I went wild in the flower market in Amsterdam this time. I brought over 300 bulbs, rose bushes and flower plants…
6 hydrangeas
2 rose bushes (red and cream)
3 begonias
3 chrysanthemums
300+ bulbs of various things
An Arab man's attempt at bridging the cultural gap and trying to make a difference. Failing a lot. Succeeding once in a while.
I went wild in the flower market in Amsterdam this time. I brought over 300 bulbs, rose bushes and flower plants…
6 hydrangeas
2 rose bushes (red and cream)
3 begonias
3 chrysanthemums
300+ bulbs of various things
Comments
Re: Green fingers strike again!
[quote]How in the name of god did you get all that stuff back on the plane with you?[/quote]
How in the name of god did you get all that stuff [b]through customs[/b] ?
😀
Re(1): Green fingers strike again!
Not that ominous I’m afraid… I took an empty duffle bag with me just for the purpose!
When I arrived at check-in (4 hours before the flight, just in case) they (KLM) wanted to charge me 600 Euros as I was 27kgs over the 20kg limit! Fortunately I knew that there is a freight desk in Terminal 3 which specialises in sending unaccompanied baggage to anywhere in the world. I went there and checked it in as freight for a charge of E146!
As all the plants are “certified for export” and use peat moss rather than any kind of soil, the Customs and the Aggriculture Directorate didn’t have any objection to letting them in the country, both departments inspected the whole bag and its contents this morning. They were extremely helpful I might add. As they saw that they were imported as personal effects, they didn’t even charge customs duty nor the Aggriculture Department’s inspection fee… and the whole process took less than an hour and half on a Friday!
Green fingers strike again!
So Mahmood when are we going to have a bloggers’ and blogreaders’ garden party – all frocks, club ties and blazers or traditional dress + khanjars? I should think it would be PERFECT weather in about 4 weeks (when I’m back from NYC) and you could establish this as an annual event…even raise money for charity?
Johnster
Re: Green fingers strike again!
now that’s a good idea! But wait… isn’t Ramadhan happening at the same timeframe? hmmmm… maybe a futoor garden party! lemme think….
Re(2): Green fingers strike again!
My brother and I had to pay $500 (Aus) when we came back to bahrain in June. When my sister came back in NOvember last year, they tried to charge her 5k! Thank goodness for unaccompanied baggage!
Green fingers strike again!
How in the name of god did you get all that stuff back on the plane with you?
🙂
Mike – Luxembourg
Green fingers strike again!
He bribed the captain with a cash incentive! 😀
Re(3): Green fingers strike again!
Damn, 5k! What was she taking with her? Her whole room and half the house?! But I agree, 20kgs is too low for most passengers and they know it.
Re(4): Green fingers strike again!
it was pretty much everything she owned….she was moving back to Bahrain from university
Re(5): Green fingers strike again!
ah, I see.. she would have been better freighting all that stuff as it is normally up to 90% cheaper. But I understand though, having all your stuff with you when you land without having to spend countless hours and filling unfamiliar forms at the freight terminal is a much better option.
Green fingers strike again!
Niiice stuff! I’m a little jealous of them bulbs, Mahmood. Soon I’ll be planting some tulips myself… For now, the elephant ears are still up and greening.
Perennials rock!
Green fingers strike again!
Love that wrought iron bannister, or whatever those things are called (no one here at work can name the item, no wonder my nation’s jobs are fleeing overseas).
Re: Green fingers strike again!
We do too! That feature is repeated throughout the house… in fact I got the same company to install a fence around our pool made of the same material and design. You’re right by the way, it is a wrought iron bannister.
Re(1): Green fingers strike again!
It looks great there too, and goes well with the beige wall. I always thought bannister referred only to the handrail.
Re(2): Green fingers strike again!
banister |?ban?st?r| |?bøn?st?r| |?ban?st?| (also bannister)
noun (also banisters)
the structure formed by uprights and a handrail at the side of a staircase.
• a single upright at the side of the staircase : I stuck my head between the banisters.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from earlier barrister, alteration of baluster .
I guess you’re right again! let’s just call it whatchamakallit, sounds nicer.
Green fingers strike again!
Mahmood I really feel jealous and envy you. I have many indoor plants here at my office and home and I don’t know what to do with them when I go back to Bahrain. I would love to take them back with me but that would be hard, both technically and financially. I usually take cuttings without any soil to avoid any troubles in any airport.
But this time it is hard to leave all my 40+ plants behind, I have grown most of them from small cutting and they flourished in most wonderful way. The [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alansari/34175328/in/set-802151/]Hoya[/url] in my office became 40’ long and still growing, how on earth could I send that back to Bahrain?
Any suggestions?
Re: Green fingers strike again!
That Hoya is fantastic. Very nice picture, well done on both growing it to such glory and the photography as well.
Fuad I have no idea how you could transport all those plants economically to Bahrain, the only suggest is through a fast freight forwarder, but if you do, ensure that there is no earth on them at all otherwise they will be confiscated and distroyed. I find it best to mix a little potting soil with a lot of peat moss is best to keep the the roots moist for the trip. My shipment although took 2 days to get here, the roots were ok. It is only NOW actually that the hydrangeas are sufferring, and only those in full glorious bloom! The ones I had topped are fairing MUCH better! I’ll have to snip them tonight in the hope of saving the whole plant. Anyway. back to your subject, yes, the best way I guess is repot and top them, this will save you an awful lot of time of regrowing them all over again from a cutting. At least you would preserve the root system this way.
(disclaimer: I am a complete novice in this game so advice given is nonbinding and you cannot sue me if following my advice screws up your plants!!! :))
Green fingers strike again!
Thank you Mahmood for your advice, the cutting method was used before and was not successful. When my sister came to visit me in here two years ago I gave her some cuttings from my plants, which I have never seen in Bahrain, to take back with her. That was to test if they will grow there in indoor conditions. The cuttings were of the Hoya and Plectranthus (Swedish Ivey, which grows in here like a bush fire). And I gave here plantlets of Bryophyllum (the Mother of Thousands or as it is called in here the Good Luck plant). Unfortunately none of them grew successfully although my sister is known for her green fingers.
Mahmood, what annoys me is when I see the begonias growing in here in the streets while back in Bahrain we have to almost pray from them to grow in indoor conditions.
Btw cutting the flower buds is a good idea to let the plant focus all its strength into acclimatising with the new conditions. But where are you planning to keep the Hydrangeas??
We have a narrow lane in the uni campus in here which is called the lovers lane, well it is narrow and dark at night!! The nice thing about that lane is there are so many hydrangeas of different colours planted on one side of it. In season, walking through that lane is like walking through paradise. The sight gives such an uplifting feeling, which makes insist on walking through it on every evening on my way home although it does not lead to it!!!
Fuad
Re: Green fingers strike again!
I’ve put one hydrangea my wife brought back with her from Scotland about 6 weeks ago in a planter by the pool, it was droopy for a few days until I read enough about hydrangeas and understood that they need a lot of water, then I started watering them 5 times a day (2 times automatically through the drip system and 3 times manually) and it perked up. But not for long. Its flowered dried up and the edges of its leaves turned brittle and brown.
I cut the flowers and it seemed to have regained its health for a while, I notice over the last few days however that almost all the original leaves have dried up. BUT, the really really good news is that we now have quite a number of absolutely new growth coming up on all branches! So at last it acclimatised (or at least I hope it did).
I’ve reduced watering over the last couple of weeks to just the automatic system, and it seems to be ok. Once in a while I give it a brief shower (only at night so that the sun doesn’t burn it) with what’s left in the watering can.
I’m pissed off that I have been really sick since I came back from Amsterdam that I didn’t have a chance to do any gardening (nor going to the gym) but today it seems that it’s finally broken… so, I’m escaping out of the office an hour early so I can spend an hour pottering!
Add to that is that we have decided to widen the flower beds around the house, re-position the sprinklers and move some fruit trees and dedicate the front (west facing) garden totally to flowers and roses, while the back garden (east facing, pool) to climbers and pots.
I know. I should vlog it. But I have to have permission first, so if you guys want to see my garden, petittion Frances!
Green fingers strike again!
You probably knew about it. But VlogEurope just finished up in Amsterdam, http://www.vlogeurope.com/. There’s some video of it on ryanne site, http://ryanedit.blogspot.com/
I couldn’t make it but it looked like a lot of fun.
:),
Enric
http://www.cirne.com/vlog/
Re: Vlogging in Amsterdam
I didn’t actually! thanks for letting me know Enric… nice vlog you have, I’ve subscribed to your feed. I shot some clips through my mobile while in Amsterdam, I just have to get going and editing them and puting them online. I’ll do that in the next couple of days…