being an attractive ornamental camouflage for the fence, it will provide colour for your food.

Dr. Heidi Wernett

When Dr. Heidi Wernett dropped in on us at Garden Asia and expressed interest in bringing GA to China to help her in an effort to encourage home gardening there, we had to pay attention to what she is doing in China. Dr. Heidi is the President, CHINA Horticultural Business Services, L.L.C. Kunming, Yunnan, China, and she came to Malaysia to introduce her system of Precision Agriculture Technologies for Growing the Floriculture Industry.

Dr. Heidi Wernett, native of the USA, is an international floriculture business development consultant who has been working in Asia for more than 20 years. In 1999, Dr. Wernett was awarded the China National Friendship Medal for her efforts to introduce modern seedling technology systems and other horticulture innovations which resulted in helping to transform the nascent floriculture industry in China into a multi-million dollar agribusiness.

Please, do not feed the animals

Joining in with the ‘Visit Malaysia Year’ mood, I decided recently to travel to the island of Langkawi with a few friends for a beach holiday. It was during our stay that I discovered my own personal muse and the reason I began writing about nature. We arrived on Saturday morning and stayed only for a night, but we were able to cram in possibly a week’s worth of activities into these mere 2 days.

Our first visit was to the waterfall and it was here that I realized how beautiful nature could be. It was like walking into an oasis in the middle of a dense forest and the feeling I felt when I gazed up looking at this magnificent waterfall was just of pure relief, amazement and happiness. Although I had only a few hours of sleep and had to climb up an endless flight of stairs to get to it, I suddenly found myself having a burst of adrenaline when we reached the waterfall. It had everything; the fierce gushing water falling from the very top of the rocks, the small pool right at the bottom and surrounded by lush tropical forest. To me, this was like paradise, an absolute rarity. 

Nasi Kerabu Hitam (and Biru or blue as in this case)

We are featuring the blue herbal rice this time with the recipe that shows that colours can come from natural and herbal resources. This version of herbal rice is also popular with the Thai southern province.

Seri Muka
The dessert Seri muka is a traditional Malay and nyonya kueh and although new recipes now include modified starch to enhance the appearance, we are providing here the old recipe as cooked by our grandmothers.

Ingredients
• 2 cups glutinous rice; 1 cup thick coconut milk from one coconut
• 1 cup thin coconut milk from the second squeeze
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 5 large eggs
• 5 pandan leaves (pounded and juice squeezed)

Method
• Boil the glutinous rice with the thin coconut milk and water and salt. When cooked, while still hot, transfer into a 12x12 inch cake tin and using the back of a metal spoon or banana leaf, press down to fill base of tin.
• Beat eggs with a fork and add in the thick coconut milk, pandan juice extract and sugar. Mix until sugar is dissolved and mixture is homogeneous. Pour onto the glutinous rice in the cake tin and place in steamer. Steam until the top looks firm. Remove from steamer and leave to cool before serving.

Henna

When Henna is mentioned, what would come to mind would be hair treatment. However traditionally in Africa and Asia, henna has been long used for body decoration especially on hands and feet. The ancient art of Henna body decoration dates back to the times of pharaoh in the Middle East. The method of preparation and application of the henna have also undergone changes over time. In the early days henna leaves pounded into paste were used. Then later henna was sold in the Middle East in the powder form. Even our hairdressers then were using powdered henna to treat and colour hair.