The Plant Story

02/09/2025

Another retail landscaping project for Birkenstock’s latest concept store at Weave, Resorts World Sentosa, completed with beautiful compliments. Thank you 🙏

Retail landscaping comes with their unique set of challenges. For one, I need to ensure sustainability and manage maintenance cost.

Design has always been in my blood. I’ve always enjoyed the process ever since I was a serial-plant-killer. I guess the difference between then and now is how I approach a design brief.

Before I became a certified practicing horticulturist, plants were simply my props. I used them freely as tools for staging. Doing wedding/floral design was a lot easier since I do not have to think of their lifespan beyond the event. Although that is also where my heart aches the most as I bid painful farewell to their fleeting glory 💔💔💔. Since “fantasy” is usually the design destination, I do not need to consider the true representation of the plants 🧚

My approach changed drastically since I became a certified practicing horticulturist. Suddenly I feel responsible to speak up for the plants 😅

My clients call me “the plant whisper”. I guess it is because I will always imagine myself as the plants before I make any recommendation.

Some filtering questions that would go through my mind are, “Am I giving the plants the right environment to thrive?”, “Have I presented the plants in an authentic manner?”, “How will I feel if I’m the plant?”, “How do I deliver the design brief without compromising on the well-being of the plants?”, etc.

When I do my installation, I will have conversations with all of them too 👩‍🌾

Plan a visit and share your thoughts here ☺️

11/07/2025

We don’t talk about the other passion of The Plant Story - landscape design with a heart 💚 We designed for Birkenstock flagship store at Duxton 2 years ago. It was a very challenging brief as we had to build the 3-storey high water feature wall from scratch and propose plants that would thrive in the indoor air-well. Many of you would only see the plants in the retail floor although the project required us to design the landscaping for the entire 4-storey. The store went to win the Best Retail Concept Store in Asia and we can’t be more proud 💚💚💚

Last week, we dressed up the Birkenstock concept booth at Glow Wellness Festival at Marina Bay Sanda for the launch of Birkenstock Care Essentials. Given its German heritage, we didn’t want to go with the typical tropical landscape. Having just spent 5-weeks in Greece, I proposed to create a European Summer to accompany the launch.

Of course the challenge was the choice of “European Summer-looking” plants given our climate as well as indoor space that lacks sufficient lighting and air circulation.

Against all odds, we did it. The event ends this Sunday, 13/7. Make a trip there if you have not been and tell us what you think of the event!

Btw, the Care Essentials range is of premium quality. I bring them along for my travels just to pamper my tired feet 👣👣👣👣

Love,
Cath in Jiangxi, China. 🇨🇳

26/11/2024

Cake and tea set up for 9 persons workshop amidst super wet weather although everyone was smiling from ear to ear ☺️

Grateful 🙏

17/11/2024

Great to manage exam fever 🕯️Last paper tomorrow! Hurray!!

Igniting the byproduct of our bespoke Home Apothecary Wellness Workshop curated for Singapore Prison Service last month | Self-care + Candle making Workshop.

25/10/2024

A beautiful morning for sunrise immersion with the birthday girl. The otter 🦦 graced our tea ceremony too! An unexpected reward from nature for starting the day at 5:30am ☺️

17/10/2024

A candle-making workshop incorporating wellness, nature and loads of fun!

The brief from the client : we want to teach our participants the importance of as they learn to work and bond with each other. Can The Plant Story…

23/09/2024

What are the chances??

Slightly over a year ago, two brothers gifted their parents The Plant Story GiftPack for a workshop of their choice. They chose a Miniature Garden Workshop with the Tempo jar.

Last week, one of the brothers, was gifted with a Miniature Garden Workshop for his birthday by who never knew about the gift. So 0% referral and 100% coincidental.

They only realised the Ben’s parents visited before when they pulled out the photo collage done by the mom, Faith (Pix 1) for comparison 😇

Ben and Kelly chose the same jar out of soooo many jars options although they chose to create a Desert Garden instead of a Rainforest Garden.

Thank you Kelly for choosing The Plant Story to celebrate Ben’s birthday 🎂 and thank you jotting my memories of Herman and Faith’s visit. I’m even more thrilled to hear their garden is growing strong 💪🏻

Amazed and humbled by the human connections 🙏

08/09/2024

Volunteered to guide in a Forest Therapy walk at the Singapore Botanic Gardens on our International Forest Therapy Day ytdy, to raise funds for Singapore Garden City Fund.

Funny how one of the guides and 2 of the people randomly assigned to my group are patrons of The Plant Story. Not just once but twice!! From Marina Bay East to Seletar 🙏🙏🙏

Forgot to take a group photo with you, Stella and ES as we had to adhere to our timeline 😬

Thanks for recognizing me 🫡

Cath 🧑🏻‍🌾

01/08/2024

What to do with overgrown pandan - Part 2.
Did you know pandan leaves have been proven to keep insects such as mosquitoes, roaches and flies away?

Horticulturally known as Pandanus amaryllifolius, the leaves contain crude extracts that can be extracted when bruised.

What else do you use Pandan leaves for?

30/07/2024

Returned to Singapore with our Amazonian Pandan growing out of control. This is after removing and gifting quite a bit away.

Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the Pandanus genus, which is commonly known as pandan. The leaves contain fragrant oil which can be extracted as food flavoring.

Here, I’m steaming them with the glutinous rice as well as to cook with coconut milk to make Mango Sticky Rice. I’ve also used some for plating.

What else can I use them for? Stay tuned for Part 2.

29/07/2024

The tree grows, finding its place in the forest. Its leaves grow and shed with the seasons. Fires sweep through, disease came and left. It is scorched, scarred, it has lost quite a big chunk of its trunk, but miraculously survived. Why? How did this happen?

I’d imagine you’ll find this imagery familiar; that your life has moved through similar cycles of change and ‘destruction.’

If at times we feel stunted or we feel like giving up, it might be we have neglected our roots, that part of ourselves by which we draw sustenance from the land to feed our lifeforms; for it is from the land that our deepest lives are fed...
Nature is our best teacher to learn resilience. We can all learn from her. 💚

Cath
Nature-certified counsellor
About this tree: this is a tree by Kappa Bridge along Azusa River in Kamikochi, Japan. It was most probably diseased and stunted due to the wind and sun direction. Yet amazingly, it is still thriving in its new found glory, living a lasting impression for visitors to Kamikochi, including myself 🙏

这棵树长了，在森林里找到了自己的位置。它的叶子随季节而生长和脱落。大火席卷而来，疾病来来去去。它被烧焦了，伤痕累累，失去了很大一部分树干，但奇迹般地幸存了下来。为什么？这是怎么发生的？

我想你会发现这个意象很熟悉；你的生活经历了类似的变化和“毁灭”循环。

如果有时我们感到发育迟缓或想放弃，那可能是我们忽视了我们的根，也就是我们从土地上获取生计来养活我们生命体的那部分；因为我们最深处的生命是从土地上喂养的......
大自然是我们学习韧性的最佳老师。我们都可以向她学习。💚

Cath
自然认证心里质询师

关于这棵树：这是在日本上高地的阿祖萨河边，卡帕桥旁的一棵树。它的形成很可能是病菌感染，加上风向和光线所照成的。然而，它仍然在真么困难的环境中活着，给访客带来喜悦。

29/03/2024

The Earth has music to you who love and celebrate in her. Seeds of blessings for Alexa who was told to be prepared a Physical 100 bridal shower for her this morning 😅

Wishing you eternal bliss as you enter this new chapter in your life, Alexa! The journey will be filled with challenges although what JOY to have your chosen life partner alongside you as you learn to help each other become a better version of yourself 💃🏻🕺🏻👯‍♂️