What plants made your garden look vibrant and alive during the hot summer days?
March to May are summer months or hot dry season in the Philippines when temperatures rise from 30 degrees Celsius or higher. It is not an ideal time to start growing a new plant but it is bloom time for some flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees that can withstand the scorching heat of the sun.
BOUGAINVILLEA
Bougainvillea flowers signal the onset of the dry season. Classified as a thorny vine, the bougainvillea plant comes in different colors of red, pink, yellow, violet, white or a combination of white and pink among others.
Bougainvillea plants can be expensive depending on the extent of its growth and variety, and yet they are very easy to source and grow from stem cuttings. For a start, you can buy a small pot of the plant and cut one or two stems for planting. Take a walk in the park or around the neighborhood and you may chance upon someone trimming their bougainvillea. A visit to the memorial park after a storm that felled down trees and broke branches provided me a free source of stem cuttings (with permission from the park gardener) to add to my bougainvillea collection.
Here are some helpful tips when propagating Bougainvillea.
Rooting Bougainvillea
- To promote faster rooting, scrape off the outer layer of the skin on the last two nodes of the stem cutting before planting. Remove the leaves leaving only one or two at the top of the stem. Place the pot under the shade. When new leaves appear after a week or two, this means that the stems are already rooted and the pot can be moved to an area with brighter sunlight.
- You can also soak the stems in water and wait until they are rooted before planting in a pot. Replace with clean water every two days to avoid rotting and breeding of mosquitoes.
- The variegated bougainvillea are best grown by marcotting a mature stem. You can find some helpful tips on how to do basic marcotting in my blog entitled "Marcotting an African Talisay: A Beginner's Joy."
- Make sure your newly planted bougainvillea plant gets gradual dose of sunlight until it gets acclimated to 6-8 hours of direct sunlight which is essential for flowering.
Watering Bougainvillea:
- Potted bougainvillea plants need more frequent watering when the roots start to spread within limited space.
- They will survive un-watered for days or even months if planted on the ground.
- Overwatering can cause the bougainvillea to give you less flowers or to wither and die.
Pruning Bougainvillea
- Crisscrossing branches is a common problem when the bougainvillea plant is left untrimmed and grows into a vine of thorny stems that can cause injury.
- Before this happens, find the main branch, remove the side stems as the plant grows taller and prune it to achieve the shape of a mini-tree with a single trunk and a canopy of branches and leaves. This way, it can provide you shade in summer where you can put your sensitive plants underneath.
- Layer the stems with the short ones at the top and the long ones at the bottom so that all the leaves get an equal amount of sunlight and flowers will grow in layers too at the ends of the stems.
- When the bougainvillea flowers start to wither and fall, cut the end of the stem where the flowers grew to promote more flowering.
This woody vine provides daily colorful hues in the garden from April to December. It is also helpful in securing perimeter fences or covering eyesore areas in your surroundings.
ROSAL
Rosal is a woody shrub with fragrant, palm-size white flowers that grow best with moist soil under partial shade and full sun conditions.
Rooting Rosal
My Rosal plant came from stem fillers in a Rose Bouquet that was given to me on my birthday last year. What used to be six-inches stems are now beautiful bushes of about three feet tall planted in the four corners of my garden. Here's how I propagated them.
- Keep the stems soaked in water (preferably rain water) after the roses have withered ensuring to replace the water every day.
- Remove some of the leaves leaving only 4-6 leaves at the top.
- When the stems get rooted, plant them in small pots and water them with growth hormone to sustain the growth of the roots.
- Once stable and about a foot tall, transfer to a bigger pot or plant on the ground.
Flowering of Rosal
After only a year, the tallest Rosal shrub that I planted started to grow buds in April and bloomed this May with sweet smelling fragrance that catch the attention of passersby.
Add organic compost made out of fruit peelings and vegetable cuttings from your kitchen and water them with Malunggay (Moringa) Powder once a week.
For composting and organic fertilizer ideas, please refer to my blog entitled "Home-made Malunggay Powder: A Boost for Your Plants and More" and "To Junk or Not to Junk: Recycle, Upcycle, Downcycle."
BEEHIVE GINGER
This plant grows in tropical areas up to a height of six feet with spear-shaped leaves measuring twelve inches long. Its name was derived from the beehive appearance of the bracts which sprout from the ground instead of the stems or foliage. The bracts come in colors of yellow, red, or gold where the true but not so significant flowers grow.
Propagation of Beehive Ginger
My helper brought me rhizomes of this plant from the Catanduanes Islands. I planted them in a huge pot and the rhizomes multiplied quickly. However, I had to move the pot several times in the last three years to different locations in the yard as the leaves always withered despite daily watering.
Water and Sunlight for Beehive Ginger
Disappointed with its unstable growth, I pulled the rhizomes out of the huge pot and buried them carelessly on the ground at the back of the house beside our laundry area. The soil in this area is always moist but not boggy and there is partial shade and sunlight.
After two years, two beautiful yellow cone-like bracts suddenly appeared and I anticipate more buds will be coming.
Note that the bracts are not yet the flowers which will later appear in between the coils of the bract.
The Beehive Ginger plant thrives best on the ground with moist, loose soil and bright, indirect sunlight.
After a month, this variety transitions from yellow to red as the cone grows longer.
DESMODIUM GOLDEN LEGUME
Yellow brings life and color to a monotonous greenery so I am quite biased about yellow plants.
I bought this shrub in Silang, Cavite at half the price it is being sold in plant stores in Manila. When the branches started to grow taller and bigger, I marcotted three branches and after a month, cut the rooted branches from the mother plant and transferred them to separate pots.
Marcotting of Desmodium Golden Legume
The round, black plastic marcotting boxes are very easy to use. They are designed to keep moisture and provide room for roots to grow. However, the stem openings may be too small or too large to hold the stem and you need to open the box every time to check if sufficient roots have grown.
Update: Branches marcotted on June 2 and transplanted on July 8.
I prefer improvising with used plastic condiment containers because I can create openings with a soldering iron that exactly fit the size of the stem. The roots can be seen from the outside without opening the box and you can quickly determine if the stem is ready for cutting and transplanting.
Timing is important when cutting off the marcotted branch from the mother plant. Cutting too early may produce an un-rooted branch while cutting it too late may cause the roots to dry up.
The flowers of this variety are not very noticeable but the leaves are a stunning yellow accent among the greens and can provide some shade during the summer.
Desmodium plants attract bees, butterflies and song birds in the garden that promote pollination.
GUYABANO (SOURSOP)
My husband germinated the seeds of a very sweet Guyabano fruit that was given to him while on a trip to Davao. I planted two seedlings in the sunniest part of my garden where there is 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. After two years, one of the trees started to bear fruit.
The Guyabano fruit is very high in potassium content but like any other plant, it also needs potassium feed. I soak chopped Saba banana peelings in water for at least 48 hours and use the juice extract to water the Guyabano tree. After that, I dry the banana peel and once crispy, spread them at the base of the tree as mulch.
The leaves of the Guyabano are glossy and sweet smelling when folded or crumpled with your hands.
Studies indicate that tea from Guyabano leaves has anti-cancer properties, helps alleviate back pains, rheumatism, urinary tract infection and promotes breast milk production of mothers, among others.
The seeds when processed and turned into powder are also an effective cure for head lice and eggs on human hair.
Now that the hot dry season is over and the rainy days have come, consider what to plant in your garden for a cheerful and colorful summer next year.
In everything, nothing beats early planning and preparation.
You can reach me at greencraftivist@gmail.com for any questions or inquiries.
Apple Bleza-Morales
About the Author:
Apple (or Maybelle in the corporate setting) is an HR Professional who is passionately immersed in home and community gardening as well as related arts and crafts. She completed post baccalaureate studies in Human Resources and Organization Development at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde and holds a Master's Degree in Industrial Relations from the University of the Philippines with focus in Human Resources Development.
Photos by: Maybelle B. Morales
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