I’ve lived in Singapore for more years than I’d like to count, and in that time, I’ve moved houses quite a few times. If you’re not familiar with Singapore, it’s a tiny country in Southeast Asia. It’s a densely populated, highly urbanized area. We’re pretty close to the equator and the weather is tropical – hot and humid most of the time.
With Singapore being so small, land is really valuable. Traditional gardens—where you can plant directly in the ground—are pretty rare. It definitely makes things challenging for anyone who loves gardening.
HDB living without a garden
My first three homes were all in HDB flats, which are the most common type of housing here in Singapore. Think high-rise apartments with very little outdoor space—basically just the corridor outside your front door. Some people put garden pots along these shared corridors, especially where it’s open to the outside or along their apartment. But it’s usually not a great idea since the town council doesn’t allow anything that obstructs the common areas, and some neighbors aren’t fans of having plants nearby for different reasons. Still, that hasn’t stopped some residents—I’ve seen corridors turned into lush little jungles. As for me, back then, my “garden” was the trees outside the buildings.
Condo living but still without a garden
My next move was into a condo that I shared with four friends. Condos are definitely a step up from HDBs. Besides having better security and amenities, some condos come with their own balconies, which is a nice bonus.
None of my friends really cared about plants, though, and honestly, we didn’t have much space for them anyway. We had a small balcony off the living room—maybe a couple of meters wide—that we mostly used for drying laundry. As for greenery, the only “garden” I had was the plants outside the condo entrance and around the pool area.
Condo living and finally with a garden
Condo #1 – Starter garden
I eventually moved out on my own and rented a condo closer to work. It was a studio apartment, and it had a proper balcony—big enough for a couple of chairs, a small table, and of course, the usual drying rack. By then, I was itching to create a real garden, and I finally had the space to do it. I didn’t have a clear plan for what to grow, but I knew I wanted flowers and herbs.
At first, everything was going smoothly. I even got some Ikea flooring to give the balcony a bit of a makeover. Since I wasn’t very experienced with flowering plants, I decided to start with some pots of bougainvillea and petunias. Bougainvillea is super common here, and I grew up with these vibrant plants right outside my childhood home. They’re colorful, hardy, and low maintenance—perfect for a beginner like me.
I got obsessed with building my little garden. The balcony wasn’t huge, but I made it work by hanging pots on the railing and using plant racks for the rest. Before I knew it, I had more than 10 pots of bougainvillea and 5 pots of petunias. It didn’t take long to figure out that petunias aren’t year-round bloomers, so most of the time, it was just me and my bougainvillea keeping the garden alive.
Towards the end of my lease, I decided to add something new to my little garden—I bought an orange tree and an olive tree. Both were about 5 feet tall, and were planted in Ikea self-watering pots. I was pretty pleased with myself; these were definitely not your typical plants to have in Singapore, and I managed to get them at a bargain from someone who was moving out of the country.
One thing I didn’t consider was the direction my balcony faced. I never really thought about how the sun changes angles throughout the year. My balcony mostly faced south, which meant that sunlight reached it from around September to March, but for the rest of the year, it was pretty much in the shade. To make matters worse, there was a wall partition on one side of the balcony that blocked even more of the afternoon sun.
To give you an idea, my unit looked just like this—only flipped, like a mirror image.
Condo #2 – Intermediate garden
After two years, I moved to my next condo. That move was definitely memorable because the government announced a “circuit breaker” (basically a lockdown) that would start the following week—and I was moving over the weekend. It was a chaotic time, with all the confusion and stress of moving, but there was one bright side: I was upgrading to a condo with a much larger balcony. It was more than double the size of my previous one, and that space became a saving grace during those long, bleak months of the pandemic.
This time, I was a bit more savvy when looking for my new place. I carefully checked the site plans to see which direction my balcony faced, but I forgot about one important factor: the neighboring buildings. My new apartment was in one block of a large complex, with a balcony overlooking the pool. It was surrounded by buildings on three sides, and this ended up causing the same sunlight issue as my last place. I was supposed to get either morning or afternoon sun depending on the time of year, but the buildings were just too close and too tall, blocking most of the light. Still, it was too late to change plans, especially with the pandemic going on, and in the end, it wasn’t so bad. I filled the balcony railing with pots of bougainvillea to maximize whatever sunlight they could get. The rest of the plants were scattered around the balcony and indoors—even a little pot of string of hearts hanging over my kitchen window.
Remember when everyone suddenly became a plant enthusiast during the pandemic? I was so thankful to have an outdoor space during that time—especially since we couldn’t leave our homes. I set up a couple of chairs and a table on the balcony for breakfast and some people-watching, just like my neighbors across and to my right. By then, I had a bit more experience with growing plants, so I stayed busy organizing and expanding my collection.
I added plenty of new plants to the mix. I started with more bougainvillea, then got into potted fruit trees like lime, chico (sapodilla) and atis (sugar apple). I also started a collection of ficus plants, some of which I kept indoors. I had all the popular ones: fiddle-leaf fig, ficus audrey, ficus elastica, ficus altissima, ficus umbellata, ficus petiolaris, and ficus elastica tineke. My favorite find was a variegated fiddle-leaf fig, which was practically unheard of at the time (and still kind of is).
In 2021, I decided to start growing roses. At the time, there were only a few local sellers I knew of. My first rose was a Chulalongkorn, which I bought from a local selling platform. Honestly, I had no clue how to care for it. Roses always intimidated me—I’d grown up with the idea that they were difficult to grow in tropical climates, especially the foreign varieties. Still, I gave it a shot, and soon after, I got a Beverly, which I still have to this day.
Then, I stumbled upon Teo Joo Guan’s online shop, and I was instantly hooked. Turns out, I have a bit of a hoarding mentality when it comes to things I like—I want a lot, and I want them right away. So, I ordered ten different varieties. At first, everything seemed to be going well with my roses. But the truth was, I didn’t really know what I was doing. By the time my lease was ending, I’d either killed them off or ended up selling them.
Condo #3 – Current (and forever?) garden
Now we come to my current garden. After learning from my past experiences, I made sure to think carefully about what had caused my gardening challenges before choosing my new place. My main issue had always been that my balconies were blocked from getting enough sunlight, either because of the orientation or because of neighboring buildings.
This time, I got incredibly lucky and found a pretty unique place to rent. It’s on the ground floor, with roads in front and to the left, and on the right, there’s just the outdoor area of a small residential compound—so no chance of my sunlight being blocked by buildings. While it’s still far from a traditional garden in terms of space and functionality, it’s a good-sized, fully tiled outdoor area that’s completely open to the elements. It may not be perfect, but it’s the best spot I’ve had yet!
The new place came with its own set of challenges. Because it’s so open, I had to put up wooden trellises all around the garden for some privacy. The odd shape of the space also took some getting used to—there were narrow spots where it was tough to walk through, especially with roses trying to snag your skin or clothes. But on the bright side, it gave me a chance to divide the space into different zones.
The entire patio gets afternoon sun, and ironically, my problem now is that there’s sometimes too much sun, which can be tough on the plants that prefer more shade. Last month, I finally bought a big outdoor umbrella, which I set up in the “front” garden (right side of the living room) to help with this.
Another adjustment has been dealing with the rain. Before, I could control how much water my plants got, but now I have to keep an eye on the weather. There have been so many times I’ve misjudged it—watering my plants or spraying treatments only for it to rain the same day. I’ve lost quite a few plants to heavy rain, especially late last year when it seemed like it was pouring every single day for weeks.
Last year, I shifted to almost exclusively growing roses. Initially, I kept a lot of my fruit plants from the old place, as well as my big ficus audrey tree, but I eventually gave them away to make room for more roses. I’ve learned a lot about growing roses since then. At one point, I had about 100 pots crammed all over the patio. Since then, I’ve scaled back to about half of that (or less). It helped that some died earlier this year—first from the rain, and then later from a lack of water. I was away for an emergency for a month, and unfortunately, my housemate didn’t think to water the roses.
Do I still have plants from my previous places? Yes, I do! From my first balcony, I still have my olive tree, which has now been transplanted to a 40cm Elho Brussels pot to accommodate its growth (it’s now about 8-foot tall). I also have my trusty ficus elastica (rubber plant), which I’ve pruned countless times—it’s even branched out nicely now. From my second balcony, there’s my variegated fiddle-leaf fig, which has grown into a towering 6-foot plant, and my ficus audrey, which I propagated from the big tree I gave away. And, of course, there’s my Beverly standard rose tree, which has fought through scales and black spots to survive. These plants have been with me for so long, and I keep them out of sheer sentimentality—they’re part of my gardening journey.
My lease here runs until 2026, and I know that having a ton of plants will definitely make moving a lot more complicated. So it’s always in the back of my mind when I think about whether I should renew or not. This place has so many upsides—not just for gardening—and I’m not sure if I’ll find anything quite like it again. Maybe if I could get a penthouse with tons of outdoor space that fits my budget? Honestly, that feels almost laughably impossible. So for now, I think I’ll stick around and keep improving my garden bit by bit until then.