Shirley Briñas Sanders’ not-so-secret gardens

Landscape designer Shirley Briñas Sanders’ romance with gardens started to blossom back in her college days as a sophomore medical student 25 years ago. "My mom, Benita Briñas, had the nicest garden in our community on Villamor Airbase," she traces her gardening roots. "Our neighbors wondered why my mom’s bougainvilleas and hibiscus were all flowering while theirs were not. Her secret? Only then did I find out why she always asked me and my siblings to pee in the arinola. She would dilute the urine with water (1 part of urine to 10 parts of water) and water her plants with this. Her plants were forever flowering and the neighbors were green with envy. People were all praises for my mom’s garden, which occupied 140 sq. m. out of our 240-square-meter property. ‘Ang ganda ng garden, ang linis ng bahay nyo!’ Somehow, this impression was ingrained in my mind. So I said, ‘Ah, gusto kong maging gardener!’"

Shirley didn’t just become a gardener (and certainly not the garden-variety kind). She became landscape designer/consultant/contractor to the rich and famous. "I guess if you do something well, word gets around," she says with a twinkle in her eyes.

After Shirley did Betsy Quisumbing’s garden, she was referred by Betsy to her aunt, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, who was happy to have Shirley as her personal gardener. Shirley did the sprawling gardens at the Marcoses’ mansion and former President Ferdinand Marcos’ mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte. She also did the garden of Imelda’s Forbes Park home, where she lived after she came home from exile.

"The First Lady likes something lush, tropical and beautiful," Shirley shares. "She just loves white orchids. At FM’s burial, the flowers were all white orchids which we brought in from Laguna, along with other ornamentals. When we were doing her garden, she was there to personally oversee our work. For her garden, she liked anything flowering with a nice color. We’d work up to 2 or 3 a.m. and she said she likes me because I work like her. In fact, she gave me a bonus."

Imelda’s garden in an old Forbes Park house that she bought was spread over a humongous 1,000-square-meter property. The garden took four weeks – and a cool P1 million – to spruce up. The gardens that Shirley does for her rich and famous (as well as infamous) clients are all in the million-peso range.

"But FL lives at Pacific Place now; I wonder who’s taking care of that garden now," Shirley muses.

The garden of former First Lady Ming Ramos didn’t entail as much expense to do. "Wala masyadong gastos because we got all the materials from her farm in Tagaytay," Shirley recounts. "All I did was to put everything together."

Ming Ramos herself has a green thumb. She grows orchids of different varieties in her garden that fringes a 3,000-square-meter compound. According to Shirley, it was easy working with Mrs. Ramos as the latter was very down-to-earth.

Another famous (infamous?) client was former President Joseph Estrada, who probably loves gardens as much as he loves women. "I designed a lot of gardens for him," says Shirley. "The truth is, Erap himself designs. He designed his Greenhills house."

But when Erap was not in his Greenhills home, he was probably in his Wack-Wack home with Laarni Enriquez. Yes, it was also Shirley who did Laarni’s 5,000-square-meter garden teeming with palm trees and all kinds of plants. Shirley describes Erap and Laarni’s private Eden, "It was a tropical garden with big royal palms. There was also a meditation garden. Actually, it was Erap who dictated what plants to plant – he likes anthuriums and white flowers."

Shirley is quick to add, "I also did Erap’s Baguio garden, which comprised 1,000 plus sq. m. of a 3,000-square-meter lot.

No, Erap does not plant camote in his garden in Baguio. And he has no plans to run for presidency in next year’s elections, but he does have many plants.

Then there was Danding Cojuangco, whose eight-hectare Pontevedra estate in Bacolod Shirley also landscaped. For the Cojuangcos, Shirley built a garden that could have leaped out of a Monet painting. "Gretchen Cojuangco wanted something like a Monet garden," Shirley explains. "It’s got a bridge and a pond with ducks swimming in it and lots of lilies."

Shirley finds it doubly fun to do gardens that are really big, such as the Cojuangcos’. "Gretchen just loves gardens and she was always there when I was doing her garden," says Shirley. "Danding just looked, he didn’t meddle. Gretchen loves all kinds of flowers. They have very nice milflores in Bacolod because these are grown in the mountains."

Living so close to nature, the Cojuangcos are very environment-conscious. Shirley relates, "Even the food you’d eat at Pontevedra comes from the Cojuangcos’ herb garden right at the back of the kitchen. It was Gretchen who chose the herbs which were planted. What we introduced to her was the edible fern, which you can eat as a salad or cook with coconut milk (gata). When you enter the estate, you’d see lots of Bangkok santol trees. They grow lots of edibles, like camoteng kahoy and gabi. Once, I cooked something out of the talbos ng camote and lubi-lubi, which may just be ornamentals for you but for Bicolanos like me are culinary fare. I simply chopped them up and put a little bagoong and gata. When they tasted it, they said it was delicious and were surprised to find out that all the ingredients I used came from their garden."

Shirley fashioned out a Balinese garden for businessman Fred Uytengsu as well as for Iñigo and Maricris Zobel. She landscaped Senator Loren Legarda’s private hideaway on Lorelei Island in Nasugbu, Batangas. She did Lucio Tan’s houses in Forbes Park, La Vista Quezon City, Greenhills, and Ayala Alabang; Frank Chavez’s Ayala Alabang residence, Marilou Tantoco-Pineda’s Dasmariñas Village Makati house; Senator Sergio Osmeña’s residence in Bel Air Makati; Rep. Sotero Laurel’s San Juan home; Doy and Celia Laurel’s house in Mandaluyong; Ching Cruz’s Dasmariñas home; National Book Store’s Socorro Ramos’ house in North Greenhills, among a growing list of clients. Shirley has also attracted a fair share of foreign clients, among whom was a sheik in Dubai.

"Almost all my clients ended up becoming my friends maybe because we have something in common to talk about," a beaming Shirley notes. "I’m like a doctor, sometimes I get a frantic call in the middle of the night, ‘Shirley, ano bang nangyari sa plant na ’to?’ And I answer, ‘Siguro, ma’am, nilunod nyo sa tubig.’ We’ve become such good friends that sometimes, they confide in me problems not related to their garden."

So what does this garden doctor prescribe for her troubled rich and famous clients?

Shirley’s Rx: "If you’re stressed out, relax, go to your garden and smell the flowers. And your problems will dissolve into the thin air."

Fact is, she gets a dose of her own prescription every now and then. After a long hard day or when she’s stressed out, she retreats to her garden, her haven on earth. "It’s quiet there I can hear my heart beat," Shirley gushes. "Indeed, there’s no place on earth where you can feel closer to God than in a garden."

Only God can make a tree – and only good gardeners can make lovely gardens. But what makes a good gardener?

Well, let’s take the case of Shirley Sanders, who’s done more than 1,000 residential gardens – from pocket atriums to palatial gardens – as well as hotels, resorts, subdivisions, townhouses and condominiums, golf courses, parks and school campuses, industrial and commercial establishments and some US facilities. When she decided to make gardening her lifetime passion (and profession), she read all the books on plants that she could get her hands on. According to Shirley, there’s a lot of science involved in transforming a patch of land into a work of art.

"What’s important in landscaping is you should know your plants like the palm of your hand," she asserts. "As long as you know what plants thrive in what area, it doesn’t matter where your garden is located – whether it’s on land, sea or mountain."

Shirley gingerly chooses plants that can withstand the whims of nature. She finds out where the sun shines strongest, where the shadows fall and how strong the wind blows. To be able to do all that, Shirley works with her team of experts: There’s a horticulturist who studies the soil samples and helps in the selection and grouping of the plants, an entomologist who advises her on how to protect the garden against insects, and an engineer who oversees the site development, including the drainage.

Today, this dream (garden) team is composed of Shirley Sanders (but of course!) as president, and overall in charge of hardscape and softscape concepts and design; Eduardo Twaño, in charge of hardscape and civil works; Raymond Ong, chief horticulturist; Jorge Sombilona, landscape architect and in charge of project development and studies; Juanito Pascual, project architect/supervisor; Evangeline Tecson, in charge of accounting and finance works; Daisy del Morral, interior scape; Eduardo Briñas, production scheduling/purchasing.

Gardens by Sanders, Inc. (formerly Metropolitan Greens) also has field personnel composed of three general foremen, eight field foremen, 65 regular softscape staff, and 25 hardscape staff. Of course, Shirley can call in more workers as the need arises.

Gardens by Sanders has been making garden dreams come true since it started operations in 1978. Since then, it has been involved in landscape development plans, planting layouts, hardscape works such as swimming pools, flower clocks, natural lagoons, waterfalls and cascade ponds, gazebo and pergola structures, clubhouse design and construction, and other recreational amenities. It has also been a supplier/contract grower of various planting materials.

Gardens by Sanders works hand in hand with foreign landscape architects like the Hawaii-based Belt Collins and Associates.

According to Shirley, every garden that she creates is different and distinct. "It reflects the client’s persona," she points out. "Each garden is unique in that it is adapted to the owner’s lifestyle and personal environment."

Shirley’s own country garden is quite unique. Working all day (and night), she wants to go home to a place where she can forget about work. Surely, Shirley has found a slice of paradise after sundown in her country garden where she has planted night bloomers like the fragrant dama da noche along with bromeliads. And so that she can stay outside late at night to enjoy her garden, she’s also planted some eucalyptus shrubs to drive the mosquitoes away.

Though she grows her garden in the most scientific way, Shirley likes to share her best-kept trade secret, "Yes, I talk to my plants. When I’m angry because my plant is not flowering or growing, I give it this ultimatum: ‘Sige, ’pag ayaw mo pang bumulaklak, ililipat kita sa likod para di ka na makita.’ All of a sudden, it would start to flower!"

Shirley’s gardens are described as "infused with the artistic innovations of the West, the contemplative philosophy of the East and then merrily designed with a Filipino halo-halo consciousness."

She is said to be "partial to natural. Her gardens are tropical, free-flowing, without rigid distinctions separating the plant groupings. Her garden complements what is already there. It is synergystic to its surroundings, never antagonistic. If the site is wooded, she will work the existing trees into the overall design. To her, a living thing can never be out of place. It can only be enhanced. She matches plant to palnt, plant to soil, garden to environment."

In the foreword to her book The Philippine Gardens Collector’s Edition (available at National Book Store and written by David Sheniak, Anita Feleo and Bong Aguirre-Diez with book design by Ging Chavez, John Bautista and Shirley Sanders and photos by Roy Manuel Villasor, Neil Lucente, Jojo Guingona, Paul Durano, Willy Saw, and Eduardo Twaño), Ming Ramos writes:

The artistry of the Filipina landscape designer in transforming parcels of land into visual feasts that beckon, stimulate and allure is excellently present in this third edition of a book on The Philippine Gardens by Shirley B. Sanders. This book forms part of her continuing desire to share with numerous plant and garden enthusiasts her affection for nature and landscape ...

That the Philippines is indeed a beautiful country blessed with an abundance of varieties of flora is likewise depicted in the book. And Sanders’ intimate knowledge of local plant varieties suited to a particular location is put to an artistic use as she builds her gardens according to the "genius of the place."

Sanders has created gardens that feed the soul and nourish the mind.

She makes ample use of the richness of native flora and combines them with foreign plants for her gardens that are full of local accents. She refers to them as her Italoy or Japoy gardens.

Shirley introduces us to her assorted garden creations:

• Tropical garden. It’s one that grows best in our country; it’s practically maintenance-free (but of course, it needs looking after, too). Yes, you can create an island paradise right within the four walls of your home in Manila’s asphalt jungle.

For her tropical garden, Shirley makes extensive use of varieties of ferns, vines, shrubs, bromeliads, gingers and trees found locally. To make it aesthetically more appealing, she puts in jars and wood carvings positioned at strategic points in the garden.

• Collector’s garden. This is for collections of rare flora. A garden collection can consist of a single species, variations of the same species or "anything that strikes a chord of unity in the collector’s garden."

• Oriental and rock garden. Think water flowing, contemplative aura, Japanese lanterns, Thai spirit houses, Chinese bird cages. Think tropical foliage and childhood memories of riverbeds, beaches and mountains.

Shirley recreates the landscapes of her childhood using stones from all over the Philippines, like the ara-al of Bacolod, the blue-green slate of Antipolo and Montalban, and the sand of Boracay. Then she dresses up the naked rocks with ferns, moss, bamboo and bonsai to create a Zen universe in her garden.

• Water garden. Through the ages, water has been a fundamental part of garden design. It can spell the difference between a nice garden and a great one. It refreshes, it beautifies, it purifies. It makes a garden come alive.

• Theme garden. This one’s the closest to many a Filipino heart. For instance, there’s the meditation garden with the ubiquitous grotto of the Virgin Mary as centerpiece. "It’s much like creating a set design," says Shirley. "It serves as the backdrop for a story but the stage is alive."

Let’s not forget the garden accents. Shirley offers fresh solutions to design challenges by experimenting with native accessories that are not normally associated with gardens – artifacts like the talyasi (huge pig iron vat used for cooking food during fiestas – fill it up with water and it can serve as an aquarium for water plants and fish or a quaint receptacle for plants), gilingan (rice grinder that’s pretty decorative by itself), batang (felled tree trunks submerged under water and pockmarked by aquatic life – they make unusual sculptures or support for vines, trellises, or simply add texture to landscapes), piedra china (stone ballast once used in Spanish galleons and now used as paving stones to give a garden a vintage look.

More fresh garden ideas from Sanders: A wooden banca can be converted into a planter. A calesa (horse-drawn cart) can be used to create the atmosphere of a colonial hacienda. Wood relief sculptures and images of santos can invoke a contemplative mood. Yes, you can use wooden plows, carriage lamps, wheel benches, pottery, etc. in your garden without worrying that people may think you’ve gone to pot. Says Sanders, "If it fits the mood and furthers the statement, it’s a garden accessory."

The most beautiful thing is that it doesn’t really have to cost you a sheik’s ransom to build your dream garden. "You can have your own beautiful pocket garden at home that’s easy to take care of. There are plants that don’t need much looking after. We can help you create one according to your budget."

Yes, Shirley’s creations can be affordable too. Shirley says with an assuring smile, "I’m really doing all this work because I enjoy creating gardens for others. It’s not really the profit which matters. I’d rather earn a small sum and make a client very happy and satisfied than make a fortune only to discover my client’s dissatisfaction after a month or two."

Shirley makes it a point to visit her client even after she’s done her job, if only to check if the garden is being well taken care of.

Indeed, her passion for gardens is what keeps Shirley blooming every day.

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Gardens by Sanders, Inc. has its main office at 4E Coronado St., Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City, tel. nos. 890-0454 and 728-5271; fax 728-5340; e-mail sanders@info. com.ph. Its Cebu office is located at Hi-way 77, Talambanan, Cebu City, tel. nos. 348-5139, cell no. (0916)385-2504. Its Bacolod office is at Lumangob, Bago, Bacolod City, cell no. (0919)895-8792.