Country Garden’s millionaire’s vine

Along Circumferential Road in Antipolo, there is a cafe cum restaurant called Country Garden which, for as long as I can remember, Speedy and I have been promising to visit but hasn’t had the opportunity to do so. From the road, it looks like a quaint little place, quiet and serene despite being located along a busy street.

Well, I was doing an interview today and the people I was meeting suggested Country Garden. Of course, I said yes.

Above is a view of Circumferential Road from inside the restaurant. The place is fully airconditioned so you won’t hear the roaring jeepneys, tricycles and trucks that pass by. I don’t remember much about the food as everything tends to taste the same when you’re asking questions and trying to elicit answers to come up with a decent article. However, I did order take-out for the kids because the interview lasted for more than two hours and I was pressed for time. The chili cheese fries that I brought home were just great.

But that’s not really what this entry is about. I want to show you the millionaire’s vine.

It caught my attention as soon as I arrived. The parking lot was roofless but shaded by a canopy of these pink-tipped wisps.

I thought at first that it was artificial. You know, placed there deliberately to contribute to the “country garden” ambience. After the people I interviewed had left, and while I was waiting for my take-out order, I asked a member of the staff what the thing was. It’s a real plant, surprisingly, called millionaire’s vine.

Above is a view of the millionaire’s vine from the side door of Country Garden. I asked the guy if they ever trimmed the hangings. He said, yes, they did. When you cut the light brown parts at the tip, the pink parts sprout from them. Amazing. I searched Google for more information on millionaire’s vine but found only one reference — film director Brillante “Dante” Mendoza’s home garden is teeming with it.

Speedy wants to build a trellis that will partially cover the back garden and I was thinking we could have millionaire’s vine at home. That would be awesome.

Click here for a detailed photo of the pink tips of the millionaire’s vine.