It’s business as usual at MSBF

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Seedling Bank Foundation (MSBF) covers an area of seven hectares owned by the National Housing Authority, which has granted a usufruct right to MSBF under Proclamation No1670, which will end in 2027.

MSBF is now open for business as usual, Monday to Sunday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The MSBF environmental center houses a group of nursery outlets that sells rare and collector’s plants, landscaping depot and wholesaler of local and imported cut flowers. 

To the foresters, gardeners, farmers, landscapers or hobbyists, any day is planting time, and obtaining planting materials is not a problem. The Manila Seedling Bank Foundation is located right at the heart of Quezon City

MSBF is ideal for field trips for botany and environment students where a collection of different plants can be studied like grasses, herbs, vines, palms, forest trees, and ornamental and flowering plants.  It is also the favorite “shooting area” of TV shows that focus on rare medicinal plants and urban gardening.  Big nursery outlets like King Louie Gardens specializes in rare and imported cut flowers.  Green 2000 is a wholesaler of garden supplies and landscaping facilities.  Their most important showcase is a collection of different culinary, medicinal and other-purpose herbs that are available to the general public at a very reasonable price.  If you are a versatile cook and wanting to use herbs in your recipes, it is also advisable to have the ingredients like basil tyme, mint, tarragon, chives, lavenders, coriander, rosemary, parsley, oregano, etc.

It is also a wise idea to plant medicinal plants for instant remedies — aloe vera is used for burns, tawa-tawa for dengue, citronella, malvarosa for mosquitoes, and a lot more.

Greenhouse Nos. 2 and 3 and its extension areas offer a wide variety of ornamental plants for indoor and outdoor purposes.  The stall owners give advice on proper plant care and maintenance. You can also hire a landscaper to do your garden or even just to plant in your home whether in a plant box, pocket garden or to renovate existing landscape or simply to maintain the plants in your house.  For those who love plants and don’t have a big space, a vertical garden, which is very much in fashion, may be done.  Orchids like cattleyas, vandas, dendrobium or dancing lady, grammotophyllum, epidendrons and colorful bromeliads like neoreilla urussia, gugmania, phillandsias are also available.

Have you ever heard about a colorful anthurium? It was the grand price winner during the recently concluded Flora Filipina Show.  The plant breeder, Vangie Go, is a garden-tenant who is extensively doing breeding work. She offers a great number of seedlings at affordable prices. If you are not ready yet to have one and are curious to view them, they are still on display at the garden center.  Ferns or pakpak lawin are also mass propagated and available for everyone.

This year, MSBF will expand its open and shaded area for the production of more planting materials particularly indigenous and native forest tree species like yakal, molave, bagras, kalumpit, katmon, kamagong, bitaog, supa, bani, ilang-ilang, etc. in support of the National Greening Program of President Noynoy C. Aquino III. 

MSBF’s tree care and maintenance services such as pruning/trimming, tree removal and stump removal, tree balling and transplanting including agroforestry/tree farm establishment are ongoing.

For inquiries, visit the MSBF office at Quezon Avenue corner EDSA, Diliman, Quezon City, or call 924-0166 and 924-7001 or e-mail qualitytrees@msbfi.com or visit the website at www.msbfi.com.