Читать книгу Tropical Gardens of the Philippines - Elizabeth Reyes - Страница 12

VICKY HERRERA’S GARDEN

Tagaytay City, Cavite

A panoramic view of the garden overlooking the majestic Taal volcano and lake.

A stone bench nestles against plantings of colorful Impatiens and wildly fragrant, native sanggumay orchids, Dendrobium anosmum. Somewhat surprisingly, the orchid’s scientific name translates as “without scent,” which is a bit of a misnomer as this plant has a strong perfume.

Perched on the side of a hill in scenic Tagaytay, the garden of Vicky Herrera looks out onto one of the most magical views in the Philippines, that of Taal volcano and its lake. One would think this would pose a serious challenge to anyone intent on creating a garden here: it’s not just the views the owner had to contend with but also the ferocious winds that sweep off Taal Lake and Laguna de Bay. Herrera met the challenge by designing a garden of mostly colorful and sweet-scented perennials that thrive in rich volcanic soil and hardy annuals that tolerate the wind. She believes that the soft and airy growth habits of annual species make for natural plantings when combined with perennials.

Today, the garden’s bold and wild color palette frames and enhances the mostly quiet and tranquil panorama. After more than 20 years, the once bare hillside is now home to many colorful and healthy plants. Evergreen shrubs and pine trees form the backbone of the design, and these are reinforced by the contour of the lawns and exuberantly planted borders. In July, orange and red Impatiens is planted in groups of ten or 20 in the borders. Fast growing, they soon compete with the equally vigorous Lantana camara in yellow and pink. Petunias, Cosmos and Hibiscus, along with brightly flowering Salvias, contribute to the explosion of color.

Everywhere, flowering plants drift and flow, fall and climb over each other in an unorchestrated ballet with the wind. A daring colorist, Herrera is fearless about combining brilliant hues and prefers reds and oranges to soft pastels. She encourages the unlikely combinations of red Salvia, orange Impatiens, dark pink Azalea and yellow daisies, which she contrasts with blue ginger and feathery Cleomes (spider flowers). The strong, dark colors are used to strengthen the borders. Since this is, in large part, a naturalistic garden, plants are allowed to reseed themselves and choose their own places in the planting scheme.

Around the back, the garden is divided into two levels. Encircled by loose waves of Salvia splendens, the first level slopes to a mossy embankment profuse with a dazzling display of yellow, pink and white Lantana to reveal a secret nook with stone paved benches and a pergola cloaked with the owner’s prized Jade vine now in flower. This hidden enclosure provides another spot from which to admire the view. On the second level there is a wooden gazebo that provides shelter from the elements. Except for a magnificent grouping of Medinilla and a tree fern here and there, Herrera has resisted the temptation to plant the more exotic and ornamental plants that have become fashionable in many tropical gardens. She is content to grow the modest and common cultivars and concentrate instead on planting more of the scented flowers such as Gardenias, Honeysuckle, Champaca and the wildly fragrant sanggumay or Dendrobium anosmum, all of which provide her house with a welcome scent.

Vicky Herrera has made her mark on this dramatic landscape. While respecting its splendid location, she has also made it her own.

Lush plantings of red Salvia and orange Impatiens provide color along the winding garden paths.

Brightly colored annuals highlight steps fashioned out of river stones and railroad sleepers.

A glimpse of the house through the dense floral display of modest and common cultivars mixed in with variously scented flowers.

Stone sculptures of anitos (spirit gods) provide a dramatic note in this wild and naturalistic garden.

The purple flowered Tibouchina urvilleana contrasts with red Salvia splendens.

A cool, green respite from all the color. A jade vine can be seen hanging above the bird’s nest fern on the post.

A sweet wooden gazebo provides shelter from the elements as well as views over the lake and volcano below.

Thunbergia mysorensis makes a dazzling display on a pergola. This woody-stemmed, evergreen flowering vine is native to India. The name, mysorensis, is derived from the city of Mysore in South India.

A wonderful example of the amazing Philippine jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys.

The spiky pink Celosia argentea, an annual herb sometimes considered a weed looks perfectly at home in this garden.