Wednesday, September 2, 2009

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

My daughter's wedding kenduri (reception) last May was finally done at home, although I was quite persistent to have it somewhere else. "I want the kenduri to be like Iz's and Pyang's kenduris, kenduri kat rumah!", my daughter insisted. I had to relent to her wish. Of course, you would definitely have to yield to such a hajat (wish) of your only daughter, right?

But this posting is not about the wedding reception. May be, later. For now, I'll tell you about one of those things that I actually dreaded, by having the wedding reception at home. Frankly I didn't want my garden to be "adversely" affected by the event! I knew, the tents pitched for the guests around the house compound, the chairs and tables that were to be laid out, and the hectic movement of people over my green, green grass, would certainly, following the ecologist way of saying it, disturb the equilibrium of my garden! What a selfish man, ha?

In preparing for the big day, sadly, some treasured plants had to be temporarily moved somewhere; some had (sorry!) to go; some were given permission to stay put, but had to have their branches chopped off, in order to make way for the tents. I was particularly sad that I had to cut down the beautiful branches of my only mango tree (I named it Belalai Gajah - Elephant Trunk, because of its very long leaves), that was just beginning to flower. But, of course, making my daughter happy was uppermost on my mind.


Can you see the green, healthy and bushy mango tree days before I, the "barber", sadly groomed its branches, as instructed and specified by the canopy man?

And now, look at how "naked" poor
Belalai Gajah appeared after its
branches were removed!

But I must admit that
the plant looked quite stunning
after a few weeks, donning young
leaves, with vibrant colours.


Three months or so after the wedding, my Belalai Gajah , I would say, had finally recovered from the shock. Little did it know that I had plans to "engineer" its young and tender branches, in such a way that they don't grow upward. I wanted these new branches to "spread out" sideways. Branches that are parallel to the ground, I was told, would produce flowers that could yield more fruits. Without doubt, reshaping the tree by making it grow sideways, would also facilitate easier harvesting of fruits later on.

Just look at the pictures of Belalai Gajah below and see how it has been affected by human intervention. What do you think, should I stop disturbing and mutilating the tree? Or should I not worry too much about it because such intervention has been scientifically proven to be beneficial?































By the way, would anyone know what is the best fertilizer for Belalai Gajah?

The memorable wedding feast, beloved Belalai Gajah ..... and all the trees that I cherish around the house, you have given my life colours and hopes to move on ......

18 comments:

Leenoh said...

Salam Temuk.

Masya Allah cantiknya, susunatur serba sesuai.
Dr.Sam mesti minat juga ni. macam saya , agaknya dia belum baca.

Unknown said...

Asalamualaikum...
All I can say is, you have done amazingly on your 'Belalai Gajah' :)

Great work!

Pak Idrus said...

Temuk, My advice as for wedding if possible do not do it at your home. The main reason is that folks would just come and go. Exchanged greeting and eat; mostly in a hurry because the space are needed for the other guests.

The Wedding Reception is supposed to be a ceremonial occasion with the pomp and splendor. At a dewan folks would get to meet friends, exchange notes and enjoy the evening. As you have experiences the mess left behind if done at home is a headache.

As for plants, it is a living species, thus it need to be nurture with love. You just do not cut but instead trim it with care and it would grow back. But it would never be the same again.

Well, that is life. Have a nice day and take care.

Temuk said...

Salam kembali Leenoh
Terima kasih. Tak cantik mana la, sebab belum sempat belajar & buat betul-betul, macam sdra & juga Dr. Sam. Jumpa lagi.

Temuk said...

Pn. Isah
Waalaikumussalam. Thank you. Look forward to reading your future postings.

Temuk said...

Pak Idrus
Thank you for the advice. I wanted to have my daughter's wedding reception at one of the halls in Putrajaya. But she didn't like the idea of having it outside at all. Whatever it is, fortunately (or unfortunately?), there will be no more wedding, since all my children are already married. Pak Idrus, bagaimana? Salam.

Pak Idrus said...

Temuk, thanks. Well, My youngest daughter is yet... Anyway we now have five grandchildren, two are in college now. Life have been great.

BTW regarding the Moth in my blog a visitor, an expert on these things has posted valuable information on that wonderful insect. Do have a look.

Have a nice day and take care.

Temuk said...

Pak Idrus
Forgot to thank you for the advice and nice things you said about nurturing plants. With the kind of "socialisation" that I have done, I hope my Belalai Gajah will not grow tall or move upward. I can guarentee you that it will always get my loving care. I can't remember how many times I said "maaf" to Belalai Gajah on the day I had to trim its branches. Salam.

Pak Idrus said...

Temuk, thanks. One of my grandson at that time was just 11 years old ask me whether I know which is the largest species on the planet and when I could not give a quick answer he hinted that without it we would not be here. At last I gave up and he say Atuk it is the Plants. It gives us the oxygen. How true. A eleven years old tell his grandpa that.

Well for you information I have always love plants, the greens and kept telling others that we must give due respect to it for like my grand kids say it provide us with the very important element for our survival, the oxygen. Nurturing it with love always goes a long way of getting a beautiful plants always.

Like you I kept saying sorry if ever I have to cut or removed it. Well, Temok let us pass on this little bit of wisdom to our kids and grand kids. Take care.

Hajah Zainab bt Abdullah said...

salam Temuk,

It's Ok that now the feast is over & that your mango plant is doing just fine. once i had to chop my mango plant too in order to give way for my house renovation!

DrSam said...

Salam. with your utmost TLC (tender loving care) your belalai gajah needs no more fertilizer. The plant seems very healthy to me. Look at the beautiful shoots! With time, the plant will bear heavenly fruits for all to cherish upon.

WELAS ASIH said...

Salam.....
Sungguh perjuangan yang luar biasa.
Semoga mangga anda menjadi pilihan banyak orang. Terima kasih atas silaturahmi yang selalu anda bangun.

Temuk said...

Salam Cikgu Zainab
Hope you don't have to chop any of your plants again in future. Tapi kalau perlu nak buat camana, kan? I renovated my house 3 times until I found it to be too big for the family! I gladly (!) sold it, 10 years ago. Terkenang: pokok2 hilang, RM merusut, tension & letih. Geli hati bila ingat2 balik.

Temuk said...

Salam DrSam
Thanks for your kind words. Insya Allah the plant will bear a lot of sweet fruits. I believe TLC is giving life meaning & happiness -- anywhere, anytime, any situation, and for anybody or anything. Utk orang tua kita terutamanya, sekiranya masih ada, TLC pastinya adalah sesuatu yang amat keramat. Yg hebat pun tak semestinya mampu memberikannya. Jumpa lagi.

Temuk said...

Salam Welas Asih
Terima kasih berkunjung kembali. Saya menunggu harinya mangga berkata, monggo kutip buahku! Semoga hubungan berpanjangan. Selamat menjalani ibadah berpuasa.

Pak Zawi said...

Temuk,
You did a severe pruning of your mango tree. Now you can continue to prune the tree with the aim of training it to become a dwarf tree with more spreading branches for ease of management and to prevent the tree from overgrowing and become a threat to your house.
Any complete fertilizer will help to make your mango tree grow well but I always prefer organic manure for my plants.

Temuk said...

Salam Pak Zawi
Sorry for my late response. Thank you so much for your advice, and I really appreciate that. By now the 'dwarf' seems to be getting on fine. The leaves are dark green & I can see the plant showing off its first bunch of flowers that I hope will 'lekat' though there is plenty of rain here now. I will try to get some organic manure for the plant, after all the baja kimia is used up. Thanks again.

Ija said...

:P nak kawin kat rumah sebab tu rumah kita. kalau kawin kat dewan, nanti takde memory of kawin kat rumah...

kesian pokok mango babah tapi sekarang dah cantik dah.. tumbuh balik dah kan! hehehe, terima kasih sebab tolong potong pokok untuk taruk tent! ^_^