T26 - Tabebuia aurea @ Thanon Phra Athit

So easy kids can do it, and boy, do they love to plant trees!

Our second tree on Thanon Phra Athit, this time a smallish ornemental tree that will soon give us beautiful yellow flowers! At least if it survives, and as hot season draws near, please water it if you happen to stroll around Bangkok's most relaxed area! ;)

No time wasted in idle chat

Sunday family fun!

Ok, I helped them for the digging...

Easy as 1,2,3!

2017, We're growing Vertical!

After a quiet year in 2016 following family troubles, Plant A Tree Bangkok is back with new energy, and needs you more than ever!

Since I don't have a place and a regular lifestyle to grow trees, I have none ready for the coming raining season. So, we're going to proceed a little differently this year: I would like all of you to grow trees directly at home! If each and everyone of us grows 2-3 trees, we'll have enough to plant a Forest!

It's easy because we're going to use very hardy trees, for a very specific purpose: plant a vertical forest, Guerrilla Style as usual, in one of Bangkok's abandoned towers! These trees (Ficuses of all kind) can be found readily in Bangkok streets, we'll take them there.

I will show you how to grow them, and tell you more about this year's plan during this first meetup (Facebook Link). Comment below if you don't have a FB account and would like to be informed ;)

T25 - PATB meet REGENESYS @ Ratchadamri

Quick and fun impromptu planting action yesterday with Bernard and Mangala, tree lovers and founders of Regenesys Project in France (Facebook link).

Bernard, the tree and I ready for action!

Didn't have a tree available, so I stopped @ Thewet Flower market and picked up a nice tall sapling for only 50 Bahts! Ylang-Ylang has flowers with a powerful scent and is used for aromatherapy and making perfume. Find more info here: Cananga odorata กระดังงาไทย

Hard dirt cannot stop Bernard! 

Conditions are never ideal on sidewalks: here the soil was very poor and compact, like often, and hard to dig since we only had a spoon to do so!

A Chinese Spoon is all you need!

But something happened that gives me good hope this tee will grow big and powerful: it was adopted!

We just happened to plant the tree near bus 25 terminal. When the driver saw us, he spontaneously came over and watered the tree! A few minutes later, I was chatting with his assistant (uncle on the picture), who said he will water the tree! He then went back inside the bus and came back with a 5L water bottle and our tree was very well watered!

Bus 25 driver comes and waters the tree! <3

I'm always very happily surprised at how positively people respond to our tree planting actions, sometimes come to chat with us or even adopt the tree!

T24 planting team: Uncle, Mangala, Bernard, Goustan, Ylang-Ylang
Uncle has adopted the tree!

Mangala made a really cool video on Facebook

Tree planting activity --> get kids involved

After a long interruption for personal reasons, Plant A Tree Bangkok comes back stronger than ever!

. we have seeds
. we have a nursery space
. we are experienced, connected to people who also want to plant trees, and are more determined than ever!


Now that we have plenty of seeds to plant, pictures and experience to share, I would love to get kids involved. What a great learning experience for them: plant seeds, touch soil, learn about how Nature works, watch a tree grow, plant it and watch it grow big!

--> Now looking for schools/teachers who would like to have a tree planting activity in their class, it's the perfect time of the year to get started!

Kids just love it!


Send me the word ;)

Some of the seeds we have

Kids just love it! 

Moms too^^ 

So eager to learn and practice!

T21 - Flowers for Mothers' Day @ Sukhumvit

Today I planted a small seedling of Barringtonia asiatica (จิกเล หรือ จิกทะเล) under Ploenchit BTS station on Sukhumvit.

Is there a better thing to do to celebrate Mothers' Day on the Queen's Birthday?

Most passers-by stopped to take pictures, chit-chat and show support, it's been another great experience! <3

#mothersday2015 #barringtonia #sukhumvittree #plantatreebangkok

Plant Trees, Ride Bikes @ Chula - August 16th, 2015

This is a special event being hosted by our member Goustan Bodin. We propose to meet in the garden of Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration. We have spotted a large area that definitely need greenery just behind there! So well, there won't be much riding from the meetup point, we count on you to ride before and after! 


We have been sponsored 30 teak seedlings by the Royal Forestry Department, about half of them in poor condition... Bring more trees if you can, even tiny ones, or any plant you'd like to see in the streets! 


Our goal is a greener city, therefore we leave our cars and motorbikes at home (unless they are packed with green stuff), ride our bikes and plant trees for one morning. Last year editions have been great fun, and you are very welcome to bring your kids! Your planting instructor, Ek, is now 5 years old, and will show you everything there is to know about it! 

If you fear the heat, bring an umbrella!



Afterwards we can enjoy lunch with a great group of happy people.





About bikes :

You can ride BTS with your bike (if not peak hour !)

For anyone who doesn't have a bike, it's hard to rent one near venue, but it's possible to hire from punpun bike share.

If, like me, you haven't used punpun before :

The stations are often unattended so it's good if you have your card topped up before Saturday morning. There's info on the bike share programme & a map of all the stations here: http://my-thai.org/bangkok-bike-sharing-pun-pun-bike-share/
Map : https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zk3wQV-ufBOE.kiqXupLm4O4I&msa=0

Holly, thank you so much for the bike info ! ♥

How to grow seeds in a plate

No pots, no soil available, and these seeds I want to plant! What can I do?


When this happens, don't lose your cool, even when a heat wave threatens to boils your brains out: grab a container, even just a plate, and some tissue! Lay the tissue, then the seeds. Fold the tissue layer only once over the seeds. Water lightly.

You're all set!
Just keep it moist, magic will happen soon!


Great simple activity to do with your kids: they love to watch seeds sprout and grow and time after time change into a tree!


When it's as hot as it is now in Bangkok, you may want to soak up your system morning and night, to make sure it will stay moist as long as possible.

Spread seeds evenly, keep moist, love unconditionally :)

#growseedsinaplate #growseedsintissue #growstuffinaplate #kidsgrowseeds

How to grow stuff to plant in the streets? :D

People often ask me how I find the trees I plant in the streets. Really, there are lots of sources, but the easiest and most fun way to find a tree is to grow it at home! If you have children, they will love playing with the soil, watering the pot, and they will  marvel at the seed growing into a small tree that gets bigger every day! Kids will love it even more if you get the seed from fruits you eat together!

Fruits easy to find now: lamyai, tamarind...

Now, if you want to keep your tree longer, or transplant it to the streets, other containers might be more appropriate, such as plastic bottles, coffee cups with a cap, milk boxes, plastic bags...

The idea is to be able to remove the tree from the container without damaging the roots.

I also like the idea to reuse something we otherwise just use once and throw to the trash. When we reuse it, we give it a second life, a second purpose.

Plastic dinosaos will do to! :D

Plastic bottles, coffee cups & empty coconuts

Bigger bottles are better. Keep the cap on top,  to keep moisture in

easy ! :D 

It's good to have something to keep water under your pot, especially if you grow on a balcony or a window sill. Growing conditions on balconies are very difficult: strong sun or full shade, walls that keep the heat, wind that dries everything and can make your tree fall (tie it up well!)...

If you have a plate, or a cup, or a plastic sheet under you pot, the soil will keep moist longer, and your tree has more chances to survive. Plus, you don't have to water everyday, you can relax and check only once every few days! :D

For highly motivated tree planters: how to set a Guerrilla Planting Nursery! :D

By definition, if it's guerrilla, you don't ask for permission, you just do it!

If you have a house, you're lucky! Just find a spot near water faucet, 50% shade. Here is a picture from P'Jude nursery, very simple & efficient setup!

P'Jude planted hundreds of trees in Bangkok, his nursery works super fine! :D 

If like most of us you live in a condo, things get a bit more fun!

I've never had problems with the management, and i don't think you will, provided you keep a few things when you choose the right spot in your condo. Choose a spot where:

. trees do not bother anyone (don't take a parking space)
. water won't damage anything when you water the trees

Now, to give your trees the best chances to grow, choose a spot that:
. is not all the time in direct sunlight . is close to water source (be lazy!)
. upstairs parking lots! if there is some light coming in, it will make a great nursery! On upper floors, the parking might not have reached full capacity and there could be lots of space to install a guerrilla nursery! You most likely will meet resistance from the management, so if they bother you after you set up the place, try to negotiate staying just a few weeks (don't be specific, you need 3 months minimum), and you might get a reluctant acceptance.
That's all you need, party time! :D

If you're not sure you found the right spot, my way to proceed is to start somewhere, not far from the condo security guards. When they see you set the place up, they will come to talk, and if they don't like the spot you chose, they will advice you another one. Most people are kind, give them a chance to help you, you will be surprised! ;)

It will not work everywhere of course, especially the new condos with extreme and stupid security rules. Still worth trying it, isn't it!?!



Here are a few pictures from the nursery I set up in my condo a few years ago. Total budget less than 500 bahts, including everything: soil, bamboos...

Perfect setup: about 1x2meters, water nearby, not bother anyone, 50% shade 

Roof opens up easily

Plastic sheet to keep all bottles moist - too busy to come every day!

#growstuff #growstuffforcheap #guerrillanursery #guerrillatree #guerrillatreeplanting #growstuffonyourparkinglot #plantatreebangkok

T15 the survivor - 18 months and growing strong !

Planted in October 2013 with Tarn, T15 grows steadily and is now taller than me ! :D

It's now the tree that got the tallest among the ones I've planted in Bangkok streets, and one of the few survivors. Now it got that far, I'm confident it has a chance to be just as big as the other trees in the street ! 

A friend attracted my attention to the funny names of this tree : bastard poon tree, fetid sterculia, poon tree, skunk tree ! The very complete Sterculia foetida page from Dr. Giuseppe MAZZA's Nature encyclopedia http://www.photomazza.com/?-Encyclopedia-&lang=en will tell you all you want to know, but I can't resist copying an extract here :

The name of the genus comes from the Latin “stercus” = dung, manure, with reference to the unpleasant odour of the flowers and the leaves of some species; the name of the species, is the Latin adjective “foetidus, a, um” = fetid, stinking, with reference to the unpleasant smell of the flowers.

Exactly my kind of guerrilla street tree ! :D

Taller than my raised arm

#sterculiafoetida #thanonkhao #plantatreebangkok #plantatreebangkok #filterpollution #guerrillatreeplanting

T20 Plant a tree to make a statement

It had been a long time I'd wanted to plant a tree there.

Since they are building the BTS nearby, lots of property development is happening in my area. So be it. But this particular operation here is quite nasty for a few reasons :

- the land owners decided to stop allowing a market that had long been there

- they evicted the sellers within 2 months, without relocation

- the sellers finally moved on the edge of the land, on land that was not stabilized, where they get flooded

- there is no sanitation whatsoever there, mosquitoes swarm the place

- the sellers can only wait until the final eviction

We don't need yet another condo in that overcrowded area : we need the market ! The sellers are being evicted like lousy dogs. The landowners purposely left the rubble from the market and other ruins they had failed to previously complete for *over a year*, to be sure the place is not re-invested. So that place actually slowly filled with trash for most of that time.

It's the municipality who finally provided a tent to 'shelter' whatever is left of the market : the landowners didn't.

So rather plant a tree there than letting anger build up inside me. I chose to plant the most respected tree in Thailand, because it harbours spirits, and is (wrongfully) believed the be the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. 

There is a superstition associated with that beautiful tree, so you should always respect it. There are usually offering nearby the Ficus religiosa we find here and there in town.

 

Anne-Laure was just too happy to go for some guerrilla gardening action ! 

There is plenty more space, we can plant a full fledged veggie garden or even an urban farm ! 

Planting tree smile ! :D