Where I Picked Up My Gardening Skills & Bought My Supplies From ...

[edenstrauss 3]

Disclaimer:

Permission has been sought from the proprietress (to be affectionately known as "Aunty") of ENVIRON-SCAPE SERVICES for her nursery & some of her plants & gardening supplies to be featured in this thread.

Kindly note that this thread is strictly for the purpose of sharing my humble & objective views of services and plants provided by the aforesaid company. And not an advertising platform.

I am not affliated to this company and am an existing client who bought my plants & most of my gardening supplies from this nursery.

Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread.

For the ease of viewing and reference purposes, photographs containing "ENVIRON-SCAPE SERVICES" & its contact details are uploaded.

Photographs featuring their nursery had also been water-marked in view of copyright issues.

(I would not want to be implicated in any copyright issues should such photographs be abused by other users or their competitors!)

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Edited December 14, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Prior to starting off this thread, I was thinking about consolidating it under my existing topic The Story Of My "tree" Musketeers (Gardening outside the HDB flat) at the following link:

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44590

However, I had the idea that it might just come across as being messy becox this sub-topic would be hidden among my lengthy write-ups & photographs of my potted plants. As such, I've decided to launch this separately here in this new thread.

To start off where gardening is concerned, I wasn't born with green fingers or a midas touch where I could make a plant thrive well under my care.

After visiting a few nurseries, I've finally settled down to purchasing those ginger plants from Environ-Scape Services.

By simply looking at the photograph of their weather-beaten signage below, you could size up that this nursery had been in the business for a very long time.

At the point of purchasing plants, I was being lured over by the chirpy voices of the olive-backed sunbird which visited the nursery for its food. The birds were observed to fly in towards those potted ginger plants in the nursery & they drank in the nectar from the flower buds which were aplenty on the ginger plants.

As my interest had been piqued, I asked one of the staff what that plant was. He told me that it was known as "红"(鸿)运当头 and is extremely popular among businessmen & the chinese politicians. It is believed to be an auspicious plant & a barometer of a person's luck cycle & fortune.

The photograph below shows the plant in bloom under the morning sun:

The plant was said to survive under partial shade although it would thrive well under the sun. Since it is a flowering plant, sunlight is required for it to have flower buds.

And after purchasing the ginger plants from this nursery, I struggled along the way in view of my erratic watering schedule as a layman. I also faltered when I watered them in the evenings right from the start. That is an absolute no-no.

Edited December 19, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

I started with one pot of ginger plant & struggled along side the plant as it tried adjusting to its new environment.

Then, I chanced upon Lillian Too's video clip that money trees come in pair so I followed her advice of bringing in another pot of ginger plant so that they have had each other for company.

During the days where I started off, I had been running frequently to seek help & advice from this nursery as my plant wax & wane during the transitional period of adjusting to a new environment.

The prioprietess whom we addressed as Aunty, was kind enough to coach & guide us along the way. We acquired our gardening skills from her & for her generosity, and that of her staff, we were very grateful. And would like to give the nursery credit for imparting their skills on how ginger plants should be dealt with.

We were bent on buying our gardening supplies from them unless they do not carry certain products which I had been using concurrently on my plants.

This is one of the types of fertilisers I have been using & had been bought from Environ-Scape :

Edited December 19, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The main entrance of the nursery is surrounded by a huge variety of plants ranging from evergreens such as orchids, bougainvillas, hibiscus to seasonal plants.

Edited December 20, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

What kept the children who visited the nursery interested aren't exactly the plants, but it's this wooden swing which looked sturdy.

I could envision myself sitting on the swing during a windy day & enjoying the view. However, the nursery is facing an open-air carpark so there really isn't much scenary to talk about.

Edited December 20, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The nursery carries an adequate range of gardening tools & wares, but not limited to what's shown in the photograph below:

In view of a wide variety of apparatus, equipment, soil & fertiliser, etc, it was impossible to feature the full range in 1 photograph as the items were placed in different areas of the nursery.

I would normally purchase BATA's plastic flower pots from this nursery.

Edited December 20, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Poinsettias - A pretty Christmas plant

Poinsettias are commonly found to be sold in the local nurseries & flower shops when Christmas is around the corner. We're just 5 days away from Christmas 2011 & time really flies!

The Poinsettias Christmas Story...

Poinsettias originated from Mexico. As such, its connection to Christmas stem from a Mexican legend whereby a poor girl had a strong desire of bringing something worthy & beautiful to the Mother Mary. However, she had nothing to offer as she was surrounded by poverty.

While on her way to the church during Christmas Eve, an angel told her to pick up some weeds along the way & offer them to the Mother Mary.

She did & placed them on the altar at the church. The minute she did so, the weeds were magically turned into Poinsettias!

The Mexicans then went on to name these plants Flor de Nochebuena which meant "Christmas Eve Flower".

Edited December 20, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the abrupt introduction of this miracle fertiliser which I swore by to have plants with heathly green leaves.

I had mentioned about IJO's organic fertiliser earlier on in one of my posts in another of my thread featuring My Three "Musketeers":

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44590&view=findpost&p=678385

Of late, I require a replenishing of this organic fertiliser after the repotting process but realised that I couldn't find the product at Giant (Tampines) & other supermarkets such as NTUC Fairprice where I had first bought it from.

Although my plants had been overfertilised & didn't require fertilisers for now after repotting with a good compost soil which is organic in content too, I swore by IJO's organic fertiliser becox they worked wonders on my plants & they do promote healthy green leaves spotting fattish stems.

However, the alarming rate in which my plants were growing warrant frequent repotting which is likely to be nightmarish for us since it's a tedious process & we haven't much space to accomdate to huge potted plants!

Well, I shouldn't be complaining since they are thriving & doing well.

A photograph of IJO's organic fertiliser:

I was relieved that I didn't discard the empty satchet as the contact details of IJO Corporation was printed on the back (of the satchet).

So for you folks who are still interested in purchasing IJO's organic fertiliser, please contact the company directly to obtain details of where you could purchase the fertiliser from:

IJO Corporation Pte Ltd

3018 Bedok North Street 5

#06-49 Eastlink

Singapore 486132

tel: 6-447-8867

(email address: enquiry@ijocorp.com)

When I first spotted the name of the manufacturer, I wondered if it was of Japanese origins becox the word I-J-O gave me the impression that it was from Japan & since Japan had gone big on environmentally products & being organic for a very long time, I asked the manufacturer about its origins.

I was surprised when the manufacturer mentioned that they are headquartered here in Singapore but procured this organic fertiliser from Indonesia.

In fact, it is interested to note that IJO meant "It's Just Organic" in short. My verdict for this organic fertiliser is that it's a great product for nurseries & plant lovers.

So for those of you plant lovers out there who had plants which are prone to the adverse effects of overfertilisation, or them withering or dying after applying synthetic fertilisers, please do not hesitate to give IJO's organic fertiliser a try.

Note: Using the recommended dosage stipulated at the back of the 1-kg satchet of IJO organic fertiliser didn't have much significant impact on my plants. After consulting one of the nurseries, I increased dosage & miraculously, the fertiliser had a wonderful impact on my plants as they grew sturdy & strong!

Errr, but for now, I'm laying off fertiliser from all my plants as I believe that they are on the verge of being poisoned after being killed by kindness from their owners i.e. Me... Overdosage of fertilisers, not once but I did it again a few days ago after forgetting that the nursery had sold me very good compost soil which is already organic in nature... Hope that they wouldn't die on me.

Edited December 31, 2011 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

To continue with Environ-Scape @ Kovan, here comes a series of photographs featuring an assortment of plants sold by this nursery.

Bonsai:

This was a plant which used to be pretty popular among the chinese plant lovers until some geomencer claimed that this plant would lead to bankruptcy.

As for how truthful this belief was, I had no idea as I was never interested in the Bonsai plants and had never owned any.

Edited January 2, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Bamboo:

I supposed this is a pot of relatively young bamboo plant as it's really petite in height & waiting for a ready buyer to own it at home.

I've seen the large versions at private gardens of landed property & I always had the idea that it's presence in those places is likely to be associated with Fengshui (Geomency).

Based on my own knowledge, if a bamboo plant bears flower, it is a bad omen & is an inauspicious sign.

Edited January 2, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

This is another evergreen plant that is very commonly found in the homes & gardens but I had difficulty figuring out what its known as.

Then finally, IJO's sales rep has kindly informed me that it's commonly known as the Flamingo Flower & is of the Anthurium family. The plant requires moderate watering & partial shade.

Do enjoy the pretty, waxy red hues on the plant!

Edited January 5, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

This is a popular plant that is commonly found to be sold at many flower shops, nurseries & even supermarkets when Chinese New Year is around the corner.

This year wouldn't be an exception becox I found such a pretty-looking specimen shaped in an intricate form of a basket at the Environ-Scape nursery as early as towards Christmas last month (Dec 2011).

However, I did notice many home owners discarding such a plant when it outgrows in shape after the Chinese New Year is over.

And the interesting thing is that while such a plant was previously viewed as auspicious in being placed in a vase at the buddhist altar, an ironical belief had been hatched by yet another local geomencer here in Singapore, who claimed that this plant possess a strong tendency to attract spirits & cause them to reside in the plant!

What an irony that something that had been previously peceived as an auspicious existence could be conveniently reduced to being otherwise!

[edenstrauss 3]

European Herbs:

The photograph below shows a wide range of European herbs such as mint leaves, basil & parsley and other herbs of medicinal value such as the neem plant, tulasi leaves & (pending scientific names - traditionally used for coughs).

Edited January 2, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

I was told by one of the gardeners in the Environ-Scape nursery that this is a lavender plant. I was surprised becox I had the idea that Lavender thrives only in cold climates.

[edenstrauss 3]

A huge spray of miniature lilies (in light purple) standing tall on a fat stem in a pot:

A close-up portrait of one of the many lilies in full bloom:

Edited January 2, 2012 by edenstrauss