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Growing matters
By Ira Jansz
The members of the Landscapists' Association of Sri Lanka are preparing for the forthcoming Landscape Exhibition to be held at the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress premises on December 12, 13 and 14.

In 1996, one of the courses conducted by the JICA Alumni Association was a course on landscaping by Mr. Kamal Perera, a landscape designer who to this day remains a mentor to many landscapists. At the end of this 3-month course the question was - 'what next?' The idea of forming a Landscapists' Association of Sri Lanka was the brainchild of one of the first batch of participants, Ms. Christine Fernando. She was nominated as the Founder President of the Association. An executive committee was selected, a constitution drawn and registered and the Landscapists' Association of Sri Lanka - LASL was born.

The Association, which started off with around 20 members, is now about 100 strong. Two courses are conducted annually by the Association. Being an eco-friendly organization, the main concern is the environment and the desire to maintain well-laid out gardens. Focusing on this, the Association organized a garden competition among its members at the beginning of this year.

The climax of its activities for the year is ‘Landscape 2003’. Miniature landscaped plots will be designed to a theme at the exhibition, and plots with a water feature look set to be the most popular.

Schools are also participating by designing garden plots for the competition. As was done earlier, this will be worked out on a competitive basis, with a challenge trophy for the winning school.

There will be many trade stalls and plant stalls at Landscape 2003. Garden lovers should not miss this opportunity to pick up landscape objects, 'do it yourself' garden ideas and a chance to enlarge one's own horizons of garden knowledge and skills.

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