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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tropical Vertical Gardening Experiment



I got inspired by The Rainforest Garden in the idea of setting up a vertical landscape garden. It was a situation when you got lots of plants but lacking display space. (too many plants and too less of a garden space would create a messy, unkempt - jungle look in the garden)

And I was also in a situation where I got everything under the sun theme and I need to focus with working out to bring the impact that I often look for - sort of create an ambiance where you feel good whenever you are in the garden (kind-a-feeling)

Yep, the ferns have to go. Its either throw away or give away situation. They don't fix well in my theme coloured garden. And so, this was a great idea of display. The good thing about ferns is they can really take the abuse. They can be over watered (but not water-logged) and would survive without soil. As you can see - the whole thing is a root-ball mass which easily fit into container spaced compartments.

I had set this up during the Chinese New Year holidays - its about a week now and they are doing fine. My greatest concern is that the whole soil & root mass might just flop & drop when watering. The other challenge is watering - too much water loosen the root support, lack of water dries up the leaves. The Bird Nest Fern are enjoying their new location as they sprout out new leaflets.

I had added Jewel of Opar in the selection to give some colour in the green selection and they simply look pretty good in the collection. The plants that are in this collection:

a) Bird Nest Fern
b) Drawf Petticoat Fern
c) Fluffy Ruffle Fern
d) Basket Plant
e) Jewel of Opar
f) Wandering Jew (Green Tradescantia)
g) Zebra Tradescantia
i) Joyweed

The most challenging moment is hammering the nails to support the wooden frame. It took awhile for me to handle the issue (guess I'm not good in being a carpenter) The wooden frame is actually a fruit crate. I had stapled a layer of plastic sheet to hold the soil and placed small containers to hold the root-ball mass inside them.
Sometimes, it is an issue of trial & error. And I foresee that eventually some species in this collection might overwhelm other species and that others might slowly disappear.

Of course - at the end of the day, it looked nothing like what the Rainforest Gardener proposed.
(lol) Well, I guess - it happens when you work with your own style and ideas. I wanted to use coconut shells and husk but it happened to be during the holiday season and getting them from a sundry shop is going to be a long wait (you can get all the husk & the shell for free as they are thrown away at the end of the day)

I have managed to really reset my garden during the whole Chinese New Year holiday week . It was also the issue of doing & setting a pot at a time, telling myself not to overwhelm and get up set or panic in seeing the whole mess. Amazingly I marvelled that I did manage to do some clearing work - doing little by little and eventually made some visible progress.
(I will upload my overall garden picture later)











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Wishing a Prosperous & a Garden Full of Overwhelming Beauty
to all who celebrate this Chinese New Year!
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14 comments:

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

I think if we don't have much space growing vertically make gardening more a fun challenge. We can make our own special version of Hanging Garden of Babylon by our own designed.

p3chandan said...

Your handiwork reminded me of 2 projects I wanted to do, hanging the 'tanduk rusa' and orchid seedlings on a old mango tree stump. Not a bad idea and it can be a work of art in the garden too. Thanks for sharing James.

Steve Asbell said...

I love it! I just woke up and am off to work, so I'll read more when I get back. The two birds are a wonderful touch!

Chloe m said...

That's a great project! I think it turned out beautifully. I probably gives you a sense of accomplishment to get that done. Hopefully you can located coconut supplies later.

Ami said...

Love the the look of up-side-down bird's nest fern, and it is a good start to the vertical gardening! I also want to do some vertical gardening, have some ideas, but have not got time to execute them yet. I too love the two birds decoration above the frame, nice!

Thanks for visiting my "Chinse New Year" post. To answer your question about if brom cups will breed mosquitos. I have not found it is a problem since it is outdoor, and summer time mosquitos are expected, but I don't think it causes MORE mosquitos. Also I planted rosemary plants nearby, which help keep mosquitos away. Hope this helps. Broms are expensive here also, so I usually only buy one for each kind, and they set the pups quickly :)

Floridagirl said...

Pretty cool, James! I love your vertical garden--individuality is a good thing--and all your hanging gardens as well!

Stephanie said...

Oh you saved lots of space here! Love it! And it is a daring move to put bird's nest fern up on the wall. I like your combination, tiny leaves with big leaves... nice!

Gardening is a lifetime thing... little by little is great! I am so inspired now to give my garden some little changes and see big progress later. TQVM :-D

Rani acharyulu said...

Nice idea put birds nest fern up on the wall.I will try in my garden.You have wonderful collection of plants.

James David said...

Malay-Kadazan girl - love to see that australian version of your hanging garden. My garden is as big as a space for a medium size carpark.

P3chandran - do take your time and plan it well. Im pretty sure you may need to improvise along the way. At the end of the day - you will be so satisfied that you did it.

Rainforest Gardener - all thanks to you, you inspired this project. I had added a link to you.

Rosey - thanks. Probably the need for the coconut husk & shelll in no longer as I wanted to use it as base-medium for this hanging frame.

Thanks Ami for the explaination. I wanted to start a brom collection and was checking the pro's & con's concerning it.

Thanks Floridagirl - appreciate your thought very much.

Stephanie - I too get inspired too seeing your garden and your tips and suggestion. Thanks you too.

Rani - Thanks for dropping by and commenting.

One said...

That's something different and looks really good with the birds.

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Nice to go vertical. Over here, its only kakdah orchids that resembles vertical gardening... the rest just crawl along..

Jacqueline said...

Congrats, James...lovely and arty way of gardening! Love how you've attractively positioned the bird's nest to the corner so that the smaller-sized greens can be admired too! I saw a marvelous panel of vertical-grown plants against a wall sometime mid last year and was smitten but have yet to venture into it. You may want to view the panel at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayjayc/5441063683/ to give you some ideas.
Thanks for your visits to our garden site and CNY wishes!

James David said...

One - thanks!

Bangchik - yes, orchids looks good vertical, but Im not willing to experiment with them yet and they are not good bloomers in my place so, Im not so positive in using them just yet.

Jacq - thanks for the compliment & will check out the link.

Autumn Belle said...

I think you have made some smart choices of plants, especially those ferns. A true gardener who is willing to move with the changing times!

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Tropical Garden, Batu Caves, Malaysia
My Malaysian Tropical Garden mainly focused on unique and colorful plants ranging from rare to common plants all around the tropical belt across the world. Ideal for inspiration for challenging areas in the garden space - indoor gardening, balcony gardening and small green spaces especially for ariods, bromeliads, begonias, edibles, cascading & vertical garden plants, succulents & cacti, orchids, together with both shade and sun loving plants.

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