Urban forest

MANILA, Philippines - Having a forest or a feeling of a forest in your own backyard is easily achieved by the abundance of plants living under forest canopy – ferns and moss for that cool feeling, begonias for the leaf patterns, epiphytic flowering bromeliads for color, and Aglaonemas for a riot of leaf designs. Aglaonemas are endemic in the Philippine forest and the source of variations for the improvement of the current cultivars.

During the Flower and Garden Show in Los Banos this October 7 to 16, the landscape exhibits will show the various ways to bring the forest to your backyard. The theme is “Urban Forest” and the featured plants will be ferns and foliage anthuriums.

According to the Los Baños Horticulture Society, several informative lectures will be given during the show on interesting topics about the forest and environment:

October 7, Friday, 2 pm – Lecture/demo on basic weaving methods using dried Water Hyacinth and old newspapers to produce slippers, placemats, trays and your own shopping bags. Ms. Rosa P. Umali.

October 8, Saturday, 2 pm. “Indigenous Forest Trees for Urban Landscaping” by Dr. Armando Palijon of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, UPLB

October 14, Friday, 2 pm. Nutritious, Easy to Cook Local Vegetable Recipes for High School Students (recipes for malunggay/squash refrigerated cake, veggie roll, camote tops with tanglad juice and ampalaya and malunggay juice) by Ms. Juliana Anjail and Ms. Elvira Teves from Los Baños Nutrition Action Office of the Bureau of Trade and Industry of Laguna.

In celebration of the “International Year of the Forest”, the special guest during the opening of the show is Mr. Marlo D. Mendoza, Assistant Secretary for Special Projects of DENR. He will also be the guest speaker for the afternoon.

Come to Los Baños and see the beautiful forest. Buy tree seedlings at the show to bring a part of the forest in your backyard. Each lucky visitor will receive a gift of forest tree seedling.