Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Fair attractions By Id Acaylar
WHENEVER there is an Agro Trade fair, I try not to miss the horticulture exhibit. Somehow the gardener in me longs for healthy, blooming, flowering and ornamental plants and find new varieties or the latest craze among gardeners, landscapers and collectors.
So, I went to Magsaysay Park the day before culmination of the Araw ng Dabaw because I saw Vicky Jimenez on TV Patrol enticing people to visit the trade fair organized by the Floriculture Industry Council of Southern Mindanao (FICSMin).
The first to attract my attention was a display of coral berry also known as Money Worth whose scientific name is Ardesia Crenata. I have three or four of it in my garden but they do not bear the tiny red fruits as profusely as those on exhibit. I was a bit perturbed because they say it is a good luck plant.
Therefore, it could mean more fruits, more luck. But when I asked the plant owner of their sales performance, she said it was not good. Then I breathed comfortably.
There was a wild weed of the cogon genus that I found cute as ornamental because it was variegated and was thus called Zebra. It could be a good natural material for landscaping or even as a table piece. So, were other creeping plants with colorful leaves but whose names have eluded my memory? There were also Vicky Jimenez' golden crowned croton and Ching Chua's varieties of sansevieria, particularly the pagoda and forestcape, which to him is the most beautiful.
And there were flowering plants too. I never get tired of the familiar and popular cattleya and hibiscus or gumamela with their varied attractive coloration. For flowerbeds, the impatience, love and devotion, sun drop, petunia and red or pink shrimps could not be outdone.
Latest to hit the collector's fancy is the Dwarf Adenium or Kalachuchi. All of its more attractive varieties came from Thailand. One that I saw had elongated leaves but its flowers were very similar to our local variety although not as fragrant.
The latest craze, however, it seems as evidenced by its wide display at the fair, is the Aglaonema whose price ranges from P50 to P50,000 depending on the novelty and attractiveness of the variety. This, however, I will reserve for a future article.
After an hour or more of roaming around, I felt invigorated, encouraged, and eager to return to my gardening after a four-year hiatus. But then I left the fair with quite a heavy heart because most of the exhibitors who were my friends were unhappy with very few buyers, ergo, low sales that were even very inadequate to cover their booth rental. I felt helpless. So I just consoled them. You win some, you lose some. Better luck next time!
