Friday, August 2, 2013

Singapore - Roof Gardening Update

Some Good, Some Bad
Most of the plants survived our absence pretty well.  The lantana in the inner planter thrived.

The Golden Penda moved onto their second round of blooming.  All those dots around it are bees.

The Morning Glories died completely so I moved them to a better location that gets the morning sun and they took off again, growing six feet in two weeks.  One vine shimmied up the fishing line I trained along one of the columns and another two are coming up quickly.

The Lantana in the front planter took a real beating, drying up to a crisp.  I am nursing them back slowly and they're starting to respond.  I added four Allamanda - the creeping sort.  I'm hoping they creep along the railing.
They seem to like the location, they're blooming like crazy.
They're very bright and cheery and their tendrils are reaching out hungrily.

In one corner of the inner planter I added another climber known as Clitoria Ternatea.  The common name is Blue Pea. They grabbed onto the fishing line and are on the way up the wall.

Their flowers are used for coloring in certain Indonesian dishes.  They're incredibly bright.

At the northern edge I planted two small trees called Eugenia Oleina.  These can grow upwards of twenty feet or more and will flower if they're happy.  I hope they rise up and provide some shade.  The new foliage comes in reddish orange and then slowly turns green.  I lugged up the pots and dirt myself and my lower back still feels it.

Near the lounge chairs I planted Campsis Orange, another climber.

My budding herb garden is split between a small plastic planter on the floor and the inner planter.  The former contains parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, chilies and curry leaf.

I've used everything except the curry leaf so far, especially the basil, which is sweet.

In the inner planter are the thyme and spring onion.

So, things are coming along.  I'm enjoying it a lot.  Next up, some kind of vines that I want to train up and over the pergola.  I'm leaning towards Thumbergia, which is growing like wild around our parking lot.  I'm planning to go snip some pieces to see if I can grow it.

UPDATE:  I found some cheap Thunbergia at my local nursery that was perfect for planting.  I plopped it into the inner planter on the eastern side of the porch and added some bamboo for it to climb.


2 comments:

Dan said...

You are becoming quite horticultural

FN said...

Thanks to the internet, you can appear to be knowledgable about anything. Let'a see if they survive.