[I went to Rimba Garden Central on Saturday. It’s actually Sunday now, when I finally have time to sit down and write. I just finished a 12km walk/jog, and I’ve barely left my chair since I sat down. I was hoping to do 16k since my half marathon is 2 weeks away, but my shins were protesting and I like to think I’m wise enough to not push through stabbing pain and give myself shin splints right in time for the HM.
Anyway, I haven’t had time to unwind and decompress lately, but over the past week I’ve been trying to change the direction my life is heading in. Cue this impromptu visit to the gardens.]
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This place is my “Tiffany’s”, like in Breakfast at Tiffany’s where Holly tells us about how just being there makes her feel calm and like everything is fine. I used to go there after work very often back when it was on the way home.
They had some renovation work done since my last visit. It’s always been beautifully maintained, but it definitely levelled up during that time.
This plant wall is so lush!
I could never drop hundreds of dollars on one of these variegated beauties, as cool as they look. I don’t know how to take care of variegated plants, so I just admire them from afar on houseplant forums.
I thought these were figurines of mice at first, until I turned the pot to the side and saw they had puffy bunny tails. I asked how much the whole thing cost. $25. Should I!? I’m trying to stop spending money like the world is ending tomorrow, but I’m so tempted by this.
On my last visit, I saw this stone rabbit playing a guitar in the greenhouse for $38. I wished I had gotten it when I had the chance, because it’s not there anymore, sadly. I think it would have looked nice on the balcony with my plants.
I love snake plants! I have three variants: laurentii (though mine isn’t this tall), superba (there’s one on my desk – I think it’s annoyed by me constantly touching the leaves to peek at the baby leaves inside), and black star (there’s a small one by my bathroom window). I recently read that the low-light preference thing is apparently a myth about snake plants. Huh. I wouldn’t have guessed it.
Their underwater plant display. There are small fish inside, too (can you spot one?).
These are so itty bitty! It was fascinating to get to see their trigger hairs up close. I thought it was funny that they only drink rainwater or distilled water. That’s surprisingly finicky for a plant that eats anything that lands on it. I’ve also seen some people create makeshift bogs for their VFTs. Interesting.
The labels with the mosquito cartoons are charming, but I kept scratching while checking out the display. I starting itching again just uploading this picture.
Ficus lyrata bambino/baby fiddle leaf figs. How adorable! Sadly, the only one I ever bought went to the great farm in the sky years ago. It was putting out new leaves for a while, and things were great at first, but then the bottom leaves started dropping one by one out of the blue. I couldn’t figure out the root (haha) cause. Underwatering!? Overwatering!? Too much light? Too little light? Out of spite? I looked at it wrong?
I panicked and then moved it to a different spot on my balcony where it would get bright indirect light, but it continued its steadfast march towards total plant baldness, dropping leaves day by day until there were only three, then two, then one leaf left at the top of the entire stick. It was some kind of slow-burn nightmare where the plant mocked my attempts to stop it from losing any more leaves, and every endeavour to improve its condition seemed to paradoxically contribute to the acceleration of its demise. I somehow turned my fiddle leaf bambino into a miniature palm tree. It was almost comical. Apparently, these things don’t like being moved either. This is the most “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” plant I’ve ever owned. Finicky leaf fig.
Truth be told, though, despite the balding plant episode, I’d like to get one again…just not now. I still have a lot of things to learn about houseplant care, and not enough time to learn them at the moment.
Anyway, here is a nice healthy fiddle leaf fig, not of the bambino variety. I’d like to know the gardener’s secrets. Eye of newt?
The path leading down to the greenhouse and outdoor section:
Pretty in pink!
Sweetheart Hoyas! I wonder if the variegated ones were cross bred with snake plants to get that colour.
I was hoping to see some bunny-eared cactuses in the succulents section, but no dice. These are so cute, though.
According to Google Lens, this is a false bird of paradise/”hanging lobster claw”. They looked like chilli peppers from a distance (or maybe my eyesight is going).
I call this the garden of dreams. It looks like a scene that should be immortalised in a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, or a painting.
Story: I once bought a small yellow plant (like the ones in the bottom row, but more yellow). One day, I decided to move it from my bathroom window to the kitchen balcony (where there’s much more sun), and my Obi Bun went and decimated all the flowers. All that was left were there the plant stems. I moved it back to my bathroom window out of reach of my bunnies hoping new growth would emerge from the ruins like a phoenix rising from the ashes, but the poor plant proceeded instead to shuffle off this mortal coil.
Most of the plants I keep now are the hardier types, like aroids. My mom bought a ZZ Plant from this store years ago when I brought her here, and it’s still thriving today. Thankfully, my rabbits don’t try to eat it.
TIL these are called pinwheel flowers. I thought they were called periwinkle flowers…
Another TIL: this is a Periwinkle flower. That’s a really stunning red. It reminds me of one of my handbags that’s a similar colour.
The trip ends here with the path going back to the main store. Until next time!