A partial view of the Heliconia Valley area . The project site is behind the row of heliconias..jpg)
Being a Sunday and having just a few days left before going to Kuching, I decided to do something memorable this morning. At the break of dawn I was busy finding a site at the Heliconia Valley area to start a small collection of aquatic plants in the garden. I've already in mind a species that I wanted to propagate easily obtainable from Zone B which was there for a while now ( see inset). I chose the Heliconia Valley for the main reason that it is just 50 meters away from my chalet and therefore easy to keep watch on its progress and further develpment. It is my intention to showcase more water or aquatic plants at my Kambatik Botanic Garden. The environment at the farm is ideal for this project because there is plenty of marsh land, small streams and natural features that could accomodate the idea of aquatic planting at the garden.
Close up of the Fairy Waterlily. This is a example of a perennial aquatic plant that is rhizomatus and is very easy to pull out a smalll clump from its stock for new planting material. The white flowers with a deep yellow center is indeed pretty to look . There are varieties of the nymphoides that have features like snowflakes and as such are sometimes referred to as " Snowflakes".
Above shows the location of the mini pond to accomodate the water plants collection. I envisage more ponds to be build in future. The source of water is the water table at the front right bottom side of the picture. Even in times of drought there is always water gushing from underground. When there is rain, the drain channel would direct excess runoff to the stream further down the valley( not shown).
Working in mud is a bit taxing because the soil is heavier. However, I managed to dig out a small pond in about half an hour's time and fill it with water from the tiny drain channel bypassing it.
Finally, the aquatic plant commonly known as " Fairy Waterlily" of the Nymphoides spp. is planted from clumps taken at the marsh land at Zone B. Close up of the Nymphoides is shown in the pictures above and at the inset. Cuttings of the Red Ti ( Cordyline terminalis) are added for colour. After the work was done I felt a deep satisfaction for today's work or should I say funwork!
