the new paradise

After toiling laboriously for many days, I am pleased to say that the garden at my new place is finally more or less complete. All that is required now is patience and time for the plants to recover from shock and to grow and flourish. As usual, the front of the house remains landscaped while the back is more a "nursery" area for my costuses, bromeliads, orchids and various other plants. The side of the house, which is the breeziest and is shaded from the tree canopy overhead, houses various zingibers, orchids, nepenthes and costuses which I got from Aloha Tropical. The backyard area is pretty ideal as it is bright and airy without being subjected to any direct morning or afternoon sun, hence perfect for my passiflora, curcumas and tillandsias. I've also noticed that the bromeliads are beginning to colour up without getting burnt or the need for shade cloth. What I love most about the new place is the tree canopy overhead as it provides much needed shade to the house and garden without it being too stuffy. Every morning, i'll just sit in the terrace and watch the trees and the occasional squirrel scurry around from branch to branch. Even the dogs seem to enjoy the place!

pearl's bromeliad garden

Lyndi organised a visit to Pearl's garden yesterday morning. As you can see, Pearl is mostly into bromeliads, having grown them for many years now. Her collections consists mainly Neoreglias in various hues and sizes. She does have the odd Aechmea, Alcantera and Billbergia lurking somewhere.

Her patch is pristine and orderly, quite the opposite of what I would do, given my love for lush foliage. Still such garden visits are often exciting and a joy to attend as it gives fellow enthusiasts insights into what others grow or create, thus giving them the inspiration to do or change something about their own gardens. Yes, it is to a certain extent, copying, but I see no harm in that. Where the garden is concerned, there is no such thing ownership over landscape creativity. If anything, it is possibly the greatest compliment to get when one learns and gets ideas from your garden.

Then again, all this may be moot for i've yet to see similar gardens around. At the end of the day, everyone gets general ideas about what they want to do, but the end result is always almost different. It boils down to various things like choice of plants, land-size, environment, terrain, arrangement, colour scheme, the use of elements etc. For some, it may even be an opportunity to improve on what they see. For example, I like the layout of the Ginger Gardens at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, but if I had it my way, I would do some things differently. In essence, I get the idea and improve upon it, thus making it my own.

bromeliad landscape part 4

bromeliad landscape part 3

bromeliad landscape part 2

bromeliad landscape part 1