October 29th, 2006, 12:01
A garden fit for a King - The Nation
Behind the magnificent landscape of the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 exhibition, which includes some 2.5 million trees and flowering plants, are more than 200 gardeners who have worked 18 hours a day for the whole year.
Every day, from sunrise to late at night seven days a week, Sunun Phanthurat has traversed the 470 rai of land that has been designated as the location of Royal Flora 2006 Ratchaphruek. His responsibility is to make sure all the trees and plants are in good condition so as to welcome visitors to the international horticulture exposition.
Sunun is facing the toughest job in his 14-year career as operations manager of Nong Nooch Landscape and Garden Design, widely known among Thais as Suan (garden) Nong Nooch.
"It is the biggest area we have ever had to landscape. We have never had to take responsibility for as many plant varieties as this," said Sunun, referring to more than 2,500 plant varieties his company collected from not only throughout Thailand but also other countries, all now replanted at the Royal Flora grounds.
Suan Nong Nooch was contracted by the Department of Agriculture to landscape 470 rai of the Royal Agriculture Research Centre and parts of the Suthep-Pui National Park in Mae Hia to become the Royal Flora exposition, which will be inaugurated on Wednesday.
Besides the 2.5 million trees under the care of Suan Nong Nooch, visitors are expected to enjoy the international garden, decorated in styles from 33 countries.
To cope with such big job, Sunun said, all the experts at Suan Nong Nooch, the biggest gardening company in the country, were brought from the head office in Pattaya to the Royal Flora site last year, after the very first tree, a bottle tree imported from Australia, was planted. However, he said, the real job of Suan Nong Nooch started two years ago when the contract was signed.
Though Suan Nong Nooch has a good collection of trees at its headquarters in Pattaya, Sunun said there were not enough, both in terms of numbers and species, and his company had to search for more tress that were rare and exotic enough to attract visitors.
Paisal Vora-urai, who is in charge of looking for plant varieties, said his team went throughout the country to collect the plants. He insisted that all plants and trees, including those presented in a dome simulating a tropical forest, were not collected from any forest, but bought from individuals. However, he could not go into detail about who sold him the plants and how much they cost.
Once the trees were bought, Suan Nong Nooch dug them up, then cleaned the roots and encircled them with a net, and transferred them to a nursery in Pattaya. All this, said Paisal, was done two years ago.
"We had to give the trees time to adjust to the nursery. We can't just dig them up and then replant them - that would kill them."
Once the Royal Flora site was developed into an area that suited replanting, the trees were moved there. Paisal admitted that some of the big replanted trees might not look as beautiful as they did at their original site.
"To replant a grown tree, it takes about three to four years for the roots to stabilise in the earth and for nature to resume its course. We planted these only last year, so they look like this," he said, referring to many trees and palms scattered across the site. They are tall with brown trunks, but with only a few leaves at the top. Paisal said if visitors were to come here again in the next few years, they would see all the trees with a more natural, elegant look, with plenty of green leaves to provide shelter from the strong sunlight.
Once the trees were planted, it became the task of Sunun to maintain and beautify the landscape. He said if a tree died or failed in health, he had to uproot it and replace it with a new one.
Behind the scenes are about 200 workers who maintain the trees and flowering plants. Sunun said each has only one job to do - such as watering, spraying pesticide, applying fertiliser or uprooting weeds. Along with Sunun and Paisal, the 200 workers have been on the job 18 hours a day with no day off since last year.
"Most of them are local people who do not have skills in gardening, so we have to inspect their work carefully," he said.
While workers are confined to particular stations, Sunun has to roam around the entire 470 rai every day. If he is not too tried, he said, he walks, but otherwise he drives. He admitted that many times he has been discouraged by exhaustion and the meticulous requirements of the job. Of course, he said, this was not only his responsibility as an employee of Suan Nong Nooch, but also the pride of his life to be part of an international horticultural exhibition which is to celebrate His Majesty the King.
"It is a special job. When we were all exhausted we encouraged each other with the idea that our work is for Poh Luang. The thought of doing it for Poh Luang made me and all the workers do our best," he said. Poh Luang, or royal father, is the term many Thais use for HM the King.
Though the exposition will last for 92 days until the end of January, the work of Sunun and his staff will not finish then. Under the contract Suan Nong Nooch has with the Agriculture Department, the gardening company has to continue maintaining the landscape for six months after the exposition ends, and then transfer all the plants, trees and facilities to the department.
Pennapa Hongthong
The Nation
Chiang Mai
Behind the magnificent landscape of the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 exhibition, which includes some 2.5 million trees and flowering plants, are more than 200 gardeners who have worked 18 hours a day for the whole year.
Every day, from sunrise to late at night seven days a week, Sunun Phanthurat has traversed the 470 rai of land that has been designated as the location of Royal Flora 2006 Ratchaphruek. His responsibility is to make sure all the trees and plants are in good condition so as to welcome visitors to the international horticulture exposition.
Sunun is facing the toughest job in his 14-year career as operations manager of Nong Nooch Landscape and Garden Design, widely known among Thais as Suan (garden) Nong Nooch.
"It is the biggest area we have ever had to landscape. We have never had to take responsibility for as many plant varieties as this," said Sunun, referring to more than 2,500 plant varieties his company collected from not only throughout Thailand but also other countries, all now replanted at the Royal Flora grounds.
Suan Nong Nooch was contracted by the Department of Agriculture to landscape 470 rai of the Royal Agriculture Research Centre and parts of the Suthep-Pui National Park in Mae Hia to become the Royal Flora exposition, which will be inaugurated on Wednesday.
Besides the 2.5 million trees under the care of Suan Nong Nooch, visitors are expected to enjoy the international garden, decorated in styles from 33 countries.
To cope with such big job, Sunun said, all the experts at Suan Nong Nooch, the biggest gardening company in the country, were brought from the head office in Pattaya to the Royal Flora site last year, after the very first tree, a bottle tree imported from Australia, was planted. However, he said, the real job of Suan Nong Nooch started two years ago when the contract was signed.
Though Suan Nong Nooch has a good collection of trees at its headquarters in Pattaya, Sunun said there were not enough, both in terms of numbers and species, and his company had to search for more tress that were rare and exotic enough to attract visitors.
Paisal Vora-urai, who is in charge of looking for plant varieties, said his team went throughout the country to collect the plants. He insisted that all plants and trees, including those presented in a dome simulating a tropical forest, were not collected from any forest, but bought from individuals. However, he could not go into detail about who sold him the plants and how much they cost.
Once the trees were bought, Suan Nong Nooch dug them up, then cleaned the roots and encircled them with a net, and transferred them to a nursery in Pattaya. All this, said Paisal, was done two years ago.
"We had to give the trees time to adjust to the nursery. We can't just dig them up and then replant them - that would kill them."
Once the Royal Flora site was developed into an area that suited replanting, the trees were moved there. Paisal admitted that some of the big replanted trees might not look as beautiful as they did at their original site.
"To replant a grown tree, it takes about three to four years for the roots to stabilise in the earth and for nature to resume its course. We planted these only last year, so they look like this," he said, referring to many trees and palms scattered across the site. They are tall with brown trunks, but with only a few leaves at the top. Paisal said if visitors were to come here again in the next few years, they would see all the trees with a more natural, elegant look, with plenty of green leaves to provide shelter from the strong sunlight.
Once the trees were planted, it became the task of Sunun to maintain and beautify the landscape. He said if a tree died or failed in health, he had to uproot it and replace it with a new one.
Behind the scenes are about 200 workers who maintain the trees and flowering plants. Sunun said each has only one job to do - such as watering, spraying pesticide, applying fertiliser or uprooting weeds. Along with Sunun and Paisal, the 200 workers have been on the job 18 hours a day with no day off since last year.
"Most of them are local people who do not have skills in gardening, so we have to inspect their work carefully," he said.
While workers are confined to particular stations, Sunun has to roam around the entire 470 rai every day. If he is not too tried, he said, he walks, but otherwise he drives. He admitted that many times he has been discouraged by exhaustion and the meticulous requirements of the job. Of course, he said, this was not only his responsibility as an employee of Suan Nong Nooch, but also the pride of his life to be part of an international horticultural exhibition which is to celebrate His Majesty the King.
"It is a special job. When we were all exhausted we encouraged each other with the idea that our work is for Poh Luang. The thought of doing it for Poh Luang made me and all the workers do our best," he said. Poh Luang, or royal father, is the term many Thais use for HM the King.
Though the exposition will last for 92 days until the end of January, the work of Sunun and his staff will not finish then. Under the contract Suan Nong Nooch has with the Agriculture Department, the gardening company has to continue maintaining the landscape for six months after the exposition ends, and then transfer all the plants, trees and facilities to the department.
Pennapa Hongthong
The Nation
Chiang Mai