Planting Time

[MangoKorat]

I've had my house in Thailand for around 9 years but as I have never lived there full time, I've just paid a local man to keep the garden weed free and generally keep things tidy.  I will be moving to Thailand permanently later this year and want to start planting.

 

Coming from the UK, when to start planting seeds is almost entirely dictated by the weather/seasons - most go in in spring and flower in summer.  However, the weather in Thailand is completely different and so are the photo periods.  I have no idea when to start or as yet, what to grow.  Although I intend having some annual flowering plants that I will change each year, I would like to plant the main areas with perennials. 

 

The garden area is entirely surrounded by a 5ft/1.5m wall - I would like to plant some kind of flowering bushes against that wall that will eventually hang over the top and show on the road side.  There is a very common flowering bush in Thailand that produces pink flowers - I quite like those but I have no idea what its called. They often seem to grow wild along rural roads.

 

I'll learn as I go along but can anyone give me some basic advice on when to start plants and does anyone recognise the pink flowering bush I mention above?

 

As for the plants that I will change every year, I often grow Snapdragons in the UK, they grow very well and often continue flowering until late November but I've tried them in Thailand and they wouldn't even germinate.  All the advice on them states that they don't tolerate high temperatures very well - not something I have a problem with in the UK. There are some areas of Thailand that are famous for them so I'm guessing some strains tolerate high temperatures better than others?

 

I also intend on having a small vegetable patch - mainly salad veg.

 

Most of the garden faces west/south west so apart from the areas immediately behind the wall, it gets sunshine all day.

 

Just looking for general advice on what to grow and when with the aim pf providing some colour all year round if possible. I don't want to grow things that need a lot of work as I will also be working.

 

 

[drtreelove]

The pink flowering vine that you like may be 'coral vine' Antigonon leptopus. I don't know the Thai name. It's incredibly beautiful, but very fast growing and voluminous, often considered "invasive"; be sure that you have enough space to accomodate the vigorous growth habit, and that you have the ability to manage continuous training-pruning.  

 

Seeding and planting can begin as the weather heats up in mid-February, as long as you have water/irrigation, because that's the beginning of the dry-hot season. Without irrigation, wait until the rainy season starts in May.