Plant a tree today, as a gift for tomorrow

Ahead of Tree Planting Day, the writer is reminded of the pivotal role these silent guardians play - not just in keeping our cities green.

- Chua Mui Hoong

This Sunday is Tree Planting Day and many Singaporeans will be out in force planting saplings or supporting tree planting community events.

I may be far from home, but I can still take part in the event by planting in my garden here in Australia. My partner and I already have thousands of plants all over the house and garden, but there is always room for more.

Plants also frequently need to be rotated, or trimmed and pruned, or transplanted to make room for others.

A pot of lavender I replanted in soil a year ago has grown so large, it now takes over a garden bed, dwarfing the gerbera, coriander and parsley around it. It needs to be uprooted, divided and then transplanted - roots dug up, the plant root system split into two or three clumps, and replanted in two or more locations. This will be my Sunday morning project.

Planting trees and shrubs may be a less familiar activity to many Singaporeans, who live in densely packed, urbanised flats. But tree planting is a vital activity that keeps Singapore green and cool.

Unusually for a city, its green cover has actually improved over the years - from about 36 per cent in the 1980s to over 40 per cent.

TREE PLANTING: A HISTORY Tree planting has been part of Singapore's economic and natural history since colonial times.

In 1877, 11 Para Rubber seedlings were shipped from Kew Gardens and successfully planted in the Singapore Botanic Gardens by its then director Henry James Murton. Those 11 trees are said to be the origin of the rubber trees that launched the rubber industry in the region.

After World War II, the colonial government initiated a tree planting campaign in 1948 to replant roadside trees cut down during the Japanese Occupation.

In 1955, the Singapore Improvement Trust introduced a tree planting programme to foster "greater interest in the well-being of the estate", according to an article in BiblioAsia, a publication from the National Library.