Would appreciate suggestions.

I built a vacation home on a mountainnous area in Batangas, Phils. What other flowering bushes/ perennials are best suited in such a terrain?

What a beautiful area.

In the sunnier spots, I recommend plumeria.

Coleus could add splashes of color. Park's Seeds has just added sunlight loving varieties, a red with yellow edges looks very interesting.

Thanks, Dutchlady1. I had to google a picture of plumeria to know how it looks like. In my country, we name that plant "kalachuchi'. I also went to see your website and learned that you're "addicted to plumeria". :)

A lot of options: red bouganvilleas, Stachytarpheta (purple, pink flowers) , Heliconia, Philodendron, Mussaenda phillipica (pink flowers), Ixora (a large diversity of colors), Megakepasma erythrochlamys (Red flowers), Duranta repens (variegated leaves), Justicia carnea (pink flowers), Lantanas (differente colors) also Ti plants. I visited Manila and Baguio. The mountains of Baguio remind me Costa Rica. Also the Spaniard culture. Saludos amiga

It is very cheap to have a landscaper make you a design and can suggests what is good in your area. One of our friends in Tagaytay hired one and did a wonderful job.We had a chance to visit last January this year. Beautiful place!!! They also own a house here in Virginia Beach. Belle

what a great setting!

I'd put spider plants in at intervals along the edge of the stone wall --they'll provide a light accent, and the trailers will be visually interesting.

Consider firecracker plants at intervals as well --small red flowers and interesting sprays of green.

Maybe some portulaca in between. Or asparagus fern. maybe a small philo.

These will kind of hide the top edge of the stone

Hi Bellieg! I already used a landscaper for my Tagaytay property . The same landscaper is now working on the ground level of the 3,000 sq meter Batangas property
that you see in the picture. I am a week-end beginner-gardener and trying to experiment with my own design for the sloping terrain. I sort of want to copy Sonia's Garden on a small scale. Thanks for the suggestion.

To Molamola, JPlunket and Bignonia:
Thanks for all your suggestions! Now I just have to google some of the plants that you had listed and see how they look like as I am only a beginner week-end gardener.

Aloha and welcome. What a beautiful spot you have!

I have used pentas (Penta lanceolata) also known as Egyptian star quite a lot in my garden - they are short lived perennials here and give me a nice show of flower clusters for months on end. They do self sow too, but not to a point of being a problem.

Do let us know what you have chosen - and we love pics too!

Jenn

Hi Jenn!

I googled Pentas and, wow, they're gorgeous! Thanks!

Hi Jenn again!

My gardener brought me these plants that look like pentas. He calls them star flowers. Am sharing a picture for your authentication before I plant them in Batangas :)

Those are indeed Pentas.

Yep, those are what I have all over. Easy to grow here and very easy to take cuttings from, although they must be easy from seed too because we get babies coming up here and there. They seem to be constantly in flower and range in color from red through all the shades of pink and white. I think they look very nice against blue plumbago which is another plant common as muck round here.

Hetty, did they ever catch your Plumeria thief?

Aloha.

Yes, I have Penthas in my butterfly garden!

Thief was not caught, but I know who did it; they will get their comeuppance eventually!

Hi Jenn and Dutchlady1,

Jenn, I have planted pentas but they are dwarfed by the blooming bouganvilleas that you can hardly see them in pictures unless you zoom. I intend to transfer the pentas in the pocket garden near the nipa hut down the slope and explore replacing them with plumerias as Dutchlady has suggested.
I have several plumerias at my home in Pasig..... but they are of the bonzai type as you can see in the picture and not trees. They have been in those bonzai containers for many years and I am hesitant to convert them into trees.

I need a colorful flowering plant that will match the height of the bouganvilleas.
I better google the other suggestions given earlier.
Thanks!

What about sterlitzias? i would also suggest hibuscuses.
your place is absolutely beautiful! i find nothing more exciting than creating a new area in my garden. i wish you the best of luck!!
Hettie, somebody stole your plumerias???
isaac

I think the plants you show are Desert Rose, not Plumeria. Those bonsai are stunning and I would certainly not do anything to change them.

Last year someone helped themselves to about 30 of my plumeria. I have moved on, so hardly think about it any more.

Hibiscus is a good idea for that area too, I think, but beware of the bugs, it seems to attract every known pest.

Tell me about it, i have to bugspray my hibiscuses regularly. but i am a huge fan of hibuscuses actually, its just we get the most horrible beetles here that feast on the flowers. as soon as one discovers it, the others follow. but a regular insecticide usually take care of them.
too bad about your plumeria, i can just imagine what it must have been like, losing thirty plants. i too like plumeria, though i actually know very little about them.
by the way, that looks like a desert rose to me too.
isaac

Hi Isaac and Dutchlady1,

Thanks for correcting me...and I am glad to know that what I do have for many years are called dessert rose.
At the back of my nipa hut down the slope is planted what I think is a plumeria tree, as shown in the picture. It has bloomed deep red flowers before and I am waiting for it to bloom again.

As you can see along the fence, I also have a problem with the clinging yellow vines that grow so fast that they are again on each other's turf.
I think I better eat my pride (!) and just ask the landscaper to take over. I just wanted to see if I could be a gardener, too :(

Yep - that's a plumeria ^_^
Show pictures of the blooms, sometime? Pretty please.

Hi odette,
What color is the blooms of your plumeria?
isaac

Hi Isaac,

It showed red flowers the last time it bloomed. I will post it here when it blooms again.

Oooh, red, must be gorgeous!!! mine is white with yellow in the center. just before it falls off, the white becomes a light pink.
isaac