Back in 2002, I started buying orchids. Starting with cattleya, then dendrobium, oncidium etc.. But I never bothered to go more than that. My passion at that time was in water gardening. It was an enjoyable experience and journey (still until today!)- meeting and befriended with a lot of gardeners all over the world such as Kitt Knot, Dr. Sam Wasuwat, Rich Sacher, Jay, Julia and many more! My interest in water gardening will never fade and will always be there.
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| N. immutabilis - my all-time favorite waterlily |
It was in 2005, where I remembered buying orchids quite frequent. Perhaps, an Eria received from Lan's brother kept me interested to collect more species orchids from time to time. In mid 2008, while spending my time on one evening at Kuala Lumpur Orchid Garden (KLOG), I met Kak Azlina. A very cheerful and enthusiastic lady when entertaining customers at her stall. It was the only Malay orchid shop in KLOG and known as Kama Nursery Center. We talked a lot about orchids and I guess, my interest in orchids started blooming to a new level from that day! Before parting, she asked me to visit and talk to her husband, Hj. Naza, for plants that I wish to have. I did... and that's how all these things begin!
Since that day, I became frequent visitors to KLOG. I ended up coming to KLOG during free time to assist Kak Azlina to process the plant at quarantine office in Jalan Gallagher and to pick up plants from nearby nurseries. But since I quit my job and moved to Seremban in mid 2009, I rarely drop by at KLOG anymore. Perhaps once in a while when having meeting in KL. Nevertheless, her business is going on as usual and hopefully to be better in the near future!
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| Hj Naza @ his nursery circa August 2008 |
Few weeks after that I made a phone call asking to see Hj. Naza. He said yes, why not! I went to his house at Bukit Taboh, Ampangan - only a few minutes from my house. I arrived there at noon and the so called nursery is just within his house compound. Most of the orchids are grown naturally on tree trunks, branches and many more on fern slabs rather than in the traditional pots.
My first impression about Hj Naza - a simple and friendly person. He is willing to listen to you and to explain back in a simple manner. I was a newbie in this orchid species thing but I had never felt awkward talking to him about it. We had an interesting conversation on orchids - its taxonomy, natural habitat, tissue culture, etc. Amazing! He is very knowledgeable about orchids even without formal paper qualifications. I ended up buying few plants and among them was Dendrobium farmeri.
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Orchid seedlings and protocorm in flasks - a glimpse inside his lab! |
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| Shelves of flasks |
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| Seedlings from flasks |
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| Vanda sanderiana blooming in Aug. 2008 and becoming my favorite vanda |
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Since my first meeting with Hj Naza, we become good friends and whenever I have time, I would drop by at his house on weekend, wandering around in the nursery. There are many good selections of orchids from all over the world and the size, shape and flowers vary from simple to complex ones! Now I know the beauty of orchid species...
Later, I had a good time going for 'orchid hunting'. Well, we went to jungle to see orchids in its natural habitat i.e. how do they grow whether they are epiphyte or lithophyte, sympodial or monopodial, cold or hot growing and many more. Our first trip to jungle was to 'Gunung Telapak Burok' which was quite near to our home town ~20 kilometres. It is a place I still go during my free time to enjoy the beauty of mother nature. All our trip to jungle I kept in Flickr -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/malaysianorchidinsitu
