Excursion to Wijaya de Art of The Garden & Mekarsari (part 2)

On our last post, we have mention about Wijaya de Art of the garden and now we are going to continue with the second destination, which is Mekarsari.

Mekarsari, the Amazing Tourism Park that is located at Cileungsi District Km 03, Bogor regency, is not only a center of the agricultural biodiversity of tropical fruit but a laboratory, a cultivation center and a research center of corpse flower as well. It has a collection of tropical fruit plants that are endangered like 'kepel, duwet, menteng and matoa ....etc'.

And as a family tourism park, Mekarsari has many kinds of interesting packages that able to attract visitors, one of them is Green Land Tour package which 'Margriet-Dorothea' followed some time ago. By following the tour package, the visitors have the opportunity to see the orchards like salacca, starfruit, durian or they could feel the sensation of picking melons from the tree at the greenhouse site of melon.

Sound interesting, ya? Ok, here's a glance overview.

Corpse flower shown at the entrance hall of Mekarsari Tourism Park

Orchard touring by mobile carriage.

Picking melon from their plants at the greenhouse site.

Interested in planting fruit? Seeds, young plants or other materials needed can be obtained at the garden center.

As Green Land tour participants , before going home we got a gift packet each containing of a half kilo of salacca in a unique basket, a starfruit, a bottle of 'Mekarsari' juice (you can choose either guava or mango juice), a souvenir from Mekarsari (2 pieces of pens) and a polybag of young plant (the choice is rose apple, guava or avocado plant).

Note:

Pictures taken at Mekarsari Tourism Park, Cileungsi, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia

Excursion to Wijaya de Art of The Garden & Mekarsari (part 1)

A few days ago Margriet and Dorothea, a community forum for florists of Bandung Diocese, went for an excursion together. And the first place we visited was 'Wijaya' de art of the Garden in Citeureup, Bogor. There, we saw rows of green plants as long as the eye could see, only a little bit of flowers such as orchids were at the front, but mostly were foliage. There were some foliage which usually we use to decorate St. Peter Cathedral, such as philodendron, dracaena, green cordyline, anthurium and florida beauty. We also saw caladium, sanseviera, bromelia, aglaonema with lot of variant in color were in nursery there.

But the star of everything there are magnosia and filansia. They look like grass in appearance but softer and cuter. The seller said that they're easy to grow, just hang them to the air, or attach them on the dead tree, they will grow well. These plant also don't need any care and any fertilizer since they live in the air. Ho... ho... sounds good for busy people in the city, right guys?

The gate of Wijaya de art of the garden. Pay attention to the letters of 'wijaya'. They're actually a living plant.

Rows of green young plants are neatly in the nursery.

Here it is, the star among the green plant here, Magnosia and Filansia

When magnosia and filansia attached vertically on galvanised wire, it can be used just like wall for outdoor design. Beautiful!! 

Magnosia or filansia attached to the dead tree. And since it's quite pricey, imagine if you have one, it's alike a ‘money’ tree for you, he...

After selecting the desired green plants, some participants went to the cashier while some others rested on the bench, waiting to board the bus heading to the second destination, Mekarsari.

Well, don't miss our next post ya....

Note:

Pictures taken at Wijaya de art of the Garden, Citeureup, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia

Margriet's Hot Issues: Regeneration!!!

 

I attended Margriet’s meeting yesterday morning. It was the first meeting after Margriet got the new chairwoman from the voting done last month. It began at 10.15 and 22 members were present on the meeting which took place in the building of the Cathedral activity facilities. Not all members could attend coz of some private reasons.

As usual it was opened with a morning pray and then followed with a short speech by Mrs. Diana as the new chairman. And then proceed to choose the right persons who will assist the new chairman in carrying out the tasks of this organization. Finally the newly board members of Margriet formed, ready to implementing new programs. Thanks God.

Regeneration becomes the main issue for Margriet this moment. It is even far more crucial to be solved right away because most of the members are old now, for example the age of our advisor is 73 and the oldest member among us is 76 years old. So, no matter what, the problem of regeneration should be our top priority now. It means that in the near future there will be more trainings or workshop for new members.

For the shake of our beloved Cathedral church, let's support them so that the regeneration in the group of Margriet may be realized soon.

Trip to The Flower Nursery at 'Istana Bunga, Cihideung – Lembang

Still remember I mentioned on my post about Margriet’s 24th anniversary that we’re going to do a trip during the reses time? Well, we did it at last!!! A month ago on March 17, 2012 we finally went together, not all of Margriet members could go but thankfully most of us made it to Cihideung, Lembang. This area has been famous for its agriculture products i.e. veggies, fruits, and of course the flowers,  since it’s located at the mountainous area of West Bandung.

The basic plan was from the church parking lot directly to the villa of Mrs. Melani,  then had a morning coffee break, after that we had a few retreat sessions with pastor Budi, and the last we'd head on to the flower nursery and plantation, then head back to Bandung, all in one day. We arrived at the villa at about nine o’clock, proceeded with morning coffee and of course some gossiping…Since pastor coming late (because of lots of people did confession at church), then we decided to go to the flower nursery instead. Next was the retreat session which took quite a long time (The retreat was divided into 3 sessions…..) After the first session, it’s lunch time already…so we had lunch and continued with session 2 and 3.

It took only a few minutes to go to the flower nursery and plantation since the location is not far from the villa. While walking to there we also enjoyed the fresh air …mmmh …and don’t forget the lush greenery along the way, we city girls rarely see such sceneries so it’s really felt wonderful. The nursery itself specializes in roses. Lots of roses variant are bred here, unfortunately when we came , they had already been harvested a few days ago so all the remaining were the ones that hadn’t bloomed yet… aaaaawwwhhh what a pity ….. Anyhow, let’s think positive!! eventhough only small blooms left, we could still see and learn all the varieties, right?

And here are some of the varieties, clockwise from top left are Aleandra, Zade, Voodoo and Purple roses. I don't know why the last called Purple as the colour is not like purple but shocking pink. It resembles Belavitae rose. The different is that Belavitae is pink roses with hot pink tipped on its petals while Purple is bi-colour roses i.e. soft pink on the base of its petal continued with shocking pink on top. Aleandra roses are not quite different with Voodoo. Aleandra has yellow - orange colour just like the colour of curcuma, while voodoo has light orange colour and its petals are bigger than aleandra.

Overall we had quite a good time there. All of us were busy taking pictures, touching the roses and interrogating the workers on how these roses being cultivated. Strictly none of the roses allowed out the nursery, even the ones that fallen on the ground couldn’t be taken ( yes, one of my friend asked if she could have the fallen one, but failed… well, you’ve tried babe, better luck next time!) after this flower nursery and plantation, we were supposed to headed on to another planter, but running out of time (aaaaaawh again) so we simply went back to the villa.

After finishing the retreat session with Pastor Budi we finally head home at 2 p.m.… Last but not least, taking pictures together before going home. In the middle of the way to Bandung, the rain dropped. Okay, see you on the next trip.

The 24th Anniversary of Margriet

Congratulation to Margriet that has been 24 years old today. It’s such an age of young woman who is blooming showing its beauty.

Starting with morning mass at church of St. Peter Cathedral lead by Pastor Leo van Beurden, OSC.

After the mass, members of Margriet gathered in Simon room at the first floor of the function building. Chit chat each other, drinking coffee, tea or lemon while waiting the others and Pastor to come.

The party opened with opening pray then the chief of Margriet, Mrs. Trees, gave a short speech. She stressed the importance of commitment in a social service/organization like the group of Margriet. Though it doesn't mean that we commit to a person but to God himself. Then the advisor of Margriet, Mrs. Helena, continued that because of the help of God and His mercy, Margriet could be developing as it is today and has become a solid group of floral designers. The last speech was from Pastor Leo. He thanked Margriet for its faithfulness decorating St. Peter Cathedral since it established 24 years ago and hope it will enhance the beauty of the altar decor. At last he prayed, 'May God bless, guide and give healthiness to each members of Margriet and her family. Amen'.

30 minutes passed, then time to blow the candles, eating birthday cake and had spaghetti bolognaise. Truly it was too early to say lunch but not a problem as everybody looked to enjoy. Hmm, yummy. While eating, there was a floral demonstration by Mr. Agusman using garden flowers and foliage such as a kind of ginger flower, kadaga leaf and cordyline leaf. Since we are in the Season of Lent till next month and there will be no marriage during the pre-Easter or in the other word it is a kind of 'time off' month for Margriet. Some members suggested to go somewhere for refreshing, so after a few minutes discussion, then it was decided to go a picnic as well as do reflection. Picnic is going to be held in a rose garden in Cihideung next month. Then the party ended at about eleven o'clock. See ya at the picnic next month.

For all of you who are reading this post, here is the floral demonstration step by step:

1. Prepare 2 containers each containing 2 pieces of wet oasis, then put them horizontally elongated. Prepare the flowers, foliage and accessories  or complements to be used, and placed them all near your working table. Now ready to arranging flowers
2. First place some willow/salix/twigs (painted white and tied into one previously) on the left and right ends of the container. (picture 1)
3. Place 3 medium-sized of phyllo leaves on the left and right outer ends of twigs, and some small foliage on the sidelines of the twigs
4. Fold some cordyline leaves with the help of wire, then put at the center front, and so do the leather leaves and phillo leaves. They formed a circle. (see picture 2) 

5. Place 5 ginger flowers in the middle of the circle as center point of views or focus.
6. Place 6 hydrangea surround the ginger flowers
7. Placed 8-9 gerberas in front and behind the twigs with different height. Perform this on both sides. The shape should be symmetrical so pay attention to the height on the left and right. (picture 3)
8. Place the leaves of kadaga and phyllo at the front below around the container.
9. Cut roses approximately 10-15 cm in height and then put them in groups between the twigs and hydrangea, each for 1 dozen on the left and right.
10. Finally, attach 3 white calla lilies parallel the twigs in different level of height and tilt angles. Because calla lily flower has a quite soft big stem, so be careful when attach it. Once you attach, do not revoke. So make sure it has been attached to the desired place. If you often revoke, it will damage the oasis and the stem. The easiest way is to notice the tip of the flowers and make sure it leads to the angle you want.
11. Cover the visible oasis with foliage such as ruscus and leather leaves. Finished.