Dollars to Dong-Bahts

Plant Exploration in Northern Vietnam and Northern Thailand
8/9/2005-9/2/2005

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Tuesday 8/30/2005

While Mr. Jiew carried an array of variegated plants, from trees to shrubs, his specialty is variegated agaves and yuccas, many of which originated at his nursery. I certainly didn't leave without my share. We saw more variegated agaves and yuccas than I know existed. We did have to be careful not to get caught up looking at plants since the nursery walkways don't exactly meet OSHA standards.

From there, we traveled a short distance to Bankampu Tropical Gallery of Surath Vanno (www.bankampu.com). Mr. Vanno has run his nursery and landscaping business for over 40 years. The well laid-out, extravagant display area and gardens of primarily Thailand natives made for an enticing shopping experience, with many different seating vignettes scattered throughout the sales area. Production areas are off to the side as well as on the gallery roof. Many of the plants here are selections that Mr.Vanno has made throughout the years in the wilds of Thailand. We all left with the feeling that we had just met the Roberto Burle Marx of Thailand. We made a few purchases and then headed back south to drop off Chanrit, who had been our guide for the day. The traffic in Bangkok was so bad that, after we dropped off Chanrit, the short 5-mile drive to the hotel took 2.5 hrs.

Wednesday 8/31/2005

Although slightly smaller than the Chiang Mai market, this bustling market also had something for every lover of plants. The plant market is only open on Wednesday, so there is a real atmosphere of excitement to see what plants might show up. Because they allow vehicles to pick up at the booths, walking among the tightly packed people and cars was treacherous.

Each booth seems to have a specialty, from cannas to gingers, and from amorphophallus to adeniums. I was surprised to even see our US native dichromena being sold. There were even a few stands with wild collected plants from the nearby mountains...always an exciting proposition to see what these plants turn out to be.

The market, especially the Pitcha Nursery booth of Mrs. Supranee Kongpitchayanond, serves as a rendezvous point for well-known horticulturists from around the world. It was here that we met Chanin Thorut with the Thailand National Parks, whom Alan had corresponded with via email about amorphophallus. Chanin had discovered what are possibly several new species of Amorphophallus in the Thailand National Parks. For more information on the Thailand National Parks, go to www.dnp.go.th. The booklet that Chanin showed us, The Best of National Parks of Thailand, is an invaluable guide if you are heading to Thailand and want to experience the best preserved natural areas.

While we were waiting for the group to reassemble, I stood listening to several New Zealand nurserymen. They recognized the Plant Delights t-shirt, and we struck up a conversation. As it turned out, the gentleman was Eddie Welsh, a New Zealand Eucomis breeder, whose plants we had on trial and didn't even know who had bred them. Nurserymen from around the world could be found throughout the market. If I was looking for new tender perennials or house plants...or lived in a warmer climate, I would make the market an annual pilgrimage. There is no question that gardening throughout Thailand is a way of life, paralleled in my travels only by the amount of gardening and nurseries that are found in the UK.

After finding some treasures that we couldn't live without, we were back on the subway to finish packing for our trip home. Accessions from the trip included over 72 new ferns and just over 100 amorphophallus representing 35 different species.

Thursday 9/1/2005

-tony