Flowers have been a fundamental part of human culture for thousands of years. The beauty and fragrance of flowers have captivated people throughout history. The Romans, for instance, used flowers for decorations and as a symbol of power and victory. The Greeks, on the other hand, utilized flowers in their religious ceremonies.
Fragrant flowers have inspired many perfumes. Rose, for one, is a source of essential oil for many various perfumes. There are also some flowers which have been used for medicinal purposes. Chamomile flowers are used in poultices for sprains and bruises.
Eating flowers has been part of culinary history, too. Squash flowers, for instance, are dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. Edible flowers include chrysanthemum, carnation, chicory, and sunflower. Some edible flowers are sometimes candied such as daisies.
Flowers are mentioned in the Bible often as a reference for analogies and parables. Isaiah 40:8 states: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever.” Luke 12:27 also said, “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.”
Flowers have inspired so many quotable quotes. “Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words,” wrote Lydia M. Child. “They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.”
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul,” said Luther Burbank.
No wonder, flowers attract attention from people. That’s why Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam is known around the globe. Known as the Garden of Europe, it is one of the largest flower gardens in the world.
Located in the municipality of Lisse in the Netherlands, the 32-hectare botanical garden is planted to approximately 7 million flower bulbs annually, according to the official website. Millions of people flock to the place to see colorful tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations, and irises blooming.
Most Filipinos have never been there but there’s a replica of the said tourist attraction in the rolling foothills of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak. It is called Haven’s Dew Resort (HDR) and some people have called it “Mini Amsterdam of Davao del Sur.”
The 1.3-hectare HDR is located at the scenic spot of sitio Balutakay in barangay Managa of Bansalan, Davao del Sur. Although it is still new, it was chosen as Best Recreational and Hotel Resort at the 2023 Asian Consumers Choice Awards held at the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
“When we purchased the land in 2018, this was an agricultural area,” said Joel Deligero, owner of the resort, during an exclusive interview. “We were planning to continue it as a farm; that was the initial plan. We didn’t have the intention of putting a resort.”
However, the plan changed in 2019 when he consulted an architect and asked him what he thought of a good investment in the area. The architect told him that the area is a tourist destination. “So, why not turn it into a resort?” he suggested.
But what kind of a resort would it be? “The first time I came here, I visited those tourist spots in nearby areas and even those in Kapatagan (a barangay of Digos City),” he said. “I saw that the land is very fertile. If you plant something here, it will really flourish.”
He decided to follow what others were doing: farming. But the concept was different: from plants to tables. “We already had the resort, we had rooms, and we had vegetables grown on the farm like lettuce, carrots, and onions,” Deligero said. “Our visitors can pick and harvest the vegetables they want and then we can cook them. The concept was okay with our guests and visitors.”
But when his wife visited the place, she asked him what would happen after all of the vegetables had been harvested? “Will it still be considered a tourism area and attractive to tourists when you plant vegetables again?” she inquired.
That was an eye-opener for him.
“Why should I plant vegetables when other areas are also planting vegetables,” he asked. “I think we should be unique from the rest. The pillar of our company is summed up in the acronym FOCUS, which stands for food, orientation, customers, uniqueness and service. Planting vegetables in our resort is not considered unique since we are surrounded by farms planted to vegetables.”
And so, the idea of putting up a flower garden came. He visited some flower gardens in the area and looked at what they have. “We have beautiful flowers all over the place. What I did was to gather whatever we have here since we cannot import. We can utilize whatever flowers are being grown here.”
Deligero got the initial stocks of his flowers from houses near the area. He also went to other areas where flowers are being sold like Magsaysay and Digos City, both in Davao del Sur and in Makilala, North Cotabato. “We purchase only a few,” he said. “Our purpose was to propagate them. From our mother plants, we can grow as many as we can, which are then grown in our flower garden.”
To have those flowers all year round, he built a mini nursery. “When there are flowers that are already old in our garden, we replace them from the new plants we grow in our nursery,” he said.
All in all, more than 30 kinds and different varieties of flowers and ornamentals were planted, including sunflowers, bougainvillea, roses, African daisies, and dahlias. The place became a haven of colors: red, yellow, orange, blue, violet, and white.Although it occupies only 2,500 square meters, the flowers are the resort’s attraction. “The flowers are dazzling if not incandescent,” says Jeannyline T. Arriaga, who has visited the place. “It is inhabited by flowers, several kinds and different varieties, and they come in various kaleidoscopic colors. So, you can take your souvenir photos here and there.”
To make the garden more unique, he placed some sculptures in various places. “I came across Dubai Miracle Garden, which is known for its flower gardens. I saw how the plants are being planted and the sculptures it has,” he recalled.
What got him interested was the peacock. So, he looked for someone who could execute a replica of the said sculpture. When he found someone from Davao City, he asked him if he could do it. The sculptor answered affirmatively.
Again, Deligero wanted it to be unique. “The peacock should be in a pair, a male and female, facing each other,” he told him. “I would like to have a mini waterfall as a background.”
The ideas of other sculptures in the area also came from other countries like the Merlion, a famous attraction from Singapore and the fountain from Italy. A recent addition is the Statue of Liberty, an icon of New York. There are also old bikes and Volkswagens scattered all over the flower garden.
Interspersed at the area where sculptures abound are 11,000 LED flowers that illuminate at night. It was inspired by the 10,000 roses in Cordoba, Cebu City. “But I wanted ours to be unique,” he said. “I don’t want to put the roses with no design. So, we made a design and put different and colorful flowers.”
Put “glamorous” and “camping” together, and you have glamping. “Glamorous camping is very popular in Tanay, Rizal,” he said. He thought of putting up glamping in his resort but before doing so, he wanted to know if there’s already glamping in Mindanao. He found one in barangay Lorega of Kitaotao, Bukidnon.
“But is there a glamping in Davao del Sur?” Deligero asked. So, when he learned that glamping is not yet practiced in the province, he built three dome tents. “I want to be the first to do so in the province.”
The resort continues its vision of uniqueness. Before the first anniversary, HDR introduced its sky bike, zipline, and function hall which can hold special events and gatherings. It also started its Koi restaurant with a glass floor that serves non-pork dishes for its Muslim brothers and non-pork eaters.
When asked what his future plans are for the resort, he replied: “I have several in mind but I don’t want this to become an amusement park. I don’t want to lose that feeling that this is a resort. If you add more activities to do, then it becomes totally different from the concept we have in mind in the first place.”
What Deligero looks forward to is innovation. “We keep on thinking about our next move,” he said. “Because we need to be unique. In tourism, if you focus only on one thing and you don’t have any innovation, then people will not come back. So, we keep on innovating. However small the innovation is, at least there are changes.
This can be done by changing the landscape. “The flowers being grown can be rearranged later,” Deligero said. “Right now, the flower garden is Instagrammable, and if you rearrange the flowers, those pictures you had taken before are already old. That’s the entire concept: do I need to change the area? No. But do I have to improve it? Yes. The original concept should still be there. It will still be flowers, but the arrangement is totally different from the previous one.”
Indeed, Deligero has gone a long, long way from Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, where he grew up. One of the three siblings, he remembered those days when he went to school without any baon from his parents.
But he was determined to get out of poverty. He knew that getting an education was one of the best ways to unlock the bright future he was hoping for. Despite all odds, he finished college and became a professor for six years in one of the universities in Davao City.
Deligero spent another 24 years of his life in the corporate world working in DHL Express, FedEx, U-Freight Philippines, and Lazada. He was already 50 when he started Haven’s Dew Resort, which celebrated its second anniversary last April 18.
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