Potted Paradise: A Travelogue of Container Gardens from the Other Side of the World
I recently returned from my yearly jaunt to the other side of the world, so this is sort of a plant travelogue. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you know that every winter I spend a few weeks with my son and family in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. Four lively grandchildren are just part of the allure. A retreat to this lush tropical country makes helps get me through upstate New York winters.
An out of town trip to the beach necessitated matching outfits for all.
I scope out gardens when I’m not hanging with the kids. I’ve investigated many of the parks and public gardens, but to my frustration, I haven’t discovered any private ones yet. This time, I decided to focus in on what was right in front of me - containers.
I’ll start with the alleys: I was inspired by the way container plantings were used in less than ideal spots. Everywhere you look, luscious tropical plants cascade from balconies, walls, and shopfronts. Large clusters of hanging plants, gigantic containers, and the repeated use of similar varieties mask unnattractive elements of the city - crumbling sidewalks, motorbikes and tangles of overhead wires fade into the background.
Below is a photo of the quiet little alley where I stayed. The alleys provide relief from the bustling main streets, where sidewalks are often non-existent and crossing the street is downright terrifying.
On the left, caged birds hang with the plants above this tiny restaurant. Nail salons, a motley assortment of shops (often out on the street), plenty of motorbikes and other small hotels are packed in tightly.
The alleys run like labyrinths throughout the city. As I wove my way through this one on the way to my son’s house, I admired his neighbors green thumb.
By the end of the day there will be so many bikes parked here that you can barely squeeze through.
I grow some of these as houseplants, but they are way more robust here. I think the little sticks are to deter rodents.
This is the view from my hotel room. One of the things I enjoyed the most was getting up early to watch my neighbors tend their plants.
The guy that owned the upper right terrace was out there every morning watering and pruning.
I saw a lot of planted walls on outdoor buildings. I like the concept, though it seems like it would be a lot of work to keep them watered.
Not a planted wall, but all of these cascading plants give a similar effect.
Bougainvillea grows everywhere - especially delightful when it spills out over balconies.
Public parks: I got into the habit of taking early morning walks in a park near my hotel. They are the best part of the city, and about the only place you can find any shade or some degree of peace. Enormous containers are used to showcase bonsai trees and shrubs.
This is a pretty common sight in most of the parks.
A trip to the central highlands: A road trip to Di Linh, located in the central highlands, gave me an opportunity to see a mountainous section of the country. Just getting out of the city is no easy drive. It looks like we’re having fun here right? Hah! Anyone who has ever travelled with little kids knows how deceiving this picture is.
To entertain and distract, my son put on music as we navigated the traffic. We adults were happy with rock and roll, but the kids would have none of that, clamoring - “Dad, Dad, can we choose a song?” One wouldn’t shut up about someone named KJ (unbearable noise), another only wanted Baby Shark - chaos reigned. I finally came up with the idea of reading Roahld Dahl’s, Fantastic Mr Fox, which lulled them to sleep.
A trip to the mountains: When we spilled out of the car about four bedraggled hours later at our destination - Ivory Falls Villa , everyone was happy. The younger set were entertained by a plethora of little dogs and other kids.
Kids and dogs - an unbeatable combination!
We adults enjoyed the incredible views, peace and quiet.
The area we stayed in is Di Linh. It’s mountainous and much cooler here - low sixties to high seventy degree temperatures.
Lush container gardens surrounded us at every turn. It took me a few minutes to appreciate the series of garden areas the owner (a talented gardener) had created.
If some is good, more is better.
Massing containers of all sizes together in big groups defined gathering areas for sitting and dining.
Repetition of similar plants clustered together in pots of all sizes and shapes.
The fire pit kept us warm in the evening and provided a cozy place to hang out.
A stop at the beach: After spending a few restorative days in this idyllic spot, we headed back toward the coast on our way back to the city to get a beach fix. We made a quick stop to visit with Joe, the owner of Joes Cafe and Resort.
Situated right on the China Sea, there’s not much room for growing plants. These raised beds and containers provide a little greenery.
A totem pole of plants planted in an upright log - these look like sedums but I’m afraid I can’t identify them.
It looked like they were planted in little pots and stuck into the crevices of this enormous log.
I thought this was rather humorous!
Back home: When I returned to winter again, the motley assortment of houseplants on my windowsill looked a little underwhelming. I got used to seeing philodendrons, pothos, ferns and such growing all over each other.
It’s always a shock to come back to winter.
It occurred to me that I could be a little more thoughtful and copy some of the concepts I saw on my travels. Why not group houseplants together rather than in a random fashion on windowsills? The beauty of Vietnam’s container gardens wasn’t just about the plants, but their arrangement.
This just a start, but maybe I’m on my way to creating my own mini jungle!