Indigo, Sesame, Vanilla, Cocao, Kiwi......

[brahmburgers]

if variety be the spice of life....

Am willing to trade - I have some odds and ends such as succulents, and a bush that gives bunches of small blue flowers that smell like chocolate(!) and a few other lovely smelling (hom) bushes [odd that there is no single word in English for "nice smelling" - as the word "hom" in Thai]. Am mostly cruising for edible fruits and nuts (kiwi is top of the list) - but large succulents also hold an appeal for me.

[teletiger]

Fragrant.

Regards.

[lingling]

http://www.toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/store/....cgi?group=orch

[brahmburgers]

thanks Lingling! but your link was not quite right. I typed in a simpler version: toptropicals.com and got the interesting web site you're referring to.

[lingling]

thanks Lingling! but your link was not quite right. I typed in a simpler version: toptropicals.com and got the interesting web site you're referring to.

Oh, my longer-than-necessary link was just to bring you straight to the ordering page for Vanilla planifolia.

Another site you may want to check out is http://www.tropilab.com/ - good assortment of seeds.

[brahmburgers]

if variety be the spice of life....

Am willing to trade - I have some odds and ends such as succulents, and a bush that gives bunches of small blue flowers that smell like chocolate(!) and a few other lovely smelling (hom) bushes [odd that there is no single word in English for "nice smelling" - as the word "hom" in Thai]. Am mostly cruising for edible fruits and nuts (kiwi is top of the list) - but large succulents also hold an appeal for me.

[brahmburgers]

if variety be the spice of life....

Am willing to trade - I have some odds and ends such as succulents, and a bush that gives bunches of small blue flowers that smell like chocolate(!) and a few other lovely smelling (hom) bushes [odd that there is no single word in English for "nice smelling" - as the word "hom" in Thai]. Am mostly cruising for edible fruits and nuts (kiwi is top of the list) - but large succulents also hold an appeal for me.

[brahmburgers]

Over 100 people have viewed this topic, and not one has suggested a Thai-based provider of out-of-the-ordinary plants mentioned. Is it that no-one has the plants mentioned (and willing to part with a few seeds or cuttings)? Or if anyone has such plants, they're too private and/or covetous to spread it around a bit.

[Jamie]

If I was living there, I'd be more than happy to give you some vanilla cuttings. I've been growing it here for about 5 years, but in a cold environment, it's never going to do anything.

You might want to check out this site: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/ People do plant and seed trades. There is a chance that you can find someone in Thailand that would do some trades with you. If not, someone on there might know someone who knows someone etc.

Good luck with vanilla. It's about impossible to kill but to get flowers that you need to hand pollinate to get pods, they will put out about 100 feet of growth first. Even then, it's not a guarantee. Getting usuable vanilla is another difficult feat.

[lingling]

Over 100 people have viewed this topic, and not one has suggested a Thai-based provider of out-of-the-ordinary plants mentioned. Is it that no-one has the plants mentioned (and willing to part with a few seeds or cuttings)? Or if anyone has such plants, they're too private and/or covetous to spread it around a bit.

Jatujak is probably your best bet. There are some other suggestions as well in this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33409

But ordering from outside Thailand is not that hard. I bought seeds from tropilab and got them in the mail a month later with a phytosanitary certificate enclosed. Some are now little trees, some (para nut) waiting to germinate and others (cocoa) failed to germinate.

[lingling]

The "Weekend" section in The Nation last Friday (Jan 5) had an article about a plant market in Klong 15, Nakhon Nayok. Supposedly it has a very large selection of plants and trees along a 7km stretch. I am too lazy to type the whole article (which would violate the copyright anyway), but here's the part that gives directions:

If you drive up on the Eastern Ring Motorway (Bang Pa-in-Bang Na), get off at Thanya Bury (or Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok) exit, and continue east towards Nakhon Nayok province. The road will take you past each canal, all of which are indicated by small signs. Shortly after the sign welcoming you to Nakhon Nayok is the turn-off for Klong 15.

Covering more than 1000 rai, the flowering and ornamental plants market at Klong 15 is a wholesale resource for those who love trees and gardens. From the entrance ...

... etc etc etc ...

The article ends with:

For anyone who wants to study more about beautiful plants and trees in Thai, there are two websites that are very useful - www.panmai.com and www.morninggarden.com

I will probably try to go there within the next few weeks and I will let you know if I come across any of the above. (I want vanilla and cacao myself too)

Edited January 7, 2007 by lingling

[lingling]

The "Weekend" section in The Nation last Friday (Jan 5) had an article about a plant market in Klong 15, Nakhon Nayok. Supposedly it has a very large selection of plants and trees along a 7km stretch. I am too lazy to type the whole article (which would violate the copyright anyway), but here's the part that gives directions:

If you drive up on the Eastern Ring Motorway (Bang Pa-in-Bang Na), get off at Thanya Bury (or Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok) exit, and continue east towards Nakhon Nayok province. The road will take you past each canal, all of which are indicated by small signs. Shortly after the sign welcoming you to Nakhon Nayok is the turn-off for Klong 15.

Covering more than 1000 rai, the flowering and ornamental plants market at Klong 15 is a wholesale resource for those who love trees and gardens. From the entrance ...

... etc etc etc ...

The article ends with:

For anyone who wants to study more about beautiful plants and trees in Thai, there are two websites that are very useful - www.panmai.com and www.morninggarden.com

I will probably try to go there within the next few weeks and I will let you know if I come across any of the above. (I want vanilla and cacao myself too)

I went to the plant market along Klong 15 in Nakhon Nayok last weekend. It is a great place to get ornamental stuff (bushes, small trees etc) but the selection is not that fantastic. The place is huge, but most of them just have large volumes of a small selection of plants, and many shops just sell the same thing as the neighbor. Great for stocking a garden with the usual stuff - possibly a bit cheaper than Jatujak. No sight of cocoa, coffee etc.

One shop had a sign that said "tua brazil" so I was hoping to pick up a couple of brazil nut trees. Unfortunately the thing for sale was some completely different bean-like plant.

[nonthaburial]

About 2 years ago I brought back from Manila hundreds of Kalamansi pips, gave loads away but planted a few myself in my garden near Chaeng Wattana, and they have taken, but really need a large open area as opposed to a smallish garden

Point is, if you are in my area, send me a PM and you can dig up and take away the lot if you are interested.

[pete_r]

At Kaset fair last month there were a few shops with fig trees for sale, for 500 Bahts per plant.

I copy the contact details from a flier I picked up in one of the shops:

Khun Thera Jarernkit

161/13 Soi Prang Kaset 1

Th. Ngamwongwan

Ladyao, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900

Telephone: 089-790-1057

There is also an e-mail address on this website (as well as pictures): http://therafig.spaces.live.com/

The seller mentioned the orchard is located near Sukhotai.

[Tony Clifton]

I've got some sugar maple tree seeds and red maple as well that we brought from Canada. Problem is we stashed them in something and then in our luggage. I thought about it this week (a year and a half later) and can't figure out what I've stashed them in.

[troysantos]

Excerpt from Lingling's post from Feb 19, 2007. "One shop had a sign that said "tua brazil" so I was hoping to pick up a couple of brazil nut trees. Unfortunately the thing for sale was some completely different bean-like plant."

Another name for this "tua brazil" is Perennial Peanut. Very very useful, beneficial plant, and very pretty. That's if you've got a fruit orchard, or, a lot of wide open space and would like to beautify it, and / or add nitrogen to the soil. It's a legume, and given the soil has the proper rhizobia, the soil will become richer in nitrogen, which is good for the soil. You may very well know all this ... you may not know all this. Google it and you'll see very pretty pictures of it as a ground cover.

[brahmburgers]

Gadz, this topic was dormant for over three years - then someone posted.

I've got some sugar maple tree seeds and red maple as well that we brought from Canada. Problem is we stashed them in something and then in our luggage. I thought about it this week (a year and a half later) and can't figure out what I've stashed them in.

I planted a few maples which are growing rather slowly, but they're ok - only about 7 meters tall after 10 years. Not sure whether they're sugar maples, though the Thai vendor told me they were.

Excerpt from Lingling's post from Feb 19, 2007. "One shop had a sign that said "tua brazil" so I was hoping to pick up a couple of brazil nut trees. Unfortunately the thing for sale was some completely different bean-like plant." Another name for this "tua brazil" is Perennial Peanut. Very very useful, beneficial plant, and very pretty. That's if you've got a fruit orchard, or, a lot of wide open space and would like to beautify it, and / or add nitrogen to the soil. It's a legume, and given the soil has the proper rhizobia, the soil will become richer in nitrogen, which is good for the soil. You may very well know all this ... you may not know all this. Google it and you'll see very pretty pictures of it as a ground cover.

The same vendor, mentioned above, sold me some little trees she said were Brazil nuts. I realized years later they weren't, but rather they're something else from the Americas called Pachira aquatica or common names: Guiana chestnut, Malabar chestnut. A very cool tree: evergreen, nice flowers, yields tip of thumb-sized nuts, grows hardy with little care, and easily propagated from seed or cuttings. I call them Brazil Noi (lesser Brazil)

I tried some vanilla which a T.Visa person kindly sent to me, but it's just hanging in there, not doing much more than staying alive.

Got my first bunch of macadamia nuts last year. Only one tree out of 12 yielded, but it's encouraging, as the other trees are the same age. It's also a lovely tree, similar to Brazil Noi in that it's evergreen, hardy on marginal soil, doesn't need a lot of TLC to keep growing. In town, mac nuts are selling for 160 baht/kilo, though there's only one little place that sells 'em in my town.