Grow Your Own Drugs - James Wong

I had the chance to visit a nursery over the weekend - the horticulture kind, that is - and had a great time checking out plants I have never seen before, not that I've seen many. One of the things I found out is that there are many species of pitcher plants. Guess you knew that already. But more of the nursery later. In the meantime, let's talk about something else, yet still related to plants and flowers.

A few weeks ago, I read with interest a garden creation for Tourism Malaysia that was awarded a gold medal at the recent annual Chelsea Flower Show in London. The rainforest-inspired garden was jointly designed by James Wong and garden designer David Cubero.

The Star two days ago wrote about it again covering a little more information on James Wong and what he does.

James is an ethnobotanist and even has a popular tv show called "Grow Your Own Drugs". According to the dictionary, ethnobotany is the branch of botany concerned with the use of plants in folklore, religion, etc.

James is a Malaysian from Sarawak who has been living in England for twelve years. Wanting to know more about his work and his tv show, I went on to check out You Tube. Surprise! There are many different episodes of the show on You Tube. Below are just three. Check them out. The first one says Part 1 of 3 but I couldn't locate the latter two parts. Anyway, each video is complete in itself so no worries there. The part on goji berries is interesting. You could even grow them in your garden or even in a pot on your balcony. Take a look.

There is more than just planting. Learn how to make bubble-bath salts, potpourri to keep moths away from your clothes, treatment for acne as well as eczema, lozenges for your sore throat and lots more home-remedies from plants and flowers from your garden or even in the wild. Really refreshing knowhow.



In these two videos, James covers flowers and their use for various remedies. Good to know and for enterprising readers, you could even try to make them for your own use. If you love nature and gardening or even home-remedies, you will enjoy these videos.





James has even published a book to share his knowledge. He talks about what's in the book in this video.



Here's where you can buy the book..