76 and still gardening
Meet Boging, a plant enthusiast/finder/dealer. I met her around 2005 when Tubod, LDN experienced a cacti craze; she gladly took off several varieties of succulents from my garden. She’s been to remote private gardens or plant farms in the countryside. Hence, she’s aware of the latest plant craze in various regions for whenever there’s a town fiesta, Boging and her team would be there.
Here are some green residents in her garden:
Aug 17, ABAGA, LALA, LANAO DEL NORTE — Dr. Opay-Villarmino, an obstetrician – gynecologist/mother/humanitarian/homemaker/- gardener, visited my garden that Wednesday morning because of the Tillandsia plants. Though she had a scheduled operation later that day (at 1 o’clock p.m.), the good doctor invited us to visit her garden. I was reluctant at first to accept her invitation but I remembered that the last time I was there was around 2007.
After a 20-minute car ride, we got there. Then, she proudly gave us a tour on her ‘updated garden’. She’s apologetic on the smell of urine everywhere; she refer to the tubs of urine as ‘orange juice’ for her plants. I noticed that most of her plants were replaced by new ones; she retained her collections on Anthuriums, Orchids and Bromeliads though.
I wouldn’t have noticed the blooming vine overhead if not for its fallen yellow flower I saw on the side path. Dr. Opay-Villarmino called it Angel’s Torch. She said that the torch-like flowers are often white when new and that they turn yellow before they fall while still on the if not for its yellow flower on the pathway.
Our chat revolve around plants and family and plants and friends and plants and health. We exchanged tips on how-to-grow-what-plants and garden makeovers. After 2 hours, we bid farewell to her and gave her thanks on the plants she gave us.
Related article:
God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. ~Author Unknown
It’s Typhoon MINA that’s been causing all those rain, wind, and brownouts here in my hometown for the past days… and Lanao del Norte is just at its outskirts! My cacti suffered the most — weeds grew in every pot and cacti condition ranges from okay to rotting to dead. I even found an “empty shell” of a dwarf cactus while weeding its pot…
and a dead Thelocactus setispinus reclining like a tower of Pisa…
…but not all is bad news on cacti. As they say, a garden is always on the business of life and death; if a plant died, seedlings would sprout… and sprout they did. I’ve propagated some Thelocactus seeds early this month and look how they’re (Thelocactus seedlings) starting their new life.
Also, two of my orchids bloomed again… The red-mottled golden flowers of the Vanda hybrid cheered me up ( this orchid arrived in bloom here in my garden last February 2011)… And so is the orange blooms of my Ascocenda.
Some plants also bloomed to show that they’re faring well in this current weather condition. So overall, I’m still glad while waiting for the this wet season to pass.
Aug 2, 8AM, TUBOD — Sopronia, my orchid dealer since the 1980’s, brought me a basketful of flowering plants this morning. She drops by at my house once a month or once in two months carrying a basket of exotic or new hybrid plants from an Orchid farm in Davao. It’s sweet of her to put me in her itinerary for she travels around Mindanao, (Davao Region, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula).
This lady knows that I’m still into orchids and that I like purple, so she always brings a variety of purple flowers for me to choose from. Expectedly, hybrid Dendrobiums with colorful blooms fill the spaces on her basket for they are still in season… So lovely and pricey too… I have to restrain myself from “pure, unbridled greed”…
So aside from what I ordered from her previously (a miniature Anthurium, a mottled leaf Phalaenopsis, and a Vanda ‘Udom Gold’ ), I chose a purple variety of Dendrobium King’s Dragon as a latest addition to my collection. I’m going to be busy for the rest of the day repotting but at least I’m happy…
Around my neighborhood here in Tubod and the rest of the province of Lanao del Norte, the bombil (Cebuano) or bogambilya (Tagalog) or Bougainvillea (English) is the most popular potted plant seen along national highways and town streets. The plant’s tolerance in environments with high salt and warm climate makes it suitable in the coastal towns of Lanao province. Or perhaps, we just have a fondness for this plant due to its lovely flowers in purple, burgundy, white, pink, or orange…
Also known as Paper Flowers, the Bougainvillea is often presented in various ways such as: (1) topiary in various forms, (2) clipped-shrubs in cement ‘Clean and Green’ planters, (3) hedges along fence lines of private homes or public schools, (4) planted in hanging baskets as wall accents, and (5) potted in containers as bonsai tree… The possibilities are endless because our love affair with Bougainvillea goes way back in the Spanish era.
Anyway, most of the Bougainvillea in my garden are 10-year-old bonsai plants.They’re still a work in progress though; I relocated them at the balcony so I would see them flower. The ones I trained as miniature trees are Bougainvillea glabra and Bougainvillea spectabilis (both normal and variegated). Usually, I water them sparingly so they wouldn’t rot.
Mama Nene's Garden 