Shah Alam Plant Fair

There is a Plant Fair at Shah Alam again. I was looking for parking to go to one of the shops near the lake and saw the row of stalls that had been set up that were selling plants and orchids. If you've been to the previous Shah Alam floral fest (Pesta Bunga Shah Alam), the stalls are in the same location, with almost the same sellers this time around.

One of the stalls selling orchids and pitcher plants.

After browsing through the stalls, I asked one of the stall workers how long would the stalls be opened there and the answer I got was one week, from 23rd March - 1st of April. So there will be ample time for garden enthusiast to get some plants.

Fruit trees in polybags, many of which are already flowering or have fruits.

One of the orchids sold by United Malaysian Orchid caught my eye. It was the Renantanda Gold Nugget. This hybrid is a Vanda spathulata look-alike. It is a primary hybrid between Renanthera storiei and Vanda spathulata registered by R.E.Warne in 1947.

Renantanda Gold Nugget sold at one of the stalls. The flower looks like one of its parents, Vanda (Taprobanea) spathulata.

The plant looks very much like a Vanda spathulata, save for the thinner stems, closer spaced and shorter leaves, plus reddish purple markings all over the stem, leaves and flower stalk that is typical of many Renanthera. The petals and lip is slightly different from V. spathulata, and the bud and pedicle is covered with reddish markings obviously inherited from the R. storiei.

Orange arrows point to the reddish tinged buds and pedicle, the reddish spotted flower stalk and the narrower red flecked leaves and thinner stems of Renantanda Gold Nugget that is inherited from R. storiei. The flower shape and colour is dead on of V. spathulata.

The reason this hybrid's similarity to V. spathulata is due to the ploidy state of the parent plant. V. spathulata is a hexaploid, whilst R. storiei is a diploid. So V. spathulata has three times more genetic influence than R. storiei. The resulting hybrid is a tetraploid, and R. storiei genes are only represented by a quarter of the total chromosomal material in Renantanda Gold Nugget, hence the likeness to V. spathulata. I have grown this plant before, but it was difficult for me to get it too bloom.

This week is a busy week for garden/orchid enthusiast, for there is another exhibition in KL, namely the KL Bonsai and Orchid Exhibition 2012 at the KL Lake Gardens. I guess when it rains, it pours...and wallets gets emptied fast.

World Water Day 2012

Today (March 22) is World Water Day 2012. Water is a resource that we sometimes take for granted. After all, we are on the blue planet, covered with  approximately 71% water. Alas only about 3% of the water is freshwater. This freshwater is needed for drinking and hygiene use, irrigation purposes as well as all the modern luxuries that many manufactured goods have provided us. Not only do we need water to bath, drink and wash, but our demand for water extend insidiously into many thing that we have taken for granted.

The UN Water World Water Day 2012 official logo. The logo is available in other languages in their website.

Think about it, besides the water that we drink and shower with, water is needed to make toothpaste and soap, process coffee (how on earth do you think you can extract coffee for instant coffee if you do not use water; the water is removed by spray drying or freeze drying), make the chicken and greens in your salad, the meat in your burgers (cows, chicken, goat and pigs need to drink), the rice and fries, plus stir-fries, chocolate and ice-cream (now you start screaming) bubbly and beer, gin and tonic and lots more other products that we consume, food or otherwise.

Hence it is not shocking to see this in the UN Water World Water Day 2012 website

"statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres."

Also from their website, the following recommendations are listed...

Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food to everyone call for a series of actions we can all help with:

• follow a healthier, sustainable diet;

• consume less water-intensive products;

• reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!

• produce more food, of better quality, with less water.

Here are some links to pictures from World Water Day 2012 Flickr album highlighting the amount of  'hidden' water in the nice food that we eat. I think it can be very enlightening for those who are unaware of it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unworldwaterday/6850449197/
100 gram Rice = 140 L
50 gram Vegetables = 10 L
100 gram other Meat = 1350 L
TOTAL = 1500L embedded WATER

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unworldwaterday/6845167943/
1 tomato, cheese and vegetable pizza (725 gram) = 1246 L embedded WATER

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unworldwaterday/6811124447/
200 gram vegetables = 40L
TOTAL = 40L embedded WATER

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unworldwaterday/6830428736/
150 gram vegetables = 30L
300 gram chicken meat = 1230L
TOTAL = 1260L embedded WATER

On a lighter note, we are very lucky that World Water Day isn't run like Earth Hour. If it is, we would be not using water for a day. That would mean that no shower, no washing, no eating, no drinking and no going to the loo. In jest, I ask my colleagues if doing all of the above is possible. The answer that I got was that complying with the list would not be a problem except for the last item! (no shower - who cares, no eating or drinking - fasting/dieting; no poo poo and pee pee, out of control lah!) So thank goodness no green warrior has gone militant and insist on carrying out World Water Day like Earth Hour!

I guess when we really run out of fresh water resources, then we would be in shit...Well quite literally, for we would be drinking and bathing with shit water NEWater like the Singaporeans do (no offense to Singapore, as it is a good way of utilising wastewater, albeit a very high carbon footprint).

Golden Shower Tree - Cassia fistula

The Indian Laburnum or Cassia fistula is a medium sized tree with lovely pendulous racemes of yellow flowers. The ones in our apartment complex have been blooming since the end of last year. Now only one tree still has her golden trusses on, and it is dropping fast. The rest of the trees have already produced bunches of long bean pods.

The pendulous yellow flowers of Cassia fistula, the Indian Laburnum tree.

A native of southern Asia from India to Sri Lanka, it is now widespread throughout the tropics. Cassia fistula is naturally distributed in dry deciduous forest at lower altitudes. It is the state flower of the state of Kerala in India, called Kanikonna (where it is native) and is also the national flower emblem of Thailand, called Ratchaphruek. Many parts of this tree have been used in traditional medicine, especially in Ayurvedic medicine. The roots are known to have a very strong purgative effect, hence it is also known as purging Cassia.

Hanging trusses of pretty Cassia fistula blooms.

A close-up on the flower showing the stamens (yellow in colour with darker yellow anthers on the ends) and the pistil (green in colour).

The seed pods look like yard-long beans on steroids - thicker and longer. They start off being green in colour and mature to a brownish black colour. In their native habitat, they usually commence blooming from March to May, and have an importance during the Vishu festival in April. However, the difference in the dry season over here and the changes in weather patterns had made the trees bloom very much earlier. I wonder when the trees will bloom again... Perhaps after another dry spell.

Green and ripened pods of the Indian Laburnum tree.