Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Putrajaya Floria 2012 - Garden Bazaar Part 1

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Part of the fun of going to the Putrajaya Floria  2012 is the Garden Bazaar. I will always visit this section just before I go back. I often intent to window shop only but always ended up buying something!

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Many growers and nursery owners set up stall here. Some of them are from other states, eg. Kuala Kangsar, Melaka, Penang and Johor. These nurseries are located in the outskirts and countryside. There is really a lot of choices and varieties of plants, including those we rarely see and can't get from our local nurseries. I'm sure they get their supply from these nurseries. Now's the time to be more adventurous.

This is fun! The plants look so fresh and healthy. You can find bougainvilleas, lantana, pentas, roses, vinca, angelonia, gerbera daisies, balloon flowers, gloxinias, verbena, big and brightly coloured hibiscus, bauhinia kockiana, ylang-ylang, rangoon creeper, ixora rose, rose begonia, Euphorbia milii, sunflowers, jasmines, gardenias, clerodendrums, ornamental bananas, ornamental pomegranate flowers, plumeria, cactuses, foliage plants, air plants, epiphytes, heliconias, bird of paradise flowers, pine trees, hyrangea (blue, purplish white, pink) and gingers ..... in poly bags and plastic pots/ceramic pots ready to give an instant lift to our home gardens. Hey, I even saw a visitor begged a vendor to sell off a pretty pink miniature rose plant together with the decorative container he used to promote his ceramic wares. He sold it for RM 35 and the customer was ecstatic!

Orchid sellers have a section of their own.

But I can't find the Epiphyllum oxypetalum (night blooming cereus / bunga bakawali)! Last year, I found a single plant but the asking price was RM 55. I didn't buy it. Now I am still regretting my decision because I have not found any nursery that has EO for sale :(



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This bougainvillea is very tempting but I'll need a truck to transport it back home.
Asking price is about RM 45- RM 55 on first day.

“Putrajaya Floria 2012 - Garden Bazaar Part 1”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on July 5th, 2012.

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Multi-colour lantana. There are 3 plants in the same pot.

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Wanna take them home?
Not for me. I am a cactus killer! 100% die under my care.

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What's this?
Its a beautiful shrub with gorgeous powder-puff flowers and cherry berries.

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What's this? Again I don't know the flower name.
This is Persian Violet (Exacum affine). Thank you very much to Connie Chong for giving me the name.

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This stall attracted many people. Last year, I bought my Adenium 'Santa Claus' at Floria 2011.
They have single, double, triple flower desert roses. Also many sizes and colour choices.


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Lovely ain't it? But not cheap.

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A medium sized blooming bougainvillea. This vendor has taken the trouble to label it properly.

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Hot item - Bougainvilleas at RM 4.00 per poly bag.
The variegated bougainvilleas with small leaves are very suited for hanging baskets.
The multi-colour grafted bougainvilleas are more costly but they were sold out.

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They have mulberry plants, but Oops! I FORGOT to get one for myself. This is suicide!

What did I buy?
I bought 3 poly bags of bougainvilleas and 2 ulam raja herbs, 5 packs of ulam raja seeds with FOC 1 pack of onion seeds and 2 big bags of fertilizer. That's about all I could handle during my trip back home. But I am still not satisfied. I still can't get hold of a chimera Bougainvillea 'Mary Palmer', multi-colour grafted ones and more Bougainvillea 'Chilli Red'. Also some hibiscus, pentas and orchids. Also I must try something never before! Now, I am wondering when I can go again.

Do you have any smart shopping tips when it comes to buying plants at flower shows?

17 comments:

  1. I love that Lantana too. Am sorry i also don't know that plant. I ignore your EO search!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrea, nursery owners tell me that I need to make a booking before they can propagate one for me. Some Malay friends say that it is a mystical plant, hence a lady cannot propagate this plant successfully when she is having her period!

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  2. We all can get all excited to get as many plants as possible in the garden.
    And truly I believe most gardeners just love shopping plants & stuff.
    Basically - I go and have a look.
    If I find something which is so rare that can handle my climate and I like it a lot. I will consider buying it.
    But again - I often go with a friend - to get a second opinion.

    Currently - I'm having a big space constraint in my garden - if any new plant is going to come it - something must go.
    I guess each gardener got their own concept of gardeners - it all depends what you like and suits you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My garden is full too. I can only grow one variety of each plant, no mass planting of same plant. Now I need to hang some of my plants or put on tiered shelf. Or I'll need to search for an old 'victim' plant to euthanise before I can reuse the pot or garden space!

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  3. i went there on Friday while they are still busy arranging the bazaar, was lucky to get few plants at cheaper price, on saturday my friend wanted to buy same flower but they already increase the price. Cactus RM10 for 3 is not cheap though, you can get at Sg Buloh 4 pcs, if smaller than that 6 for RM10. Same with Bourgainvilla, you can get RM3.50 if you know how to bargain at Sg Buloh, with free fertilizer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynnhelite, last year I went one day before opening and like you said managed to get some beautiful desert roses (adenium) at a bargain price. They were just unloading the plants from the lorry and I had many choices. The next day the price had increased and many gorgeous flowered ones had already been snapped up. I agree about the cheap prices in Sg Buloh but one need to know which nursery because not all of them sell at the same price. Also, I have to consider the petrol cost of travelling from home to Sg Buloh. When we are visiting Floria 2012, we can just buy some plants there.

      Thanks for the tips. You have a point there. Actually we gotta be careful. Not all the prices of plants in Floria 2012 are cheaper than Sg Buloh, hence we have to compare prices. I have asked the vendors before and they said the rental at Floria venue is not cheap.

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  4. if i were there i could get headache for a week.. i can't handle the temptation to buy those flower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mat Jon, no headache for me. Only stars and fantasies ^_^

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  5. Hello Autumn Belle: The 7th pic. from the top (the one w/ the tiny purple flowers) is an African Violet. Thought I should let you know. From: Connie Chong Ee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Connie, thanks for telling me the name of the plant!

      Delete
  6. Lovely post ! I had a laugh when you said you were a cactus killer, how on earth can you kill a cactus ? Lovely pictures !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gwenniesgarden, yes I can kill a cactus by over-watering them until they become bloated and collapse. This is like torture for the poor cactuses but I always forgot that I had already watered them the day before :(

      Delete
  7. Hello again, AB: I made an oopsy ... That is not an African Violet ... It is a German Violet (EXACUM AFFINE)... The wrong violet slipped out of my head :-( From: Connie Chong-Ee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Connie, TQVM for the correction! I really appreciate your taking the trouble to inform me. My blog post has been updated :)

      Delete
  8. Shopping for plants is really fun. Sometimes, I get carried away buying several plants before I realize I don't have enough space for them in my small garden...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Autumn Belle, do you have any idea how much a pot of lantana roughly cost in Sg Buloh. I am interested in getting a few and then transferring them to a bigger rectangular pot later. I saw in some websites saying that they are noxious plants. Are they then poisonous to domestic animals? Can they survive in partly shaded areas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tristan, there are many cultivars of lantana with colour variation. When in promotion, they can cost as low as RM 8 per polybag or even RM 10 for 3. Some cultivars behave like an annual plant, hence not long lasting, others can last longer than a year and can be propagated by cuttings. There is a pinkish lantana that grows wild in our countryside and open spaces. But I am not aware of any lantana that has become a noxious weed in my garden. I don't mind though because lantana attracts butterflies.

      When you do a google search, you find that there are many mentions that their leaves are poisonous, especially to pets and children. The fruit berries are eaten by birds but not consumed by humans. Lantanas need the full sun and won't do well in partial shade. Flowering will be less intense.

      Delete

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