Exora 2007

Nimal PERERA Wattala group corr.

‘EXORA 2007’ horticultural exhibition presented by the Landscaping Designer Gladwin Seneviratne was held at the Exora Garden Design Centre, Enderamulla, Wattala recently.

A large number of garden design models were on exhibit. Lectures, demonstrations and practicals on flower cultivation and garden designing presented by Seneviratne an Agricultural Instructor (Flower Cultivation) of the Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya, Manoj Dissanayake were held.

The chief invitee of the opening, Deputy Director of the Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya, K. N. Yapa said that flower cultivation gives mental satisfaction, exercise and income.

“Today flower cultivation has become a major business. Last year Sri Lanka earned a large amount of foreign exchange through this field,” he said. Deputy Director Yapa paid a special tribute to Gladwin Seneviratne for conducting a valuable exhibition to educate the people.

A group of dissabled soldiers from the Ranaviru Sevana Ragama were among the participants.

Flowers of Sri Lanka:

Let’s grow plants with seeds

Manoj DISSANAYEKE

As plant growers we should focus on the idea of propagation. This is the process of getting several new plants from the mother plant.

There is a relationship between the mother plant and her seedlings. A seedling, which had been cultivated with care for some time, can be used as a mother plant.

This process is a continuous cycle. Through one generation of plants another generation springs up. Plants gain new qualities and form new varieties. Pollination serves for this purpose.

through correct propagating methods you would be able to get a healthy plant which would soon bloom under your care.

Types of propagation

You as plant growers must have experimented with many of these propagation methods. Some methods are simple and easy to practise while others can be grown using only one method. Recognise the best method out of these for your plant and choose it for a healthy growth.

There are three types of propagation methods. They are:

1. Sexual propagation

2. Un-sexual propagation

3. Vegetative propagation

plant cannot be grown using all three types of propagation methods but there are some verities that can be grown using two of these methods. Some plants are grown by using only one of these methods. For such species the demand is more.

However hard it may be to grow, all types of plants are cultivated out of these three methods.

(The writer is the Agriculture Instructor of Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya)

It’s a dog’s life

Life is miserable for stray dogs. Competing for survival. Desperately scavenging for what little food there is. Living by their wits on the streets. Constantly at risk of being hit by vehicles or infected with fatal diseases like rabies and distemper. Their chances of survival are slim.

People in turn are fearful. They are nervous about street dogs, the threat of rabies and dog bites. Whether it is the highly commercialised streets of Colombo or pot holed roads in rural areas, people going about their daily life including businessmen and school children are all affected by the stray dog problem.

The greatest threat by stray dogs is rabies. Incidence of the disease has risen over the past years and now reached endemic status in Sri Lanka.

Statistics reveal that 50,000-60,000 people world over die every year from rabies (Source: World Organisation for Animal Health) and it has been determined that the most important global source of rabies in humans is from uncontrolled rabies in dogs.

The majority of cases reported are from the African and Asian region, which gives Sri Lanka enough reason to mobilise against the spread of this fatal disease that victimises one person in the world every 10 minutes.

Human or canine, the problem is looming large. The solution is obvious. We need to create a safe environment through simple preventive measures like rabies vaccination in order to minimise risks to humans and animals alike.

This is one of the main objectives of ‘Blue Paw Trust’, a local animal welfare organization that is a member of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

‘The ultimate goal is to eliminate canine rabies, and when you eliminate canine rabies in developing areas where it’s such a problem, the number of human rabies death goes down dramatically,’ says Dr. Deborah Briggs, executive director of Alliance for Rabies Control, UK The problem of human rabies is not only costing lives, but also a lot of money.

As a Sri Lanka Health Ministry report points out, ‘the burden of human rabies is increasing, resulting in the increased amount of financial allocations.’ Prevention will therefore save lives and money, and that should be enough motivation for our community.

Nobody wants to see lives lost. Blue Paw trustee, Dr. Nalinika Obeyesekere asserts that, “Children are at greatest risk from rabies. They are most likely to be bitten by dogs, while also more likely to be severely exposed through multiple bites in high-risk sites on the body.

The risk can be eliminated by ensuring adequate animal vaccination and control, educating those at risk, encouraging responsible pet ownership and enhancing access of those bitten by a rabid dog to appropriate medical care.”

In light of these issues Blue Paw Trust has currently embarked on a pilot project, in advance of a full five-year project, with the support of WSPA. Having successfully completed the post tsunami animal rehabilitation work, Blue Paw Trust’s efforts are now concentrated on developing and implementing a comprehensive and sustainable humane dog population and rabies management programme for the Colombo Municipal area.

Shevanthi Jayasuriya, a trustee of Blue Paw, commented that in effect Blue Paw is seeking to directly arrest the spread of rabies in Colombo Municipality through vaccinations while also combating issues such as uncontrolled dog population that contributes to the rabies problem through a comprehensive program including sterilization and public education.

Funded by WSPA and managed by Blue Paw with the cooperation of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), two fully equipped mobile clinics carry out sterilisations and vaccination programs at selected field sites with the assistance of local authorities and community leaders.

The mobile clinics maintain very high standards of hygiene and use state-of-the-art surgical equipment in order to ensure maximum safety for our canine friends.

This pilot program also involves upgrading the existing CMC dog pound, training of pound personnel in humane animal handling, a dog population survey for Colombo, public awareness and education, promoting garbage control, dog registration and other regulatory issues.

With the help of the public, Blue Paw Trust is on a mission to make rabies history in Sri Lanka by increasing awareness of and enhancing prevention and control of the neglected disease.

The Trust’s mission is clear: uplift community life, equip and empower the local veterinary community and enhance welfare for canines.

Flowers: what is the meaning behind them?

Amaryllis - Pride, Pastoral Poetry:

Amaryllis is a monotypic (only one species) genus of plant also known as the Belladonna Lily or naked ladies. The single species, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest region near the Cape. It is often confused with the Hippeastrum, a flowering bulb commonly sold for blooming indoors. It is also known as the “Jersey Lily”, named after the Channel Island, and in turn giving its name to the Jersey born actress Lillie Langtry.