I've been in Hong Kong for almost five years and until yesterday I had never been to the flower market. This has been mostly due to laziness because the flower market in located in Prince Edward near the old Kowloon boundary while I live in Happy Valley, which has several flower shops. I finally decided to go check it out because I was looking for more variety for my plant collection than the typical neighborhood offerings of feng shui/money plants (Crasulla Argentea, Pachira aquatica, Dracaena, etc.) which I already have. Also, two of the local stores got put on my black list for selling me sub-par plants, as in one had no roots and the other died within days of me taking it home, most likely because it had been drowned.
One of my favorite plants is the Peace lily (Spathiphyllum). While most of my plants hang out by the window, it adds cheer to a shady corner of the flat while being very low maintenance, only needing frequent watering. My previous Peace lily lasted years without fertilizer or new soil, and probably would have lasted many more years if I hadn't left her with my neighbor when I was out of town. He forgot the only thing she needed: water. NASA placed the Peace lily on top of a list for removing all three of most common VOCs — formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene so it is a great plant to have around.
While there are anemic, little Peace lilies to be found in the local plant stores for $60 or so, I found this cute one for $20 at the flower market. I also got a bag of soil for $6 for when I'm ready to repot.
My major goal was to add to my collection of succulents. They are beautiful in compact form and relatively easy to care for, which makes them ideal plants for my little, hanging pots and window sill.
This echeveria rosette has a lovely gray and purple hue, and cost only $28
I bought this trio of grafted cacti, "moon cactus" for $20. They are very popular genetic mutations. The tops are desert cacti whose lack of chlorophyll means that they wouldn't have lasted long in normal conditions but they have been grafted to tropical cacti, allowing them to thrive.
This guy was my most expensive purchase, at a whopping $30 (That's less than USD$4). It's an air plant, Tillandsia filifolia, and I got it as a present for SB. He likes to hover over the plants and breathe on them so now he has an extremely portable plant to drag around and breathe on. I'm trying to find a hanging glass orb like what some people hang candles in but for now it sits in a Pyrex dish. I think that it's really cute.
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