Replanted Ficus Elastica is growing at the Goethe Institute Jakarta (Photo by Marco Kusumawijaya, February 9,2010)

The replanted ficus elastica at the Goethe Institute in Menteng, Jakarta, is growing strong! It fell down in October 2009 at about 10:15 after a heavy rain and very strong wind.

“Stuborn love, technology and some money have saved the tree,” said Dewi Noviami, a former programme manager at the Goethe House who has persistently asked her boss to have it replanted.

It was not easy. First all the branches above the height of about  three meters were cut off. Then  a small crane (blue in picture) was rented to lift the remain of  the tree, but it failed. A stronger  one (yellow in picture) was then rented and managed to lift the tree, put it in its original position upright. More than 10 sacks of organic fertiliser were first mixed into the soil beneath and surrounding the base of the tree.

This operation might be the first of such scale to take place in the city.

The Bigger Truck could eventually lift it (Photo by Goethe Institute, 2009)

You get the scale? (Photo by Goethe Institute Jakarta, 2009)

The new shoots springing from the main stock of Ficus Elastica (Local: Karet Kebo). (Photo by Marco Kusumawijaya, Februaty 9, 2010)