Category Archives: High-rise Gardening

Gardening at Balcony and so on…

The rewarding Hoya obscura

Posted on January 28, 2009 | 5 Comments

Hoya obscura is a hoya that every hoya grower should have in his/her collection. I came across this delightful hoya when I was shopping at World Farm at Bah Soon Pah Road about a month ago. It has kind of become my favourite hoya plant that I have in my collection since I started to focus my attention on this genus of plants belonging to the milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae.

Unlike many other hoya species with boring green leaves, H. obscura joins the ranks of plants in the same genus with differently coloured leaves. It leaves, when exposed to direct sunshine, will turn into an attractive wine-red colour that contrasts starkly with the network of thin, green leaf veins. Hence it is best to grow this hoya plant on a sunny windowsill where it will be able to receive at least 4 to 6 hours of direct sunshine.

My plant is grown in a hanging pot and it is now hanging from my North-facing balcony where it does not receive any direct sunshine. Hence only some of its leaves are red in colour which is still pleasing to the eye although it would redden up more when grown under brighter conditions.

 Another plus point about this plant is its amazing flowering habits. It is one of the most floriferous common hoyas around. Since I bought the plant a month back, it has not stop flowering at all! An astonishing characteristic of this species is that brand new flush of flower buds emerge almost immediate after a earlier umbel of flowers falls off!

Although each individual H. obscura yellow flower is small, it emits an intensely yet pleasantly perfume. The fragrance can be difficult to detect in the day but becomes stronger at night. Fragrance in the garden is an often overlooked aspect of gardens. During the night where light is dim and it gets difficult to appreciate the colours of leaves and flowers, fragrance emitted from flowers will stand out in the pitch black darkness after dusk in the garden. It adds an important dimension to gardens.

This species of hoya seems to be able to tolerate windy conditions encountered on my highrise balcony quite well. To prevent the plant from drying out too quickly due to the frequent high winds, I make it a point to provide it with water once every day, where I water it thoroughly every morning before I leave for work.

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Posted in Flowering plants, High-rise Gardening, Houseplants, Tropical ornamentals

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New Lunar New Plant – Sanseveria cylindrica

Posted on January 15, 2009 | 2 Comments

 The cylindrical snake plant (Sanseveria cylindrica) is common plant that is available all year round in Singapore nurseries. It is grown by some people as an accent houseplant at home or as a medicinal plant by various community gardeners. The Chinese name of this plant is rather interesting as it has the meaning of “fairy’s pen” (仙人笔)，which probably indicates the pencil-like shape of its leaves.

The cylindrical shape of this plants’ leaves are a result of a failure to express the genes that will cause the cylindrical-shaped leaf bud to differentiate dorsoventrally to produce the distinctive flat, blade-like leaves seen in other Sanseveria species. The leaves of this species spread out like a fan, that is quite unlike the rosette growth habit of other Sanseveria species.

This year, this sanseveria species has been turned into a Lunar New Year plant via a miraculous make-over process. Instead of its usual fan-shaped growth habit with its erect leaves pointing erect, they have been plaited up to form a braid-like tower. To prevent the leaves from unfurling, nurserymen actually tied the tip of the tower with some floral tape. To break the monotonous green colour, a red colourful ribbon was tied around it. 

This year, S. cylindrica has apparently became the new victim to join the gang of the “plaited Lunar New Year plants”. I was quite surprised when I saw the specimens and wonder how the very thick and stiff leaves were bundled together. It is quite unimaginable as it is impossible to bundle the already mature leaves together without breaking them!

I discussed this with a friend and she theorised that the plant had probably been grown under low light conditions for prolonged periods so as to yield long and flexible leaves that enable one to plait them together. Once that has been achieved, the plant is exposed to higher light conditions to harden the leaves.

Some years back, prior to the braided S. cylindrica, Pachira aquatica was offered as a festive Lunar New Year plant that was called the Money Tree (发财树) where the slender and flexible stems of several young P. aquatica plants are being bundled together. Another common houseplant that had been turned into a festive decorative plant by having its stems bundled together to make intricate “living” baskets was Dracaena sanderiana. 

The latter plant with its herbaceous stems seemed to be a popular subject for contortion. Still popular in the horticultural market today is the “turnaround lucky bamboo” (转运竹) which features a coiled segment located near the top end of a long stem-cutting.

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Posted in High-rise Gardening, Houseplants, Tropical ornamentals

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Andrew Tan’s Article on Balcony Gardening

Posted on December 29, 2008 | Leave a comment

On the recent Saturday, Andrew Tan wrote a very useful and insightful article that was published on Straits Times Life! on how one can actually decorate a tiny high-rise balcony with plants. As revealed in his article, Andrew is drawing upon his own personal experience where he generously shared with the reader on how he landscaped his balcony on his own that was just seven newspaper broadsheets wide at his new place. I have been to Andrew’s place recently and his balcony garden was a masterpiece that impressed me.

One great tip that Andrew had for apartment gardeners was how one can make the best use of the little precious space in today’s tiny balconies. To maximise space so that one can pack as many plants as he can into a tidy space, Andrew suggested that we do ‘vertical gardening’. In his balcony, he fixed a black aluminium grille akin to those we use for our windows that blended very well with the wall on one side of the balcony. He then hang numerous pots of peperomias and dracaenas onto the frame. The plants he chose were variegated which contrast quite well against the dark back-drop. In effect, one covers a cold-looking wall with plants.

To confer a sense of space to a tidy growing area, one should consider throwing in a couple of  large plant specimens. To do this, Andrew shoved in a dracaena and ficus tree into his balcony. Most of us, including myself, would have imagined that such inclusions would take up whatever available space from the already tidy balcony. The visual effect that was achieved as a result was really astonishing and contrary to our beliefs. Try it to know!

Most of balcony gardeners have the tendency to line their plants along the window ledge in a boring and monotonous row to catch the available light for one’s plants. I still vividly remember the terms that one of my gardening friends once used to call such gardens - ”farm” and “nursery”. Andrew’s balcony garden was a true garden. There is this element of aesthetics as you can see landscaping being done in the small space as shown by the thoughtful layering of healthy plants with different colours, leaf textures and heights.

I learnt alot from the earlier visit to Andrew’s place as well as from this recent article and the information gathered proved to be tremendously useful for me now as I have just moved into my new house where, for the first time in my life, I have a decent balcony to do gardening.

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Posted in Gardening People in Singapore, High-rise Gardening, Houseplants, Newspaper features

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Opps I almost missed the flowering of my Hoya caudata!

Posted on December 14, 2008 | Leave a comment

For a long time, I was not interested in growing hoyas at all. I have always regarded them as messy vines that require space to grow. In addition, many of them require good light to grow which was what my growing area in my old place at Serangoon North severely lacked. Even though most of the species on sale in our local nurseries produce fragrant and attractive flowers, I was not attracted to them because they are not frequent and continuous bloomers.

The most unlikely thing occurred just recently. My interest in hoyas was unknowingly triggered whilst I was trying find out more about them during my preparation to write a Garden Treats article for the local Home Concepts Magazine. At about the same time, I was about to move to my new home at Hougang that has a balcony which is blessed with relatively good light for half a year and I thought I should just go buy a couple of hoyas since I now have conducive environmental conditions to grow them. 

The Hoya caudata plant that I have.

One species of the hoyas that I first started my hoya love was Hoya caudata which is native to Malaysia and Thailand. This particular species caught my attention via its beautiful elliptical leaves that are mottled with random silvery white patches. The leaves have slightly wavy margins that feature undersides that are solid red in colour. As mentioned earlier, hoya plants are not known to be frequent and continuous bloomers and I thought H. caudata is one plant that will remain ornamental even when it is not in flower.

Beautiful leaves of Hoya caudata.

Because my balcony is north-facing, the growing area where the H. caudata is now located does not receive direct sunshine at all. As a result, the stiff leaves take on a ‘greener’ look although the silvery white patches are still visible. When the sun returns to trace its northerly path from March to August next year, I would expect the leaves to have more red colour on them.

Hoyas can be rather boring plants to grow. Their growth rate is quite slow compared to many other vines we normally come across. But their sluggish growth rate can be viewed as a good thing too as they do not require frequent maintanence from their owner. Hence they make ideal houseplants for today’s busy executives!

The first umbel of flowers that was produced by my Hoya caudata. 

After I bought my H. caudata plant, I hung it in my balcony and thought much nothing about it. It was only in the recent few days while I was moving my plants around, I then realise my H. caudata has actually produced an umbel of flowers for me. Unlike some of the hoyas that I have seen, the flowers of H. caudata are rather small and each measures about 1 cm in diameter. The umbel that was produced had 7 flowers hanging from a rather flattish umbel.

Not only they are small, the flowers of H. caudata can be easily overlooked as they do not emit an overpowering fragrance to make one take notice of them. Each flower has a characteristic star shape, are pink in colour with a rather red center and features numerous fine white hairs all around its edge. They were not particularly long-lasting and they fade away about 3 to 4 days after they bloom.

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Posted in Flowering plants, High-rise Gardening, Houseplants

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Article on Straits Times Life! on Houseplant Tips

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 1 Comment

On the same day that my interview was published on Straits Times Life! last Saturday, there was another article that was published that focussed much on the use of so-called indoor plants for interior decor, which contained bits of my input. People who love the company of plants would want to have them inside their homes. Plants help to brighten and liven up a living space. There are reports that mentioned plants can help to cleanse the indoor atmosphere.

Cover Page of the Feature Article on Straits Times Life!

Larger version – http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/?action=view&current=houseplant29nov081.jpg

I believe a large number of members of the public in Singapore who are novices have a misconception of about what are called indoor plants. Because the common name used to describe them is called ‘indoor plant’, individuals may have regarded these plants are those that are able to thrive indoors, away from the balcony or corridor.

This belief is tragically wrong as indoor plants being green plants that contain chlorophyll, need sunshine to grow. Many plants sold as indoor plants are those that have been found to be more forgiving towards low-light growing conditions. It is important to note that the light intensity inside most homes (not at the balcony or corridor) is too dim and it is insufficient for the growing of these indoor plants on the long term.

In fact, the lighting conditions inside the home are classified as ‘shade’ and if plants are required to be put there for decor, they can only be put there on a temporary basis. After being displayed for a week or two, these plants should be moved to a brighter area to recuperate and rejuvenate. New plants can be moved into the area to take the place of those taken away.

First Page of the Feature Article on Straits Times Life!

Larger version – http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/?action=view&current=houseplant29nov082.jpg

This plant rotation practice is carried out by commercial nursery contractors in public areas like hotels and various commercial buildings that have engaged their services. Because the changing of plants is often not done during hours with high human traffic, people may not be aware of it being practised. It is important to realise that these plants that are on display look good all the time because they have been changed regularly and not because they love and thrive under the low light conditions there.

Second Page of the Feature Article on Straits Times Life! that contains a plant list.

Larger version – http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/?action=view&current=houseplant29nov083.jpg

(Note – The first eight plants were contributed by myself).

Last but not least, as mentioned in the article, it is alright to have plants in the bedroom. There is this fear that plants will compete with us for oxygen during the night but the amount plants take in is generally been regarded as negigible enough to not cause any harm.

So far, we have not heard of any reports of anyone dying during sleep at night with the company of plants. On hindsight, if plants can really compete with us for oxygen at night and cause harm, then the inhabitants, as well as, our National Servicemen (army personnel) who are doing their training in the forests and jungles would have largely perished by now due to the lack of oxygen?

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Posted in Contributed Articles, High-rise Gardening, Houseplants, Newspaper features

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