Well, that's good news. Still, not so sure about the claim that they 'like trees as much as we do' - last year the builders dug a tree out of the nearby woodland (about 12 feet high), transported it to the building site (all this at considerable effort), put the tree in a pre-prepared hole, then left it without bedding it in or watering it. It was dead within a few days.

Anyway, I wonder if Mr Lam knows when the project will be completed? Then again, perhaps best to let sleeping dogs lie...

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I'm trying very hard to get an interview...

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LG, that might be elightening. Any response yet? Anyway, it seems the tree might be OK after all...

Received yesterday:

I refer to your email of 14 April 2008 reporting the suspected poisoning of a tree on Lamma, which is within a private lot, Lot 868 in DD 3 Lamma.

Our staff have inspected the tree on 15 April 2008. We were verbally advised by the contractor that termites were found in that tree about aweek ago, and the liquid being injected to the tree is to save the tree.The owner has been requested to advise the current health condition of the tree.

Thank you for your concern for this matter.

Regards Vera LEE

for District Lands Officer/IslandsLands Department

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I've just received a detailed Report on Status of Infested Cotton Tree at Lamma-1 (pdf format, 466KB) from the arboriculturist who was hired by the Lamma-1 developer to save the tree, including before/after photos.

Killing the termites and feeding the tree with nutrients seems to have been a success and it's recovering, growing new leaves now.

Click here to read it.

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Quite a coincidence, Marc Antony!

I saw those works on that iconic cotton tree in the Lammarina today as well. I went inside this afternoon (the foreman let me in) and took some closeup photos. Then they got me in touch with the tree doctor in charge on the phone to find out more, all before I even saw your post above this evening.

Somebody seems to have called the police to complain about the work on the tree, suspecting them trying to kill the tree (again). Removing so much bark from the tree below ground level looked quite worrisome, I have to admit.

It was actually the opposite, the same tree doctor's company at work that saved the tree from termites 3 years ago - Dynamic Source (Horticulture Landscape Management Services) - restoring it to beautiful, fiery red bloom back then and last year. Their are some new leaves and buds on the tree right now, so there's hope for a recovery.

Three of the tree doctor's staff dug up the tree 1 metre deep and removed part of the bark to get rid of a very serious fungal infection, not termites this time. Then they're adding pesticide to fight the fungus and special fertiliser trying to save this quite old and obviously quite vulnerable tree. The drought of the last few months almost finished it off and then it got a fungal infection as well.

The tree doctor promised almost weekly follow-ups trying to nurse the cotton tree back to its former beauty; that's the job they've been hired for again by the developer. They seem very concerned about this tree as it's kind of iconic and a Fung Shui tree for the Lammarina, willing to spend serious cash on keeping it alive. The same arboriculturist co. also works on tree care/consulting contracts for the Govt., certified for the tough British Standard 3998 of tree care:
http://www.trees.org.uk/aa/news/BS3998-2010-What-s-new-28.html
A report about the tree-saving might be available later this year as well, similar to last time (see above, two posts ago, 2008).

And before you ask:
No, nobody has moved into the Lammarina yet - now officially named "Lamma Garden" - swimming pool filled, clubhouse and phase I houses with German appliances ready, trees and shrubbery planted, but it's still "to be finished soon...."

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Nice work spotting this, but has anyone noticed the poisoning happening right under everyones nose? Take a look at one of the closest village houses to the ferry, right above the fishermans village, when i first moved to lamma 2 yrs ago u could only see the top floor, now the whole house is exposed, even the ground floor now has a nice view! i wonder how much rent that is worth?

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In reply to Just Wondering's post about the big cotton tree at Lammarina ... Well, in my opinion the tree is dead and has been for a while. As noted above, Lammarina's management claim that they have been trying to save the tree all along following a termite infestation a few years back. It is perfectly true that they have spent considerable sums of money on the operation, but IMO the landscapers/tree specialists either don't know what they're doing or don't give a damn and are simply milking the job for as much as they can get out of it.

The decking has been done this last week to make everything look nice, but what's the point if the tree is dead? Cotton trees don't live very long in tree terms - they're certainly not like oak trees that live for hundreds of years - so the notion of saving the old tree was dubious from the start. They also grow very quickly, and if they had taken down the old tree a few years ago and planted a young cotton tree it'd already be nearly as big. I hope I'm wrong and the old tree springs to life soon, but I somehow doubt it.

I walk past Lammarina every day and the number of shambolic landscaping/planting operations I have witnessed is beyond count. Most recently (apart from the decking) they laid grass over a considerable area of the site, yet having done so didn't water it (essential for new laid grass) and most of it was almost dead when the recent rains arrived, perhaps saving it for a while.

Around last June (mentioned above) they planted six or seven new, mature trees in the entrance area (replacing perfectly good trees they had planted in the same place the year before), but made a botch of that too. One of them fell down last week (and remains down), and the plastic wrapping that the trees were delivered in remains wrapped around the roots - so the roots hadn't been able to grow. Cowboys.

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The iconic, "lucky" cotton tree of the Lammarina, Lamma-1, Lamma Garden (or whatever it's called these days) on Tannery Beach has long gone, all the expensive tree doctors couldn't save it, unfortunately.

The first tenants have FINALLY moved in a few days ago, May 16! See my picture below, plus Liz's first picture of the move at the YSW ferry pier, plus Mr DickStock's photo, taken just above the luxury housing development. Renovations in nearby houses are in progress, so more tenants might be coming in?

Notice the same bougainvillea as in Liz's photo, my photo was shot from the public ferry pier below the Lammarina.

The VV guy, a friend of ours, was extremely secretive about the new tenants he had just moved in, not even revealing the nationality of the new tenants.

Has anybody met this very first luxury tenants in gated housing in Lamma's history yet?
Nationality? Rent? More tenants coming soon? Can I use the swimming pool? Yes, notoriously and professionally nosey...

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Let's play ghosts at night and scare them away!

The rent a few years ago when it was advertised was $50K-$150K per house, I believe. The 11 (?) houses are sized 2,000sqft each or double.
The bottom price in Lamma-1 back then was less than the current asking rent for some village houses, $68K in Back Street and $50.5K in Yung Shue Long. And that's without any of the gated-community infrastructure of Lamma-1. But the current Lamma-1 rental or sales prices, if it's available at all, are still unknown, having never been locally (or anywhere?) advertised.

Interesting timing as the developer & their mainland partner Agile might make another attempt at getting the Baroque on Lamma development with marina in South Lamma approved later this year. Lamma-1 became kind of an embarrassment, being totally empty for so many years after completion.
The Govt. has made up their mind about building up the ex-Lamma Quarry without a marina. The end of the final ex-Lamma Quarry consultation was May 17, exactly the day the first Lamma-1 tenant moved in!

Coincidence or just another Lammystery?

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