Save the World/Green Thursday: Plant trees and native plants

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/
http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/2009/09/think-green-thursday_10.html

One of the ways to enhance a sad polluted area, where broken footpaths and overflowing rubbish bins were eye sores, is to have the support of all parties involved.

The Roy Clements Treeway is one fine example. This is a patch of area owned by Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS) where Sam currently attends, and managed by Auckland City Council. The creek is polluted and has weeds and when it rains heavily, it floods.

Now it is transformed and is a popular public walkway. I found it last year when I walked to see the different paths Sam can take to his new school.

It is used daily by many MAGS pupils to go to and from school. It has been the focus of complaints by the School and local residents. The St Lukes Environmental Protection Society have campaigned to improve this area.

The groups carried out a tree planting program, and also native plants and the regeneration of the wetland area. Now you can see ducks swimming. Landscape experts now encourage people to grow native plants as it is much kinder to the environment.

The St Lukes Environmental Protection Society (STEPS) was incorporated in 2005. Its purpose is to act as a body, giving voice and taking action to protect and enhance the environment and amenities in the St Lukes area.

http://www.meolacreek.org.nz/tag/roy-clements-treeway/

Meola Creek makeover
The banks of Meola Creek in Mt Albert have a new lease of life with over 6,000 native species being planted by enthusiastic volunteers recently.

The volunteers including several Wai Care groups, Morphum Environmental Ltd, Metrowater staff and members of local care group STEPS, planted both sides of the new boardwalk that runs through the Roy Clement’s Treeway.

The ‘treeway’ is named after Roy Clements, a retired Mt Albert Grammar School teacher, who involved students in environmental work at Meola Creek some years ago. Mr Clements participated in the planting activities and explained why he feels passionate about the revegetation and care of Meola Creek, and the importance of community and student involvement in environmental work.

As a result of Mr Clements’ work, there are already some well established native trees, including a beautiful King Fern that will help protect the newer plants.

Auckland City Wai Care Coordinator Melissa Marler says the new plants will help trap contaminants in an area that regularly floods.

“Native grasses including Carex virgata, Carex lessoniana, Cortederia fulvida (toe toe), Cyperus ustulatis were planted along the stream edge with Baumea Articulata, flax, cabbage trees, and kowhai in the wetter areas,” says Melissa.
“The new plants look great and members of the public have commented how much they are enjoying the new raised boardwalk and the plants. “I’m also encouraged to see people out picking up rubbish between the new plants’” she says.

Save the World: Use natual pest controls, Penny royal

Penny Royal

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com.html

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/2009/09/think-green-thursday_10.html

I don't like to use the aerosel chemical sprays to kill insects, and in Auckland, we sometimes get infested by fleas even though we don't have animals. Flea bites are terrible.

I google searched for natural flea repellent and found that Penny Royal plants are good. My Penny Royal plants grew very well. I managed to propagate 5 little pot plants which I sit on our window sill. Tiny purple flowers grow on the plants. The leaves are very pretty, so even if they don't repel fleas, they make a pretty house plant.

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I don't know if they actually repel fleas which was why I bought them. But so far, since I last posted on fleas, we haven't been bitten.

The leaves may be dried and used in sachets designed to keep insects away.

My World Tuesday: Boys' toys

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

These toys were brought to my Church, Mt Albert Baptist Church on Fathers' day. They are what every boy/big boy would wish for Christmas.

Cala Lilies at Mt Albert Volcanoes

Lilies have a special place in my heart. I found this clump while I was climbing the slope of Mt Albert. My eldest daughter will remember why.

Gingko Biloba: PAK GOU tea

http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2009/04/gingko-biloba-pak-gou.html

In this post of the gingko tree in my other blog, I expressed my happiness in finding that there are Gingko trees in parks in Auckland.

Since then, I found out that Gingko makes a very good tea which stop forgetfulness.

I watched a TV series of ethnobotanist James Wong who investigates tree-based remedies for everyday ailments. He says Ginkgo tea is for memory. Just crush a few leaves and steep in hot water. http://christianhoughonline.com/blog/natural-remedies-by-james-wong/

As I type this post, I am drinking my Gingko tea from the leaves I plucked from the tree at One tree hill.

This is for Tammie Lee http://miztlee.blogspot.com/ May be she might find a gingko tree in her area, as there are many in America.

Strong, Tall flowering tree in Auckland.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/campomelicfamilies/

My heart is heavy, I dedicate this post to my friend E.

I knew E through the Campomelic group. Our lives had been fated in a way you don't want to. Both of us are mothers of babies who were born with Campomelic dysplasia and who had died.

I just had a email from her that she is expecting another CS baby. My heart just sank. My grandfather used to tell me, " Thunder doesn't strike twice." But for poor E, the thunder had played a cruel joke on her, and struck her again.

These flowers are from a big tree, E is a strong person. I know she will stand strong, despite being hit by life's worst tragedy.

E. I am with you, though we are oceans away.



http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2009/02/for-whom-does-bell-toll.html

More on girlfriends

http://sarawakianaii.blogspot.com/ commented on my post on Good friends are like Azaleas " Thank God for girlfriends!"

Today, I got a surprise from a group of women I work with. They gave me a nice bunch of gerbera flowers and a card. We don't normally get flowers or cards, but they said it was my special birthday.

As I was driving home, I was thinking gerberas give me a fuzzy feeling. When D was little, we grew gerberas in the garden. D won't be with me this birthday, she is far away in Singapore. Five years ago, she encouraged me to run the quarter marathon.

Good friends are like Azaleas

Azaleas have many stems. At the end of each stem, grows a flower. During the flowering season they are a solid mass of colour. Azaleas are recognised by these flowers blooming all at once, in a showy display for a month or two in spring.

When I lived in Singapore for sixteen years, I had a group of girlfriends who are like sisters to me. In deed, together, we are like stems of an Azalea plant. We flower at the end of each stem. We are bunched together closely that we produced a mass of wonderful blooms. As a bloom inevitably left us for their home country, we nurtured another bloom.

We were not beautiful physically, but that is not important, we had beautiful hearts. Together we used our hands and brains and raised money for the deaf children in Kenya, and to separate a pair of Siamese Twins.

When I left Singapore three years ago, friends asked if I would miss Singapore. I sincerely tell them, it is not the place I would miss, it is the people especially these group of sisters. I went for a visit this July, and they made me feel as though I had never left.

Today, they sent me a card to mark a special occasion. On the card, there are two new blooms. I am glad that Azalea bush is continually growing.

How florists keep flowers from withering.

For my fuzzy last week on our "Do a random act of kindness week," my buddy gave me a stem of flowers that came with a tube of water. This lasted about a week before it started to wither. I am not sure if it is vacuum packed, and if it works if I recycle the tube.

I don't get a lot of flowers from the water engineer because he is allergic to pollen grains. I am resigned to the fate that my house has to be sterile without pollen grains.

Shortly after we were married, we were invited to a dinner. He was so allergic that once he asked the hostess W where we went to dinner to remove her beautifully decorated center piece from the dinner table. The hostess removed the flowers having pity on his red and watering eyes and runny nose.After that, I don't complain that "You don't bring me flowers anymore."


The water engineer reads my post, and sometimes I tease him that I am posting all these photos to remind him of our wedding anniversary. I was pleasantly surprised that he remembered when he shared about himself in a group. He told them the year we were married, and how long we were married. he was then asked which month we were married, and he remembered. I didn't think that he remembered as we normally didn't celebrate it in a big way. May be this year will be different. I am going to post more flower photos.

Just before I was married 30 years ago, I was a summer student working in a toy assembly factory. I walked to work. I must be dreamy in love. I saw a few poppy flowers in bloom.

I went into the bushy area to pick the flowers. As a result, I was late for work, and the floor supervisor told me off, he said, I won't dock my pay this time, next time, I get the sack. The regular full time Polynesian girls asked me why I was picking this flower and they giggled.

They asked," Why you no pick them when you go home?"

After work, I went to my locker, I knew why they giggled, the poppies had withered.

I never told anyone. Now looking at this withing flower. I remembered.

The macro photo is a spring flower that grows in my school yard.

Mullein ???

Can this plant be Mullein? Two weeks ago, the Water Engineer spotted this unusual giant plant that looks like a big flurry cabbage plant. We spotted another. He has caught some of my blogging interest and suggested I take photos of them, and we got Sam's hand to show how big it is.

I just read some articles of Mullein that it is a common weed. Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) has long been used in herbal medicine, especially in remedies that aim to soothe the respiratory tract. These remedies involve the use of mullein's flowers and leaves.

I google searched for Mullein and found a lot of very interesting and educational entries.

Some Ducks, Tadpoles & Flannel Mulleins
April 3, 2009 by Maggie Mae Farm

Mullein

Common Mullein


This has got me interested as I suffer from flu a lot.
In test-tube research, mullein has been found to fight flu-causing viruses. However, since the flu can lead to serious illnesses such as pneumonia, it's critical to seek medical attention when experiencing flu symptoms (rather than attempting to self-treat the condition).

Can any of you enlighten me more? Thanks.

These plants were found on the slopes of Mt Eden. It would be very anti social of me to go and dig them out. But I suppose I can go and pick a few leaves.

Maoridom

When I started this blog, it was my intention to showcase my book Mail Order Bride, which I wrote two years ago. It is about the life of a foreign woman who came to New Zealand. Sadly, New Zealand is very small, and I found the publishers were not interested in this kind of genre. Apart from Penguin and Random, I did not bother to send my book to other publishers.

This book is the embodiment of many issues of the darker side of today’s society. Auckland city is chosen because of her cosmopolitan features, as well as the presence of immigrants, new and old. There are mail order brides from all over the world. This story could happen in any big city in the world.

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/mail-order-bride-chapter-10-tragedy.html

Parts of this book involved the young Maoris and some of their customs. This is a fiction intertwined with facts. This year, I got to know Ngarimu, the grand son of the Maori chief during the Bastion Point Protest.

My book has become real to me as Ngarimu played host to me, Sam and my sister Elizabeth and Kalang recently. He took us to places and told us stories that only privileged visitors were taken and told. So now, I am taking the book out of the woodwork and see if I can find a publisher.

Ngarimu, a Maori from New Zealand and Kalang, a Kelabit from Borneo found that their two tribes  have so much in common. In fact, when Kalang walked the streets of Auckland, he was greeted Kia Ora.

NewZealand Native bush: Manuka

Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka or Tea tree or just Leptospermum) is a shrub or small tree native to New Zealand and southeast Australia. You may have heard of the Manuka Honey or the Tea tree oil.
I take Manuka honey every day and if the family feels the itchy feeling of their throat, I make them take a teaspoon of the expensive active UMF 25+ Manuka honey.
The honey comes from the bees who harvest the wild Manuka and the oil from the berries. I always have a bottle of Manuka or Tea tree oil which is very good for skin problems.
I took these photos in a public park in Western Auckland. My friend Ngarimu and his Maori tribe are involved on replanting native bush in his tribal land at Orakei. It has the dual purpose of planting a medicinal plant and preventing erosion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10566663 
American Mr Lloyd strongly believes that manuka honey dressings saved his leg from amputation. So convinced that he came on the cruise liner Millennium to meet the people who changed his life.
Manuka products have high antibacterial potency for a limited spectrum of bacteria and are widely available in New Zealand. Similar properties led the Māori to use parts of the plant as natural medicine.
Kakariki parakeets (Cyanoramphus) use the leaves and bark of Manuka and Kanuka to rid themselves of parasites. Apart from ingesting the material, they also chew it, mix it with preen gland oil and apply it to their feathers.^[3]

Manuka honey, produced when honeybees gather the nectar from its flowers, is distinctively flavoured, darker and richer in taste than clover honey and has strong antibacterial and antifungal properties. The finest quality Manuka honey with the most potent antimicrobial properties is produced from hives placed in wild, uncultivated areas with abundant growth of Manuka bushes. However a very limited number of scientific studies have been performed to verify its efficacy.

The University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand has formed the Waikato Honey Research Unit to study the composition of honey and its antimicrobial activity. The Active Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) is the industry association that promotes and standardizes the production of Manuka honey for medical uses. They have created the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) standard which grades honey based on its anti-bacterial strength. In January 2008 Professor Thomas Henle, University of Dresden (Germany)^[4] identified Methylglyoxal as the active compound in Manuka honey. This is now shown on products as MGO Manuka honey. E.g. MGO 100 represents 100mg of Methylglyoxal per kilogram.^[5]

New Zealand Ferns 2

These pongna trees are about twenty feet tall.

The dead stumps and the trunk provide a good base for other plants to grow.

New Zealand plants

These look like little rabbit tails. Florists use them s dried flowers.

In 2000, the water engineer was angry that I picked them at the beach at Greymouth. He was complaining that they affected his allergy and sinus. I was stubborn and determined to take them back to Singapore for a souvenir of our trip and to remember how I used to pick them with my girl friends before I was married and had to worry about pollen grains.