Garden On Top of a Hill in Santander

Around two weeks ago, my in-laws brought us to Santander for another "hilot" session for Matti, his cousin, and the in-laws. Three adults and three kids faced "Nang Beta", a local masseuse.

She visits houses before but due to the pandemic restrictions, she stopped going to different houses and would just wait for her clients to visit her at her home. My mother-in-law is one of her avid clients and this time, since we are also in Cebu, she insisted that we should as well bring Matti and give him a "hilot" or massage.

Upon arriving, my husband walked around the area to check out the chickens at the backyard. The house owner have a lot of hens under their small hut, having a soil bath. Have you seen chickens do that? It's their natural way of cleaning their feathers from parasites. This is a necessary hygienic activity that chickens must do so that their feathers can't be a ground for lice and mites to live in.

Aside from that, the's a very nice view of the Tañon Strait with Negros Island already very visible as if we can reach it. I have been to Negros a couple of times before and I feel like it is about time as well that we bring Matti there.

While looking at the island, I had an idea in mind, why not get our passports renewed and also apply for Matti's and do it in Dumaguete City. James'passport was also renewed there five years ago, and both our passports are now about to expire! Wow, that was super fast! I could still remember our experience going to Robinsons Dumaguete for passport renewal which took only a few minutes. It was so smooth and fast!

Anyway, going back to the topic, I was looking into the mini garden that this masseuse have set up in her front yard. I recall a few months ago, we came here and there were only a few plants around but now, she had grown a lot! And there were many varieties!

We are grateful for this tree, it gave us shelter from the heat of the sun, it was almost one in the afternoon so the sun was just shining bright and hot at that time. There's a delightful breeze as well but that wasn't consistent, it comes and goes so it would have been better if we brought fans with us.

Here's the view of the Tañon Strait from the house. I took a close up shot and a wide one. Negros looks really near, the boat ride I guess would only take 15-20 minutes or maybe less.

And so it's time to take photos of the flowers around. I wanted so much to ask for their names but Nang Beta was busy with her hilot so I have to just take photos and will see if Google can distinguish each of them.

I know the left and right photos above are Mayana plants, I just figured that they bear flowers too! They are really cute. According to Google Image search, the one at the center is an impatiens touch me not flower.

Then I was surprised to see this plant which has leaves which looked like butterflies. So I named it right away as Butterfly plant, but let's see what its real name...

Upon searching, it is indeed called as such but its full name is Swallow Tail, Butterfly Plant (Christia obcordata). If you look at it in a wider view, the plant looks really pretty. I highly suggest that the owner must place it in a section which will make it visible to everyone around. This one was just placed under the center plant.

And here comes the different kinds of Mayana or Coleus Plant.

According to my research, these plants grow well in warm temperature areas, no wonder why they grow well in the Philippines! But what's really interesting with this plant is that they can have a variety of leaf shapes and colors!

My mother back in Bohol have a lot of these too but are of the same leaf shape. Having many leaf shapes make them interesting! They are pretty to look at when they grow in huge numbers and they can be a great display at the gate or fence!

Nang Beta had grown so many of these type of flower. According to Google Image search this is called Mexican Sunflowers while the white one is Aster and the pink one below is Melastomes.

Let me give you some time to see each photograph, click on each on of them for a full view!

These sunflower plants were just interesting that they don't wither easily even if the sun was beamingly shining on them. There were also traces of withered flowers though but I guess the soil here is rich that they grow rapidly.

And this one here below, I can't quite figure out what its name, has already developed seeds! The seeds looked like peppercorns! There were a lot of them!

I was really adoring this flower too as it looked like mini pompoms. This I found to be called Thistle Weed Bloom. How cute and its color is my favorite!

I tried a different perspective in taking a photo, I placed the phone camera underneath the Mayana plant which had blossomed, and the end result looks pleasing!

I told myself that I am done for the day but then I noticed the Mansanitas tree. Its flowers look pretty too, they resemble the Sakura flowers! I don't know if it's just me or if this tree really is somehow related to the Sakura trees. Anyway, have you tried eating the Mansanitas fruit? They are called the mini apples and in fact, its name is derived from the word mansanas because the fruit looks like mini apples. Its scientific name is Rhamnus jujuba and Zizyphus mauritiana.

I was done exploring the different flowers around me and so it was time to rest under the shade of the tree. I attempted to sleep but then my husband said it was time for us to go. I guess I had taken so much time taking pictures that the hilot went by fast too!