By gian francis fernandez

Urban space planting

 • The urban space refers to
several urban areas and their related
multicentric municipalities forming a
whole in a single stretch. In the
multicentric urban space,

What is an the urban areas are either adjoining or

linked together by multicentric
municipalities. This space forms a
Urban Space? connected whole. Its most common
feature is having large establishments
and commercial/ institutional/
recreational spaces that caters to its
target demographic. A mass
concentration of population at daytime
due to job opportunities.
 • Pros – Has a lot of opportunities to venture

What are the

to, Largely populated areas lead to more
diversity of individuals/races to interact
with, Road networks/ Road works are more

Pros and Cons catered to and lastly where most transport

terminals are.

of Urban • Cons –Traffic problems at are an all time

high especially in Prime locations, Informal
settlers likely settle near Public Domain
spaces Pollution particularly Air and Noise and
lastly Due to a large quantity of structures
there's less vegetation.
 • An urban garden can be categorized into
two very strict disciplines
• The one that uses containers and the
ones that don’t

What is an
• Containers are ones most used for
yards, balconies and even in the house
(namely Pocket gardens). These

Urban planting measures require the least

effort since they can be moved around
and be spread out in the household.
Garden? • The ones that don’t are commonly roof
gardens, greenwalls and landscaping.
These can take a considerable amount
of effort to maintain as they also
maintain “appearance” and are used in
the discipline of Architecture.
Peace Lily
•Peace Lily is a container plant with pretty gentle white petals.
Easy to care for and provides strong and peaceful energy to any
space (Feng Shui).
• Max Growth – 40-64 cm
• Soil - peat based potting mix is ideal or other peat-based
mixes.
• Maintenance – feed every week with a diluted liquid plant
food, misting leaves regularly.
• Lighting – its insensitive to light so putting him on every
spot will still allow itself to maintain a rapid and robust
growth.
• Humidity – Maintain high humidity, can cause long term
problems If not done properly.
• Repotting - Place the peace lily in the new container. Fill in
around the root ball with potting mix, then firm the mix
gently with your fingers. Water lightly to settle the soil,
and then add a little more potting soil, if needed. Again,
it's important to situate the plant at the same level it was
planted in its old pot
Watering
• Try to keep the soil just moist at all
times, but if you're quite forgetful you
just need to watch the plant for visual
hints of when to water.
• When it's happy it looks like the picture
on the right, when it needs water it
flops over as shown in the picture on
the left. When you water, soak the
plant but don't let it "sit" in water. If
you're having problems with the plant
it's likely to be linked to your watering
technique.
Jade Plant
• Crassula Ovata, commonly known as jade plant, lucky
plant, money plant or money tree is a container plant
with is a succulent plant with small pink or white flowers
that is native to the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape
provinces of South Africa, and Mozambique; it is
common as a houseplant worldwide

• Color: Green with small pink or white flower

• Max growth: 3ft (91.44cm)
• Soil: well draining potting soil mix.
• Maintenance: Feed each week or two (maybe
less) with a weak or diluted liquid fertilizer.
Fertilizer made for Succulents
• Application: Choose a wide and sturdy pot with a
moderate depth, as jade plants have a tendency to
grow top-heavy and fall over
Waterin
g
• Jade plants are succulents
(they hold water in their
leaves), so they don't do well
when sitting in constantly
moist soil, so let the top 1 to
2 inches of soil dry out when
watering. Indoors, this will
probably
mean watering once every 2
to 3 weeks—but be sure to
check regularly! The yellow
coloration of the leaves
indicates over watering the
plant.
Madagascar Dragon
Tree
• Color: ‘Tricolor’ with its red leaf margins and white band or
stripe running down the green leaf.
• Max growth: 8ft (243.84cm)
• Soil: all purpose potting mix.
• Maintenance: Cutting and re-planting stem cuttings a couple
of inches long is an easy method used, Normal household
humidity is fine and misting the leaves is advised
• Application: A sizeable plant needs a suitable pot. Beginning at
500mm for younger plants, fill containers with 50 per cent
potting mix and 50 per cent coarse sand for free drainage. 
Drill extra drainage holes in the base and sides of containers.
• Lighting: needs to be in medium to bright light but with partial
shade as direct sunlight may cause its leaves to burn. Also avoid
shadowy places.
Watering

• Give the plant water when the

surface soil is dry. Like many
other plants, you can water less in
the winter. Water just enough to
keep the soil from drying out. Use a
diluted houseplant fertilizer at the
beginning of spring and the
beginning of summer. Brown
coloration on leaves is due to
underwatering of cold drafts.
Roof Gardening and
Green walls

• While mostly for architectural purposes, Green

walls and roofs are greening typology, where a
vertical built structure is intentionally covered by
vegetation. They are also referred to as living
walls or vertical gardens, and widely associated
with the delivery of many beneficial ecosystem
services. Green roofs and walls and have their
own irrigation systems, The latter having drip
irrigations. Both having their own measures (I.E
water proofing and insulation presented in the
deck and wall sections respectively. An irrigation
system used by green walls should water from top
to bottom to give time to absorb from each area.
Phyllantus Myrtofolius

• Is an autotropic shrub type plant that is used

for green walls. Its more commonly known as
myrtle leaf flower. It can also bear pink and red
flowers and is a very popular landscaping
feature like flowerbeds.
• Growth – can grow to 3 m. tall
• Maintenance – Prefers to be constantly
moist to retain its aesthetic.
• Lighting – Prefers direct exposure to
sunlight (being an autotroph)
• Water – Moderate to moist
• Preferred climate zone – Tropical, making
it good here in the Philippines.
Origanum Vulgare
Hitum (Oregano)

• Is a perennial shrub being a very

adaptable plant used in green roofs
albeit extensive ground cover. It is
green and very fragrant, bears white
leaves that can grow less than 1 inch.
Prefers In sloped areas. Its also very
well known in Philippine horticulture.
• Growth – 10-20 cm tall.
• Lighting – at least 6 hours of
sunlight a day.
Roof Garden Plants

• Roof garden plants are mostly

container-based plants that would
much rather be on the outside. These
plants would rather have extensive
sunlight. They can come from a wide
variety, calamansi, lady fingers, chilis
etc. They require a lot of attention and
maintenance.
Street Plants (Streetscape)

• Though unnecessary, we can do measures to

spread gardening to our streetscape. Metro
Manila is the most densely populated region in
the Philippines, Proper streetscape should be
observed not only to deal with pollution but
act as a destress to its users. Unelevated
Planting strips (the bottom) can also prevent
flood due to being an artificial runoff. The top
picture shows how misused certain plant strips
are.