A friend commented that time goes by very fast when one is having fun. Despite months of political turbulence and street demonstrations, which are hardly anyone’s definition of fun, 2014 has gone very fast and we have now embarked on another year. We can only hope that this year will bring peace throughout the world and less suffering caused by natural disasters.
Gardening is a very therapeutic activity.
Actually, the key to peace is simple: Get everyone involved in horticulture. Absorbed in the world of growing things, even a terrorist can be too busy to make trouble. So, instead of arms and soldiers, send seeds and agricultural experts to troubled areas of the world and help people grow their own food and beautify their surroundings with flowering plants and trees. Instead of killing innocent children and women or one another due to ideological, religious or political differences, exchange plant specimens and horticultural know-how for mutual or multilateral benefit.
As people grow more trees, the world will be greener, global warming will stop and the climate will change for the better. With a climate more conducive to agriculture, people will be able to grow more crops and there will be food for all. Who wants to fight a war when a happy, peaceful life could be attained?
You may call the above simplistic and far-fetched, but it is worth giving a thought. Plants and gardening can serve as a bridge to friendship. Many times I have seen how, at plant markets or agricultural fairs, two complete strangers start an animated conversation, exchange telephone numbers, and eventually become good friends as they admire a certain plant and share a passion for gardening.
Norfolk pines growing alongside jacarandas, plumerias and bromeliads: Flowerless, but for a gardener a sight to behold nonetheless.
By the same token, a lasting friendship can develop between nations by exchanging plants. In 1912, the Japanese government gave 3,020 cherry trees to the US to enhance their growing friendship. The US responded by giving a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the Japanese people. Today, with the bombings of Pearl Harbour and Hiroshima all but forgotten, Americans hold an annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, to celebrate spring and admire the Japanese cherry blossoms along the Potomac River and around the Tidal Basin. This year, those visiting the US capital between March 20 and April 12 will be able to enjoy the festival.
Thailand may not have cherry blossoms, but many of the trees along provincial roads and Bangkok streets will be replete with flowers around that time. For me, a row of golden shower (Cassia fistula), queen crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia speciosa), pink tabebuia (Tabebuia rosea) or flame trees (Delonix regia) blooming all at the same time are no less beautiful than cherry blossoms.
As you are reading this, I am on the farm relishing the sight of our own trees, never mind that they are flowerless. It is amazing how, in just 10 years, what was once barren land is now full of trees, some serving as living mementos of trips abroad. Oak from Germany, jacaranda from Mexico, bauhinia from Israel, soursop from the Philippines and Tanzania, caimito (Chrysophyllum cainito), velvet apple or mabolo (Diospyrus blancoi), Spanish plum or siniguelas (Spondias purpurea) from the Philippines, and plumeria from Hawaii grow alongside trees locally obtained but of foreign origin, such as Australian eucalyptus, Taiwanese false maple, Chinese juniper, Norfolk pine, Japanese maple, Japanese ginkgo, pride of Burma (Amherstia nobilis) and Myanmar bamboo, to name just a few.
All the colours: This year, beautify your world with flowering plants.
Then there are the fruit trees like lychee, longan, orange, lime, soursop, persimmon, custard apple, mulberry, guava and rose apple, all of which bear fruit that we don’t get to eat because they have a habit of ripening when we are not there. Once, the caretaker sent a dozen mangoes but it is much cheaper to buy mangoes in Bangkok than have them delivered from the farm.
There are so many things to do on the farm that for me 12 hours of daylight is never enough. Yet, far from being tired, I feel rejuvenated. Immersed in repotting my beloved bromeliads, time goes by unnoticed as I separate pups from their mother plants and grow them in their own pots. I know that within a few months, they will reward me with flowers and several pups of their own.
If you are planting bromeliads and accidentally sever the pups without their roots, do not throw them away. As long as they are one-third the size of the mother plant, they will survive and soon grow new roots.
Life must be very boring for a child whose parents are interested only in social life. That is probably the reason why some boys get in trouble. Children who share their parents’ love of plants and gardening during their formative years tend to have a gentle nature and be more compassionate with all living creatures than those who grow up knowing only how to play computer games.
But even people with busy social lives need to rewind and unwind sometimes, and what a better way to do it than by gardening. Even if you have gardeners to do the planting for you, sometimes get your hands dirty anyway — well, OK, you may wear gloves. Gardening is very therapeutic, and while you are at it, strengthen your bond with your children by giving them their own flower pots and getting them to grow their own plants, too. n
Email nthongtham@gmail.com.
