I had this rare opportunity to have been invited to view Cheow Kheng’s garden last Saturday after my talk at Bishan Community Library. Cheow Kheng is my good friend, advisor and collaborator from Community in Bloom, NParks.
Cheow Kheng’s garden is located in his apartment’s patio. His apartment is one of the rare 52 units in Singapore that has this special, open area. When I passed by his housing estate when I was younger, I always nudged my parents that they should buy a similar unit if we decided to move. I have always yearned to have a patio as that not only gives me the space but lots of sunlight required to grow a number of plants.
Now let’s start by looking at what’s inside Cheow Kheng’s garden… The picture below shows the view from his study room – it is a forest of lush greenery. It would be such a pleasing and relaxing sight to be able to witness such a view after some desk work!
Below is another view of the garden… Cheow Kheng has some orchids, bird’s nest fern, tall-growing ornamental, palm and fruit trees, rose bushes, bamboo costus and an interesting bauhinia vine. All are grown in large pots. Mrs Ng told me that despite the heavy large pots used to grow these plants, the high winds that the patio sometimes experience, can actually topple everything.
Go vertical! An innovate and space-saving way of growing orchids and ferns.
Cheow Kheng’s famed mini-roses. They have been featured on NPark’s garden blog, Garden Voices before.
A potted, dwarf banana plant. Despite its shredded foliage due to exposure to wind, the plant manages to produce fruits.
A closer look at the bunch of banana fruits still developing on the plant.
One of Cheow Kheng’s pride and joy. A six-year-old chiku tree grown in a large pot that never fails to have fruits on the plant.
Developing chiku fruits on the tree. Mrs Ng revealed these fruits attracted fruit bats to them despite the precarious location of their patio garden, that is 23 storeys high!
An unlikely candidate for growing in a highrise patio – fiddlewood tree (Citharexylum spinosum) – a lovely West Indian native tree grown for its attractive foliage and highly fragrant flowers. When the tree is in bloom, its fragrance will fill the entire interior of the apartment.
An tall, elegant but unidentified fish-tail palm that has been with Cheow Kheng for several years.
A closer peek at the leaflets of the fishtail palm to aid identification.
An uncommon, but unidentified bauhinia vine climbing up its support.
The newly emerged leaves of this bauhinia are bronze in colour.
The most prominent feature of this yet to be identified bauhinia is the pointed ends of each leaflet. The bauhinias I have seen have rounded leaves!
Gardening with Wilson 