HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES’ GARDEN SHOW & EXHIBIT 2012
The “Horti show 2012” was a huge success owing to the meticulous preparation of the officers and members. After having a very weak presentation for the past two or three years, the Horticultural Society rebounded to set up an excellent exhibit with the theme of modern gardening.
Exhibitors did not just do modern gardening displays but they incorporated elements of old gardening that created really scenic and ideal garden landscapes. Truly, one cannot put forth the best without looking and incorporating stuff from the past.
January 28, 2012, Saturday, 9:05 am I went to Quezon Memorial Circle
riding a bus while I was reading the criticisms on the classic novel Moby Dick
and my travel wasn’t a boring one today.
I hurriedly went to the exhibit booth and took a lot of pictures (Php
20.00 entrance but free for plant organisation members if they have a landscape
exhibit inside). The show was held at
the Charito Planas Garden.
The Horti Show 2012 was better compared to the 2010 exhibit but for me
the best plant in show was another plant and not the variegated octopus aka
umbrella tree (Schefflera actinophylla).
My choice was the multi-headed cycad near the octopus tree as best plant
in show.
Strategically placed among the ornamental displays was the Cacti &
Succulent Society of the Philippine, Inc. landscape exhibit which was
wonderfully executed by no other than Master Architect Bimbo Vergara.
For the first time, I saw the Philippine Native Plants Conservation
Society, Inc. did a landscape exhibit of endemic and indigenous trees that were
with proper labels and other essential information about them and
conservation. All other exhibitors
should emulate that step taken by the PNPCSI so that the Filipino nation would
be more aware of their environment, protect and conserve our very own natural
wealth!
The theme “Modern Gardening” of this year’s show brought out the
ingenuity of the exhibitors and the apex among them is the modern Wardian
Case. It was made of a “gigantic” round
glass rather than the traditional quadrilateral case and the media
stratification was clearly seen.
Another is the aquarium with a landscape that goes beyond the top of
the aquarium which is really something striking. It would be a very good centerpiece in a
brightly lit receiving room. The effect
of the gurgling waters, the darting fishes, and greenery all refreshes and
relaxes the weariest of minds…
The best thing in Horti 2012 is the bonsai driftwoods with Tillandsia
andreana used as its leaves. They looked
like real living pine or other coniferous bonsai plants seen in China and
Japan!
Something I could not believe is the forest-like commercial area. I
haven’t seen that many commercial growers since Flora Filipina I. Neither was it surpassed by the next
succeeding plant shows months after the Horti 2012 show. It just shows there is something mutual that
the HSP and the commercial growers have reached. I easily got lost among the commercial booths!
There was also a booth dedicated to the memory of the Philippine Hoya
exponent, Dr. Monina Siar with Hoya siarae which was named after her, as the
focal point.
Thank you very much Dr. Siar for being very generous to us whenever we
visit you at UP Los Baños. Thank you for
all the happy memories, your cheerful laughter, your words of wisdom, and
sharing of information regarding the cultivation of Hoyas. You really made this plant popular and
acknowledged throughout the world. No
wonder,
THE PHILIPPINES IS THE CENTRE OF DISTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS HOYA!!!
Mr. Nanding Aurigue of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
introduced me to his friends John and Nerissa Smith-Dodsworth from Koromandel
Peninsula, New Zealand. John is a
pteridologist who has already published three books about ferns. Nerissa works in a well-known garden store in
Koromandel Peninsula. No matter how much
they love to purchase some plants, they could never bring it inside New Zealand
since according to them the equivalent of the DENR in their country is very
serious in controlling the introduction of foreign plants.
I toured them also at the Xerophytic Botanic Garden inside the
Halamanan ng Mga Bulaklak and even inside the Gazebo that houses some of the
more delicate and exotic cacti and succulents.
As a last treat, I let them taste the miracle fruit (Synsepalum
dulcifera) and taught them of its miraculous properties.
Then I toured my classmate around the garden show and exhibit
area. I have been persuading her to come
and thank God she appreciated the Horti Show so much! She even bought a Copiapoa mollicula and an
Echinofossulocactus (I still prefer that name over the now generally accepted
Stenocactus) for me as present! She bought two “penis” cacti (Echinocereus
spp.) out of curiosity.
This is a great God-given day for me as I am celebrating my birthday
today. A lot of people in the
horto-botanical world greeted me and there’s no sweeter greetings from the
people who also shares the same passion!
Sir Nanding Aurigue even promised me a Hoya greenii as birthday present.
Thanks in advance Sir!
January 29, 2012, Sunday, I toured two of my classmates at the Horti
Show and the ambience of the place was so serene and relaxing that we decided
to make their thesis there. A place like
this refreshes the mind. Next time I’ll
always do my most important works in a garden show!!!
One of my classmates can’t resist buying some cute plants from
Unigreen: a Sansevieria tirucalli (now already with a plantlet), and another
plant which I am familiar with but not its name; it is always sold with twining
branches and regarded as a lucky plant.
Before the day ended, we saw another classmate who also being a plant
aficionado was taking pictures of the entire Horti Show.
February 03, 2012, Friday, again
my classmate and I can’t resist going to the Horti Show and this time we
attended the free lecture at the exhibit area which was entitled “Modern Orchid
Growing”. I asked my classmate that we
take a video of it since it would be very important for us as guide to growing
orchids since her mom always kills their plants. The speaker was a former Philippine Orchid
Society president, Philippine Horticultural Society board member/official,
discoverer of Hoya lazaroi, and a CSSP fellow member, Mr. Carlos Valeriano
Lazaro, known among his friends and acquaintances as CV.
CV is a soft spoken man; always ready to help in whatever way he could,
very approachable, and always cheerful.
His lecture went for some two or three hours and we captured all these
in two videos. We were very lucky!
After the lecture, there were some plants raffled and I won a Mickey
Mouse plant that looks more like an Ochna spp. Rather than the real Solanum
mammosum but nevertheless I was happy I won!
My classmate was luckier: she won the Aerides odorata as well as Jeorge
Sagun, assistant to Sir Nanding Aurigue.
Then somebody asked who among us would waive their paid raffle tickets
and receive Platyceriums in return. I
was the first one to raise my hand. I
won a Platycerium-my very first one!
Mang Met also won a Platycerium.
I am very happy that for the very last time I was able to have a video
of CV as he had joined our Creator shortly after Flora Filipina III.
CV you are a big loss to the horto-botanical world but what you have
shared with all of us shall remain alive in our hearts and in our minds. Thank
you for letting us into your life and for making us a part of you. May you eternally enjoy the blissful life
promised by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This article is dedicated to you…
