Tuesday, April 03, 2007 The many faces of Aglaonema By Id Acaylar
LIKE fashion, plants have their season. A decade ago, orchid growing was the craze. Then it was euphorbia.
Lately, there seem to be a renewed and growing interest on Aglaonema. That is, if the widening collection of Ching Chua and Monena Satur, two distinctive horticulturists in Davao city, were an indication.
Ching's green thumb yielded award winning waling-waling in local and national competitions during the past 5 years befitting him the title, Prince of Waling-waling.
Monena, on the other hand, flooded Mindanao with euphorbia of different shapes, colors and varieties. Thus I called her the Euphorbia Queen.
Both are now heavy with different species of truly seductive aglaonemas.
Aglaonema, a name coined from two Greek words-- "aglaos" meaning bright and "nama" meaning a filament or thread referring to the striking stamens produced within the flowers, is a herbaceous, perennial, compact low-growing plant with ovate to lanceolate green or variegated leaves on short, erect stems.
It may produce arum-like flowers which are relatively inconspicuous, usually white or greenish white spathes that can give way to red berries.
It is a popular plant and a favorite among Chinese who consider it as a symbol of long life.
Hence, in the Americas it is known as Chinese Evergreen. In the Philippines, it has no common name. Yet it is endemic to our country and to the tropical swamps and rainforests in Southeast Asia.
It has been my favorite too since I took up gardening as a hobby seven summers ago. It is easy to grow. It can tolerate a wide range of light as well as neglect.
And it is relatively resistant to pests.
Aglaonema is indeed a very tolerant plant that does well in a variety of settings. It can be an effective houseplant or an ornamental in offices and shopping malls for it will survive in very poor light. It can also be used outdoors as a general purpose plant for mixed displays and under-planting.
It can be planted in dense drifts on larger sites and can provide a good color contrast to other plants. Even around swimming pools, it is suitable.
In growing aglaonema, one can start by rooting a single cutting in a pot. Once the cutting is fully rooted, the plant will sucker and begin to fill out.
Because it favors not very drained soil which can slightly withhold humidity, for planting medium I use 3 parts each of sand and pumice, two parts each of peat, and soil and 1 part of compost or organic fertilizer.
The plant thrives best in medium to high light although it can tolerate quite gloomy conditions provided it is not over-watered. And it has to be kept moist at all times during growth.
Let me share as well some other tips.
In very dry atmosphere the leaves may develop brown tips. This can be prevented however by regularly misting it with tepid water.
Draughts may cause the leaf edges to curl and go brown while direct sunlight will cause leaf scorching.
What enamored me with aglaonema is its attractive, very colorful, lush foliage. Before, when it used to grow in the wild, it was generally deep green in color. Then there were those with various markings that range from silvery white to white and cream.
Over the last 10 years, many new varieties, all hybrids, were introduced.
Those with silvery-grey to light green color mostly came from American growers who prefer the more environmentally aligned hues.
The more recent varieties that came from Thailand have more flamboyant colors like red and fuchsia and are preferred by Filipinos. The markings, coloration, shapes and sizes of their leaves and stems greatly vary. And many of these varieties are nameless.
Truly, I have difficulty identifying one variety to another. It may not be necessary for each one is distinctly beautiful. Like appreciating a work of art,
I rely on my emotion.
My only lament, we are importing all these beautiful aglaonemas.
Few years ago, according to Vicky Jimenez, another local horticulturist of note, we exported to Thailand quite a number of our indigenous black aglaonemas most of which came from Surigao. They used this as mother plant for the hybrid varieties we are now importing from them.
