Garden update #8 - more plants for 2010

It seem like there's no end in sight on the need to purchase plants for our tropical garden in the making. Once again a van carrying a new batch of plants is on its way to the farm.

Because we only have a few "Birds of Paradise", I asked them to get some more. And so this time they bought ten more.

Some of the newly purchased Birds of Paradise.

Below is the list of their new purchases.

• Cananga odorata - "Ilang-ilang (dwarf)"
  
• Erythrina lysistemon - "Red Coral Tree"
  
• Iris - "Blue iris"
  
• Mucuna bennetti - "Red Jade Vine"
  
• Paeonia suffruticosa - "King of Flower Tree"
  
• Philodendron selloum? - "Phylodendron"
  
• Schefflera actinophylla? - "Schefflera (variegated)"
  
• Strelitzia reginae - "Bird of paradise"
  
• Zingiber spectabile - "Yellow Beehive Ginger"
  
• ??? - "Hyacinth?"
  
• ??? - "Wisteria?"
  

Once more I am left baffled by some of the plants they bought which are not on my list. These are plants that Mom buys on a whim or sometimes due to a seller's persistence and ability to sway the buyer.

I'm not familiar with the Hyacinth that they bought. They said it's a water plant but it does not resemble the Water Hyacinth that I'm familiar with. And Wisteria, really? All I know is Wisterias live in temperate zones, not in hot and humid tropical areas.

Usually the sellers are there merely to sell. Oftentimes they do not know anything about what they are selling. Case in point, the Bird of Paradise, they call it "True Bird of Paradise". This is because they call all other Heliconias as "False Bird of Paradise".

Here's another. Last year, I accompanied Mom and Dad on one of their trips to several garden stores. I asked one lady seller if they have some Thalias (or water canna). She looked at me like I came from another planet and flatly said: "No, we don't have it". Now how can she not have it when I was standing right beside a huge bucket of water and in it was a bunch of gregarious Thalias? Ah, maybe she knows it by another name. So, acting like I didn't know anything about this plant, I asked her: "Miss, what is this plant? It's so beautiful!" Suddenly her demeanor changed and brimming with much knowledge she gladly replied,: "Sir, that is called a water plant".