6 meters in 2 years!
Happy 2nd birthday, ICHK Forest!
What a great visit to Hong Lok Yuen to see how the trees are doing after their second summer of rains!
Children identifying trees in forest as part of workshop
A few trees had a tumble after Typhoon Saola crashed her way through Hong Kong earlier this month, but the teachers managed to pull them back up and support them with poles and rope, so the trees have re-established and continue to sprout new growth. One of our fig trees (Ficus nervosa) also got attacked by a horde of caterpillars, completely denuding it of its lush leaves, but it is slowly making a comeback.
Shell ginger entrance
In true Miyawaki style, our tallest tree is now almost 6m tall, shooting straight up through the forest! Clammy cherries (Cordia dichotoma) are known to grow fast when they’re happy, but it seems they are all quite happy as most of the cherries are above 3-4m tall, while the rest of the forest is closer to 1.8 – 2m in height. Our camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora) are also growing super strong, with their bamboo-like green trunks standing out amongst the leaves. Overall, the forest feels greener, bushier, and the cluster of Shell Gingers (Alpinia zerumbet) flanking one end of the forest provides an evocative entrance to the space.
Shell Gingers give a beautiful gingery aroma when their pendulous white flowers are in bloom, and their leaves can be used to wrap sticky rice dumplings a.k.a 粽子 (Zongzi).
The forest is also starting to populate itself.
The Hong Kong Abacus Plants (Glochidion hongkongense) and Daphniphyllums all have seeds, and there are several native tree saplings establishing themselves that we definitely didn't plant, including Parasol Leaf Tree (Tanarius macaranga), lots of Glochidions, Mountain Tallow (Sapium discolor) and Creeping Figs (Ficus pumila).
The children continue to visit the forest for activities, such as weeding and biodiversity spotting, although only under adult supervision. There have been birds, caterpillars, butterflies, spiders and treehoppers spotted as well. Although it is likely the most activity will be at night, when frogs, snakes and other creatures may visit.
Learning about different species
We are curious to see how this little forest continues to thrive and grow. We’ll be re-tagging trees later this year to help with identification and doing a few follow-up educational sessions with the students.
See below a snapshot of the forest from the school’s field. Temperature difference is about 3-4 degrees celsius these days.
