Blazing scarlet and orange crotons welcome guests when they enter this weekend getaway in Calapan, Mindoro. Alighting from the car, you enter this tropical garden of exuberant foliage and striking forms. Abundant in undergrowth of shiny picara plants, this garden section is marked by two towering mango trees, bracketed by bird’s nest ferns on the trunks while Peruvian ferns cascade from their branches.
A foreground of red costuses, bottlebrushes, yellowbell shrubs, peace lily plants with their white flowers and lipstick palm trees with vibrant red trunks sets off the shades of green. The rainforest effect heralds the beginning of the journey through Mindoro’s most beautiful garden.
The four-hectare landscape outclasses most public parks in size, luxurious plantings and amenities such as vine-covered pergolas along the pond, a children’s playground, a basketball court and a billiard room with a viewing deck. A giant golden statue of Mother Mary protects this sanctuary. The owners, former politician-turned-entrepreneur Robert Paras and his wife Marie, visit the place to chill and to host parties at the main pavilion.
Landscaper Shirley Sanders designed the garden that maximizes the use of climate-appropriate plants. Although she was given carte blanche in design, Robert had one request: to put up several picturesque sitting places where he could catch his breath when he walked around the garden.
Jungle-like ambience
She pulled out all the stops in bringing truckloads of plants from Manila to Mindoro. Hence, the multi-level garden is a mix of a jungle-like ambience and neatly-pruned sections with Sanders’ signature decorations—an antique cart teeming with bougainvillea and black carabao jars from Thailand. These garden accents are set against a fenced background of date palms and yellow dracaenas shrubs.
Sanders favors broad-leaf plants such as elephant ears, creepers such as Peruvian ferns that dramatize any space, bizarre-looking plants such as song of India and screwpines with their long golden yellow blade-like leaves, and foliage that produce en masse. “They easily fill up a big space,” she explains.
With over 40 years of experience and several coffee table books in garden design, Sanders knows which plants thrive in the sun and shade and how to layer them. Bamboo clusters and date palms form natural canopies over topiaries, consisting of her trademark understory plants such as fragrant china boxes (a.k.a. kamuning), golden miagos with their long skinny leaves and monaicas with their mottled round leaves and silver pandakaki.
Sanders says plants should be placed in their natural habitat, depending on the soil and light condition, if they are to thrive. Landscaper wannabes, on the other hand, assemble plants with a lot of guesswork. Their plantings wilt after a few months, and need to be replaced, making the upkeep costly for the client.
The garden is seamlessly divided into several sections. Ornamentals are situated on the upper terrain so that they can be appreciated by the public while the back side combines ecologically contrasting elements—an emerging pine forest and a fruit orchard.
World of its own
The ornamental terrain is a world of its own. Referencing a bamboo grove, the stairwell leading to the entertainment pavilion is lined with golden buho bamboos.
The waterfall, built with Mindoro rocks, is surrounded by plants that thrive in moist environments—bromeliads, pandan, pink medinillas, papyrus plants and variegated hibiscuses hiding behind the heliconias,
Along the bridgeway, the branches of a giant African talisay tree hang over the pond which is surrounded by yellow bottlebrushes, silver bromeliads and a profusion of colors from blue forget-me-nots, golden miagos bushes, eugenia hedges, west Indian jasmine bushes, frangipani trees and Bangkok santan.
Sanders favors bold color accents such as yellow majesty palms and snowbushes (monaicas) with pink leaves, cordylines with purplish red leaves, and broad-leaf elephant ears (alocasias). White lilyturfs border this arrangement.
Varying height adds visual interest. Ruffled fan palms are juxtaposed with dwarf phoenixes and pygmy date palms. Tall foxtail palms shade the Singaporean tree ferns, while elegant bunga de china palms protect the red cordylines from the sun. Then there are foxtail ferns that contrast with yellowish bacchias and creeping foxgloves as ground cover.
Foxtail palms line the pathway leading to the gazebo, which overlooks the pond and the sloping terrain. Bengal clockvines (thunbergias) shroud the pergolas along the pond where the spring water is gathered. The pond is a home for tilapia which the workers eat.
At the other side of the property, a viewing deck overlooks the garden. From a panoramic view, one can appreciate Sanders’ impressive arrangements—their contrasts in textures, heights and light and shadow that embody the soul of the place. —CONTRIBUTED
