A few weeks ago on the ABC Gardening show there was a special global episode showing the beautiful gardens of Indonesia with their many islands.
Always interested in special gardens, I was absolutely enthralled by the diversity of that far away land.
From the beautiful manicured gardens of the suburbs and cities to the Sumatran heritage listed rain forests.
First port of call was Tebet Eco Park in Jakarta, one of the most densely populated cities in the world having some 11 million people. Remember, the whole of Australia has roughly 26 million.
They meet a plant breeder that has a stunning backyard ecosystem with waterfalls and floating trees and ponds teeming with incredible plants and animal biodiversity.
They meet some people growing the revered houseplant, the ‘Aglaonema’, a coloured leafy plant with its many unusually patterned leaves and how the couple are creating beautiful and unusual hybrids.
We meet a man on a mission to protect some of the most iconic and pungent flowers in the world, the the TITAN ARUM or ‘corpse flower’ and RAFFLESIA, the ‘corps lily’.
These are rare giants that reach 2.5 metres tall and 1 metre wide. Endemic to Sumatra, they mimic the smell of rotten meat.
They take a tour of a large glasshouse full of carnivorous plants and learn how the plants feed themselves.
There are many exotic and beautiful native orchids in Indonesia, the climate lends itself to growing fabulous plant life.
The many parks of Jakarta and the suburbs show us the endeavours of many talented people in keeping these spaces as special as they are.
There are some very unusual plants in Indonesia and for that matter all the islands who have the humidity and rainfall that appears to fall most of the time, judging by the vibrant greens and coloured plants.
In Ipswich we sometimes don’t have the rain that seems to fall elsewhere a lot of the time.
However this is maybe a good thing that the weather is selective in this regard and allows us to reserve our efforts for some of the bad times we’ve had in days gone by.
Maybe we have to do things a little differently at home to create some of these magic gardens, maybe like misting our gardens, protecting our plants as much as possible and learning from videos like these.
This is an amazing programme and well worth the hour spent in watching what people are doing in other countries around the world and how gardens breathe life into a city and make them special places.
Indonesia is not the only place with exceptional gardens.
One only has to look at some airports around the world, like jewel Changi airports 1 and 2.
A captivating world of discovery gardens, heaven for the weary traveller.
