The Bonsai Garden will be Lonely

The bonsai garden is Sir Mody Manglicmot's legacy

Three months ago I went to the U.P. Bonsai Garden to facilitate a Metro Home magazine photoshoot.  A week earlier I asked Mr. Mody Manglicmot if I could feature the garden for the magazine, which he readily said yes. Photographer William Ong spent about 3 hours taking the right photo angles to feature. It took me another couple of days to finish a 600 word article which came out in the February issue. I took the angle of how Sir Mody painstakingly shaped the garden from its former dump site state and turned it to a legacy which he could be proud of. Little did I know that my article would be one of the last made in his lifetime.

We'll miss Sir Mody walking around the garden

Last Tuesday morning, I received news that Sir Mody passed away because of a heart ailment. Wednesday night I went back again to the bonsai garden to attend a tribute mass to the bonsai master.  I was in the company of a lot of Sir Mody's friends who knew him as far back as his school days in Nueva Ecija, his farming and horticultural teacher years in JASMS and his more recent and known stint as the bonsai guru. I realized that in his almost 80 years, he has formed bonds with a lot of people as family man, teacher, colleague, plant enthusiast and as a Christian. Seeing the fruit of his friendships immersed in his 10 year masterpiece, the bonsai garden, was overwhelming.  Seats were filled and the garden was overflowing, Mang Mody's lifetime of memories came alive that night. His legacy was truly inspiring to everyone who came.

The bonsais will be lonely

A lot of people will miss mild mannered Sir Mody.  He will be missed as common fixture in the horticulture and bonsai garden shows. Definitely on my next visit to the bonsai garden, I will miss his personal tours of his bonsais and the other interesting plant collections.  The bonsais and the garden will be lonely without his presence.