Tag: family

Gardens for Remembering

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Color Combo & Design, Gardening and Landscape Design, Green Roofs, Therapeutic Garden

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

Around this time of year, Filipinos at home or overseas may be observing Kalag-kalag on All Saints’ Day and All Soul’s Day (November 1 & 2). By the end of October, people start traveling to their home barangays or islands to reconnect with family. They may start preparing favorite dishes of deceased family and friends. They bring those same dishes to their loved ones’ graves, where the living may set up picnics, conduct masses, or hold vigils. They may clean, decorate, or place altars around the graves. While some families stay near the graves overnight, other families continue prayers and celebratory commemorations at home. They may spend the night feasting with family, singing together, and organizing children’s games. Kalag-kalag ceremonies and celebrations help process grief and express reverence for those who have passed.

I made two designs inspired by family tributes and memorials. If you build your own memorial garden, incorporate any religious, spiritual, or personally significant symbols that help you reconnect with or honor the departed. This may include the deceased’s favorite plants, religious statues, or blessed items. You may also want to add comfortable furniture or outdoor kitchen elements for visitors during Kalag-kalag.

In the design below, I incorporated a water feature. A beautiful pond may promote peace during a time of sorrow or solemn remembrance. I also included convenient benches, stairs, and lawns for guests to relax, meander, chat, or eat outside.

This garden features hardy native and naturalized plants include: (A) Cyperus alternifolius grasses; (B) Persicaria nepalensis and Persicaria lapathifolia groundcovers; (C) aquatic and semi-aquatic grasses like Cyperus brevifolius, Cyperus compressus, Typha latifolia, and Typha orientalis; (D) Ardisia elliptica, Aglaonema nitidum, Aglaonema simplex shrubs; (E) Carex baccans and Carex indica grasses; (F) Muntigia calubra trees (Mansanitas); (G) Magnolia carsonii and Magnolia lilifera trees

This second design below features flowering native trees and shrubs wrapping around a garden path. The exuberant floral beauty can symbolize rebirth and life’s precious finitude.

This design’s flowering native plants like: (A) Eugenia aherniana and Eugenia unifora (Surinam cherry) shrubs; (B) Lagerstroemia celebica and Lagerstroemia speciosa (Banaba) trees; (C) Syzygium antisepticum, Syzygium claviflorum, naturalized Syzgium cumini; and (D) Morella javanica shrubs; and (E) Lagerstroemia spp. shrub varieties

outdooR ILLUMINATION

In both designs, I insert outdoor lighting. Get-togethers during Kalag-kalag and All Souls’ Day can continue after dinnertime. Install garden lights to ensure the garden remains inviting after dinner. I prefer to hang solar outdoor lights from strong tree branches. Or you can place them in garden beds. Outdoor lighting really enhances a welcoming atmosphere.

You can also use elegant and discreet light fixtures. Below, I added recessed lighting inside the steps, the pond, and underneath the bench.

Take care, and if you’d like more inspiration for a memorial garden, check out this previous article, Lola’s Bam-i Garden.

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Learning from Local & Regional Parks

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in agroforestry, Gardening and Landscape Design, Outdoor Classrooms, Outdoor Classrooms, Therapeutic Garden, wildlife garden

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

Local parklands in Cebu and Southeast Asia are cradles of botanic inspiration. Often, well-designed parks use regionally native or locally endemic trees and shrubs. Depending on the availability of their seedlings in public nurseries, you could use a few of these same trees or shrubs in your garden. They can be a spectacular eye-catching feature or hedge in your own gardens. Regionally native, indigenous, or locally endemic refers to a plant’s genetic origin and natural geographic distribution. In the scientific community, these terms have slight technical differences. Among some foresters, park managers, and horticulturists, these terms can be interchangeable. Native or Endemic can mean a plant originally grew in the coasts, forests, riverbanks, or other ecological niches in Cebu. Or maybe the plant was originally found throughout the mangroves or rainforests of the Philippines. Local, Native, or Endemic can also mean the plant naturally grows in Maritime Southeast Asian countries like Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

REMEMBER: make sure you have the time, water, and soil type to help your native plant thrive. For instance, you can buy the most locally native vine from Cebu’s uplands. But if it’s neglected and left unwatered on your concrete patio, the stressed vine may shrivel and die.

Be curious and inspired. Visit the lush splendor of local parks in Cebu and venture to the rest of Southeast Asia.

In general, choosing locally or regionally native trees and shrubs creates a strong, adaptable landscape. A combination of native plants function well with local climate and rain availability. As a result, they need less growing assistance from additional fertilizers or pesticides. When the trees or shrubs are well-established, local birds, bees, butterflies and beneficial pollinators can use these plants as a source of nectar and shelter. Often, the fallen leaves and roots of regionally endemic plants naturally mulch and enrich the soil’s health. Depending on the particularly adaptive species, they can have additional qualities like drought-resistance and wind-resilience. With a bit of research and a fun search through local parks, you can find extremely gifted trees and shrubs.

The examples below are popular regionally and locally endemic species suited to Cebu’s climate. They are best planted in the rainy season so they start out with a moderate amount of water and sun. Plants in this list also flourish in other islands of the Philippines and Southeast Asian countries.

  • PALMS & RATTAN TREES:
    • A- Arenga pinnata
    • B– Adonidia merrilli
    • C- Calamus erinaceus
    • D- Calamus javaensis
    • E- Caryota mitis
    • F- Oncosperma horridum
  • EVERGREEN & FLORAL TREES:
    • G- Aporosa benthamiana
    • H- Aporosa frutescens
    • I- Commersonia bartramia
    • J- Cratoxylum cochinchinense
    • K- Dillenia excelsa
    • L- Dillenia philippinensis
  • EVERGREEN & FLORAL TREES:
    • M- Diospyros buxifolia
    • N- Diospyros diepenhorstii
    • O- Syzygium zeylanicum
    • P- Syzygium incarnatum
    • Q- Syzygium antisepticum
    • R- Sterculia foetida
  • EVERGREEN & FLORAL TREES:
    • S- Sterculia macrophylla
    • T- Sterculia oblongata
    • U- Elaeocarpus grandiflorus
    • V- Elaeocarpus pedunculatus
    • W- Elaeocarpus petiolatus

Plant Photos: WikiMedia Images, NParks Singapore, Co’s Digital Flora of the Philippines; Design Illustrations: Michelle Domocol

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April & May, Explore & Play

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Color Combo & Design, Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Herbs, Outdoor Classrooms, Outdoor Classrooms, Raised Beds, School Gardens

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

April and May are wonderful months to plan fun garden activities for upcoming school breaks. If you have summer school students, children, nieces and/or nephews, plan a garden. Or arrange a fieldtrip to child-friendly gardens, parks and/or playgrounds. These landscapes are excellent venues for playtime, nature exploration, and family bonding. Here are some fun ideas to inspire some fun kid-centric adventures in a garden, park, or playground.

  1. SENSORY GARDENS: Build a sensory garden or add sensory plants to an existing garden. Sensory gardens feature plants that stimulate children’s observation skills and imagination. Together, you can choose plants that possess leaves with vibrant colors or leaves with unique shapes. Greenery with notable textures, amazing aromas, delicious fruits, and/or extreme sizes. To stimulate a garden visitor’s auditory senses, choose plants that attract local songbirds or chirping geckos. Some examples are these sensory-stimulating flora are multi-colored San Francisco, 30-meter tall Tipo trees with their unique, lobed leaf shapes, or Ilang-Ilang with fruity fragrance that travels throughout the afternoon. Other examples are native sensory marvels are trees like Bangkal (Nauclea orientalis), Katmon (Dillenia philippinensis), and Almaciga (Agathis philippinensis). For more kid-centric plant combinations and sensory garden design suggestions, check out:
The sensory garden design above features plants like colorful ornamental gingers, duwaw, trellised passionfruit vines, potted native berries, and potted ilang-ilang.

2. EDIBLE APRIL & MAY: With your enthusiastic students and youth gardeners, you can plant herbs, berries and vegetables. They can use my planting calendar to choose what seeds to plant and add to the garden. If you want to learn more about April berries to plant, check out April’s Dessert Garden. During these hot and dry months, use smart water conservation techniques like mulching, drip irrigation, and if you saved water during the rainy season, it’s time to use your rainwater storage tanks. You can also check out your local children’s gardening events through facebook groups, churches, or barangay hall events.

>>>>Download planting calendar
>>>>Download cebu pollinator plants

3. COOL, STARRY NIGHT GARDENS: Plan a garden that you and the kids can enjoy at night. Sometimes summer days can be too hot. Evenings in the garden, under the stars, are much more enjoyable. Add fragrant, night-blooming water lilies, vines and shrubs to your garden. Choose shrubs that emit strong evening fragrances. Night fragrant orchids, cacao flowers and Dama de Noche jasmine are excellent examples. Or plant a raised bed with night-blooming cacti and flowers that attract the often-overlooked nocturnal pollinators. Flowers like night-blooming phlox, angel’s trumpet, Queen of the Night cactus, honeysuckle, and evening primrose invite amazing local bats and moths. These nighttime gardens are great spots for children to run around and explore. They are also beautiful venues for outdoor parties with the whole family.

Enjoy the rest of April and hope you have a blooming start to May!

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March Moments of Serenity

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Color Combo & Design, Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Herbs, Therapeutic Garden

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

For many of us 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.

In the Serene Garden design below, you can lounge amongst raised beds filled with bountiful Citrus trees, flowering Kamuning, Orchids, and other gorgeous greenery. This design can be installed on a backyard deck, roof space or patio. Beyond the greenery, a small relaxing pond is adorned with horsetail reeds and gabi. This garden elegantly combines edible vegetation with living décor. Apart from lounging, you can harvest seasonal Limes and Limonsito. Or pick a romantic bouquet of Saging-saging flowers, fern leaves, and Kamuning blossoms to brighten someone’s day.

Serene Garden design with detailed plant maps below.

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Genuinely Ginger Gardens

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Color Combo & Design, Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Raised Beds, School Gardens, Therapeutic Garden, wildlife garden

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

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 where 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 the 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 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.

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