Stray Plants
When you live in a place as immaculately manicured as Singapore, stray plants—those growing where they ought not to be—start to pique your curiosity.
Some are the work of frustrated gardeners who, because they live in small flats, begin to take over hidden corners of nearby land for their purposes. The more innocuous guerrilla gardens are simply a collection of potted plants.
©Wendy Gan 2024
Bolder gardeners plant directly into the ground. Papayas and bananas are popular choices, growing easily in our tropical clime.
©Wendy Gan 2024
Other stray plants are the work of birds, who in passing seeds in their droppings, defy the designs of our landscaping masters.
©Wendy Gan 2024
Their handiwork results in small miracles. My favourite is seeing mulberry plants thriving (improbably) on walls.
©Wendy Gan 2024
There are moments though when it isn’t clear whether a human or a bird has been responsible.
Did an impish human hand seed this papaya in this planter in a public area? And if so, why? Any resulting fruit would be hard to harvest. Or was this a guileless bird’s fault? This game of ‘Human or Bird’ may seem silly, but it does transform a homogeneous urban landscape into something just a little bit more amusing.
