Rainforest in Subang Jaya

It turned out to be a most interesting late morning. Together with my Singaporean house-guest, Betty Kingsley, and her cousin Ping from the US, we had taken a taxi to SS19/1K, Subang Jaya to visit a Cancer Care counsellor, Khadijah. Betty had spoken so much of her rain forest garden, knowing Ping's and my love of nature, that we decided a trip to see it would be worthwhile. And we were not disappointed.

With slightly over 2,000 s.f. of land left for the garden after extending her double storey corner link, it was amazing the number of plants, trees and shrubbery which was grown within that space. At the entrance of the home, on both sides of the gate, stood two huge birds nest ferns. Husband Johan Yeong said that he saw these birds nests discarded on the roadside nearby, "and before you could say 'jangan', he had picked them up and taken them home to be planted," said wife Khad. Today, from the mere foot high nests he brought back lovingly from the roadside, they stand a gigantic 10 foot high.

"They are so easy to grow. In fact, you don’t have to take care of them.They grow by themselves", explained Johan.

We oohed and aahed as we entered, looking at the number of shrubs, trees, ferns and potted plants bordering the entrance before entering the rain forest proper. There were tall royal palms, coconut trees, three fig trees ("I planted only one fig tree, but bird droppings after eating the figs gave us 2 more," said Johan) and 7 species of other palms, among them the Norfolk Island Pines and the Candlestick Palms. Bougainvilleas, staghorn ferns, yellow palms, thunbergia vines, periwinkle, butterfly plants and various heliconia brightened the "forest". On the ground grew cekur hitam and sambung nyawa, used as ulam with rice and supposedly good for diabetes. Birds nest ,water cabbage (crocus), monstera, caladiums (keladi) and local ginseng, together with poinsettia, geranium and the ubiquitous banana trees, ginger and pandan proliferated the garden.

Because of the quick growth of the plants and vegetation, it was a losing battle trying to keep the land free from weeds and undergrowth, explained Johan, whilst Betty was of the view that a "well maintained garden is not the way Nature grows." Though manicured lawns and neat gardens seemed to be the purview of the rich, who could afford gardeners to maintain the grounds, "somehow it is not as pleasing as Nature at its natural best," she added.

Betty should know. Back in 2000-2001, when she lived in Starseed Sanctuary, in Noonamah, on the outskirts of Darwin, her garden was one of the sites selected by the national Australian Open Garden Scheme Committee, to be showcased to the public for two weekends in 2001 and 2002, and allowed to charge an entrance fee for viewing. Said Betty: "I planned the food garden to show that an edible garden, maintained with no toxic pesticides, can be as beautiful as any ornamental garden, and myriads of paying adults came to view it."

Also grown were pecah beling (or hak meen cheong kuan in Chinese) and keladi tikus. When boiled and drunk, the pecah beling drink is reputedly good for keeping kidney stones at bay. MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research Development Institute) is at the moment doing research on the pecah beling and keladi tikus for cancer treatment.

"And what is this plant?" I asked, pointing to what was explained to me as the Indian borage, which was good for coughs, when boiled with water, and also used in pasta.

Sitting on the lounge chairs facing the rainforest, we also took in the flight of the burung murai, kelicap, tekucur and merbok. Johan explained that these birds dropped in on their garden in the mornings as well as late afternoon. "I think our garden is on their flight path, so they come to feed on the figs and bananas and berries here."

One of their 14 cats came up to nuzzle itself against my leg. When informed I was not partial to cats, it was shooed away. "My cats are all potty trained," and in the evening, I set up their cardboard boxes for them to sleep in," said Khadijah ,who adores her cats.

Except for some mosquitoes flitting around - but which homes in Malaysia are mosquito-free - it was a most enjoyable and constructive time. Topping up the fascinating outing was lunch at Medifoods, a vegetarian restaurant, in SS18/6, Subang Jaya.

Now,when some people complain that they do not have sufficient land in their homes to grow things, well, if Johan and Khad can do it, so can you.