Garden spirits at quaint bamboo house

MUST have been the devas, or garden spirits, that staged the

grand finale of this unique garden tour we had last Monday.

At the end of our leisurely

walk in the garden, our

attention was drawn by a

splashing sound and the

sight of two chirping frogs

leaping out of the blue (err...

greens) and skimming on the

surface of the lily pond like

mini jet skis. Interestingly,

they landed with accuracy

on lily leaves where they paused like stage actors before

disappearing among the greens.

We were told every garden has nature spirits that guarded

plants and trees. Did the devas maybe know we collected

souvenir frogs for a hobby?

Whatever. The devas were, no doubt, very much in evidence at

the beautiful garden around the quaint bamboo house of the

Lazaro family in College, Los Baqos.

Why, for example, did some spikes of a native Phalaenopsis

orchid surprisingly swing from under the cover of leaves, as if

to attract our attention to its spectacular white flowers. Was

that and other unexpected twists accidental? Did the tall ivory

palm shower us with little flowers to perhaps direct our interest

to the Aerides with tiny flowers that had white petals and blue

lips, and further on the inconspicuous flowers of the mini

Ascocenda hybrids?

And why were we stepping on wayward twigs in a very tidy

garden? Looking down once, we discovered beautiful blue ferns

hidden under MacArthur palms. Other ferns and rare plants

came into our view: crested polypodium, curly ferns, feathery

Australian ferns, silver leaf pandakake shrub, dracaena lemo

lime, scarlet-flowered crossandra, sweet-scented jessamines and

henna shrubs.

Allow us to further stretch our fertile imagination. Why the

slight wind wafting scent of some flowers? Following its

direction, we found the dama del dia with fragrant white

flowers.

Exotic palms

This led us to the exotic palms--the golden Veitchii, Hawaiian

palms, walking palm, champagne, fox, spindle, black palm and

the interesting Champindle, a natural cross between the

Champagne and Spindle.

Other rarities we discovered included vanishing old favorites,

the henna plant with subtle scented flowers, the meleguas vine,

two kinds of Clerodendrons, and the purple-and-white-flowered

Strathopantus.

The Strathopanthus, as we learned from our host Carlos

Valeriano ''CV'' Lazaro, was the very same vine which his

grandmother Isolina Calma planted many years ago. She loved

plants and passed her interest on to daughter Jophine, and later

to grandson CV.

Strathopanthus vine and its trumpetlike flowers brought back

fond memories of Ms Calma, known at the College as the grand

old lady of the bamboo house that had become a model of

bamboo architecture. She and her husband, the late agronomy

professor Dr. Valeriano Calma, built the dream house 48 years

ago.

Ms Calma, unfortunately, died in 1997. We consider ourselves

lucky to have interviewed her years ago about their

self-designed bamboo house.

Backyard business

Jophine and son CV eventually turned their hobby into a

backyard business in 1985 and called it the Valesol Orchids.

When CV graduated from college, he decided to be his own

boss and took over the business. He studied orchid breeding,

bought community pots of orchid seedlings, and patiently

raised the baby plants over the years.

It was a great challenge, he told us while we toured his garden.

He experimented on his plants, read books and learned from

pitfalls. Now, 80 percent of the blooming orchids in the garden

have all come from the community pots he bought 10 years ago.

They're now the proverbial ''mother geese that lay the golden

eggs'' from which flowers and now plants are top cut and sold at

the Valesol plant shop located at Robelle garden center along

Calamba.

There's no doubt CV's career is flourishing. He and his garden

have since become models of business success now cited at

seminars and conferences. Besides that, he has been

consistently winning at garden shows and plant competitions.

Furthermore, two of his latest ventures, landscaping and flower

arrangement, are slowly but consistently bringing in customers.

Right now, he's excited over preparations for two forthcoming

projects. The first is decorating the carroza of Nuestra Seqora

de la Salud of Jay Carino for the grand procession on Dec. 5. It

will be a cinch, we're sure, as he proved when he decorated the

Carino family heirloom that was displayed at the recent Marian

festival in Glorietta. All those white Dendrobium and Cattleya

flowers from his garden drew raves from viewers.

For the second big event, the Lazaros' bamboo house garden

will be open to public viewing from Nov. 25-30. During these

dates, CV will sell propagations of his plants at slashed prices,

both at the garden and at Valesol shop at Robelle garden center.

For more information, call CV and Jophine at (049) 536-2463.