Gardening with Wilson

The first instalment of the Root Awakening column for the month of December this year was published on Straits Times Life! last Saturday, on 6 Dec 2008. Intriguingly, last weekend’s column was the first that did not feature a picture of a plant. As a result, I almost failed in my attempt to find it.

 Three gardening questions were answered this time around. Two questions revolved around ornamental plants that have been popular with Singaporeans and they include the desert rose and jasmine. The jasmine plant can be a difficult plant to grow. What the reader has described in his/her question seemed rather vague to me and I could only offer some insights from what I tried to perceive to be occurring. For a better understanding of the problem, most of us would need to know its growing conditions too.

In general, the desert rose is a plant that requires good light to grow. People here grow them under full direct sunshine but with protection from our tropical rains which may prove to be too wet for this succulent plant. In the highrise apartment, one should provide the desert rose with at least 4 hours of direct sunshine daily in order for the plant to flower. Otherwise, not only will the plant fail to bloom, the shoots will also etiolate and result in a lanky and visually unappealling plant.

The third question was about the growing of passionfruit. Like most other edible plants and fruit trees, the passionfruit vine similarly needs to be grown in a location with direct sunshine in order for the plant to grow healthily and produce fruit. The plant can be grown in containers and still bear some fruits as seen in some plants that are available for sale in our local nurseries. Water must be given regularly to plants grown in containers so as to avoid water stress during hot weather which can adversely affect plant health and fruit production. 

Many thanks to Straits Times Life! for helping to publicise Cindy’s talk on bog carnivorous plants that was held at HortPark on the same day.