Garden Tour: Tymad Bistro

Whatever the shape and size of a garden, the arrangement and landscaping of plants in it arouses my curiosity. Landscaped gardens in commercial establishments are especially interesting because the artist picks the most hardy plants that can withstand relative neglect and still stay lush and healthy. As a newbie gardener, I am at a lost sometimes picking which plants would look great and work well together, so the combination of plants is captivating too. I end up taking notes and applying the knowledge to my own garden.

the café signage surrounded by an evergreen tropical vine

We have been patrons of Tymad Bistro for several years now. About five kilometers from home, it is our go to place for delicious French breads, cakes, and pastries. We've had lunches here to fete birthdays and accomplishments of any family member. I love their buttery croissant, my husband craves for their kouign amann, while my daughter constantly reminds me to buy the pain au chocolat for her afternoon merienda.

take home croissant, pain au chocolat, kouign amann, and a mini rose on the side

Their fruit-laden pavlova is to die for! The large version is normally not on display in the café. Made-to-order a day before, the beauty has a special spot in the dessert station of parties we hold at home. Sinful, yet refreshing to the palate, it doesn't last long on the table as it is everyone's first pick. No leftovers, either, to my husband's lament.

the lovely pavlova

Approaching the shop, one can see four garden beds bursting with the white to blush pink to fuschia bougainvillea flowers. Scattered at the bottom are dwarf santans, the evergreen shrub ever present in most gardens in the country. Here, the typical red, orange or yellow blooms were absent.

bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra) with profuse pink and white blooms, in tandem with santan (Ixora coccinea)

Not one to just look straight ahead, I stooped to get a closer look at the lower stratum of the plant boxes and was delighted to find a beautiful mess of leaves from 3 different plants. One can't beat nature at its game, as even in a tangle, it manages to be stunning. The variation in the shade and tone of the greens and the dark purple stems make a perfect study on color theory.

dwarf santan (Ixora coccinea) in a big green mess with ficus variagata and bougainvillea foliage

The plants make a great privacy screen, protect the café from exposure to direct sunlight which is harsh in the tropics and, to some extent, filter air and particulate matter pollutants from the street.

Let's go in.

chocolate pralines, 3 kinds of chocolate cakes, blueberry cheesecake, and an apple tarte tatin

Immediately greeting you is the glass-enclosed display of mouth-watering French delights. They have mini pear pies, a pistachio cream and chocolate mousse cake, the classic trianon, black forest, and opera cakes, and several kinds of cheesecakes. I have a thing for custards and crunch so I am personally recommending the mille feuille.

tempting...

On top of the glass display are my favorite breads, definitely the best in town. These sell like hotcakes and are usually gone by early afternoon.

croissants and pain au chocolat

Beside them is big plate of French canelés, flavored in rum and vanilla, golden brown caramelized crust on the outside and soft, tender, and custardy on the inside.

caramelized canelé

And no French café would be complete without French bread.

chocolate pralines and French bread

The café is cozy, the walls painted red, cream and gray have beautiful black and white photographs of popular French landmarks. It sits around 30 at most. On one side, French books are on display ledges. I sometimes pick one and browse only, as I can't read French.

view from the door

The floor space could only accommodate a lone indoor plant, an arius (Podocarpus costalis), a conifer which is endemic to Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines. The native Ivatans use it as Christmas trees during the year-end festive season, creatively embellishing them with real orange and pandan fruits. The hardy, easy-to-grow plant is cultivated throughout the Philippines mainly for ornamental horticulture purposes. In native Batanes, though, the Ivatans gather arius fruits to ferment into a popular local wine.

view from the door

Leaving the place after paying for my take-home goodies, I glanced upon a dracaena (Dracaena deremensis). Its evergreen leaves, spread wide like arms, bade me farewell and come again.

the ubiquitous dracaena

I will.

Gardening Space: Front Garden

Directly below my balcony is my front garden. Every morning, as soon as the sun has risen, I would go to the balcony and look down my front garden, and spend a couple of minutes enjoying the view. It's a beauty, especially after a dawn rain. Droplets of rain would glisten the leaves and flowers, saturating the colors to intense vividness. From above, I observe the majestic bird's nest ferns and the eye-catching heliconia leaves, but I am really enamored by the pink-tipped neoregelia bromeliad peeking through the dense foliage

the front garden view from the balcony

Christmas season starts early in the Philippines, and my house is already bedecked with Christmas lights. For the front garden we chose to hang several dozens of white parols. I find the juxtaposition of the Balinese design elements of our house and the very Filipino Christmas decor amusing.

the garden view approaching the house

At about 6 a.m., I have a hasty breakfast of homemade bread, or Budong's pandesal, whichever is available, and a sip here and there of my morning coffee. Once husband and kids are on their way to work and school, I start watering my plants, pruning diseased leaves, making mental notes on what plants to add and where -- while finishing my coffee. I usually start the visit with my balcony plants, then go back down to tend to my front garden.

the front garden view from the living room

This garden is a hodge-podge of hardy tropical plants, most I inherited from my late mother-in-law, others I got as cuttings from gardens of friendly gardeners, and the flowering plants recently bought from my fave plant nurseries.

bird's nest fern, my fave neoregelia bromeliad, pretty-in-pink canna lilies, a yucca with sharp pointy leaves, and snake plant cultivars as border

As a novice gardener, I am still concentrating on hardy tropical perennials, plants that are easy to grow and maintain. I feel that I should first focus on knowing the basics of growing plants, before I would venture on more exotic and high-maintenance tropical plants. These plants I have now and their various cultivars are already beauties in themselves, and I am enjoying knowing what makes them tick slowly but surely.

dracaenas, dumb canes, palms, a begonia (Begonia semperflorens) in bloom, rooster's comb flowers, and a not-yet-flowering rosal (Gardenia jasminoides)

I have a second Balinese door opening to an enclosed garden, a secret garden, for now.

the second Balinese door to the side of the main one; the plants to the left are bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra), shaped by wires into a heart, and a couple more rooster's comb plants; the plants to the right are the bromeliads, rosals, yellow dahlias (Dahlia pinnata) and marigolds (Tagetes)

On both sides of this Balinese door are antique santoses, two of the many collected by my husband over the years.

a wooden santos beautifully framed by the elegant leaves of the hanging bird's nest fern (Asplenium nidus)

For this part of the garden, I am trying the achieve the dense rain forest tropical look. Ha! I actually just mixed and matched various plants I already have in my hands and just hoped for the best in terms of look. The fake heron is my husband's idea. He said it matches the surrounding lobster claw (Heliconia rostrata) blossoms. I don't buy it. I think the bird will fly away when he is on one of his business trips. Hehe.

heliconias, palms, and rosal on the foreground; dracaena, miniature palm plants, kalipay, Philippine oregano on ledge

Okay, I really think bromeliads are pretty. That my two neoregelias birthed one daughter pup each tickles me to no end. They were bathing in the searing heat of my roof garden, and I took pity on them, so I transferred the whole family to this more shady area. I hope they like their new home, surrounded by the other flowering plants.

neoregelia bromeliad and her two daughter pups, rosals, dahlias, marigolds, Malaysian mums, lobster claw, bird's nest fern

Moving to the right, we still have a happy mix of tropical shade and rain-loving plants, different shades of brilliant greens, with some peek-a-booing reds and pinks from the flowers.

bird's nest ferns, yucca, canna lilies in the ground; dracaenas, kalipay, aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) on the ledge

Garden Tour: The Kids' School

The air is cool this rainy day, silvery droplets are on the leaves, and puddles of rain water soak the socks and shoes of my playful 5 year-old boy. He complained of wet feet when we arrived by the doorstep of his classroom. I told him that he will have to wear his school slippers the rest of the day, gave him a kiss and said my goodbyes. My more independent older daughter had already left my side, lured by the squeals of her playing classmates.

I am a pluviophile and gardens are lovely on a rainy day, so I went about capturing the peace and beauty around me.

the canopy of mango, jackfruit, and coconut trees keeps the sun away and cools the air

The school has been my kids' home away from home for 6 years now and will continue the next 7 years to come. I like its small-school ambiance, the non-traditional curriculum that fosters love of learning, the fact that my kids are eager to go there every school day, the spacious lay-out of the buildings, and the garden full of native tropical trees, plants, flowers, and even vegetables.

giant mango, jackfruit, and coconut trees enveloping the playground

The long entrance path is verdant with Indian trees (Polyalthia longifolia) to the left and coconut trees to the right, with splashes of bright yellow, chartreuse, burgundy and orange from the variagated San Francisco plants (Codiaeum variegatum). At the end of the walkway, the principal or a teacher greets a cheery "Good morning", or enthusiastically shakes the hand of every child before they proceed to their rooms or play with their classmates in the playground before classes start.

a walkway lined with Indian trees and San Francisco plants

On days I fetch my kids and arrive early, I sit by the breezy bahay kubo (native Philippine hut) and read a book. Mosquitoes love to bite me, but the carpet of Philippine oregano (Origanum vulgare) surrounding the hut deters mosquitoes, so I sit carefree gazing once in a while at the grass-covered soccer field, the bright red and blue rock-climbing wall, and my kids enjoying their outdoor play under the canopy of giant trees.

medium-height palm trees, snake plant, a carpet of Philippine oregano, jackfruit and coconut trees

medicinal Philippine oregano

I noticed that the garden beds are packed with various native colorful plants, both decorative and for consumption. I once saw the gardener pour compost on the soil, which must be the reason for the robust and healthy look of the plants.

Gardeners have a happy and friendly disposition. In fact, it was easy to talk to the school gardener about the plants, ask their names and inquire on how he takes care of them. I was so relaxed talking to him that I lost my shyness and asked for cuttings of some plants I wanted for my own garden. He was so kind and gave me more than what I asked for. :)

dracaena, heliconia, and purple knights (Alternanthera dentata)

purple knights (Alternanthera dentata), shrimp flower plant (Justicia brandegeeana), and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)

drenched crossandra (Crossandra infundibuliformis)

green peace lilies (Spathiphyllum spp.) and giant anthurium leaves (Anthurium magnificum)

Keris plant (Alocasia sanderiana), giant anthurium leaves (Anthurium magnificum), and San Francisco in the background

Ti plant (Cordyline fruticosa rubra) and emerald 'n' gold (Euonymus fortunei )

luminous dumb canes (Dieffenbachia) and emerald 'n' gold (Euonymus fortunei )

Student activities and projects include planting and taking care of vegetables, herbs and fruits, so these comprise about a quarter of the plants in the school garden. I remember that during their preschool years, both my kids excitedly told me that they planted peanuts and watered them. A few months later, I got news that they were harvested, cooked in class, and eaten picnic-style at the bahay kubo on a day approaching the Masskara festival. My kids will be my mentor when the time comes that I will plant my own peanuts, too!

leguminous peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) and the herb sabungai (Gynura Procumbens )

the aromatic pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius)

my favorite vegetable - the eggplant (Solanum melongena)

the nutritious malunggay (Moringa oleifera) and the versatile lemongrass (Cymbopogon)

several bananas glistening after the rainfall (Musa)

prolific and sweet-smelling jackfruit tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

sour iba (Averrhoa bilimbi)

Plant Shopping in Avila Street

There is a beautiful display of plants-for-sale along Avila Street in Cebu City that I always pass by near my kids' school. My head would crane to look at the gorgeous saturated blooms and colorful variagated leaves as the car speeds past them. I vowed to stop one day and buy some. Well, my husband and I found time yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed the eye candy and had a buying spree!

pink canna lilies, red tapay-tapay (rooster's comb) flowers, and torenias (Torenia fournieri with their cute blue and pink with white blooms

The yellow corner: bright yellow marigolds, marsh marigolds with smaller flowers and bigger leaves, pink orchids on the side, and pandakaki with small white blooms

The pink to violet corner: the canna lilies on the upper left corner, bluish torenia flowers and pink gerbera on the foreground, pink and violet petunias, rooster's comb and cypress vine flowers in the background

The red to pink corner: lovely canna lilies, red and pink impatiens flowerettes, yellow and red rooster's comb blooms

The colorful leaves corner: rosal and mayanas, mayanas, mayanas, so many of them!

The miniature decorative leaves corner: two kinds of gabigabi caladiums, coral fern, and spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)

The hibiscus corner: gumamela flowers in various colors

The variagated leaves corner: pink and green gabigabi caladiums, red aglaonema 'legacy' plants, the stunning stromanthe sanguinea with its tricolor leaves of green, white and purple, several dumb canes, and cypress in the background

OK, so I got excited and wanted to bring all of them home! But, I got a limited budget and space, so I was happily contented with this haul. a Malaysian mum, the pink and purple petunias, pink and purple canna lilies with scarlet leaves, a cypress vine flower, and yellow dahlias

Not in the picture are the avocado seedling, the kamuning plant, several rosal plants, and a mini rose that went home with me, too. Someone went to bed happy yesterday. ME!