Thailand begonias?

If you love tropicals and ever get a chance to visit Thailand, then you will be in for a treat. Begonias aren't prevalent from my few treks while vactioning here, but the weather is very conducive for them - a lot like steamy Southern Florida but hot year round from what I hear. Orchids and plumerias are commonplace here as well as lotus fields and rice paddies. The list goes on.

Anyway I did see a couple of canes growing in the mountains (species maybe?) and finally stumbled into a couple of greenhouses with loads of them at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden in Chiang Mai. They also had a couple of begonias at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya. Orchids and bromeliads took center stage though wherever you went.

Here is a representative picture of some begonias at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden. I didn't have much time to compose pictures or worry about exposure since 8 people plus the van driver were waiting on me (none of them are plant nuts). I just went through greenhouse after greenhouse walking as quickly as possible and shooting on the run. The cactus house at QSBG and at NNTG were both stunning but that is another subject.

Hey Butch! got your email. Can't wait to see your photos when you get back. Hope you and Pat are having a great time ( of course you are, you're in Thailand!!! )

Lucky you!! Take care!

Well I never will get a chance to go, so I hope you take great pictures. What a trip. And what torture you couldn't walk thru that GH at your leisure. But I guess lucky that you got to go thru it at all!

Hope you have the best time. Oh take some pictures of their food too. I love Thai food.

Oh....vacationing in Thailand would be a Tropical Plant Lover's dream!
Seems that many of the newest exotic plants come from Thailand.

It would be torture to have to leave without anything, though.

Were you able to bring anything home with you?

I got back last night and still a bit foggy/groggy but my wife did buy some starter orchids in flasks that aren't suppose to be a problem at customs. Apparently they weren't because they went right through. I wonder if I could've smuggled some plumerias, desert rose, and other exotics in now?

It is an orchidfest there since they seem to plant them throughout the country in pots and hang them off trees, etc. Here is an example at a museum at Pattaya.

Desert roses at the same place. The statues are life size or larger and on a platform about five foot off the ground.

Variegated jatropha?

Variegated pineapples too.

Is this a species begonia (that's my youngest daughter behind it)? Spotted it at the King's Palace in Chiang Mai.

Here are common NG impatiens at the King's Palace but what a show. They also had hundreds (or thousands) of roses but they didn't look as good as they do in the states. Guess cool/cold weather is good for some things.

Here is a real beauty. Guess her age at 3 or 4 and probably of the Hmong tribe? She captured our hearts (wonder if we could smuggle her back).

Superb photos Butch! If you post elsewhere on Daves, any chance you'll post a link here so we can go look
Glad you're home safe and looks like you all had a wonderful time! (green with envy, I'd love to go back again!)

One more for now (have nearly 3,000 pictures to choose from). This is either one very LARGE brugmansia (Laurie, eat your heart out) or several smaller ones together. They also had poinsettias 12 foot tall or larger.

Orchid flasks at the orchid farm.

Giant bamboo. My wife is next to the bamboo for size comparison and her sister is the one in the foreground.

One of the cacti houses at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden.

Oh my goodness, that bamboo!

keep the photos coming (If you aren't too jet-lagged that is!)

How many hours was your flight(s)?

The flight back was over 24 hours (six hour layover in Tokyo). Six hours from Bangkok to Tokyo and 13 to Atlanta. Plus nearly two hours to get our luggage, clear customs, and get the shuttle to our car. I wish it was a lot closer then I would go every year or two but I will go back in 4 or 5 years and see South Thailand if the Muslim extremists aren't gunning people down.


Anyway here are some begonias from the QSBG (most you've seen before). Marmaduke is a beauty anywhere.

Great pictures. What a trip for your whole family. I bet you had such a good time. You read all the time how people go on plant buying trips there or order in plants, I wonder how hard it is to do.

Can't wait for more pictures.

Some more (ho-hum).

I didn't even attempt to buy plants from all the negative things you hear about bringing them back into the country. I would like to go for some desert rose and crown of thorns though.

Another begonia.

My meathook for size reference. Not that it's huge (the leaf), but for a ruffled leaf it's a pretty good size.

A bunch of the ruffled leaf ones.

Last one for a while. They had one and a half houses of begonias. One house for lotus only, one for ferns, one for bromeliads, one for aroids, and so on.

Wow, who's the beauty under the table - wowza!

And not 'ho hum' by any stretch! TFS!!!!!!!!

I wish I knew. I think this is its twin at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya - which has fantastic orchids, cacti, and bromeliads.

A close up of the leaves.

Great cactus garden.

Babobab trees with lotus pots.

Great pictures, Butch. I've seen several Echinocactus grusoniis (golden barrels) in your C & S photos. They must be really popular there.

The bamboo with your wife next to it was awesome. Any idea of the clump's diameter?

Shirley

Not sure if the cactus is popular there, but it got my attention. Furcraea is everywhere so I guess it is very popular. The bamboo is over 6 inches - maybe 8 inches in diameter?

Here is a false agave at a gas station in bloom. They were everywhere.

Not sure if this is an agave or a furcraea but these were outside a bathroom at a service station.

Wow that begonia is a looker! How did you restrain yourself from not stuffing some in your camera bag (shirt, wife's purse, under ball cap etc?)
I would have been arested! LOL!

Those orchid flasks are pretty nifty too! Still drooling over the bamboo!

how humid was it? More or less like Atlanta?

Oh my, great pics but Lali, we NEED that one with the great leaf detail!!

WOW! I'm speechless, please keep pointing me to more of your photos.

If you like C&S, I posted some pictures there.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/629963/



This message was edited Jul 25, 2006 10:04 AM

I added some more pictures to the fern and bromeliad forums, aroids to follow

ferns
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/629420/

bromeliads
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/630080/

Super! Thanks for the heads up!