Urban landscape Planning

Landscape architecture improves urban spaces and the quality of life of the people living and working in those spaces. It promotes sustainability and helps create healthier, more beautiful and more livable neighborhoods. It fights pollutants and encourages city dwellers to spend time outside, which is better for their health and for the community. Its value to society is greater than many can imagine and should be celebrated by the population of every town, city, and country. Landscape architects are involved in the designing of spaces that “creates and enables life between the buildings”.

Flora and Fauna

Forest area in Peninsular Malaysia consists of tropical rainforest. The structure of the low-land forest in Peninsular Malaysia is layered. The layer consisting of scrawny trees, major crown, plant ground and plants that grow on the land surface. Trees at the scrawny layer can reach a height of 60m to 70m. 

Most of these trees are from the Dipterocarpaceae and Leguminosae family. Diterocarpaceae is often associated with commercial timber trees such as balau, cengal, kapur, keruing, meranti, merawan, mersawa and seraya. The main crown layer consists of various plants from different family such as, kedondong, kandis, penarahan and kelat with the height of between 20m and 40m. On the ground, there are small trees and palm which thrives under the crown. In the forest ground, there are seedlings, palms and herbs.

Tropical rainforest in Malaysia can be divided into two classes which are the mixed forest and single dominant forest. Mixed forest like the dipterokarpa forest consists of various plants from different families while single dominant forest is visible in species like lime single dominant forest (dryobalanops aromatica) in Kanching, Selangor. It is a mixture of different species in terms of the composition of the flora and it changes according to habitat.

Based on the elevation above sea level, this forest can also be classified as flat dipterokarpa forest, hill dipterokarpa forest, top dipterokarpa forest, oak forest and mountain ericaceous forest. Dipterokarpa is a group of trees of the dipterokarpa family which exist in the canopy layer of the forest and the major crown part of the forest. Dipterokarpa forest covers all forest or land at the foot of the hill with the height of up to 30m. Hill Dipterokarpa Forest is forest on the hills between the heights of 30m and 762m, while forests between the heights of 762m and 1200m are top dipterokarpa forest. Oak forest is between the heights of 1200m to 1500m. Forest above 1500m is known as mountain ericaceous forest. 

The forest covers a land area of 5.79 million hectares which is 44 percent of the land area of the Peninsular, with 4.89 million hectares of which are forest reserves. Sarawak still retains 80 percent of its forest with products from the forests which remains at 6 million hectares and 1 million hectares are forest reserves. In Sabah, 4.7 million hectares or 63 percent of the total area are covered by forests with an area of more than 3.6 million hectares of forest reserves or about 49.1 percent of the area of Sabah.

Malaysia’s rainforest is the habitat to the biological diversity of flora and fauna from the smallest microscopic organisms and bacteria and to the largest species such as mammals, fish and birds. Todate, there are more than 17,631 species of plants which include 377 algae, 1,387 briofit (prophytes), 1,600 paku pakis or ferns, 61  gimnospirm, 4,180 monokot (monocots) and 10,026 dikot (dicots) have been recorded. The fauna species recorded include 480 mammals, 742 birds, 242 amphibian, 567 reptiles, 590 freshwater fish, 1,967 butterflies and 1,073 leaf beetles or kumbang daun. Among the mammalian species which live in the forest in Malaysia are the orang utans, tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, tapirs, wild buffaloes, foxes, leopards, bears and two types of deer namely sambar and kijang. Tiger is the world’s largest cat species and is found only in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia. It comes from the family of Felidae in carnivorous order. The Siberian Tiger is the largest subspecies 

and can grow up to 3.3 metres long and weighs 300kg, while the Sumatra Tiger is the smallest subspecies with an average size of 2.4 metres long and weigh 120 kg. Other special animal that can be found in Malaysia is “monyet belanda”. In addition, there are nearly 600 kinds of birds which are recorded in the Peninsular Malaysia and 580 species in Borneo.

Besides land animals, there is also the existence of fresh water fish species. Freshwater fish is among the famous fish in Malaysia and it consists of Arowana, silver catfish, tilapia, carp, toman and snakehead. The habitat of deep sea fish in Malaysia is very attractive with a variety of fishes such as lionfish, also known as the zebrafish and clown fish. Coral reefs that have existed for more than 450 million years have become the richest marine ecosystem. It is the habitat for more than a million marine living species. The fish density in the area is 100 times higher compared to the wide sea. Malaysia is recognised as one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries of the world which have outlined the direction in sustaining and conserving biodiversity in the country through the National Biodiversity Policy in 1998.

 Benefits of Fruit Tree

Fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the term "fruit tree" is limited to those that provide fruit for human food. Types of fruits are described and defined elsewhere (see Fruit), but would include "fruit" in a culinary sense, as well as some nut-bearing trees, such as walnuts.

Scientific study and the cultivation of fruits is called pomology, which divides fruits into groups based on plant morphology and anatomy. Some of those groups are pome fruits, which include apples and pears, and stone fruits, which include peaches/nectarines, almonds, apricots, plums and cherries.

Durian

Durian is the undisputed king of fruit. Crack open its thorny green husk, and you'll find several yellow or red nuggets of custard-like pulp that melts in your mouth.

Named in some regions as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour, and thorn-covered rind. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimeters (12 inches) long and 15 cm (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs 1 to 3 kilograms (2 to 7 pounds). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species.

Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance, whereas others find the aroma overpowering and unpleasant. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odor, which may linger for several days, led certain hotels and public transportation services in Southeast Asia to ban the fruit. However, the nineteenth-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace described its flesh as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds". The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and it is used to flavour a wide variety of savoury and sweet desserts in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked.

Musang King (D197) is the most popular durian breed from Malaysia, rendered in Chinese as "Mao Shan Wang" (猫山王), which is usually the priciest of all cultivars. The origin of the name “Musang King” dates back to the 80s, when a man named Tan Lai Fook from Raub, Pahang stumbled upon a durian tree in Gua Musang, Kelantan. He brought the tree branch back to Raub for grafting, and this new breed attracted other cultivators. The cultivar was named after Gua Musang, its place of origin, while the Chinese name references the palm civet, the Malay meaning of musang. Musang King is known for its bright yellow flesh and is like a more potent or enhanced version of the D24. Musang King is also the preferred cultivar in Singapore and Vietnam.

Mangosteen

Queen of Fruits, and the Food of the Gods, Mangosteen is the sweet and tangy fruit grown in various parts of South-East Asia like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. It also happens to be the national fruit of Thailand. Purple in color, the fruit has a white fleshy pulp, segmented with seeds.

The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary. Seeds are both almond-shaped and -sized.

Rambutan

Rambutan taxonomic name: Nephelium lappaceum) is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia.

Rambutan trees can be (producing only staminate flowers and, hence, produce no fruit), female (producing flowers that are only functionally female) or hermaphroditic (producing flowers that are female with a small percentage of male flowers).

 6 Tips for Beginner Plant Lover

1. Soil
Soil is a living organism that nurtures plants and as such is critical to a thriving garden. Decide on a good spot for the garden and then dig in! Chop up and remove all grass and weeds. With a hoe, shovel, or metal rake, loosen the soil, turning it and pulling out rocks, sticks, and other matter.

2. Light
Depending on the size of your yard and how it is situated, you may not have much choice when it comes to light. If your garden gets at least six hours of full sun every day, you can plant vegetables and flowers requiring full sun. If you get sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon, buy plants that do well in half, or partial, shade.

3. Plants
Flowers fall into two general categories: annuals and perennials. Annuals last only for the season, while perennials come back season after season, going dormant during the freezing winter and then poking up in the spring. Biennials last for two seasons.

4. Water
All gardens need water. Unless you live in the dessert or rain forest, your garden will need about an inch of water a week during the growing season. Water the garden at least three times a week, giving it a good soak.

5. Fertilizer
Flowers and many vegetables benefit from monthly fertilizing. Fertilizers add nutrients including the two most crucial for a garden: nitrogen, which promotes leaf growth, and phosphorous, which helps with root health.

6. Mulch

Every good gardener extols the virtues of mulch. You can buy mulch, usually as wood chips, or make your own from grass clippings and leaf litter.

At our site, we do have experienced staffs watering and clean the inspects of the plant every day. To ensure plant and tree quality in our garden is grow in a healthy condition and can reach the level of wholesale plant and tree supplier. Great controlling of the volume water and pest and critical. We are focus or natural product, so we are focus on the R&D plant and tree towards improvement on durability, service life and utilisation of wood resources and ligno-cellulosic materials available for producing various high quality/value-added products.

We we do

• To offer the widest selection of high quality ornamental plants such as: palms, trees, bamboos, bonsai, shrubs, climbers, ferns to the green industry.

• To provide educational information to help the community appreciate the beauty of plants and understand the critical role they play in our ecosystem.

• To provide information to our customers so they can make informed, environmentally sound decisions about their landscape project.
  

• To enhance the community to seek out more info about plants
  

• To build strong relationship with green community

We are committed to the market and promote greener living lifestyle and values of plants through progressive, responsive and proactive community services and business dealing.
We value our employees, partners, customers and public to foster an environment that provides the necessary resources to achieve this vision.

Landscape

The natural features of a landscape

Landscape generally refers to both natural environments and environments constructed by human beings. In common usage however, a landscape refers either to all the visible features of an area of land (usually rural), often considered in terms of aesthetic appeal, or to a pictorial representation of an area of countryside, specifically within the genre of landscape painting When people deliberately improve the aesthetic appearance of a piece of land—by changing contours and vegetation, etc.—it is said to have been landscaped.

the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.

The discipline of landscape science has been described as "bring[ing] landscape ecology and urban ecology together with other disciplines and cross-disciplinary fields to identify patterns and understand social-ecological processes influencing landscape change".

Malaysia is a Megadiverse country, of which two thirds is covered in forest which is believed to be 130million years old. It is composed of a variety of types, although they are mainly dipterocarp forests. There are an estimated 8,500 species of vascular plants in Peninsular Malaysia, with another 15,000 in the East. The forests of East Malaysia are estimated to be the habitat of around 2,000 tree species, and are one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, with 240 different species of trees every hectare.

Importance of greener city

Trees and vegetation provide beauty and benefits to city residents. Trees along streets and in parks, around homes and businesses and in natural areas throughout the city provide improved air and water quality, savings from decreased heating and cooling costs and increased property resale values. Urban greenery provides opportunities for recreation and makes neighbourhoods more pleasing.

The greening of urban Malaysia has focused primarily on beautification and has mainly been the province of horticulturists, landscapers, nursery workers, town planners and architects, with negligible inputs from foresters. Perhaps for that reason, the term “landscaping” has been used more widely than “urban forestry” by government and private institutions, politicians, stakeholders, academicians and the public. However, this does not mean that tree planting has not been given a priority in
Malaysia’s cities. This article highlights the development of urban tree planting in Malaysia from a historical perspective and outlines some challenges and prospects for its continued development. The first well-planned greening programme in Malaysia began in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur in 1973 with the establishment of the Beautification Unit under the Beautification Programmes of Kuala Lumpur (Ayoub, 1989). In 1979, the unit was upgraded into a department. Today it is known as the Landscape and Urban Cleansing Control Department.

Landscape gardens

The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and members of the Imperial Family, built for pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate gardens created by scholars, poets, former government officials, soldiers and merchants, made for reflection and escape from the outside world. They create an idealized miniature landscape, which is meant to express the harmony that should exist between man and nature.

A typical Chinese garden is enclosed by walls and includes one or more ponds, scholar's rocks, trees and flowers, and an assortment of halls and pavilions within the garden, connected by winding paths and zig-zag galleries. By moving from structure to structure, visitors can view a series of carefully composed scenes, unrolling like a scroll of landscape paintings.

The earliest landscape literature

Possibly the earliest landscape literature is found in Australian aboriginal myths (also known as Dreamtime or Dreaming stories, song lines, or Aboriginal oral literature), the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia. All such myths variously tell significant truths within each Aboriginal group's local landscape. They effectively layer the whole of the Australian continent's topography with cultural nuance and deeper meaning, and empower selected audiences with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Australian Aboriginal ancestors back to time immemorial.

Nurseries grow plants in open fields, on container fields, in tunnels or greenhouses. In open fields, nurseries grow decorative trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials. On a containerfield nurseries grow small trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, usually destined for sales in garden centers. These have proper ventilation, sunlight etc. Plants may be grown by seeds. The most common method is by cutting plants/plant cuttings. These can be taken from shoot tips or from roots etc. By these methods plants are grown in nurseries and gardens. Nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired age. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries, which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries, which supply the needs of institutions or private estates. Some will also work in plant breeding. Some of them specialize in one phase of the process: propagation, growing out, or retail sale; or in one type of plant: e.g., groundcovers, shade plants, or rock garden plants. Some produce bulk stock, whether seedlings or grafted, of particular varieties for purposes such as fruit trees for orchards, or timber trees for forestry. Some produce stock seasonally, ready in springtime for export to colder regions where propagation could not have been started so early, or to regions where seasonal pests prevent profitable growing early in the season. The number of years spent in the nursery seedbed by any particular lot of planting stock is indicated by the 1st of a series of numbers. The 2nd number indicates the years subsequently spent in the transplant line, and a zero is shown if indeed there has been no transplanting. A 3rd number, if any, would indicate the years subsequently spent after a second lifting and transplanting. The numbers are sometimes separated by dashes, but separation by plus sign is more logical inasmuch as the sum of the individual numbers gives the age of the planting stock.

Seedlings vary in their susceptibility to injury from frost. Damage can be catastrophic if "unhardened" seedlings are exposed to frost. Frost hardiness may be defined as the minimum temperature at which a certain percentage of a random seedling population will survive or will sustain a given level of damage. The physiological condition of seedlings is reflected by changes in root activity. This is helpful in determining the readiness of stock for lifting and storing and also for out planting after storage. Seedling moisture content can be increased or decreased in storage, depending on various factors including especially the type of container and the kind and amount of moisture-retaining material present. When seedlings exceed 20 bars PMS in storage, survival after outplanting becomes problematical. The Relative Moisture Content of stock lifted during dry conditions can be increased gradually when stored in appropriate conditions.

Whether in the forest or in the nursery, seedling growth is fundamentally influenced by soil fertility, but nursery soil fertility is readily amenable to amelioration, much more so than is forest soil.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are regularly supplied as fertilizers, and calcium and magnesium are supplied occasionally. Applications of fertilizer nitrogen do not build up in the soil to develop any appreciable storehouse of available nitrogen for future crops. Phosphorus and potassium, however, can be accumulated as a storehouse available for extended periods. The size and shape and general appearance of a seedling can nevertheless give useful indications of PSPP. In low-stress outplanting situations, and with a minimized handling and lifting-planting cycle, a system based on specification for nursery stock and minimum morphological standards for acceptable seedlings works tolerably well.

Landscapes are the visible features of a piece of land, its topography, and how they combine with natural or man-made features, usually considered in terms of its aesthetic appeal. Landscape includes physical elements of geophysically defined landforms, such as water bodies such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, ponds, and oceans, biological elements of land cover, including native vegetation, and human elements, including different forms land use, buildings and structures, and temporary elements such as lighting and weather conditions. Landscapes combine their physical origins and cultural overlays of human presence, often created over thousands of years, reflecting the living synthesis of people and places that are central to local and national identities. The characteristics of the landscape help define the self-image of the people who live in it, as well as the sense of place that distinguishes an area from others. It is the dynamic background of people's lives. Landscapes can be varied, such as farmland, landscape parks, or wilderness. Earth has a wide variety of landscapes, including polar icy landscapes, mountainous landscapes, vast arid desert landscapes, island and coastal landscapes, heavily forested or wooded landscapes, including past boreal forests and rainforests, and temperate and tropical agricultural landscape. tropics. The activity of modifying the visible features of an area of ​​land is called landscaping.

There are multiple definitions of what constitutes a landscape, depending on the context. In common usage, however, landscape refers to all visible features of a piece of land (usually rural), usually considered in terms of aesthetic appeal, or to the pictorial representation of a rural area, especially in In the genre of landscape painting. When one deliberately improves the aesthetic appearance of a piece of land - by changing contours and vegetation etc. - it is said to have been landscaped, although the result may not constitute a landscape by some definitions.

Geography of Malaysia

It all started when…

The geography of Malaysia includes both the physical and the human geography of Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country made up of two major landmasses separated by water—Peninsular Malaysia to the west and East Malaysia to the east—and numerous smaller islands that surround those landmasses. Peninsular Malaysia is on the southernmost part of the Malay Peninsula, south of Thailand, north of Singapore and east of the Indonesian island of Sumatra; East Malaysia comprises most of the northern part of Borneo island, and shares land borders with Brunei to the north and Indonesian Borneo to the south.

Climate

Located near the equator, Malaysia's climate is categorised as equatorial, being hot and humid throughout the year. The average rainfall is 250 centimetres (98 in) a year and the average temperature is 27 °C (80.6 °F).The climates of the Peninsula and the East differ, as the climate on the peninsula is directly affected by wind from the mainland, as opposed to the more maritime weather of the East. Malaysia is exposed to the El Niño effect, which reduces rainfall in the dry season. Climate change is likely to have a significant effect on Malaysia, increasing sea levels and rainfall, increasing flooding risks and leading to large droughts.

Malaysia faces two monsoon winds seasons, the Southwest Monsoon from late May to September, and the Northeast Monsoon from October to March. The Northeast Monsoon brings in more rainfall compared to the Southwest Monsoon, originating in China and the north Pacific. The southwest monsoon originates from the deserts of Australia. March and October form transitions between the two monsoons.

Local climates are affected by the presence of mountain ranges throughout Malaysia, and climate can be divided into that of the highlands, the lowlands, and coastal regions. The coasts have a sunny climate, with temperatures ranging between 23 and 32 °C (73.4 and 89.6 °F), and rainfall ranging from 10 to 30 centimeters (4 to 12 in) a month. The lowlands have a similar temperature, but follow a more distinctive rainfall pattern and show very high humidity levels. The highlands are cooler and wetter, and display a greater temperature variation. A large amount of cloud cover is present over the highlands, which have humidity levels that do not fall below 75%.[3]

The highest temperature was recorded at Chuping, Perlis on 9 April 1998 at 40.1 °C (104.2 °F). The lowest temperature (Official) was recorded at Cameron Highlands on 1 February 1978 at 7.8 °C (46.0 °F). The snowfall was recorded in a year was 1 cm (0.4 in) at Mount Kinabalu, Sabah in 1975 and 1993. The highest rainfall recorded in a day was 608 mm (23.9 in) in Kota Bharu, Kelantan on 6 January 1967. The highest rainfall recorded in a year was 5,687 mm (223.9 in) at Sandakan, Sabah in 2006. Meanwhile, the lowest rainfall recorded in a year was 1,151 mm (45.3 in) at Tawau, Sabah in 1997.[5] The wettest place in Malaysia is Kuching, Sarawak with an average rainfall of 4,159 mm (163.7 in) with 279 days of rain a year. The driest place in Malaysia is in Sitiawan, Perak with average rainfall of only 1,787 mm (70.4 in) a year.

Geology

Malaysia is located on the Sunda shelf, and is tectonically inactive. The oldest rocks in the country date from 540 million years ago, and are mostly sedimentary. The most common kind of rock is limestone that formed during the Paleozoic Era. Limestone that had accreted in East Malaysia during the Tertiary period later eroded, forming basins of sedimentary rocks that are rich in oil and natural gas. The mountain ranges in Malaysia were formed through orogenesis beginning in the Mesozoic era.

The total land area of Malaysia is 329,847 square kilometers (127,350 sq. mi), the 66th largest country in the world in terms of area. It is the only country to contain land on both mainland Asia and the Malay archipelago. Peninsular Malaysia makes up 132,090 square kilometres (51,000 sq mi), or almost 40% of the country's land area, while East Malaysia covers 198,847 square kilometres (76,780 sq mi), or 60%. From the total land area, 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi) or 0.37% is made up of water such as lakes, rivers, or other internal waters. Malaysia has a total coastline of 4,675 kilometres (2,905 mi), and Peninsular Malaysia has 2,068 kilometres (1,285 mi), while East Malaysia has 2,607 kilometres (1,620 mi) of coastline.

Malaysia has the 29th longest coastline in the world. The two distinct parts of Malaysia, separated from each other by the South China Sea, share a largely similar landscape in that both West (Peninsular) and East Malaysia feature coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.

Flora of the Malaysia Rainforest

The flora of the Malaysian rainforest is among the richest in the world. There are several thousand species of vascular plants, including more than 2,000 species of trees, as well as the parasitic monster flower (Rafflesia arnoldii). Numerous varieties of the carnivorous pitcher plants also grow in Malaysia’s forests. One acre (0.4 hectare) of forest may have as many as 100 different species of trees, as well as shrubs, herbs, and (nonparasitic plants that grow on other plants and derive nourishment from the atmosphere). The forest canopy is so dense that little sunlight can penetrate it. As a result, the undergrowth usually is poorly developed and—contrary to popular belief—is not impenetrable. The forests and scrublands are inhabited by a large variety of animal life. Mammals on the peninsula include elephants, tigers, Malayan gaurs (or seladang, massive wild oxen), Sumatran rhinoceroses, tapirs (hoofed and snouted quadrupeds), and many species of deer, including pelandok.

The Flora of Malaysia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 15,500 vascular plants.Malaysia boasts 8,019 species of seed plants: 19 species of Gymnosperms and 8,000 Angiosperms. Globally, Malaysia is ranked 14th in terms of species of vascular plants. The Flora of Malaysia consist of approximately 15,000 species of vascular plant. Peninsular Malaysia has around 8,200 species of vascular plants while places such as Sabah and Sarawak has around 12,000 species. Most Flora can be found in the dense rainforest of Malaysia.

Ixora species Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world, its centre of diversity is in Tropical Asia. Ixora also grows commonly in subtropical climates in the United States, such as Florida where it is commonly known as West Indian jasmine. Other common names include viruchi, rangan, kheme, ponna, chann tanea, techi, pan, siantan, jarum-jarum/jejarum, jungle flame, jungle geranium, and cruz de Malta, among others. The plants possess leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer. Members of Ixora prefer acidic soil, and are suitable choices for bonsai. It is also a popular choice for hedges in parts of South East Asia.

Malaysia is a megadiverse country, with a high number of species and high levels of endemism.These forests contain the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world.The clearing of the Borneo lowland rain forests has caused wildlife to retreat into the upland rain forests inland.