Beauty in a pot: Flowering plants to grow at home in Singapore

Last year’s circuit breaker saw many of us turn to gardening for a way to pass the time. Thinking of livening up your home during half-lockdown? Here are some easy flowering plants that thrive in Singapore’s tropical weather to spruce up your home (office).

African violets

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Like the name suggests, African violets are native to Tanzania in eastern tropical Africa. They come in white, blue, and lavender hues. These houseplants are relatively small but its purple flowers flourish in clusters.

Its brilliant blooming petals means that it can brighten up your homescape greatly. African violets are also small in size, giving you ample opportunity to decorate with multiple or simply one, if you don’t have much room to spare.

Gardening tips: Take extra care when watering your African violets. Use room temperature or lukewarm water, and water from the bottom to avoid rotting your leaves. Always make sure your soil is somewhat damp and never dried out. Place in a south or west-facing window to grow.

Peace lilies

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These white flowering plants are among the easiest to grow indoors. Popular for decorating both offices and homes, their dark green leaves and contrasting bright white flowers can brighten up your living space with simplicity.

Native to the rainforests of America and Southeast Asia, peace lilies are a relatively low maintenance plant that can take the tropical temperatures of Singapore homes.

If you have pets however, it’s best to keep peace lilies away from curious eyes, since peace lilies can be poisonous to our furry friends.

Gardening tips: Peace lilies enjoy light partial shade – placing them on west-facing windows will ensure enough sunlight.

They’re also more tolerant of being under-watered than over-watered, so instead of regularly watering your peace lilies, check to see if the soil is dry first before deciding to water them. You can even wait for them to droop slightly before watering, and watch as they spring back to life.

Orchids

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For a classy and easy-to-care-for bloom, adorn your home or office with orchids. These flowering plants come in a variety of colours and sizes, each as elegant as the other.

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Orchids are one of the most popular choices for flower decor today, and have been since the 1800s.

Victorian era Europeans had such a fascination with orchids – dubbed ‘orchidelirium’ – that they sent out ships to collect more exotic varieties of orchids from tropical regions.

Gardening tips: There are many variations of orchid plants, but if you know you don’t have a green-thumb, the easiest type to grow is the phalaenopsis (moth orchid).

Most other orchid plants prefer indirect bright sunlight, but the phalaenopsis can also grow in low light. Orchids love humidity, so be sure to mist its leaves daily.

Anthurium

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Also known as laceleaf or the flamingo flower, anthuriums get their nicknames from its tall, flowering red and pink-tinged leaf. These large, heart-shaped flowers aren’t really ‘flowers’ more so than they are waxy leaves.

But their bright colour and thick leaves means they’re both easy to use for a splash of colour and are extremely hardy. Native to South America, the easiest thing about anthuriums is that they grow best in hot, humid environments, just like right in Singapore.

But just like peace lilies, anthuriums are also harmful to cats and dogs if they come in direct contact with them.

Gardening tips: Although the plant is mostly low maintenance, make sure to grow your anthuriums in indirect bright light. Direct sunlight will cause anthuriums to suffer leaf scorch (their leaves will turn brown).

Anthuriums are also prone to pests, so you can spray its leaves with a non-toxic green solution. Simply mix mineral oil, mild soap, water, and alcohol to deter pesky bugs.

Bougainvilleas

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Bougainvilleas practically serve as nature‘s very own fluorescent lighting. They’re diverse in both colours and sizes, so worry not about your room’s colour palette clashing with your flower deco.

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These multi-coloured flowers bloom all year ’round, but blossom especially well during the summer.

Large vines of bougainvilleas can be grown on trellises in your garden or even on balconies, but potted bougainvilleas are also great for styling a room.

Gardening tips: The more sunlight, the better. Bougainvilleas grow best in lots of heat and light, and in fact, this type of environment brings out the vibrancy of its leaves.

Bougainvilleas are also pretty drought-tolerant, but do need to be pruned and fertilised quite regularly. Fertilise once every month and prune if you notice any dead wood.

Sunflowers

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If we’re talking a flower that manages to match Singapore’s sunny weather, sunflowers win grand prize. Although sunflowers come in colours such as orange, red, and white, the most popular choice is no doubt, yellow.

These radiant flowers can grow to up to four metres but of course, you can always choose smaller flowers for some indoor decoration. Sunflowers are incredibly versatile and are less sensitive to environmental conditions needed to grow other flowers.

Gardening tips: Sunflowers should be grown in direct sunlight in slightly acidic soil (with a pH of about six to 7.5). They don’t require fertilisation, but do need nutrient-rich soil to feed on. Use organic matter or composted manure.

Hibiscus

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You’ll be familiar with the hibiscus flower, or the bunga raya, as it’s known in Malay. Malaysia‘s national flower no doubt blooms in Singapore as well, and can be seen attracting many butterflies and bees with its striking red appearance.

Since it absolutely loves warm temperatures, the hibiscus flower makes for a beautiful tropical touch to your living and working space. Plus, grow enough of these fresh flowers and you can easily make hibiscus tea anytime you want.

Gardening tips: When growing a hibiscus plant, once the flower starts to bloom, make sure to water it daily, as hibiscus flowers require large amounts of water in order to grow. Use a high potassium fertiliser once a month to make sure that your hibiscus plant can bloom brilliantly.

Christmas cactus

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Succulents in Singapore are about as low maintenance as you can get for potted plant decor. The Christmas cactus is only one of the varieties of succulents you can get.

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As well as being drought tolerant and easy to take care of, Christmas cacti bloom pink and lilac flowers, adding a little flair to the usual collection of green cacti.

Unlike other types of succulents, the Christmas cactus does especially well in tropical weather, rather than dry and hot, environments.

Gardening tips: Choose an east-facing window for your Christmas cactus to get bright, indirect sunlight.

Make sure your Christmas cactus pot has a drainage hole in the bottom to stop the soil from getting too wet.

This article was first published in City Nomads.