After a long wait, I decided to start redesigning my garden. The plan is to designate areas within my garden compound to fit a Crypts garden, a Nepenthes and Orchid garden, a Rock garden and Contemporary Ornamental/Flower garden.
The Nepenthes Garden
A Nepenthes/Orchid rock garden has been planned for the back of my house. The garden would be under a pergola, one of three pergolas that I grow various flowering climbers and creepers.
I chose a spot at the back of my compound for the Nepenthes garden, built a simple pergola at the corner and built in artificial rocks around it. Later pieces of large tree trunks were placed around these rocks to produce a good looking landscape…very much like aquascaping with rocks and driftwood.
Artificial rock under construction using iron rods, wire mesh and cement. The first layer of cement is applied carefully little by little so that it forms a scale-like layer. this is left to dry before a second layer is applied.
An almost complete rock formation.
The secong layer of cement is applied onto the wire mesh and left to dry a bit before sculpturing is carried out
The same rock of sculpturing. Now its left to dry up before painting.
Another sculptured rock
A close up on the sculpturing of the almost dried up second layer of cement.
Sculpturing the rock
The painting begins! I use only the basic colors i.e. black, white, brown, green, blue and yellow
The shadows and deeper parts of the rock are painted in with black or any dark color
Before……
After….
To add a more realistic touch, I decided to paint in a mural…
Half way through…
Positioning of tree trunks…not at all easy!
Initial planting after two months and before adding of moss
After the third month, i collected two big garbage bags of Java moss to moss up the rocks and prepare additional planting areas for more pitcher plants
A patch of various highland pitchers from Genting..before adding Java moss
The same patch after carpeting with Java moss
Nepenthes sanguinea
Nepenthes truncata
The Crypt Garden
The middle of the garden has already been set up for a crypt garden but over the years it just got cluttered with too many pots of nepenthes that are awaiting a new home. The idea is to get this crypt garden set up with patches of various crypts in the several pools and ponds I had built. This area is also currently the heavier planted area with several tress, shrubs and ferns to create a cool, shaded and humid setting for the crypts. At present there are a total of 14-16 pools of various sizes, ranging from 18″ diameter pools to a 8 feet long stream/pond. All of these would house various species of crypts in a more ‘natural’ setting.
The unfinished entrance to the Crypt Garden
The entrance had been dug up and made into a another crypt pond with stepping rocks
A stream which currently houses newly planted C.nurii and C. schulzei
Another two more ponds for Sri Lanka crypts…
The view from the front…
…More updates and photos coming soon of the crypt garden
2:48 pm on March 17th, 2010 1
Very nice!
1:10 pm on March 21st, 2010 2
Hello Herman, Nice Garden…
Any shade with table and bench for a rest and a cup of coffee.. haha
12:24 pm on May 27th, 2010 3
Hi!
Amazed with your works down there.
I have some questions to ask:
.
1. Where is the location of your garden? Is it located in the colder highland or hotter lowland of Malaysia?
2. How do you control the water circulation for so many ponds?
3. Do you have any problems with mosquitoes?
4. Lastly, can I have your email for some advices on cryptocorynes?
2:15 pm on May 28th, 2010 4
Hi there. Well to answer your questions:
1. I stay in the hotter lowland of Malaysia although I really wish I had a property up in some highlands…..
2.The ponds are not connected. Each as its own water parameters i.e. they have different substrates for different crypts. Some have peat as the main substrate while other just plain sand and leaf litter or just a mixture of laterite, sand and leaf litter. The may look connected, but they are different. Only the larger pool has a pump to circulate water from the shallower areas (like a stream) to the deeper areas.
3. Yes I do…so I use a lot of guppies. Some of the ponds have water that only accumulates when my garden sprinkler is on. It dries off in a couple of hours leaving a damp pool bed.
4. Sure. Its: sam1972@gmail.com
10:06 am on June 1st, 2010 5
I think everyone that want to grow their crypt out door should learn from you Herman.
BTW, do you put sprinkler all above your crypt garden? How long is the interval between each watering?
From the picture it seems that you don’t use shading net for your crypt garden, or do you?
12:08 pm on June 1st, 2010 6
Thanks Novianto. Well I just go ga-ga every time I see crypts growing in their natural habitat and since we are in the tropics, it should be easy to replicate such an environment. However, there are many factors to consider and its not as straight forward as all that. I had to learn the hard way many, many..times. Even now there are many errors which need fixing. Sometimes what seems to work for one group of crypts may not work for another.
As for shade and moisture, I do at times use artificial cover such as garden netting or just natural cover of trees and plants. I also use a fine mist spray to maintain the humidity of main pool area so that some of the crypts can grow well emersed. However, this is not needed for crypts that are from Sri Lanka or India or fro those that grow under full sunlight. Most SEA crypts need this as they grow under deep shade in forest and swamps that have high humidity. Currently I’m working on a green house area for peat swamp crypts coz this area must not be influenced by constant rain water which changes the pH of the artificial ‘peat swamp’. Will update the article once that’s done
5:18 pm on August 26th, 2011 7
hi herman, could you share the plan of your garden?
i’ve seen many crypts grown emersed in aquariums, but you’re the only one i know ever try to grow them in outdoor garden.
how do you create your artificial “streams”?
8:42 am on August 28th, 2011 8
Hi Ricefish,
Well firstly and sadly, most of the plants and stream are no longer there as I am no longer staying there. Although I visit my house once a week, I had decided to move them back to my parents house where they are in a new ‘greenhouse’ like area.
Some of the pools and streams are still at my old house but not many have crypts. You still need to keep constant monitoring i.e. water supply, mist, leak etc to make sure the place is ok.
However, my basic plan for such a pool or stream is rather simple.
1. Find a good location in your home, somewhere preferably cool and shaded (if not you need to have a lot of plants around it) to start this.
2. Improvise a pool like structure using whatever is available to you i.e. plastic sheets, plastic or porcelain/earthen pots without holes etc as your base. If you use plastic sheets, than you can elongate this to form a ‘stream’. If pots or basins, than you could just do pools. You could alos use concrete if you plan it to be permanent..but these have constraints too.
3. Depending on the type of crypts you plan to plant, fill the base with either clay+laterite and cover with sand (for neutral to alkaline crypts) or clay+laterite+peat (for swamp/peat crypts)….then start adding water.
4. Water level is up to you. If you want them emersed, than let them be just at surface if submerged than a a few inches above substrate.
4. After this keep adding leaf litter for some time (2-3 months)and let it decompose slowly and let the water mature before adding your crypts.
5. Misting only need if your area is pretty dry, if not you could enclose the whole are like a green house.
6. If you plan a stream, than you should have a sump like area in the pool where you could place a pump to pump water from one end to the other via tube.
7. Be creative with the edges of the pool/stream by using rocks, sand or even plants so that the pool/stream doesn’t look artificial
well hope that works and God bless!
9:48 am on November 23rd, 2011 9
Hi Herman!
Long time no see.
I just want to ask on how do get the peat for your cryptocoryne setup?
Is it easy to get peat in Malaysia? Or do you use cocopeat?
11:19 am on November 24th, 2011 10
Hi Novianto,
Good blog BTW. As for the peat, I get mine from the peat swamps. I also use a bit of cocoa peat but not often. I usually use a lot of old, degraded leaf litter, laterite and wetland loam. I would mix up various combinations for different crypts. sometimes too much peat is not so good except for those that grow exclussively in peat like C.yujii and C. pallidernervia. The rest I use only 20-30% peat, 40% laterite and the rest mixture of leaf litter and wetland (bog) loam. you can get this even from drains under trees. The ‘ natural’ mixture is good as it has fine sand, some clay and degraded leaf litter.