Growing nangka (Artocarpus heterophyllus) 

I predict Nangka Royale is going to be the next big thing in the world of fruits after Durian Musang King. 

The picture shows the tree in my garden. I have begun to multiply the plant by bud-grafting.

The tree first fruited at 3 years old and it has become famous with my neighbours, relatives, workers (Indonesian and Vietnamese) as the best nangka they have ever tasted.It is sweet, succulent and small-seeded. The flesh can be stored frozen in the ice compartment of a refrigerator for months without any loss of quality. This tree has been kept short by periodic pruning at the top. 

Do folia fertilisers work?

My gardener recently applied foliar fertiliser to the shade garden of the Secret Garden of 1 Utama and we were amazed by the improvement in the plants. The leaves grew larger and more colourful after two applications, once a week. Previously we applied granular organic ferlilisers on to the soil below the leaves. This was very difficult to do without trampling on the plants.

Biochar for gardeners

Biochar is charcoal used to improve the quality of soil for growing plants. Biochar particles mixed into soil will make the soil loose and friable for better water and air penetration To be effective the particles should be 1 - 10 mm diameter.

In the Secret Garden of 1 Utama, I mix biochar with soil in equal proportions and top up from time to time with pure biochar. We buy biochar by the tonne. Biochar is now available in small packets for  home gardeners, labelled as Horticultural Biochar Mulch.

Supplies can be purchased on line at http://shop.serbajadi.com.my/biochar

Those interested can get 10% discount if they cite Promo Code francis 10 Discount 10%

The world’s largest flower, Amorphophallus titanum, in Kuala Lumpur

The world’s largest flower is Amorphophallus titanum, a rare species, native to Sumatra. The flowers may exceed 3 m in height and 1m diameter.  

Photo shows two young plants in December 2019, each with two leaves; the upper leaf twice as tall as the lower leaf


I managed to obtain two seedlings and had them planted in the Secret Garden on the Rooftop of the 1 Utama Shopping Mall.

The plants are reported to produce one leaf a year, each leaf bigger than the previous one. The final leaf is the largest, with a stalk that looks like a stout tree trunk, reaching 6 m (20 ft) tall and carrying a single massive leaf that is spread out to 5 m (20 ft) across,and  divided into many leaflets, to mimic a tree crown. This incredible 'one-leaf tree' eventually dies down and disappears. After a few months,  an enormous flower will appear out of the ground. It is said to take 7 to 10 years for a plant to get big enough to flower. This description is  based on plants grown in greenhouses under artificial conditions in UK or US. They may behave differently under open tropical conditions.  

I got my plants when they were barely 15 cm (6 inches) tall, in July 2019 and planted then under full sun. Each plant came with one leaf. The next leaf appeared in October and the third in December: three leaf cycles in 6 months. Already it is clear that they produce more than one leaf a year. I expect them to flower much earlier than 10 years. Maybe two years?

The Secret Garden is open to the public on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. Those who are interested can now observe these plants at close quarters.