LEEKS AND RADISHES CAN BE REPLANTED

 Leeks (Bawang perai)

Radishes (Lobak putih)

Besides celery and green onions, leeks and radishes can also be re-grown from their cut parts.  

VERSI BM

Selain daripada daun saderi dan daun bawang, bawang perai dan lobak putih boleh juga ditanam semula daripada bahagian yang dipotong.

CABAI BURUNG

NAMA TEMPATAN/COMMON NAME: Cabai burung, Bird's Eye Chilli, Thai Chilli, Cili api, Lada Jarum, Lada Tunggeng
SPESIS/SPECIES:  Capsicum annuum

KEGUNAAN
Selain daripada digunakan untuk memasak, daun serta akar pokok cili padi turut memiliki khasiat tersendiri. Antaranya boleh menyembuhkan bisul, luka, sakit sendi, sengal-sengal otot, bengkak, mengurangkan tekanan darah tinggi serta merawat cirit-birit.

USES

Besides being used for culinary purposes, the leaves and roots of this plant has other uses.  They are used for treating boils, joint pains, wounds, muscle pain, swellings, reducing blood pressure and diarrhoea.
Read more: http://petuasejagat.blogspot.com/2011/06/7-khasiat-pokok-cili-padi.html#ixzz2AOL6N3Lx

BUDDHA HAND

Lucky me got to get my hands on this Buddha Hand plant. Mind you, it isn't that easy to find. Lemon, lime and kaffir lime plants are easily available but not this particular type of citron. So when I saw it on sale at the market, I quickly bought it. I will be planting it in the Herb Garden soon.
For your information, Buddha's hand (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis) or fingered citron, is a fragrant citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections. This plant is said to have originated from Northeastern India or China.
LINK

VERSI BAHASA MELAYU
Saya bernasib baik kerana dapat beli pokok Buddha Hand.  Untuk makluman semua, pokok ini bukan mudah dibeli seperti pokok lemon, limau kasturi dan limau purut.  Bila saya nampak pokok ini dijual di pasar, saya beli satu untuk ditanam di Taman Herba kolej.
Buddha Hand (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis) atau fingered citron berasal dari keluarga citron.  Pokok ini berasal dari India atau Cina.

RE-GROWING GREEN ONIONS

Green onions are easy to re-grow. After you use them up, save the bottom part. Just stick them into some water and they will re-grow. Give them fresh water every few days. The green onions can be planted in the soil outside but you can also just keep them in your kitchen and keep re-growing them. This will give you an endless supply.
LINK

VERSI BAHASA MELAYU
Daun bawang senang ditanam semula.  Selepas anda guna untuk memasak, simpan bahagian bawah.  Rendam dalam air dan ianya akan tumbuh semula.  Tukar air setiap hari.  Daun bawang juga boleh ditanam dalam tanah.

RE-GROWING CELERY

I love blogging about herbs and I know that there are some of my visitors who love to read such posts. Well! Today I would like to share with you something that I learnt about celery. It seems that with some luck you can re-grow them. All you need to do is to cut off the bottom end of the whole bunch. Soak it in water overnight and plant it (cut side up) in fertile soil. Water for the first few days and within a couple of weeks you will see roots and stalks start regrowing!
The celery will grow a brand new top to be cut and used. After re-growing celery, you can cut and plant the bottom again for more new growth from the top.
LINK LINK

VERSI BAHASA MELAYU
Saya suka blog tentang herba dan tahu ada pelawat yang minat baca.  Hari ini saya ingin kongsi bersma anda sesuatu tentang celery (daun saderi).  Untuk makluman semua, bahagian batang saderi yang dipotong dapat tumbuh semula kalau ditanam.  Anda hanya perlu memotong bahagian bawah saderi, rendam dalam air untuk satu malam dan tanam dalam tanah yang subur.  Jirus untuk beberapa hari dan dalam masa dua minggu, anda akan nampak akar dan pucuk.

GIFTS FROM NATURE

When I have some free time, I would take a few of my students to the herb garden and teach them about the medicinal uses of the plants there. At the same time, I get them to help me harvest the herbs to be used for medicinal baths. In this picture, you can see my student, Solihin, is taking a look at the leaves of the Durian Belanda or Soursop (Annona muricata) plant. The leaves have a strong and pungent odour. The Malays use it to prevent rat infestation in the house. Soursop leaves are also believed to help ward off evil spirits and black magic. Besides being used as a deterrent for rats and as a talisman, these leaves have numerous health benefits.

• The leaf decoction is effective for head lice and bedbugs. 
• The crushed fresh leaves can be applied on skin eruptions to promote healing.
• Mashed leaves are used as a poultice to alleviate eczema and other skin problems and rheumatism.
• Decoction of leaves used as compresses for inflammation and swollen feet

VERSI BM

Bila saya ada masa lapang, saya akan bawa beberapa pelajar ke Taman Herba untuk mengajar mereka tentang penggunaan herba untuk rawatan.  Pada masa yang sama, mereka membantu saya untuk memetik herba untuk digunakan sebagai ramuan Mandi herba.  Dalam gambar ini, Solihin tengah mengkaji daun pokok durian belanda (Annona muricata).  Daun ini dipercayai dapat menghalang serangan makhluk halus dan ilmu sihir.  Selain daripada digunakan untuk menghalau tikus dan sebagai penghalang ilmu hitam, daun durian belanda digunakan untuk merawat kutu, penyakit kulit, reumatisme dan bengkak kaki.

My boys are looking at the Assam Jawa or Tamarind plant in this picture. The leaves of the tamarind plant are also believed to help ward off evil spirits and black magic.Tamarind leaves are used in herbal tea for reducing malaria fever. Crushed Tamarind leaves in water is used to treat inflamed parts of the body. When the leaves are made into a poultice (crushed and added with a bit of water) which is said to be effective for treating arthritis and reducing swelling in joints and was also used to treat a variety of skin disorders.

VERSI BAHASA MELAYU
Dalam gambar ini [elajar saya sedang tengok pokok Asam Jawa.  Daun asam jawa dipercayai dapat menghalang serangan makhluk halus dan ilmu sihir.  Ia juga digunakan sebagai teh herba untuk merawat demam malaria.  Daun yang dihancur dan ditambah dengan sedikit ari boleh merawat bengkak badan, arthritis dan sendi yang bengkak.  Ia juga digunakan merawat penyakit kulit.

Here you see Solihin and me with the basket of herbs that he has helped me to gather from the Herb Garden.
VERSI BM
Solihin dan saya dengan daun-daun yang dipetik dari Taman Herba.

A total of 13 types of herbs were gathered from the short visit to the Herb Garden.
(Sebanyak 13 jenis herba dipetik dari Taman Herba)

Later I packed the leaves together with another 15 types that I had harvested earlier in the morning.These leaves will be given to my colleagues who have requested for them. They will use them for herbal baths. It is nature's gift to us humans.

LINK

VERSI BAHASA MELAYU
Selepas daun dipetik, saya telah bungkus semua itu bersama 15 jenis yang dipetik pada awal pagi.  Daun-daun ini akan diberikan kepada rakan sekerja untuk dijadikan ramuan Mandian Bunga.  Ia merupakan hadiah dari alam.

RANGOON CREEPER

Common names:  Rangoon Creeper, Chinese honeysuckle, Combretum indicum, Akar Dani (Malay)
Scientific name: Quisqualis indica.
Uses

The plant is used as an herbal medicine. Decoctions of the root, seed or fruit can be used as antihelmintic to expel parasitic worms or for alleviating diarrhea. Fruit decoction can also be used for gargling. The fruits are also used to combat nephritis. Leaves can be used to relieve pain caused by fever. The roots are used to treat rheumatism.

LINK

ULAM FRESH FROM THE HERB GARDEN

Once in a while, my colleague and I will pluck a few herbs from the Herb Garden and bring them along with us to the college canteen so that we can eat them as Ulam (Salad) together with our lunch.
Yesterday we plucked Kaduk, Sambung Nyawa and Assam Gelugor leaves. We plucked a lot so that other lecturers could also enjoy them.
Hey! Eating ulam is said to help one to maintain youthful looks. So it is worth the while to eat raw vegetables regularly.

ULAM DARI TAMAN HERBA
Sekali-sekala, Puan Kamariah dan saya akan memetik daun herba dari Taman herba dan bawa ke Kantin untuk dimakan sebagai ulam.
Semalam, kami memetik daun Kaduk, Sambung Nyawa dan Daun Asam Gelugor.  Kami memetik lebih supaya pensyarah dan staf lain dapat juga menikmatinya.
Makan ulam akan membantu kita awet muda. Sebab itu berbaloilah makan ulam selalu!

CUCUMBER JUICE

My friend and I bought some cucumbers from the market last weekend as they were cheap. However both of us did not manage to make use of the cucumbers to do any cooking. My friend even gave hers to me. What was I going to do with so many? Then I got an idea. Why not make cucumber juice! So I sprung into action. I washed the cucumbers, took some lemons from the fridge and also my tub of honey. Then I put the cucumber into the blender and pureed them. After that I sieved the puree as I only wanted the juice. Next I added lemon juice and a few tablespoons of honey.

RECIPE FOR CUCUMBER JUICE

Ingredients for 4 persons:

5 - 6 cucumbers

4 cups of water

3 lemons

3 - 5 tablespoons of honey.


Directions:

- Pour 2 cups of water into blender. Chop up cucumber and blend until it is pureed.

- Sieve the pureed cucumber and pour the juice into a jug.

- Squeeze in the lemons and add honey, depending on how sweet you want your drink.

- Serve over ice with cucumber slices as garnish.

GOLDFISH PLANT

I wanted to make my garden more cheerful and bought a couple of new plants from my regular florist. The Goldfish Plant above is now sitting prettily on my shoe rack. Look closely at the flowers and you will see that they bear a resemblance to goldfish. Hence the name.

Common name: Columnea, Goldfish Plant
Scientific name: Columnea gloriosa
Family: Gesneriaceae, Gesneriad

VERSI BM
Saya ingin menceriakan taman rumah saya dengan beberapa pokok bunga yang dibeli dari pasar.  Pokok Ikan Emas (Goldfish Plant) di atas diletak di rak kasut saya.  Kalau anda tengok dengan lebih teliti, bunga-bunga mirip bentuk ikan emas.

GLOXINIA

These are pictures of my latest acquisition for my garden, the beautiful Gloxinia plant. Gloxinia flowers have the floral meaning of the gentility of love at first sight. So if you receive this flower from someone, it could mean that he or she has fallen in love with you at first sight. In my case, I bought it myself.

SABAH SNAKE GRASS DRINK

A while back there was all this rage for Sabah Snake Grass. In Chinese traditional medicine, the Sabah Snake Grass (优遁草,Clinacanthus nutans) is used to ease of inflammatory conditions.
Then word got around that it was a miracle cure for cancer.
Here is the story of how the Sabah Snake Grass found fame as a herbal cure for cancer:
In April 2011, the Malaysia Chinese newspaer Kwong Wah Press reported that Mr Liu of Taiping in the state of Perak was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphatic cancer in 2008.
A doctor advised chemotherapy for him. But it cost 50,000 ringgit and there was only 1% chance of survival. Mr Liu turned it down as he planned to use the sum of money for his children’s education.
As he had heard that the Sabah Snake Grass was good for inflammatory treatment, he tried it out.
Initially, he took about 40 leaves and his condition improved. He then increased his intake to 80 leaves.
After about 2 weeks, his condition improved significantly. He revisited the doctor. And the doctor diagnosed him as 96% recovered. The news together with the photo of Mr Liu’s before/after condition convinced many cancer patients in Malaysia to try the Sabah Snake Grass. From then on, Mr Liu himself started to introduce Sabah Snake Grass to others.He claimed that he has saved about 1000 people with the humble Sabah Snake Grass.
LINK
It was because of all the publicity surrounding this plant that I had people contacting me whether I had this plant in the Herb Garden. It was after all the enquiries that I started looking for this plant and thankfully my news vendor got some for me to plant. Now there are only two pots of Sabah Snake Grass in the Herb Garden. Once in a while, I would pluck a few leaves and eat them raw and believe me, they are really bitter.

My friend Annie posted a picture of a processed Sabah Snake Grass which has been made into a drink in my Facebook and I am reproducing the picture here.
For those of you in Malaysia who are interested to get this drink, please click the link below to look for the outlets where you can purchase the drink which comes in a box of 30 sachets.
LINK
https://www.facebook.com/notes/anti-cancer-sabah-snake-grass-clinacanthus-nutans/outlets-to-purchase-ssg-tea-or-fresh-leaves/390278787675993

PARSLEY

Last weekend, I got 2 big bunches of parsley for the price of RM1. Very cheap, right?
Now the problem was what to do with so much parsley. I couldn't use all of them to make soup. So, I turned to the internet to look for herbal recipes so that I can make pots of the stuff and feed them to my friends and students in the college.
Find two recipes, I did. Both were for detoxifying and cleansing the kidneys. It appears that parsley detoxifies the kidney by flushing toxins out, and is beneficial in the treatment and prevention of kidney stones. This herb contains a compound named Apoil, which has now been isolated and used in medication to treat kidney ailments and kidney stones.

Well everyone, I am sharing the recipes I found with you in this blog.

RECIPE FOR PARSLEY TEA
To make a Parsley tea, place 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley into a pot with the lid on. Heat the water to almost boiling, then turn off the heat. Let it sit for fifteen minutes, then strain the parsley out and enjoy the tea.

RECIPE FOR KIDNEY CLEANSER JUICE
Just throw all the ingredients together in the juicer, then drink! You can also use a blender if you want it to be more like a smoothie.

Ingredients
4 Stalks Celery
3 Sprigs Parsley
1 Cucumber
Half a lemon
Water


LINK

TRUMPET PITCHER

COMMON NAME: Trumpet pitcher, Pitcher plant

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Sarracenia Stevensii

REPLACING DEAD MAHKOTA DEWA PLANT

Last weekend I went to the Farmer's Market in Ipoh to look for a Mahkota Dewa (God's Crown) plant. It was to replace the one that was planted by the former principal, Puan Siti Arfah bt Ibrahim, a couple years ago. I managed to buy one at RM30. Two years ago, I paid about RM90 for a plant but since then the price had gone down.

This is the dead Mahkota Dewa plant in front of the library. Now this is how it looks like. Tried I did to save it but was not successful.

I got help from one of the gardeners, Encik Ismail, in the school to help me plant the Mahkota Dewa in the Herb Garden. The location for the plant was changed as my colleague and I figured that it was not too suitable for this particular plant.

Encik Ismail planting the Mahkota Dewa in the Herb Garden.

After Encik Ismail had done the planting, I got my student Vasan to remove the signage for the plant from the old spot.

You can see Vasan with the signage that he had pulled out from the old spot.

Vasan then helped me to place the signage at the new spot.

Mission accomplished!!!

INFORMATION ABOUT MAHKOTA DEWA (Phaleria macrocarpa)
Common names: Mahkota dewa, simalakama, God's Crown
Family: ThymelaeaceaeUses
Used in as a medicinal plant for various diseases, such as cancer, gout, tumors, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus.
LINK

GAHARU

 Gaharu plants at Gopeng Gaharu Valley

 Gaharu seedlings

The gaharu or agarwood was a much sought after plant by ancient Chinese emperors, royal families, noblemen and the rich for its medicinal, fragrant and spiritual purposes.
There are claims that extracts from gaharu contained anti-carcinogen, anti-oxidant, anti-aging, and anti-diabetic agents. It is also said to be a cure for erectile dysfunction.
The leaves of this plant contain high levels of anti-aging, anti-cancer properties. Traditionally, Gaharu was used for strengthening the heart, reducing blood sugar, lowering blood pressure and stabilizing the nervous system. Also helps to improve sleep, anti-aging, promotoes beauty, eliminate flatulence and expels oils.

MONEY TREE (PACHIRA AQUATICA)

Pachira Aquatica

A money plant tree, also known as the money tree, is a very special type of tree that can be grown inside your home. It is believed that a money tree will bring you good luck, good fortune, wealth and prosperity. It enjoys a very strong reputation for causing great things to happen. The money tree is said to bring good fortune and prosperity to it’s owner.

The money plant tree is often used in a room that is missing (or is very low in) an element of feng shui. It is said that it can balance out a room that is missing one of five elements. You can read more about it atMoney Tree Feng Shui.

Money trees have grown in popularity as great gift ideas. A money plant tree would make a great gift for those celebrating a new beginning. Find out the many occasions that a pachira plant would be a great gift at Money Tree Gift.

The pachira aquatica (money tree) can grow up to 7′ tall to 3′ wide. It is a very attractive addition to your home or business with five trunks, or bases, braided together. It has shiny green leaves and smooth green bark. The leaves, flowers and nuts that the plant produces are all edible. The nuts, some say, taste similar to peanuts.

Whether you are looking to find the money tree history, where to buy money trees, money tree giftinformation or money tree care; we hope you find it all here.

May your new money plant tree bring you, or someone special, the good fortune you deserve!

Source: http://www.moneyplanttree.com/