Aireen Gacusan Bernal always hates a garden with just plants!  For her a garden is not only a showcase of one’s plant collection but it must also exhibit artistry.  It must project a psychologically and emotionally uplifting countenance so that anyone who visits it will bring home a piece of joy and happiness emanating from the entire ensemble.

This is one of the most profound influences on me of “Ate Aireen”.  After she visited my garden (The Tengoku no Kokoro) in Bilibiran, Binangonan, Rizal and commented that “Your garden has superb plants but it’s drab, there is no art in it…” I started to study the way she made her garden.  She taught me that some figurines, suiseki, artifacts, and other stuff enhance the “soul” and “heart” of one’s garden.

Since our friendship started in 2006 I have been frequenting her garden and I have been “exchanging notes” with her on the cultivation of plants from cacti and succulents to orchids.  Our conversations last from a minimum of seven hours to a maximum of 12 hours-covering all aspects of plant cultivation!!!  And these conversations are very effective since we both learn from one another; try some very crazy cultivation techniques that in one way or another are effective, comment on each individual species and general characteristics of a particular genus.

I have been very privileged to be allowed to document thru pictures the development of her garden which I christened the JARDIN EQUATORIAL DE AIREEN BERNAL since we became the best of friends.  It is true that pictures paint a thousand words and a single picture if carefully studied yields a lot of silent information hidden within it!  And that’s what I want to share here in my tribute blog to my best friend Ate Aireen of course with her utmost consent and permission.

The Jardin Equatorial de Aireen Bernal is composed of three ares: the front garden, the meso-garden, and the main garden.  The front garden is characterised by Tillandsias and Hoyas growing side by side on coffee tree twigs and vats of cacti and succulents.  Caudiciforms, Aloes, Dyckias, some orchids, living stones, and stone crops dominate the meso-garden.  The bulk of the Tillandsia collection, the bigger cacti like Cephalocereus, Cereus, Gymnocalyciums, Notocactus; the Neoregelia and Cryptanthus collection, some Sansevierias and other cacti and succulents which have been with Ate Aireen for ages are all found in the main garden.

This lady, a civil engineer by profession, is blest by a loving husband who never fails to give succulent plants to her as gifts, and three sons whom she wishes would also inherit her love of plants.  Any wife would envy the full support and love of Ate Aireen’s husband when it comes to her plant collection.  She even tells me some courting stories they have when Kuya Boy, Ate Aireen’s sweetheart gives her unusual plants as gifts or they go to places where there are plants and plant exhibits!

The prowess of Ate Aireen when it comes to succulent plants was proven when her Uebelmannia flavispina became the 2006 CSSP Exhibit Best Cactus in Show because of its rarity and superb growth under her cultivation practices.  During the 2009 CSSP 30^th Anniversary Exhibit, she won Best Tillandsia in Show, 2^nd place for her Haworthia, and again 2^nd place as the Best Succulent Dishgarden to which I am a member of her group.  All these merits are solid proof that Ate Aireen “does her assignment” very well in tending her plants.  She is also currently a board member of the Cacti and Succulent Society of the Philippines, Inc.

Aside from plants, Ate Aireen is also fond of pets. She has a big pitbull that is human friendly but a monster to other creatures including her plants, a sun conure, cockatiels, lovebirds, a gecko, a tortoise, Malayan box turtles, pug-faced cats, and other mini and toy dogs.

It is with great pride and honour that I congratulate my best friend forever Ate Aireen for having won Grand Slam in the recently held Cacti & Succulent Society of the Philippines, Inc. spearheaded show entitled Quezon City Country Fair & Exhibit from October 17-21, 2012.  She took all the major awards: Best in  Other Succulents-First Prize for her Lithops, Best in Succulents -First Prize for her Sansevieria bonsel, Best in Cacti-First Prize for her Uebelmannia pseudopectinifera, Best Cacti-Uebelmannia pseudopectinifera, Best Succulent-Sansevieria bonsel and Best in Show again for her Sansevieria bonsel!!!

She truly deserves to be the grand slam winner because of her diligence in studying very well how to grow her plants which I and Kuya Bimbo, even her beloved husband, Kuya Boy, have personally witnessed over the years,  At last our overnight exchanging of notes on plant cultivation have paid well!  

I am so happy that I have influenced my BFF in growing pitcher plants and we even did a carnivorous plant terrarium-the first ever Filipino-made carnivorous plant terrarium uploaded in Facebook! She now converted the mezzo garden into an ornamental, Hoya, and carnivorous plants' garden which is a welcome break from the succulence of the other  garden areas of the Jardin Equatorial de Aireen Bernal!