An Antipolo garden
By Marge C. Enriquez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:13:00 10/03/2008
ARCHITECT PATRICIA “Wendy” Regalado’s garden in Antipolo is a charming expression of her personal style.
Like most tropical gardens, it’s characterized by prolific growth. The garden blossoms without the gardener worrying about weeding; additional plants simply augment the lushness. Fruit and hardwood trees serve as backdrop for shrubs, ferns and tropical flowers.
Some of the taller plants enclose a space for smaller plants to flourish, a sitting area or a decorative accent.
The dense growth that the trees and vines provide creates a private little area outdoors. For garden decor, Regalado has cement paths with distinct leaf imprints, plaster of paris molds used by her sister-in-law Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, statues of human figures in distorted proportions and cement basins for water plants.
As it is, the property is bountiful with fruit trees—mangoes, rambutan, marang, jackfruit, mulberries and avocados. You could make a salad from the patch of lychees, citruses, calamansi, lime, papaya and banana trees. The cacao trees offer the best-tasting cocoa—rich, filling and nutritious.
One area is designated for plants that require low maintenance. There is a grove of bamboo like the tinikan fringing the perimeters of the property; the fine buho and Buddha’s bellies form a cluster encircling a tiny clearing. Joyas and other nature vines crawl on the buotil tree.
One can relax on the heirloom metal chairs that sit under the canopy of the mango branches and leaves. From the tree trunk, leaves from the giant staghorn fern (platycerium grande) trail down like Rapunzel’s hair.
Wendy is also a fern collector—bird’s nests, golden Boston ferns, water ferns, tree ferns, polypodiums in assorted boxes and giant ferns—mostly grown from spores and cultivated by nurturing hands.
Patterns, colors, textures
To break up the monotony of green, the garden offers a cornucopia of patterns, colors and textures. The forked leaf sword ferns and four-leaf water ferns are a foil to the water lilies and the variegated pandan.
Spathyphyllums are lined with fortune plants. Azaleas and lotuses emerge from the cisterns. Plant lovers always take a fancy to the inverted petals of the gloriosa lily or the corrugated leaves of the hervilliea plicata that fold like an origami, or marvel at how some plants such as the tillandsia, an epiphyte, can thrive on air.
Once a year, the bridal shower flowers entwine on a trellis abloom. Aside from carabao grass, purple shields, portulaca and begonias overlay the ground.
The freshness of the chorisia tree with its white flowers contrasts with the dangerous stick plant, which, says Wendy, has a poisonous milky sap that can blind you.
“The amorphophallus or pungapung grows all over the garden. It has a very unique kind of flower. One time we had some friends over for dinner,” Regalado said. “As it got darker, the stench of a dead rat would waft to the house. The poor maid searched all over and could not find the dead rat. Finally she discovered the stinky flower full of flies (bangaw at that). Its color was that of raw meat. We finally found the culprit.”
Family space
The Regalados created an outdoor space by building a trellis over tiled flooring. Smaller plants such as the magic berries, pandan, queen of the night, calachuchi and morning glories.
To escape the tropical heat, the Regalados dine al fresco, surrounded by the delicate plants. Crawling vines, morning glories, violets and creeping bamboo that intersect the mahogany tree make a natural canopy. This whole space is defined by water plants like the water fern (ceratopteris thalicorides), variegated acanthuses and floating salvinias.
Tumbergias and mileguas, both flowering vines, drape the trees with their multitudinous leaves and fragrant flowers while a bamboo vine reaches out to its neighbors, bonsai grouped with philodendrons, lotuses and pothos vine.
The path to the nipa hut, where Wendy keeps her paper lamps, is lined with lotuses and bromeliads. “The hut comes alive with colorful San Fernando, San Francisco and hibiscus.
Wendy groups the plants in a nonchalant manner. “There’s no order. When there’s a space, just fill it,” she says.
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