Chiangmai Royal Flora Expo

I visited the Royal Flora Expo in Chiangmai a few days after it opened and was greatly impressed by the effort put into the show by the organisers. Foreign visitors were greatly outnumbered by Thais, who came by the busload from all over Thailand. The huge showground is about half and hour's drive from the city and one can only approach it by public transportation. It was a good idea to keep private cars away. The parking area was big enough for hundreds of buses and taxis but it would have been impossible to accommodate private cars. The grounds had been carefully landscaped, with lakes, hills and manicured lawns. Many of the displays were put up by corporations, countries and individual exhibitors.

Malaysia make a good effort with a traditional Malay house within a lush tropical garden. The crowd appreciated this and queued up to enter. The Netherlands put up a brave show with beds of tulips that faded rather quickly in the dry weather and had to be replaced overnight. India put up a minimalist walled garden with a single Bodh (Ficus religiosa) sapling in the centre, accompanied by a prominent signboard explaining at great length the philosophical significance of the bodh tree. Spain also made a minimalist garden, but with columnar evergreen conifers making a backdrop for a small stage on which a flamenco dancer was scheduled to perform. We did not wait for the show but I was pretty sure Spain's flamenco garden would win the popularity prize. Among the indoor displays, Japan and Taiwan were impressive, the former with a Japanese landscaped garden and the latter with waves of Phalaenopsis orchids against rolling hills. Japanese gardens always look good, but for attractive innovation, my vote goes to Taiwan.

While in Chiangmai, do not forget to visit the huge flower market in town. The market houses hundreds of plant retail outlets and looks like a permanent floral expo.

The show will last three months and exhibits and themes will change from week to week. I flew from KL to Chiangmai direct, to avoid a time-wasting stopover in Bangkok Airport.

Book update

Tropical Horticulture and Gardening, supposed to be printed last week has been delayed to next week. The Printer had too many deadlines to meet and I was bumped off my place in the queue.

Singapore Garden Festival

Singapore, which has been the pace-setter for gardening in tropical Asia since the 1970s, will host an international garden festival on 16 - 25 December 2006. This will be Singapore's first international garden festival and it is expected to attract 200,000 visitors. The Singapore festival, with the Royal Flora Horticultural Show in Thailand in November 2006 - January 2007, will dramatically signal the rise of Singapore and Thailand in the world of horticulture, long dominated by shows in England and the Netherlands. For tropical Asian gardeners, two international class events within one year at nearby locations is a really unexpected treat. Let us all support these events. The Singapore website is www.singaporegardenfestival.com/

Biggest tropical flower show ever

Thailand is planning to host the biggest show in tropical horticulture and gardening ever. This event, held in honour of His Majesty the King of Thailand, will be held in Chiang Mai from November 1, 2006 to January 31 2007. The showground will cover 80 ha and is expected to feature over 2000 types of tropical ornamental plants. This is too good to miss. Details are available at www.royalfloraexpo.com

The organizers have announced that the show will go on notwithstanding the recent change in government. I plan to be there in the first week of the show.

Update on progress of publication

The publisher of the book will be the Academy of Sciences Malaysia for the Malaysian edition. There will be a concurrent international edition by Clearwater Publications (Kuala Lumpur). The final details are being put into place and the printing should commence in October 2006.

Tropical Horticulture and Gardening, to be published soon, is a 360-page book covering over 1000 kinds of ornamental plants grown in tropical Asia, including ferns and fern-allies, gymnosperms, monocots and dicots, arranged by botanical families. It contains over 1300 colour photos and chapters on the history of plant domestication, garden design and plant growth under tropical conditions. This blog site has been established to promote discussion and identification of tropical plants.

First Post

This is the blog for my new book, "Tropical Horticulture & Gardening".