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The stormy season is in full sway in mid November with rain every day; often it’s dark by 5 as the clouds close in and the dogs all go to ground. It’s a wonderful time for the garden, although it has its dramatic moments.

Lightening strike is something I have long been aware of, as our trees are now the highest things around, but we are making progress there. My theory is that with creepers, big or small, going up and through the trees, any tall tree is effectively earthed. The only problem is getting them established without engulfing the tree with exuberant growth. On last week’s walk in Rimba Ilmu, we noted a terap tree that had been struck, but it was dead just at the top; where the lower branches touched adjacent trees it was still alive. That connection is what protects trees in forests, otherwise we would see far more lightening damage than there is.

I am constantly aware too that wind loosens and breaks fruits and branches, so it’s not a good idea to walk in the garden at Rimbun Dahan just before a storm hits when the wind has considerable force. A bunch of old coconuts landing on you is not a healthy proposition.

On Friday 13th, we should have been prepared. Our only Shorea sumatrana, one of our first plantings, near the staff houses, was snapped in two by a strong wind. Fortunately it fell away from Effendi’s house towards the garage, but a piece of branch from another tree fell onto the roof of the garage and skewered right through! Some of the trees have extremely heavy wood, and a fall from some height at the right angle is extremely hazardous. We considered leaving it as a natural installation, but that would have been more hazardous to my stores inside!

This is the same tree that recently flowered in a veil of pink. It was one of the first Dipterocarps planted at Rimbun Dahan, and is critically endangered in the wild. Luckily we have recently propagated 10 seedlings from this tree, when Lauren Black drew and painted its botanic features. We were also able to collect several seeds from the fallen branches. I’ll have to plant them away from the buildings and make sure they have structural support. Creepers tie the trees to each other and provide stability as well as grounding them from lightening strike.

 
Landscape design in the tropics has to factor in protecting buildings, as the plants do present danger. Similar to kampong adjacent to forest, you don’t want to be too close: snakes, wild boar, centipedes and monitor lizards have all found their way into our house, and ants are an every day problem, but these are not the only issues. In the tropics, houses are more comfortable away from overhanging trees, and this is where I have an issue with the enveloping nature of the Bali style of planting, the tropical version of an English cottage garden.

Overhanging trees do shade a house, but they don’t make it any cooler. Instead they prevent it from drying out during the day when the sun has full force and from cooling quickly at night. Humidity increases, much to the detriment of the building and things inside. Trees too limit the amount of air movement through a building, and if you want natural ventilation to substitute for air conditioning, trees in close proximity will block the little air flow there is.

Another reason for planting away from buildings relates to viewing the trees. Tropical plants do not have spectacular displays of flowers that one associates with an English garden. Flowers are small and only occasionally do they appear en mass for a dramatic display. In a forest, fragrance is more important to advertise the readiness of flowers for pollination when vistas are blocked all around. A lavish display of blossom would be wasted if it can’t be seen. When considering placing tropical trees to view any flowering, they are better positioned away from the house as flowers are on the outside of the canopy; if a tree is adjacent to a house all you see is its underside and not any display of flowers or changing foliage.

The gardens at Rimbun Dahan surround the buildings, but wherever possible there are spaces between buildings and plants, including those in pots. Early plantings though, like the Shorea sumatrana, were carelessly placed close to houses, only to crash down decades later. I guess too, I never appreciated how big they grow in relation to the domestic scale.

A Lime Butterfly, Papilio demoleus malayanus, was resting on the glass door of Rochelle and Monika’s studio, and was much admired by all. Unfortunately for the butterfly, 5 minutes after it posed for photographs, a cheeky gecko came and ate it.

This, a familiar butterfly of gardens and villages, is one of a group all of which have remarkably similar caterpillars which feed on kinds of citrus. P. demoleus is the commonest: almost every small lime bush seems to have larvae.

The eggs are usually laid upon young leaves; the larvae first resemble bird-droppings, later becoming green with grey oblique markings which effectually disguise them. The pupa, like those of many Papilionid and Pierid butterflies, is able to adapt its colour, within limits, to its surroundings.

Common and widely distributed in S.E. Asia, New Guinea and Australia, this insect is not found in Java, Sumatra or Borneo.

From Common Malayan Butterflies, R. Morrell, Malaysian Nature Handbooks

According to Wikipedia, The Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius) is one of the smallest birds of prey. It is typically between 14 to 18 centimetres long. It can be found in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It breeds in tree holes. It feeds on small birds and insects. The typical habitat is forest, forest edge and wooded open area. Our pair of falconets was photographed while feasting on dragonflies.

September 2009

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

Shorea acuminata, meranti rambai daun, is in the red meranti group of Shoreas. It is a tree of the southern half of the peninsula, most common in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. It prefers low lying well-drained land and is often the most abundant meranti in the forest. Although greatly reduced by forest conversion, this species is not currently at risk. This species was planted at Rimbun Dahan about 12 years ago and is fruiting for the first time, but very sparsely.

See other dipterocarps in the garden at Rimbun Dahan.

by Angela Hijjas

We already have two species of primates at Rimbun Dahan, without counting humans — the common, gregarious and inquisitive long-tailed macaques, Macaca fascicularis, and the shy and retiring langurs who frequent the treetops in smaller family groups.

We have had occasional sightings recently of a pig-tailed macaque, Macaca nemestrina, or beruk in Malay, a very large monkey that has been traditionally used to pluck coconuts and throw them down to their handlers on the ground. You could once see them being taken from grove to grove on the owner’s bicycle, sitting on the handlebars, holding on and staring grimly ahead.

E. J. H. Corner, the famous botanist of the ’40s and ’50s, trained them to pluck samples from trees in the forests of Johor, but apparently they had to be trained only in Kelantanese dialect, as that was all they understood! Eventually one of Corner’s beruk attacked him, landing him in hospital for several months, but probably saved him from being killed by the occupying Japanese during the World War II. Beruk are known to be aggressive; Corner himself noted that one of his specimens would, if allowed, “savage small children.” Our dogs at Rimbun Dahan are taking care to remain deliberately aloof.

by Angela Hijjas

No sooner did the pig tail macaque make an appearance than a real one pig came along — a baby wild boar, Sus scrofa, separated from its mother. The dogs cornered it apparently but because it bites they didn’t want to know much more about it. Sham, our handyman, heard the ruckus and found it, but it tried to bite him too!  Bad photos because I needed a flash, and it was wriggling a lot…

We have had occasional instances of wild boars at Rimbun Dahan, although these are fewer now that we have fixed a few holes in the fence. They come from the surrounding abandoned rubber estates, where they are hunted by weekend warriors for food. Wild boar piglets are striped, whereas adults are not — this is thought to help them stay camouflaged. Usually wild boar sows with piglets are particularly defensive of their young, and can inflict ferocious wounds although, unlike the male boars, they have no tusks.