Today's photos are from our good friend Cherry Ong up in BC,
but they're not from her garden. She says, "Here are some photos of our
long-time good friend Raul de los Santos' awesome small tropical scented
suburban garden in Metro Manila, Philippines, that he designed himself. He used
indigenous plants from the region. The climate is both wet and dry and these
photos show the summer season there, which is between March and
May. Raul tells me he gardens instinctively, basically picking out
specimens he likes when at the nursery and asking their growing preferences.
The backyard is about 500 square feet in size. I've quizzed Raul about the
names of the plants in his garden but he doesn't remember most of them since
the garden was built in 2003. I think Raul has a great artistic sense but he is
modest about it. He thinks his background in Ikebana has helped, but since my
husband and I have known him for a long time, we believe that he is innately
artistic.
