Garden update #7 --- new plants for 2010

As I have stated in my earlier entry, the number of plants we have collected and propagated so far is far from the required number to create a lush tropical look. So I thought it would be better to start planting the areas alongside the access road. This will also help soften the unsightly state of the scarred landscape.

With a new budget in hand, off they went to the garden stores in search of the plants that I asked them to look for. Below is the list of their new purchases.

• Musa sumatrana - "Sumatran Banana"
  
• Musa ??? - "Yellow Banana"
  
• Heliconia wagneriana
  
• Heliconia musaeca - new?
  
• Thalia geniculata - "Red-stemmed Thalia (water canna)"
  
• Nelumbo nucifera - "Pink Lotus"
  

Constrained by a tight budget, we try to buy as much plants as we can. Above you will notice the very short list of plants we bought this time. It's almost not worth mentioning. Six? Well, it turned out that the 'Pink lotus' alone ate up half of the original budget. What a pricey plant! As always, we went over budget again.

In their previous trips to garden stores they only have a list of plants to look for. This time, I was shopping with them, that is, over the phone. I even talked to the sales lady and she didn't have a clue she was talking to someone on the other side of the Pacific.

The thalia and lotus are both aquatic plants. They will join the other water plants (papyrus, et. al.) already in the farm. These are the core plants I'll be using when I (if the Lord wills it) build the water garden. When will that be? Only heaven knows.

Pictures will follow when they become available. That's one of my enduring frustrations, aside from I'm always the last to see, the quality of pictures I get vary depending on the type of camera used, the framing and focus.