Palms...and more palms...

Wed 2nd July 2008

Now, is there such a thing as "green" fingers? Not that our fingers are gonna be really green in colour but idiomatically so. Do you have "green fingers"?

In plain simple Science, we learnt in school that a green plant just needs water, carbon dioxide & minerals in soil to make its own food via photosynthesis and grow...& of course, to survive!

But in real life, I've found that keeping plants alive and healthy is really not that simple! And I've lots of DEAD plants to bear witness to that!!

So, over the years, it's been proven that I not only do NOT have "green fingers" but for my plants to survive & thrive, they must be really, really tough...needing very little attention except for the intermittent spray or "feed" of water & possibly some artificial fertilizer that I could get my hands on. Believe it or not...even cacti died in our care...Ha ha!

Well, so far 2 particular groups of plants tend to flourish fine under our "brown" fingers...#1 = bamboo plants! And...#2 = the living-in-the-wild kind....yup! Orchids!!

And yes...we are now trying #3! Palms...

When the new Tesco Mergong opened here in A/Star recently, one species of palms was widely used to provide green decor in & aroung its premises. My other half was greatly attracted to the natural beauty of its special leave structure. So, we kept an eye open for any such "baby" versions of that kind of palm in our walk-walk sessions around the local malls. One such "baby" did catch our eyes, looking very similar to the Tesco kind. As there were very few for sale then, we quickly chose a good specimen, bought it & potted it the moment we reached home!

This was our "mistake"...when the truth finally dawned upon us!Yup, do have a good look at the leaves esp in the top view pic. Ok? Above is a Yellow Palm.

Now, to continue the "Saga of the Palms"...hehe...

We confirmed that the palm in the above pics were of the wrong species, by making another visit to our newest Sundry Shop, namely Tesco Mergong. Both had a good close examination of the palm we were attracted to. And, the prominent feature we should have looked for was how each leaf had all its parts growing out from the SAME point at the end of the leaf stalk! Can you see that in the above palm? No, right?

During our latest visit to our fav niece in Penang, we discovered she had so many of the palms we're looking for far & wide...when it was so close at hand! Ha ha! Feel me need not tell you what happened next, right?

Back home, we bought a new pot, some good 5-in-1 compost soil and the bits & pcs we brought back were put together, making a neat pretty little package! Here it is...

Now, have a closer look at the leaves. See what I meant earlier? Good...hehe...