Category Archives: Houseplants

A Flowering Dracaena thalioides

Posted on October 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

A pot of Dracaena thalioides that was on display in HortPark’s Lifestyle Corner was recently in bloom. It produced two erect spikes of pink flowers that were surprisingly fragrant! The fragrance seemed to be emitted in a big way from dusk onwards as the flowers were faintly fragrant during the day. The appearance of the flowers was reminiscent of those produced by the mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata). When I touched them, my hands felt sticky afterwards, probably due to the copious amount of nectar the flowers secreted.

Dracaena thalioides is one plant that has an appearance quite unlike its brothers and sisters in the same genus. In my opinion, it looks more like a cordyline due to its very much petiolated lanceolate leaves. Most dracaenas I have come across do not have such a distinctive petiole! It is commonly known as the Lance Dracaena.

Interestingly, the species name of this plant is derived from the genus Thalia, which is a group of water plants belonging to the prayer plant family, Marantaceae, with superficially similar foliar characteristics. Its genus name, Dracaena comes from Greek for female dragon, which was used to refer to the dragon’s blood trees (D. cinnabari and D. schizantha) as these plants exude a red sap when injured.

Dracaena thalioides is currently classified under Ruscaceae but sometimes put into a family of its own, Dracaenaceae. Some of us may recall that Dracaena thalioides and friends were also previously grouped under Agavaceae and even Liliaceae!

It is what you would term as ‘something old and new’ as it was a popular houseplant back in the past and disappeared after some time when it fell out of fashion. Lately, Dracaena thalioides resurfaced again and I am beginning to see it being offered for sale at some nurseries and being used for landscaping indoors and outdoors.

This slow-growing plant is admired for its lush and attractive foliage which are held erect in loose spiral arrangement. To some of us, it may appear as if the leaves are opening up like a fan. It is a plant that thrives in a semi-shaded location and can be used for mass planting to achieve a lush, tropical look in an outdoor garden.

Like many other dracaenas, it makes a good indoor plant too. It can tolerate deep shade inside the house for short periods of time as a display plant but would appreciate if it can be shifted to an area, such as next to a window or balcony, where it can recuperate while being exposed to filtered sunshine for at least 6 hours daily.

Indoors, Dracaena thalioides can be displayed singly as a specimen plant but more frequently, one often sees several short plants with full crowns of leaves are grouped together inside a long planter box. Grow this plant using soil that is rich, well draining potting mix that is kept most at all times and feed using balanced, slow-release fertiliser pellets. It can be propagated via stem-cuttings, crown division and seeds.

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Posted in Houseplants, Tropical ornamentals

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Getting to know Senecio macroglossus ‘Variegatus’

Posted on July 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

Senecio macroglossus is a vine that is often featured in houseplant books but is seldom sold in the plant nurseries in Singapore. When it is not in flower, the foliage of Senecio macroglossus resemble those found on an English ivy, which are smooth and fleshy to touch, and have five pointed corners. Because of this characteristic, this vine is referred to via a range of common names which include cape ivy, Natal ivy and wax vine. When broken, both the leaves and stems are said to release a lemony scent.

Botanically, Senecio macroglossus is classified as a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae) whereas the English ivy, botanically known as Hedera helix, belongs to the Araliaceae family.  The plant that I have managed to have a look was the variegated version that had some flowers on it. Each blossom looked like a large, pale yellow daisy flower which is reported to remain open on cloudy or dull days and visited by bees, moths and wasps.

Like many other but not all Senecio species, the seeds borne by this plant are wind-dispersed and look like little sticks with a tuft of grey or white hairs attached to one end (called pappus). These hairs help the seeds to catch the wind. The genus name Senecio is derived from the Latin word ‘senex’, which has the meaning of ‘old man’ due to pappus found on the seeds. The species name macroglossus means large-tongued which probably refers to the large size of each leaf.

Although it is a drought-tolerant plant that is native to South Africa, Senecio macroglossus is suited for growing in Singapore’s tropical, hot and humid climate. Unlike the English ivy which tends to trail over a pot, Senecio macroglossus exhibits a predominant climbing habit by twining its slender stems around supports. When climbing up or sprawling on an area that kept moist most of the time, the stems may produce roots at the nodes along a stem.

In my workplace, we got some Senecio macroglossus plants thriving in a rather shady corner in the nursery. Various internet sources and houseplant books indicated that this vine can be adapted to grow in sunnier eareas. To grow Senecio macroglossus, it is recommended to grow it in a neutral to slightly alkaline, fertile, loamy soil that is well-draining.

To feed it, it is recommended to apply some pellets of slow-release fertiliser that is supplemented with liquid foliar feeding.  In general, Senecio macroglossus is relatively pest- and disease-free. Aphids and mealy bugs may attack developing flower buds or young growing tips. Over-watering or constantly wet root zone can cause the vine to rot.

Senecio macroglossus can be propagated by stem-cuttings or seed. Stem tips root easily when planted in a well-draining soil mix. Seeds are hard to obtain as they are not available commercially. In the house, this vine can be displayed as a hanging basket subject. Due to its climbing habit, it can be trained to scale up a trellis. It is also recommended to be used as a ground cover but I wonder can it survive the heavy tropical rains in Singapore?

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Andrew’s article on Tillandsia

Posted on May 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

Today’s edition of Straits Times Life! carried an article on airplants. Penned by Andrew Tan, the article contained a Singaporean’s experience of growing these plants that belong to the pineapple family, Bromeliaceae. Although related to the terrestrial pineapple plants, airplants, botanically classified in the genus Tillandsia, adopt an epiphytic growth habit.

Depending on the species, these plants either perch on rock surfaces or tree branches in their native habitat. The roots of airplants, unlike many other plants we are familiar with, are used for anchorage. Nutrients and water are absorbed via specialised scale-like structures, called trichromes, on their leaves.

Airplants were first introduced into Singapore in the early 1990s. They became an instant hit as they are touted to be ’clean and fuss-free houseplants’ that do not require soil to grow and could be seen being put on sale in a great number of places that range from supermarkets to various departmental stores. Somehow, the craze died down soon after but made a comeback about two to three years ago and this time, they were peddled on push-carts.

I noticed airplants live up to their name as fuss-free plants that are also easy to grow, provided they are grown outdoors in Singapore. They do well probably due to the presence of high humidity outdoors and are usually offered protection from constant strong winds due to the location where they are grown, such as under the canopy of a small tree like the frangipani. Ventilation in form of light breezes in an outdoor space seems to also help to dry the crowns of these plants which reduces the likelihood of them rotting.

On the other hand, airplants are not that easy for apartment dwellers. Gardeners have to work quite hard to prevent their plants from drying out. Constant winds encountered on higher levels of an apartment tend to rob the moisture out from these plants. To add to the problem, humidity is generally low in an apartment. In order to rehydrate their plants, apartment gardeners have to resort to soak their plants for several hours but due to poor ventilation in apartments, plants grown under such conditions tend to rot. Tillandsia species with bulbous bases suffer from a high casualty rate when they are grown in an apartment.

In short, gardeners with an outdoor space at ground level tend to face less problems when they grow these epiphytic bromeliads. The apartment gardener, on the other hand, will have to select the right species to grow and find the right balance for the range of factors that is required for success in growing these intriguing plants.

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Posted in Houseplants, Interesting News

Carludovica ‘Jungle Drum’

Posted on May 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

A new palm-like houseplant with attractive, uniformly green but relatively stiff and pleated leaves that are curiously split halfway in the center to give two lobes has surfaced in our local nurseries. The identity of this new introduction is given as Caulodovica ‘Jungle Drum’ but its true identity is still under debate. Although it is named as a cultivar of Caulodovica, there are sources on the Internet that suggest that it can also be either an Asplundia or Cyclanthus.

Little information about the care of this new houseplant is available at present and no one really knows for sure how big it will really grow. To infer some information, I referred what is known about the most common cultivated Carludovica species, C. palmata, commonly known as the Panama Hat Plant. A member of the Cyclanthaceae family, its young leaves are used to make the Panama brimmed hat. A native of tropical America, it thrives in the shady and wet lowland forest understorey and can grow up to about 2 m.

From this, I safely guess that Caulodovica ‘Jungle Drum’ will probably grow well under roughly the same environmental conditions. So far, I have grown ‘Jungle Drum’ in a well draining, fertile and moisture-retentive soil mixture which consists of burnt earth and well rotted compost has yielded relatively good results.

Because it is an understorey plant, I expect my plant to burn if placed under too bright an area. Hence, I situated my plant in deep shade indoors where not many plants will thrive. After a few weeks, there is a noticable tilt shown by the plant on one side as it reaches towards light. In order to ensure the plant does not develop a shewed growing position due to phototropism, I rotated my plant periodically. Otherwise, my ‘Jungle Drum’ specimen seems to thrive and has been observed to put forth a new leaf that is roughly the same size as the previous ones.

I watered my ‘Jungle Drum’ every other day to ensure the soil is kept moist but not wet. In a shaded location, this plant seem to be able to tolerate short periods of drought quite well, without showing obvious signs of wilt. Because of its rather slow growth rate, I fertilised it using slow-release chemical fertiliser granules.

I have two ‘Jungle Drum’ plant that are displayed in HortPark’s Lifestyle Corner which is air-conditioned during daylight hours. After a month or so, the leaf edges were observed to turn black and dry up. This is a typical response shown by a plant when it is grown in an environment with low humidity. From this, ‘Jungle Drum’ seems to be a plant that does not tolerate dry air. Its large leaves also mean that ‘Jungle Drum’ is best grown in a place that is not windy.

Looking like a dwarf palm with large pleated leaves, this Carludovica species will confer a bold, tropical and exotic feel to any tropical landscape. It will make a valuable plant candidate for growing under very shaded areas outdoors where aroids like Aglaonema, gingers and various other shade tolerant plants will not grow properly.

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Posted in Houseplants, Tropical ornamentals

My first contribution to SUTRA magazine

Posted on May 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

My first contribution in the capacity of a staff member of the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks) to the SUTRA magazine was published in its May 09 issue. I managed to purchase a copy of the Malay lifestyle magazine from the newstand recently after I saw an advertisement that appeared on the Straits Times broadsheet which carried a small thumbnail depicting a photographic shot done at the familiar Lifestyle Corner at HortPark.

 The feature article entitled “Taman Mekar dalam flat” which translates directly to “Blooming Garden inside an apartment flat” is a feature story that shared useful tips and knowledge which one can follow so as to be able to create a beautiful and successful garden inside a high-rise apartment.

The excellent photographs that can be found in the article that spanned a total of four pages were all taken in HortPark’s Lifestyle Corner. They illustrated how plants can actually be used to decorate various parts of a modern apartment flat. I hope the reader will be inspired by the choice of plants and innovative ideas that originated from the Hort Outreach team that can be incorporated into the design and layout of the dining room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in one’s home.

In order to have a lasting and visually appealling plant display at home, one has to consider the availability of natural sunlight in a selected area inside one’s home. Depending on their light requirements, plants will thrive and grow if they are situated in a location that receives either direct or filtered sunshine for at least 6 hours daily. One can only find such areas in the home either at the balcony or windowsill that faces East or West.

When a plant is displayed in a dim area deep inside one’s home, it is recommended to bring it to a brighter location for it to recuperate. A plant should be allowed to ‘see the light’ for at least 2 weeks after being placed in a dark environment for at most a month. Note that not all plants are forgiving when they are placed in a non-conducive environment as some sensitive ones will shed all their leaves or quickly exhibit etiolated growth that may not be that visually appealling.

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Posted in Contributed Articles, Herbs, High-rise Gardening, Houseplants

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The fimbriated Bird’s Nest Fern

Posted on April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment

Bird’s nest ferns, in general, are characterised via large, long and simple fronds that are arranged in a rosette manner around the center of the plant. Locally, various Asplenium species and their cultivars make up what we call ‘bird’s nest ferns’ and they can be told apart via various morphological details of their leaves. 

One rather common but curious-looking cultivar that is often imported, sold and grown as a houseplant is the bird’s nest fern with leaf edges that are cut into thin and wavy sections. Labelled as Asplenium nidus ‘Fimbriatum’, this cultivar is a much slower-growing bird’s nest fern compared to the ones with entire leaf margins. The fronds of this cultivar appear to be rather stiff and the upper portions do not arch downwards.

One morphological feature of Asplenium nidus is that the mid-rib of its leaves are keeled on the underside. What this means is that if one is to feel run our thumb and index finger between the mid-rib in the leaves of Asplenium nidus, one will be able to find that it protrudes more distinctly from the upperside of the leaves .

However, in the case of this cultivar ‘Fimbriatum’, I noticed its mid-rib protrudes more distinctly from the underside of its leaves and this is contrary to what is to be expected from Asplenium nidus, as shown in the picture above. There is another species of Asplenium, A. australasicum, where its mid-ribs protrude from the underside of its leaves. From this observation, I reckoned, the cultivar ‘Fimbriatum’ is more like one of A. australasicum than A. nidus.

The plant I have now is in its juvenile stage and the features of how its spore sacs are arranged on its leaves can only be seen when the plant has grown larger. In A. nidus, note that the length of its sori are much shorter compared to those seen in A. australasicum. The former’s sori often run up to at most half or slightly more across the length between the mid-rib and the leaf’s edge whereas the latter’s are more extensive where the sori can cover more than the length between the mid-rib and the leaf’s edge.

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Posted in High-rise Gardening, Houseplants

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Green Culture Singapore Feature Articles for March 09

Posted on April 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

My sincere apologies for delaying the putting up of gardening feature articles on the Green Culture Singapore website. Despite my busy schedule and lack of inspiration for writing, I squeezed my brain for ideas over the weekend and managed to come up with two feature articles. The two articles have been uploaded onto the server and are now available for downloading from the Green Culture Singapore website for reading at one’s leisure.

The first article entitled “A sunflower that likes it wet!” focussed on Helianthus angustifolius which is a perennial that produces flowers continuously throughout its growing season. It can tolerate slightly wetter soil conditions which make it a good candidate for planting in waterlogged areas where the common sunflower cannot be successfully grown. Click on this link to download the article  “A sunflower that likes it wet!”

The second article was written on how to make a vertical garden. I have received a couple of requests to share how I constructed my own version of a vertical garden that was featured in Straits Times Life! a few weeks back. That was the impetus that got me started to pen down the steps that one can follow so that they can also make a similar vertical garden at home.

Note that a vertical garden is perhaps the best way to maximise the limited amount of space for gardening in a high-rise apartment. A vertical garden can also serve to decorate a plain and boring wall at home! Click on this link to download the article  “Vertical Gardening made Easy”.

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Posted in GCS Feature Articles, Houseplants, Tropical ornamentals

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Presenting “My Green Space” by NParks

Posted on April 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

The newsletter from the National Parks Board, NParks News, is now revamped and represented to all as ‘My Green Space’. This is a must-read publication for those who are interested in Singapore’s green spaces, flora and fauna. This newsletter has three main sections, namely, Lifestyle, Gardening and Conservation. Each section contains a handful of interesting articles.

The main page of “My Green Space” newsletter.

In the current issue (Jan to Mar 09), two articles on gardening are presented. The first piece entitled “Planting the Seeds of Friendship” was written by Mr Mohd Azmi who is from the Community in Bloom. The reader can look forward to read more about how two avid community gardeners, namely, Mdm Kamisah and Mr Richard Ashworth, indulged in the gardening hobby and spread the interest to fellow residents living in the estate where they lived.

“Planting the Seeds of Friendship” written by Azmi.

The next article in the gardening section was penned by myself which was written on a relatively new foliage plant that is very shade-tolerant and hence suitable for indoor display and planting. The identity of the plant is still under debate but currently, it is known as Carludovica ‘Jungle Drum’. Its closest relative is the Panama Hat Plant, botanically known as C. palmata.

My article written on Carludovica ‘Jungle Drum’ that was published on “My Green Space”.

“My Green Space” is free for all. To view the newsletter online, click on this link. To be notified of a new issue, all one needs to do is to sign up for it by clicking on this link.

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Posted in Contributed Articles, Gardening People in Singapore, Houseplants, Interesting News

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Easter Gardening Talk @ HortPark

Posted on April 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

Yesterday, my colleague, Jin Hong and I, collaborated to give a talk that tied in with the Easter theme at HortPark’s Leaf Room. The talk was part of the “Easter Eggstravaganza” event that was organised by HortPark. Despite the small turnout, participants who attended the session found the ideas that we shared with them on how to use eggs in gardening useful and interesting.

The “Easter Eggstravaganza”  banner outside HortPark.

Jin Hong shared with our audience on how one play a part to save the environment by using eggshells as containers that can be used to raise seedlings instead of using peat pellets and pots which derive their raw material from peat bog habitats. Eggshells can also be decorated like Easter eggs and used as a novel container for growing small plants. Containing mostly calcium, eggshells are a rich source of calcium that can be added to the compost heap and soil in the garden and potting mix for plants.

Jin Hong giving the talk on how to turn eggshells into decorated containers.

For my part in the talk, I shared with our audience that they can actually use bird’s nest ferns as ‘living’ containers for celebrating Easter in the tropics. Most of us use rattan or bamboo baskets to put our decorated Easter eggs. While researching on the topic. I realised that there are similar-looking but different species of bird’s nest ferns. Before the talk, I went around the nurseries to take a closer look at the different bird’s nest ferns on sale so as to be able to share my findings with the participants.

Jin Hong giving a guided tour of the Lifestyle Corner at HortPark.

After the talk, my colleague, Jin Hong, took over to bring the participants of the talk on a guided tour of the Lifestyle Corner. The time was made fruitful then because the skies outside poured heavily. Our audience also got to see the new feature at the Learning Corner, which now has a display of an array of decorated eggs as planting containers, as well as, various different uses for eggshells that we can think of, in the garden.

The Lifestyle Corner showcase featuring different uses for eggshells in the garden as well as the various species of bird’s nest ferns we can find on sale in local nurseries.

Besides just the uses of eggshells, visitors to the Lifestyle Corner in HortPark this month, will get to examine the various types of bird’s nest ferns that can be purchased from nurseries locally. Although they are all called “bird’s nest ferns”, these plants can be divided into cultivars coming from three main species, namely, Asplenium australascium, A. antiquum and A. nidus. The most common species we see perching on trees is in fact, A. australasicum, based on the appearance of the cross-section of its midrib.

Many thanks to Richmond Tan, one of my Green Culture Singapore forum moderators, who came to support the talk as well as to take the photographs shown on this blog post.

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Posted in Events, Houseplants, Recycling in the Garden, Tropical ornamentals

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Vertical Gardening Feature in Straits Times Life!

Posted on March 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

There was an extensive feature on vertical gardening in Singapore in the Straits Times Life! section yesterday. Vertical gardening is something that most Singaporeans can easily perceive since decades ago, our dwellings have gone skywards to make the best use of limited land in our island state.

Vertical gardening is the growing of plants on the vertical surfaces, be it on the wall of a home or something that is larger like the facade of a building. It is more than just aesthetics. Vertical greenery can help to cool buildings, thereby the reducing the need and cost of expensive air-conditioning. Plants also help to soften the hard and cold look of concrete that is used to construct our ‘concrete jungle’ in highly urbanised Singapore.

On the leftmost corner of the Straits Times main section, one of my vertical gardens with airplants on it was featured.

 The coverage on vertical gardening featured both hobbyist and commercial set-ups. For those of us who have followed the Community in Bloom Awards last year, we would have guessed that Mr Albert Quek’s set-up is one that would naturally appear in the feature story in the hobbyist vertical gardens portion. Indeed, Albert’s vertical garden was featured, together with two smaller photographs that showed how one can do something similar using bamboo sticks.

The cover page of Straits Times Life! section showing the feature story of the day.

I am honoured to be the next hobbyist who was featured in the story. My vertical gardens were inspired by Andrew Tan’s set-up which I first got to see it last December when I had the privilege of an invitation to visit his home. Andrew used an aluminium window grille in this vertical garden. For me, I recruited my Dad to help me in the construction of my vertical garden where he used laundry bamboo poles to make a grid that served the same purpose as the metal one used by Andrew.

I am honoured to have my two vertical gardens featured in the story. The larger vertical garden which had many airplants (Tillandsia spp.) perched on pieces of driftwood secured to the bamboo frame was shown on the first page of the main section of the Straits Times! I have noticed quite a lot of vertical gardens are rather ‘flat’ in their design and I thought I should just secure pieces of contorted driftwood onto the rather flat bamboo frame so as to achieve a naturalistic look where the branches can ‘grow outwards’ from the wall. I would then perch airplants on some of these branches.

The first page of the story and the vertical garden that was featured was mine which is a very simple set-up that can be done by securing decorative containers into a bamboo frame.

I also did a smaller version using the same framework but I secured small decorative containers onto the frame. The containers are very cheap and are bonded to the framework using cable ties. I would then slot in various plants grown in pots into these containers. Whenever the plants decline, I can easily take them out and swop with new ones. In my current set-up, I used peperomias which is a group of plants that I like every much due to their differing leaf shapes, texture and colour as well as various varying growth habits. 

The second page of the story that showed Veera’s set-up as well as the modular system that is available for purchase from Far East Flora. The vertical garden at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 was also featured.

For those of us who do not want to spend too much time making his/her own vertical garden, one can go buy a modular system called ‘Minigarden’ that is available from Far East Flora. Each module has three pockets and one can easily slot in a plant into each pocket. Each module can then be stacked up to a desired height.

For larger set-ups, it is best to consult a commercial company to help with the design and implementation. For this, Greenology’s wholly recycable ‘Green Envelope System’ was featured. It was designed by Veera, the boss of the company and comes with an irrigation system which is essential to provide water for a large set-up.

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

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