Back Garden
The back garden was to be more jungle like, where I wanted to have dense plantings. I didn't want a single path, rather an arrangement where the choices to walk around was not straight forward. This area is dominated by two mango trees, plus the area has a slightly lower profile that the rest of the section, which has forced me to plant in raised beds of soil. I let leaf litter sit where it fell and piled up the rest in large mounds in future garden areas waiting for it to decompose before planting anything. All this sounds good and when I lived in Brisbane, where we were use to knowing that there were some snakes about; but this little jungle area attracted more than just a couple, snakes, monitor lizards, pythons.
Wildlife is great, but it was getting a bit scary, plus I grew up in country without snakes, so don't have the inbuilt instinct to think about snakes before doing something. So had to do a big tidy up to remove the piles of composting materials by truck and create a super large pile away from the walking areas, which were made wider. Next I commissioned someone to build a "chipper / Shredder" and now chip materials instead and apply it as a mulch.
The back garden is where most of the Costus & Gingers, some of the Heliconia and all of the banana types are to be found. The plants seem to either exceed expectations or struggle, so more attention is required especially during the dry session. Over the years this area has evolved as the plants matured with it becoming more presentable, such that people are more willing to walk around and see what is there.
Back Garden Panoramas as of February 2017
Some of the Gingers & Heliconia's were just six inches tall when first planted into the garden and judging the appropriate distance to have between two plants was a challenge as wanted density, but not over crowding. The layout was also impacted by the Mango trees and planted at the boarder of the canopy, to enclose the area under the trees with the aim of creating a different more humid micro climate for ferns at a later stage. If anything the area enclosed has been initially dryer than wanted, so water it more now and hope that with more plants, the humidity will improve.
In 2017 I started using rice husk as a mulch to help avoid water loss over summer, if this seems to work, then will put rice husk everywhere . The entire section was formerly a rice field that sat unused for two decades, so the soil is fundamentally good but needs some enrichment is required over the next few years. As the water "ponds" in this area, making the area boggy, hence a separate drainage line had to be put in. The drainage line can also be manually blocked, so that I can flood the area with irrigation water and stop it running away if required during the summer months.
Some plants really grow fast, the blood banana [Musa acuminata var Sumatrana] with it camouflage leaf pattern was an exceptionally fast grower, it only took a few months for it to grow from seed to several meters tall. I now have to regularly remove [hack] down a bit so that that it does not over crowd its neighbours.
It is one of those plants that looks great when small and looses some of its appeal when larger. My approach is now to remove all but one or two mature stems only when a new one or two plants appear. When this plant produce banana's, they finger length small and filled with pepper corn like seeds. The fruit was tasty, but more seed than eatable pulp. Interestingly the leaves last for many days in flower arrangements.
Plants selection for the back garden has been to choose those that are hardy and grow tall enough to enclose the area, plus a collection of small plants that like to multiply. Small plants such as the iris with the common name of "Mexican Walking Plant" [Trimezia Steyermarkii] shown below that produces lots of aerial plants and some seed. As the small aerial plants get larger the stem that they are on bends over and the plant "walks" into new areas. I pick the small aerial plants and populate new area of the garden. The plant does fill gaps quickly especially planted as a group, then they become a bushy display of leaves up to about 1 meter tall.
And from a single plant, I have this interesting unknown iris . With a bit of luck I hope that it will be prolific, however time has indicated that it is not, so I am limited to a couple of plants.
The plantings are influenced by my like of having as many contrasting colours and leaf styles in close proximity that the plants thrive without being crowded out by a companion plant too quickly that I do not have time to intervene. Although some plants such as the Dieffenbachia Prince Albert in the center and the skinny Dracaena Red Scarlet probably have fixed locations and it is doubtful that I will move them.
I have planted quite a few Alpinia ginger plants as well, mainly white and pink, plus Zingiber [Beehive Ginger] of which there are 3 kinds have struggled due to conditions being a bit too dry, but as they get taller and bushier, they are expected to improve the humidity levels. There is already a noticeable temperature difference, when the temperature hit 39 degrees C recently, this area felt noticeably cooler, such that I set up a table and chairs in the open space to relax in and just let the afternoon heat pass me by. A February 2017 view below.
One of the challenges faced is that the back third of the section receives a lot of sun and in summer becomes extremely dry. In an attempt to improve this, more palms have been added and I am slowly expanding the plantings. As this area does not have frog grass planted, the maintenance cycle is to get someone to use the "weed-eater" to cut the native grass and weeds down every two weeks on the open areas. Which means plants can disappear in an instant if someone is careless or does not recognize the difference between a weed and a plant, so had to establish a temporary boundary to prevent this happening and put orange pipe sleeves around the base of key plants.
A December 2017 progress update shown above and the gap between the plants is begining to dissappear.
The picture on the right shows the contrasting colours. To get this effect, I had to put a lot of plants in to small area, hoping one kind of plant did not overwhelm the different variety next to it. Each of the plants are tough, so you have time to react and save one if it is getting overwhelmed,
A mid May 2018 update, in the last 2 years, the plants have filled out and are closing the gaps, but the particularly harsh dry season has resulted in a few more gaps appearing as various plants could not tolerate the dry spell and died, even the established plants suffered. Then there was a really long wet season that rotted away almost all my canna plants, so bigger gaps have arisen and will be filled in 2019 with small upright heliconia varieties.
Over time, I need to work more on more ground plantings to achieve a more undulating border as seen in the May 2018 view below, but some plants are just slow growers and some disappeared for example the agave attenuata needs a few more years to have any impact. I have about 10 agave attenuata and each should get to about a meter tall with lots a smaller plants around the base and form a large dramatic clump around the foxtail palm trunk.
March 2019 view with the bright morning sun hitting the plants. It hasn't rained for weeks and the ground is rock hard. The surrounding rice fields are full of immature rice and the farmers are keeping their fields flooded, so the water table is quite high. However when the farmers are close to harvesting, they stop watering and then the scorching summer sun and low water table can cause some plants to die quickly if they don't have deep roots. In mid 2019 there was a heavy tropical storm and a large mango tree was brought down and destroyed a couple of Foxtail palms and crush some mature Heliconia.
The Back Garden had some further challenges, a couple of tropical storms caused some damage, especially when one large mango tree collapsed and destroyed a number of plants and palms when it fell on its side. Pictures taken December 2019 make the area look nicer than it really is.
In March 2020 a lot of the Frog Grass dug up from the pathway excavations was used to cover the bare ground around the fallen mango tree area; an instant lawn made a huge difference to the ambiance of the area. I also got a lot more serious about making the back garden more presentable. Pictures taken in mid April.
November 2020, after a period of steady rain, lots of sun, the fallen mango tree sprouted a lot of new branches and has formed a canopy over part of the area. This will probably impact the frog grass as it can suffer when really wet and the dogs churn it up.
Frangipani - Plumeria. I have a red/hot pink variety and a golden yellow. The flowers of both types are scented. I bought them as small plants, so it is good to see them growing a bit taller and producing flowers. It will probably take another 5 or more years before they begin to dominate their locations. What I like about them is that the branches do not hold a lot of leaves, so other plants can co-exist underneath them. At the moment I have put them in front of some Red Ti Plant - Cordyline Fruiticosa that get a bit burnt when they are in full sun. The Red variety is very susceptible to getting rust in the rainy season and all the leaves fall off quite quickly, so it is not one that you put in a prime spots; but then the plants you put underneath it grow well. The yellow Plumeria that I got from Indonesia is very rust resistant, so holds it leaves very well. It is also the only one that does not seem to seed often. Because the golden yellow frangipani holds its leaves for longer, it is noticeably a faster grower and the trunk/branches thicken quicker.
The yellow frangipani like the rest eventually drop all of their leaves and if your lucky then almost every branch produces a head of flowers that last for weeks before they produce leaves again.
Frangipani seed pods are hard shelled and was not sure how long to wait before picking them, until saw one that was split open showing the seeds inside. I have planted the seeds and can confirm that they germinate easily.
Barringtonia Edulis or "cut nut". I picked up 3 seeds from a plant at "Gardens By The Bay" Singapore in December 2015 and they quickly germinated. With every seed there are expectations that it will grow fast and strong; which not always the case; however these did germinate. It took a few years and two of them has flowered in September 2018.
The difference between the two pictures below is just one day. One day it looks like a bunch of "Brussel sprouts", the next its like "Bottle Brush" or feather duster
Bridal Veil Stinkhorn (Phallus Indusiatus), a delicate fungi that appeared from nowhere and it didn't stink. In my back garden I stack up the wooden branches and let them decay, which creates a favourable environment for various fungi to appear.
The Golden Bamboo is beginning to mature and can be seen from the front gate 100 meters away, I had to remove the saba banana trees that are restricting growth on one side. This bamboo is a clumper and quite a slow grower, I also trim the lower leaves away to reveal the yellow stems which have a spotlight illuminating them from behind at night. This area has been a dumping ground for garden waste, so the soil overtime has become quite rich. Late 2020, Typhoon Ulysses pushed the bamboo over at an angle, such was the strength of the wind, it took 3 years of new growth to hide the damge.
Some wildlife that I do not want to see in the garden, although I have no issues about pythons as they seem docile and probably just looking for vermin, although the size of this one which I estimate to be around 3 meters would have no problem eating a cat or two. So pythons are ok, it is the rat snakes and cobra's that worry me as the dogs have killed a few of them.
I have got up in the morning and ventured outside, there was a metallic smell in the air, then found blood everywhere, up the house walls, all over the the patio. The dogs necks and faces covered in fresh blood, both guard dogs were extremely happy with the situation, which perplexed me as I was shock; then about an hour later I saw that they had had a fight with large snake as it was motionless on the lawn in pieces. Obviously a big python had bitten them several times, luckily the injuries were minor, but what a mess! My free roaming Belgium Malinios guard dogs don't really bark if something ventures inside the property, they execute their business silently. I do warn the neighborhood kids, that if a ball comes over the fence, don't come and get it, just knock on the gate and I will return it.
Have decided to use the 2020 wet season to add a lot of fast growing papaya plants to the area where my garden shed is as shown below. This is the last area that is not really developed. It is like a desert in summer, so the papaya plants will hopefully provide shade around the proposed garden beds, a plan that failed miserably as none of the papaya grew. The weeds are shocking in this area, so it will be challenging. Just of couple of rules, narrow pathways, as many plants as possible without obstructing the line of sight to the orange gate.
The trunks of the Saba banana can just be seen on the left, this group of bananas will severely culled or be removed as taking up too much space. Some poorly planted calamansi plants will go at some point. July 2020 and have got a design that I like and will consider it for six months then lift and place the bricks better in 2021. The grass here is the sedge grass weed type, it will grow 3cm in 24 hours! and it is the kind of weed that is hard to kill, so my plan it to put a ton of papaya plants to starve it of light for a year or so.
While the brick layout might give the impression that nothing will be allowed to grow outside their boundaries, I have been happy to let flowering plants pop up in an uncontrolled manner, the picture below is selective perspective that makes that area look better than it does, however this style I would like to have from all viewpoints.
In January 2021 I had some 500+ bricks that I had put aside to do something with and decided to create some paths / irregular squares that will be bordered by lemon grass, with each square/rectangle filled with lawn grass. One of the aims was to make it easier to walk here when it is wet. I desired Japanese grass boarders, a plant which is not available here, however lemon grass does grow well and smells nice when crushed in your hands, so plan to use that instead, which I will expect will also hide some of the pattern, making it less formal.
It took me two cloudy days to get the bricks down onto the soil, with no foundations used means that I can move it to a new design, if I don't like it next year.
A reverse perspective taken about 4 months later when the lemon grass had matured
This area was really dark at night, so have started to use some 150w solar powered street lights to illuminate that area. The lights made a large difference and now often walk around at night with the guard dogs. The guard dogs are free roaming and often come up to the house at night and give a yelp when I am watching TV, indicating that they want me to come outside and take a walk with them, previously the dogs would patrol the back without "inviting" me to come outside.
November 2022, almost no significant change over the last year other than plants have matured and all gaps have disappeared. Some of the heliconia have creeped out of their designated spots and I hack them back to provide order. The derelict garden shed is still standing and hides a collection of garden equipment. I removed some of the lemon grass as it was getting too large and a bit untidy, plus it was encroaching making the walkway feel too narrow.
Sunrise at 5.45 am
