For many of us and and our loved ones, March has been punctuated by international conflicts and frightful world news. Thankfully, nature is respite. Despite humanity’s conflicts, this month, in our forests and gardens, nature continues to bring warm yellow sunrises, flowering fruit trees in the afternoon, and moonlit evenings. The gardens momentarily shield us from the chatter of work pressure and overwhelming world events. I’m grateful for the ever-flowing peace plants offer in times of grief, anxiety, and confusion. Even neuroscience studies confirm our brains relax when we gaze at grand tree canopies overhead, slowly walk barefoot through a garden, or breathe in sweet floral aromas.
In this article, I also share excerpts from the Serene Garden from my book,Inflourish: Cebu Garden Designs. I hope this inspires you to briefly escape your phone apps. March in the garden to mellow out. Spend a peaceful day in nature or go build your own version of the Serene Garden.
Ginger is commonly known as a popular spice in delicious dishes like Kinilaw and drinks like Salabat. But for gardeners, landscape designers, and tropical plant enthusiasts, gingers encompass diverse plants from botanical families like Zingiberaceae and Costaceae. Gingers and their relatives can be striking features in Cebu’s potted gardens and footpath borders. You can grow gingers in lush, dense groups along a path. Gingers can grow from 3 to 6 feet. Depending on how you prune them, the swaying stems and plump green leaves can shade walkways and soften garden edges.
Gingers’ foliage are bejeweled with stunning floral displays. Their multi-colored blossoms resemble painted pine cones, graceful orchids, butterfly wings, bromeliad spikes, and many more marvelous configurations. In the image below, you’ll see a gorgeous sample of native and naturalized ginger flowers found in Philippine’s forests and gardens.
The flowers above belong to: A) a spiral ginger called Insulin plant (Helliana speciosa); B) Adelmeria alpina; C) Vanoverberghia rubrobracteata; D) Etlingera fimbriobractea ; E) Alpinia haenkei ; F) Zingiber zerumbet; G) Adelmeria gigantifolia; and H) Turmeric (Curcuma longa).
Growing Gingers. Gingers can be planted from small pieces of their roots. These pieces or rhizome segments must have buds to successfully grow. In Healing Present, we usually plant them during the rainy season. You can start them in individual pots or raised beds. Once the seedlings have strong stems, you can transfer them to different parts of your garden. Some gardeners, without many pests, press the ginger pieces directly into the soil. The pieces are planted about 3 inches deep and at least 7 inches apart. I like to grow them in dense clumps so they make a bold visual impact when they grow taller. In general, gingers prefer Cebu’s humidity, partial shade and indirect light. For the best results, grow them in soil that drains well.
Below are different locations we planted ginger. Some gingers are in a shaded balcony or thriving under the canopy of a native cinnamon tree. Others are next to a garden wall that blocks direct sunlight. Other ginger relatives are in pots next to ponds. All these locations receive frequent rain or irrigation. They also block constant heat and direct sun exposure.
With pruning, gingers are pretty low-maintenance. Just remove any dead or damaged stems during they year. Those dead brown canes or stems make great additions to your compost. Here are a few more design tips to help you integrate an abundance of gingers in your garden:
A stairway in Healing Present’s farm lined with a variety of ginger relatives like insulin plants, turmeric, and ginger lilies. The parallel islands of ginger are complemented with ferns and Saging-saging (canna lilies). Complement your ginger islands with moisture-loving accents like ferns, lilies, and ornamental bananas.
Don’t add a thin line or skinny row of plants along your walkway. Add wide bands or clusters of gingers. With regular, moist conditions gingers can grow to 4 feet or more in width. So it won’t take long to grow a wealth of ginger. Wider groups of gingers add verdant impact and visual harmony.
Since gingers love partial shade, consider adding them to a shaded path. In Healing Present’s farm, we frequently decorate a path with a passionfruit pergola overhead. Then, we plant gingers on both sides of the the stepping stones.
Hope this inspires you to beautify your garden paths with some gorgeous ginger additions!
First image of ginger flowers courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Co’s Digital Flora of the Philippines.
As a child, it felt magical to play in a treehouse, feel closer to the sky, and capture a bird’s eye view. I was overjoyed and curious. Treehouses and tree decks are some of the best settings for imaginative play, relaxation, and daily connection with nature. Today, I’ll share some fun ideas for gardens that enhance treehouses and tree decks. The inspiration can enrich a treehouse or deck in a backyard, community garden, or a local school. Feel free to incorporate these planting combinations into personal projects or share them with community members looking to improve a treetop design.
A treehouse adorned with a succulent greenroof above borders of floral shrubs, colorful foliage, and aromatic groundcovers.
Vibrant Foliage & Flowers. Planting floral and foliar color are beautiful ways attract interest and highlight your treetop structure. You can concentrate on particular color combination, motif, floral scent, or educational theme to help determine your plant palette. Or you can select plants based on particular height and space requirements. With this criteria, floral groundcovers, shrubs, and a few trees may suit your site. With cozier spaces, potted plants, epiphytes, and vines are preferable.
Or get creative! Add add a shallow raised bed of flowering succulents on the rooftop of your treehouse. Or add a succulent border or raised boxes on the perimeter of your tree deck. If your site is larger it space, add additional flowering fruit trees. And don’t forget colorful shrubs as an option. San franciscos (Codiaeum spp.), Mais-mais (Dracaena spp.), cordyline lilies (Cordyline spp.), and Mayana (Coleus spp.) pop with deep maroons, golds, hot pinks, and other rich hues. Remember to observe your site’s soil conditions and sun exposure to further refine your plant selection. Here are some vibrant floral exemplars that grow well in my area:
Waling Waling orchid (Vanda sanderiana)
Philippine ground orchid (Spathoglottis plicata)
Rose Mallow shrub (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Sampaguita shrub (Jasminum sambac)
Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia spp.)
Heliconia spp.
Torch ginger (Etlingera elatior)
Ylang Ylang tree (Cananga odorata)
Siar tree (Peltophorum pterocarpum)
Narra tree (Pterocarpus indicus)
Malapapaya tree (Polyscias nodosa)
Bani tree (Milletia pinnata)
Binunga tree (Macaranga tanarius)
A tree deck supported by an old Acacia surrounded by big-leafed, shade-loving plants and ferns. The Acacia is also adorned with vines and fern epiphytes.
Trees with Shade-loving accents. Adding trees with shade accents can also enrich your tree house or tree deck. In time, this combination will turn into a shady, cool respite from the heat. Your shade-loving accent can be big-leaved gabi, palmettos, Colocosia spp., monsteras, and ferns while the native trees can have sprawling crowns, graceful palm leaves, compact treetops, and/or seasonally produce fruit. Other tree species could be Alibangbang (Bauhinia malabarica), native bamboos, Panalipan (Diospyros tenuipes), and Maritima (Vatica maritima). Alternatively, you can focus on adding compact fruit trees or larger fruit trees like native figs like Dakit, Lagnob, and other Ficus spp. Other suitable fruit-bearing choices could be Banana varieties, Avocado, Nangka, and Balimbing.
A field of heliconias and birds of paradise with a background of fruit tree accents leading to a treehouse.
Trees that can support Houses or Decks. Most of this article focusses on enhancing an existing treehouse or deck with a surrounding garden. If you need advice for the right tree to support a new treehouse or tree deck, ask an engineer, experienced builder, or treehouse designer.
There many ways to build a treehouse. Sometimes the entire structure is attached to the tree. Others build structures with no weight on the tree. Additionally, builders incorporate gaps in the platform and roof so the tree can grow through the house and deck. In my experience, treehouses are made with healthy, mature, multi-trunked hardwood trees. In Cebu, old Fig trees, old Mango trees, mature Yakal, Ipil, Lawaan, Narra, and Acacia are used in tree decks or treehouse projects.
Have fun creating and enjoy your future treetop adventures!
In today’s post, I’m celebrating landscapes–large and small–flourishing with native trees, shrubs, ferns, flowers, and grasses. Gardens that showcase the Philippines’ endemic and indigenous flora instill pride. I recently saw a presentation that emphasized Philippines has over 3000+ indigenous trees while all of Europe has only 454 native species. And boy do some European countries campaign for the protection and widespread use of their small pool of local trees. In Cebu, our own government buildings are adorned by the same typical palette of non-native foliage planted around local hotel chains.
The culture of undervaluing native species originates from a host of historical and economic reasons. One cause stems from a commercial plant industry that isn’t equipped to propagate many types of native species. Plus customers are unfamiliar (or assumed to be inexperienced) with native species’ maintenance needs and aesthetic.
But those trends can change. I hope we eventually invest in a horticultural industry and culture that celebrates, researches, and proliferates the protection and integration of endemic and indigenous flora in our personal gardens, commercial spaces, and public parks.
Here’s a fun design to inspire new garden combinations that feature endemic and indigenous flora.
In this design, the numbers represent the following types of plants: 1-Ficus species; 2-Nauclea orientalis; 3-Native and naturalized Bamboo species; 4, 5, 6, 8, 10- Groups of Native Shrubs; 7, 9, 11- Native Ferns
1- Ficus species. You can use local fig species like Ficus nota, Ficus variegata, and Ficus ulmifolia. These species are fast growing, attract beautiful birds, and fruit all year. Ficus nota and Ficus ulmifolia grow to 3 to 5 meters and shade smaller gardens during hot, sunny days. While Ficus variegata grows in full sun and rises to 25 meters.
2-Nauclea orientalis. Locally referred to as Hambabaw or Bangkal, these trees sprout distinctive spherical fruit. They are fast-growing, tolerate waterlogged soils, heavy winds, and produce beautiful blooms in full sun. They can reach 15 meters and their outstretched leafy branches offer cool air (like natural air-conditioning) and excellent shade.
3- Bamboo species. Native bamboo species from the Cyrtochloa, Dinochloa, Schizostachyum genera are great choices. When planted in groups they create natural screens and privacy from neighbors.
4, 5, 6, 8, 10- Shrubs. Borders with alternating sections of shrubs create bold accents. For example, grow 5 local blueberry shrubs in a group. Then next to that group grow a cluster of 5 Cratoxylum shrubs. Alternating clusters make more visual impact than a single row of different individual shrubs. Other shrubs you can plant are bignay species, lemongrass, and pay-at (Clerodendrum macrostegium, Clerodendrum brachyanthum, or Clerodendrum intermedium).
7, 9, 11- Native Ferns. Diplazium esculentum (edible fern) and Lygodium species (nito) are wonderful, hardy choices for combining groups of ferns.
I hope this design encourages you to discover more native flora in your local forests and plant nurseries. And if you already know about local indigenous and endemic flora, I hope you’re inspired to garden with native species and teach others about your knowledge of local trees, shrubs, and flowers. The above photos of plant features are from Co’s Digital Flora and Wikimedia commons. I highly recommend Co’s Digital Flora if you’d like to learn more and marvel at the abundance and diversity of native species around the Philippines.
In a previous articles like, Bees and Belonging and Starter Citrus Garden, I’ve offered delicious fruit garden designs and fruit-growing instructions for your own manageable and convenient supply of juicy fruit.
In this post, I’ll present a new citrus design, from my ebook, Inflourish Cebu Kitchen Garden Designs, you can start in April. I’ll also share coconut husk fertilizer and vermicompost techniques we practice in the farm. They help us maintain citrus trees with minimal non-chemical fertilizer.
Zesty Citrus Garden. The Zesty Citrus Garden is full of beautiful, blooming citrus flavors for your favorite dishes, salads, desserts, dips sauces, and marinades. Buongon Salad, fresh Limonsito juice, and CocoLemon Yogurt are some of my favorite citrus treats. Fruit juice and zest from limonsito, biasong lemon, kumquat and pomelo also flavor party juices, teas, and tasty cocktails. For these recipes, check out the ebook or our other recipe books.
In the Zesty Citrus Garden, you’ll have a beautiful collection dwarf citrus trees –both native and naturalized species. These tasty trees not only flavor your meals, they also nurture essential pollinators like stingless bees and native butterflies.
In this design, the numbers represent the following fruitful plants: 1-Passionfruit; 2-Dwarf Tacunan Lubi; 3-Buongon; 4-Limonsito; 5-Biasong; 6-Lemon; 7-Makrut Lime, 8-Kumquat; 9-Dayap Lime; 10-Cabuyao
The outdoor bar and background mirror are framed with Passionfruit and Dwarf Tacunan Lubi. These two plants attract essential pollinators and help the other trees produce fruit. In-ground and potted Buongon, Limonsito, and Biasong form a fragrant citrus island backing a circular cushioned chair and ottoman. Behind a parallel set comfy outdoor seats is a gorgeous raised bed of more citrus trees like Lemon, Makrut Lime, Kumquat, Dayap Lime, and Cabuyao. Thankfully some of these citrus trees have grafted or dwarf varieties that can stay short and compact for convenient harvesting and smaller garden dimensions. Just look for plant nurseries that carry compact varieties if you have a cozy garden space.
Coconut Husk Fertilizer. Every few months, we check if our fruit trees need non-chemical fertilizer to help them grow fruits. If they do, after we’ve watered their soil, we add a 1/2 cup of liquid fertilizer. The coconut husk fertilizer is just a mix of coconut husk pieces and water. It sits and ferments for a few days before pouring it onto the fruit tree’s soil.
Vermicompost. We also have the option to add vermicompost and vermicompost tea to the soil. This could be added to the top of the soil or to the potting mix before a plant is placed in the ground or container. Browse through this slideshow of photos and excerpts of our farmer’s instruction manual to remind them of the DOs and DON’Ts for vermicomposting:
Vermicompost Earthworm 3-level apartment
Reminders in farmers’ manual
Foods for Vermi Worms
More Reminders to keep the Special earthworms thriving
Special vermicompost worms
Chopped Bani (Banana stem) for earthworm food
Comfy Dried leaves and torn cardboard for vermicompost bedding
Bedding and food added to the bottom of the Earth worm Apartment
Vermicompost comes from special earthworms that eat certain types of food. After they eat, they produce a beneficial manure that is nutritious for plants and non-toxic to humans. There are many different systems to house vermicompost worms. Our earthworm gardeners live in mini 3-level worm apartment made of 3 storage bins. This apartment keeps the earthworms alive & thriving, holds their food, and helps us extract beneficial manure and compost tea from the earthworms.
I hope this design and fruit production tips inspire to start your sweet, tangy citrus garden journey. Have a fruitful April.
