Fortune Wish from Something Common [福氣常臨]

(Original articles written for the Newsletter of Hong Kong Gardening Society)

Chinese New Year has just pasted quickly as the impact of coronavirus disease spread across the boundary of Hong Kong.  While someone is blaming bats as a vector of the disease with many other similar virus-based pandemic, traditionally bat is correlated with fortune “福” in Chinese culture due to the same pronunciation of the Chinese name (i.e. “蝠”) of bat.  One may easily find symbols of bat in traditional Chinese decorations, e.g. in Fai-Chun and paper-cut arts.

The roosting fronds (tents) are usually flipped downward

Bats are not rare locally and there are indeed more than 20 species.  The largest and one of the most common species (Short-nosed Fruit Bat; 短吻果蝠; Cynopterus sphinx) can be seen easily at dusk in many parts of Hong Kong, especially around where Chinese Fan Palm 蒲葵 (Livistona chinensis) is growing.  Chinese Fan Palm is a popular palms in Hong Kong.  Although it is classified as an introduced species, its natural distribution is across the whole south-east China.  The palm does not only provide fruits for the bat (some birds as well), most importantly it is also where you can find the bat roosting steadily under the palm-shape fronds.  The bat, however, is picky while choosing a palm for roosting.  It does not prefer ones which are at disturbed areas.  But if you house one Chinese Fan Palm (tall enough for the bat’s own safety) at a quiet corner in your garden, you may be able to provide a good home for this little fortune!

A pair of Short-nosed Fruit Bat under Livistona chinese frond

Chewed and bended fronds

If you do not have a garden, you can try looking for any bitten and bended fronds of the palms that always flipped down – this is how the bat makes for their own protective “tents”.  You may find a solitary bat or a group under a single frond.  Anyway, the palm is more common than the bat (Chinese Fan Palm is planted everywhere – parks, roadside, housing developments - in Hong Kong and also self-seeded) - so it always requires some effort to get fortune.

Just give thanks when we come across it.  Do not eat.

Gift from the birds, gift for the bees [鳥兒給蜜蜂的禮物, 反之亦然]

(Original articles written for the Newsletter of Hong Kong Gardening Society)

Gift from the birds, gift for the bees

Intense buzz usually comes above head when one passes under a tree of Schefflera heptaphylla (Ivy Tree 鴨腳木) in a calm winter day.  This native tree is easy to be recognized due to its palmate

dark green leaves and relative round and dense crown.  Arborists love this tree too, due to their light-coloured smooth bark – comfortable for holding when they are working on slopes for tree/vegetation survey – in contrast to some trees with rough bark.  This evergreen tree is also good for shading and structure.  Most importantly, they are quite available in the market or readily available in your garden – thanks to the birds that bring their seeds in.

Bees working around flowers

Like quite a lot of common native counterparts, Ivy Tree does not have large and showy flowers.  However, the blossom is very attractive if not critical to the survival of many insects in the cold winter, when many of other plants come to dormant and do not flower.  During this period, local beekeepers would collect honey from their bee boxes and package the produce with the name of “Ivy Tree Honey” due to the relatively high percentage of the tree’s nectar.

Tiny flowers of Schefflera

While bee population decline is now a global issue, keeping trees which nourish the insect would be a plus to our garden.  It is important that we should avoid applying pesticide during this period so as not to contaminate the food of them.