Grant Howlett is an Australian expatriate with a reasonable knowledge of things botanical in his home country. But when it comes to Asian plant life, “alas, I have lots to learn”, he wrote. “I did reside for many years in the tropics of northern Australia, and many plants there are also here, like the foxtail palm which is originally from Australia but now prolific here in Thailand, but when it comes to trees I am lost.”
In bloom: Above, a Lagerstroemia tree. Known in Thai as ‘tabaek-na’, ‘inthanin’ and ‘salao’, its flowers come in various shades of violet, purple and pink, depending on the species.
Mr Howlett lives in Nong Khai, where he and his Thai wife are planning to build a house. The area is about 1.3 rai and now attractively fenced, with foxtail palms planted on one side of the property. On the other side he wants to have a circular driveway, with a large tree at the centre as a focal point.
“At my age I don’t expect to see it fully mature, but my family I trust will,” he added. “It will be well away from the proposed house. Can you please suggest a suitable choice of tree for this location?”
If I were to plant a flowering tree as a prominent feature in my garden, I would choose Millingtonia hortensis, commonly known as Indian cork tree, or peep in Thai. It is drought resistant, but thrives best where the soil is moist. What I like about it is that it grows very fast and for several weeks, two or three times a year, it bears white, fragrant flowers that carpet the ground when they fall.
Peep has a straight form when young but takes on an umbrella shape as it matures. I have seen mature trees as tall as a three-storey building, so do not plant it too close to your house unless you prune it down to a manageable size every two years.
A neighbour of mine has a peep tree which I admire from my bedroom window. The tree got so tall and its branches so dense that she had it trimmed recently. I watched as a young man on the ground gave orders to two men doing the trimming on top of the tree. “Cut off the dead branches first,” he told them. “Then that straight vertical branch as it will likely break in high winds if it grows much taller.”
Surasak Chu-on, a forestry degree holder who aims to be a professional arborist, said he used to climb trees and do the trimming himself. “But I can see the tree’s form better and decide which branches need to be pruned out if I am on the ground,” he said, adding that the peep is probably the most difficult tree to trim proportionately as it has spreading branches.
“It is not so difficult if the tree is trimmed professionally while it is still small, for then all you have to do is follow its natural contour,” he said. “If it is pruned badly, several new growths will develop from the cut and they will be growing in every direction, making subsequent pruning difficult.”
After Mr Surasak and his team had done their job, my neighbour’s tree had less branches but retained its natural umbrella shape. One can see that the pruning was done with care and where needed. There were no leafless stubs sticking out, like the trees along Thailand’s roadsides after they have been “pruned” (read: hacked) by untrained workers who are supposed to look after them.
Incidentally, while I was writing this, Christy Sweet sent me an email from Phuket expressing her dismay over the dramatic pruning of mature healthy trees. She sent me photos showing Alstonia scholaris, commonly known as devil tree, or phya sattaban in Thai, which had just been hacked off to stubs along route 4020 heading into Phuket town. “They featured enormous shading canopies and I cannot imagine why they were cut down so much as they were under no wires,” she wrote. “It made me want to cry.”
I, too, am disheartened, but no amount of tears could make those tree hackers change their ways. If I had the power I would put them all under young Mr Surasak’s jurisdiction and install him as head of all the agencies looking after trees throughout the country. Only then will Thailand have shady canopies along its streets and highways.
But I digress. A peep will not need too much pruning if it is grown at a distance from the house, with enough space to spread its branches in all their glory. Alternatively, I would plant any one of the Lagerstroemia species, known in Thai as tabaek-na, inthanin and salao, simply because I love the colour of their flowers, which come in various shades of violet, purple and pink, some in the same bunch or inflorescence. To the untrained eye, the various species and their different varieties all look the same, but upon closer inspection the bark, leaves and flowers differ.
What to plant in one’s yard depends on the homeowner, because it is he who will live with it for the rest of his life. When you travel or walk around your neighbourhood, be more observant of the trees in people’s yards or along the way, and see if you would like to grow something similar in your garden. But keep in mind that a tree may fit the space that you have when it is small, but could pose a problem with its spreading branches once it reaches maturity. When you plant a tree make sure you have enough space for its eventual size.
For readers looking for new varieties of trees and ornamental plants to grow, the annual plant fair at King Rama IX Royal Park is being held on Dec 1-10. As in the past years, I am sure it will draw plant connoisseurs not just from around the country but also Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Another annual event that draws plant lovers from Bangkok and neighbouring provinces is the Kaset Fair, or agricultural fair, being held at Kasetsart University’s Kamphaeng Saen campus on Dec 4-10. Go early to avoid heavy traffic and to make sure you find a parking space.
Email nthongtham@gmail.com.
