Kathleen is a good friend of mine since College. She was my classmate all four years of my university life and after graduation, together with our other classmate Jayson, the three of us became professors at our University for another 5 years. All that time plus another 6 years of friendship beyond work and school, I did not know that they sell plants! It was just during this pandemic lockdown that I found out because she decided to do some marketing for their budding but strong family business.
Antonia's Garden
If you guys have been here since I got active again to blogging this year, you would know the story between me and plants. It was a story of healing and joy that I am still currently in and hopefully will be for the longest time. Knowing about my friend Kath's business I knew I had to support her and at the same time, get some plant babies for myself too!
Antonia's Garden is named after my friend's Grandmother. Almost all their plants are propagated and taken cared of by her father. They live in Amadeo, which is a big advantage for plant lovers because of its milder climate, all year round, due to its higher altitude.
They sell a wide variety of plants, both for outdoors and indoors which are getting such a hype these days. Everyone here in the Philippines is starting to get crazy with such expensive plants that are grown inside their homes, I am not a fan of hypes and trends but I must say that this one in particular is something that I would even promote because of the benefits we can get from having plants inside our homes, plants are part of our families.
Though of course, just like pets, we should also know that having indoor plants is not the same as taking care of outdoor gardens. They require knowledge and for that, a lot of information is readily available on the internet on how to care for them, from watering, to pruning, and even on how you can propagate them. Just see to it that you take information from more than one source so you can be sure of the legitimacy of the information so that you can take the best care for your house plants.
Aside from normal potted plants, Kath's father is also gifted in the art of making Bonsai Trees. This one, I already known of for years because everytime we will visit Kathleen's house for fiestas and celebrations, I saw a lot of beautiful bonsai trees at their home garden.
There is always healing in plants. Especially in these times of the pandemic, a lot of us are having battles with anxiety, even for other who unconsciously have them, plants can be our very best friend. No matter how big your garden is or how small your room apartment is, there will always be a plant baby that you can take care of to take care of you. If we learn to love these plants at our home, we'll also develop a love for the environment at large - and that, is the best bandwagon we can always be riding at!
It's really nice to have life-long friends who don't just share memories of school and work with you but also hobbies that turn into life-long passions! Thank you so much Kathleen for having us. We'll surely take care of the plant babies that we got, and we can't wait to adopt some more in the next month.
Thank you also for my sister who did not just bought plants as well but also drove us to Amadeo because aside from my fear of being exposed outside (especially in our overcrowded city) but also because I don't know how to drive (there friends, another fact about your friend Stevenson).
By the way, here is the plant I bought from Antonia's Garden. My first Philodendron selloum. I got myself two, one for my bedroom and another on my bath. Since these species originated from Latin America, I thought of naming them Sergio and Thalia, both named after my favorite telenovela actors from Mexico!
Philodendron Selloum
Shown below are a few shots sent to me by Kathleen. She took these gorgeous photos from their garden one afternoon so she can post them on their Garden's facebook page. You can visit their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/AntoniaGardenPH/ and also on their Instagram Account @AntoniaGardenPH. Aside from her full-time work on the banking industry, Kat is also a skilled seamstress and makes beautiful clothes specially for Catholic Saints. And yes, she also takes stunning photos.
If you are in the Cavite or Manila area and you are interested to get yourself some houseplants from Antonia's Garden. They have a good variety of plants that you can choose from. Plus, they also ship your new family members via Lalamove (delivery charge at your cost) straight to your door and they offer a variety of payment modes that will best suit your account availability including GCash, PayMaya, and Bank Transfers.
If you are in the Cavite or Manila area and you are interested to get yourself some houseplants from Antonia's Garden. They have a good variety of plants that you can choose from. Plus, they also ship your new family members via Lalamove (delivery charge at your cost) straight to your door and they offer a variety of payment modes that will best suit your account availability including GCash, PayMaya, and Bank Transfers.
Never Stop Planting!
Stevenson
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This post is part of my friend Jesh's All Seasons, Our World Tuesday, and Betty's My Corner of the World
Beautiful
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Regine :)
DeleteApparently, being in a lockdown situation force people to start looking for things to do when they are home. I see many friends choose plants as the outlet, many friends of mine show their plants, flowers in social media.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, I start planting too. I start seedling chilies, tomatoes, sunflowers and citrus lime. Well with quite high failure rate, there are some plants that still grows to date. I also start composting my left over food.
I am so happy to hear of your new found practices my friend Cipu! You are definitely right, I started gardening in the middle of the lockdown last April because it's like it wants me to visit the garden and so I did and I started weeding and thought, why not fix this garden and then it started! Now I am starting to add plants inside the house and hopefully I can make them grow and thrive.
DeleteThat is very good that you are planting fruits and vegetables and herbs! You don't just plant for beauty, you also plant for fresh food! that is perfect! And yes, we also started composting our food wastes :)
...I can see that shade is very important!!!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely true Tom! Especially the Philippine Summer sun, it's burning! I really need that netting for my garden too.
DeleteI think your blog has become awsome!Very nice for the eye:)))
ReplyDeletelove those plants :)))
Anita
Now that is so sweet and nice of you Anita! Thank you so much! Sending you hugs from me and my plants :)
DeleteI love the plant that you bought...and love those Bonsai trees. I would love to visit your friend's place.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you like it dear Rose! And you are right, those are just two of the many bonsai trees that my friend's father have been making throughout the years :) You are always welcome to visit their garden!
DeleteWhat a talented woman your friend Kat is and Antonia's Garden is so lush and gorgeous. I was keeping all my plants inside since we had weather that was in the 50s and below this spring, but the last week or so I've been able to keep them all outside. Actually, it got a little chilly today. We just had a storm so I moved them closer to the sliding door and huddled them together. My neighbors probably think I'm crazy.
ReplyDeleteMy mother loves Bonsai trees and always looks for a little guy who used to sell them on the side of the road.
Your philodendron is beautiful and has a cool leaf shape. Maybe I'll try my hand at one soon, because I miss the plants I got in those little starter containers being inside.
I love that you watch telenovelas, did you ever watch Queen of the South? There are a LOT of episodes and I read that the star was afraid of backlash from the cartels for a while.
Hello dearest Jeanna! Oh thank you so much, Kathleen would surely love to read your words! You are such a nice plant parent, to keep them safe away from the chill and let them go outside when it's sunnier. It is super nice that your mother loves Bonsai trees, I tried my luck years before in making one but I failed haha. Oh thanks Jeanna, the Philodendrons are gorgeous plants! And they thrive very much indoors as long as you don't overwater them. Though I placed mine back to the bathroom because they love it there more than my room where temperature fluctuates drastically due to my use of aircondition and then off and on again. But now my bathroom looks so lush and pretty :)
DeleteOh! I have heard of that series Jeanna! A friend of mine watches it and it reminds him of what is really hapenning. oh my, I hope the star is safe.
Dearest Stevenson,
ReplyDeletePlants, garden as well as potted plants our houseplants, do give us so much joy!
Their little wonders of rewarding blossoms or fruits that they yield are like little miracles of nature.
Glad you nurture them, as well as the human friendships!
Hugs,
Mariette
You are very right, whenever they flower, they make me so amazed! Thank you very much dearest Mariette!
Delete🌱🌱
DeleteBad hair day, huh, Stevenson? LOL, you made me laugh (and I don´t even see anything wrong with your hair!).
ReplyDeleteOh, I hate driving (in Germany/Europe), too.
Cute names for your plants!
I once watered avocado-seeds and they really grew into little trees.
We have wooden floors and in winter it got so dry one died. The other I gave to my T when we went on holiday.
He´s from East Germany where back in the day they had no avocados. He called her Miss Mango, as they didn´t have those fruit, either :-)
Sadly last winter she died, also. Despite we have a humidifier.
Now I try the balcony, but hopes aren´t high...
Enjoy yours! Hugs from here.
Hahahaha Thank you so much dear Iris! I really like Mexican/Spanish names :) Avocado seeds! Wow! They grow here very well in our climate.
DeleteThat is so sad though :( Did Miss Mango produce fruits?
I wish the ones in your balcony will thrive and grow strong :)
Sending you hugs dear Iris!
Hello Stevenson,
ReplyDeleteGreat that you have visit your friend Kathleen. And funny that you see now what she is doing every day.
She has had a lot of plants. Nice shots!!
Greetings, Marco
Thank you so much Marco! You are right we are all so happy wit our mini reunion because we were both been locked down and still on lock down on our houses ourselves. Thank you so much my friend!
DeleteGreat photos of the plants and she sounds like a great friend :-D
ReplyDeleteThe three of you look very happy too :-D
She is dear Ananka! She is like a sister to me. We were so happy to see each other after half a year :)
DeleteIt's always interesting to find out things about people you've known a long time! Thank you for sharing the photos and info about plants.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are a part of 'My Corner of the World' this week! Thanks for linking up.
And thank you Betty for hosting you corner of the universe! Sending you clean air from the plants :)
DeleteI'm very impressed. It's so very beautiful and how wonderful she is your friend. You are right about the healing power of plants -- maybe (or maybe not) physically but certainly in terms of emotional health and well being. You are right in that plants can be our best friend during these times. Take care, stay well, my friend.
ReplyDeleteOh you are absolutely correct Jeanie! They heal the heart and the soul and the mind and makes you feel like you are not alone even if they do not talk. They really are my best friends during isolation. Thank you so much dear Jeanie!
DeleteLove the photos of the plants! You are blessed to have such a great friend, Stevenson.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true Veronica. My friends are my treasures, they make me rich, not in money but in love :)
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