Parañaque condo blossoms into a plantitos and plantitas' community

Despite its share of challenges, living amid these challenging times of the pandemic has also reminded us of life’s simple pleasures and made us discover unexpected blessings.

Being cooped up at home most of the time for one made us realize to take a pause and appreciate what really matters such as spending more quality moments with our loved ones. 

This pandemic downtime also gave us the opportunity to discover new passions, indulge in something different, or revisit a forgotten hobby that we have long neglected because we were just too busy. 

One hobby that has really taken off during the pandemic is collecting houseplants and gardening as more people turned into plantitos and plantitas to relieve themselves of coronavirus lockdown stress and anxiety.

Not to be left out in the gardening craze are the residents of DMCI Homes’ Siena Park Residences project in Parañaque City who even put up their own online community called Siena Urban Gardeners, a Facebook Group where they share their love for plants.

One of the organizers of the online community, Thea Gutierrez, said residents turned to growing plants to keep themselves productive during the quarantine.

“Since we were cooped up at home, it made us think of hobbies that we were not able to tap or do pre-Covid,” she explained.

For Thea who has always been a plant-lover, the quarantine gave her time to rekindle an old hobby that she had no enough time to pursue because of her busy lifestyle as a marketing manager for a top bank.

“I have always been a plant-lover. My parents are Agriculture graduates and growing up in Davao, our house has plenty of fruit trees and veggies that made our living sustainable. Moving in Manila and moving in my condo, I just didn’t have the time, space and resources then,” she related.

“During the quarantine, my plants allowed me to de-stress and not think about the pressures at work. Seeing a new leaf or flowers blooming or fruits budding gives me a feeling of accomplishment and pride that I am following my parents’ footsteps or having the same green thumb as my parents,” she continued.

Like her flourishing plants, Thea over the past months has bloomed into a full-fledged plantita, with a growing collection of ornamentals, veggies, and herbs that are perfect for condo living.

“I have different plants in my balcony and drying cage—from herbs like basil, mint, peppermint, tarragon, dill, Cuban and Italian oregano, to veggies like bell peppers, ginger, calamansi, tomatoes, ampalaya, squash, beans to ornamental plants like pothos, snake plants, calathea, aloe vera etc.,” she proudly shared.

Siena Urban Gardeners

Adding inspiration to Thea’s quest to embrace her plantita self are her fellow plant-lover neighbors at Siena Park Residences.

“Some of my neighbors have gumamela, sunflowers, and roses – their balcony spaces look really nice!” exclaimed Thea who is also a Vinyasa Yoga practitioner aside from being a plant enthusiast.

This common love for plants all the more strengthened the bond among residents of the condominium community.

With the help of her neighbors and Yoga students, Cris Moreno-Cruz, Yeni Mari and Johann Marie Torres, they set up a Facebook Group Community that aims to stir conversation about love for plants among residents of the resort-inspired condominium along West Service Road in Sun Valley, Bicutan, and Parañaque City.

“What started as merely a chat on Messenger of four plantitas, it has become a group page with 225 Siena Park resident members who are into plants –sharing learnings and experiences, asking questions, exchanging suppliers, pooling orders, etc.,” she related.

Knowing the many benefits of growing plants to the mind, body, and most especially the soul, Thea expressed hope that the sudden interest with plants will not just die down once the pandemic is over.

“Hopefully this isn’t just during the pandemic, but will allow people to use their spaces to plant food and espouse a garden-to-table habit, and have a healthier living,” she enthused.

“Being a plantito or plantita shouldn’t just be a fad. Love for plants need responsibility, commitment and discipline—not just to ensure that the plants are thriving but also ensure that we are contributing positively to the neighborhood and the community,” she continued.

Having a lot of greens, after all, gives her more reasons to love her condominium community according to the bona fide plantita.

“The homey community not just the physical – how the buildings are built, the landscape, the amenities etc.—but also how we are as a community,” Thea said when asked what she loves most about living in Siena Park Residences.

“Our Property Management Office is very responsive, our Maintenance and Security people are all efficient and working hard; our neighbors are very friendly and cooperative. Living in Siena Park is the best investment decision I ever had,” she beamed.

Siena Park Residences is one of the developments of DMCI Homes, the country’s first Quadruple A real estate developer known for building quality resort-inspired communities in Mega Manila, Baguio City, Boracay and Davao City. Each of its properties is built with world-standard craftsmanship borne from D.M. Consunji Inc.'s over 60 years of expertise in the construction and development industry.

To learn more about Siena Park Residences and other DMCI Homes projects, call (632) 5324-8888. News and other updates are also posted on the company's official social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.